“Rees said that as a young man in the mid-1920s, he received a suggestion from his father to talk with the elderly night watchman at his mill, one McCager Payne (1863-1932). Payne claimed that his stepfather was John Wilkes Booth.

Payne’s story was that in 1872, when he was nine years old, his mother Louisa Payne, a young widow, had married and briefly lived with John Wilkes Booth at Sewanee. Louisa was the daughter of a widow who had a laundry business cleaning and mending the clothes of University of the South students. In 1871 or 1872, a quiet-mannered stranger with dark hair came to town. He was neatly dressed and appeared well educated, but he did carpentry work. He gave his name as John Booth and said he was a distant relative of the infamous actor. After a short courtship, John Booth and Louisa Payne were married.”

Sewanee is near Monteagle Tennessee at the top of a mountain. One of the most dangerous descents both ways for truckers. A founding member of the Southeastern Conference. Which absurdly gets acronymed to SEC. ha ha. These people aren’t bright or they wouldn’t be so obvious.