A wood cut after this dagurreotype was published in "Ballou's Pictorial Drawing -Room Companion 12 (March 21, 1857), p.300
Biography: Actor and dramatist John Howard Payne (1791-1852) was born in New York City. A child prodigy, Payne was writing theatrical criticism and plays by the age of twelve. In 1809, he made his acting debut on the New York stage and in 1813, sailed to Europe, where he would remain for twenty years, one of the first American theatrical figures to attract attention in England. He returned to the US in 1832. Travels through the Southeast brought him into contact with the Cherokee Indians, and he became a passionate opponent of their forced removal; he later compiled a fourteen-volume history of the Cherokee Nation. He twice served as US consul to Tunis (1842-47, 1851-52), where he died in April 1852. He is best remembered today for composing the song "Home Sweet Home," from his opera Clari, the Maid of Milan.
