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She was born a slave in Virginia. She never met her mother, who was sold when their owner's wife discovered he had fathered Kitty.
When Kitty was 27 years old, Mary Maddox - who had been given the slaves in her husband Samuel's will - filed paperwork to set Kitty, her four children and other slaves free.
The words of the paperwork, called a manumission document, filed Feb. 25, 1843, in Rappahannock County, Va., sound final.
Kitty and her children were "emancipated and forever set free ... free from the control, claim and demand of any and all person, or persons whatsoever," the document said.
Mary Maddox was honoring the wishes of her husband, according to Kitty's great-great granddaughter.
"Samuel Maddox wanted Kitty and her children to have their freedom," said Maribeth Staples, of Winston-Salem, N.C.
Mary Maddox moved Kitty, who had married a free black man named Robert Payne (spelled "Paine" in some news accounts at the time), and her four children to Fairfield in Adams County, according to Deb McCauslin, who has researched Kitty's story. One son died there as a baby, and her husband died shortly
Months later, Maddox returned to Virginia, and Kitty and her family moved to Bendersville around 1844, McCauslin said.
But Kitty's freedom still wasn't secure.
Samuel Maddox Jr., the nephew of her former owner, had tried to stop Mary Maddox from freeing the slaves, whom he claimed rights to. His uncle had willed property to him if Mary Maddox should die.
According to newspaper accounts and court documents McCauslin has collected, in July 1845, Samuel Maddox Jr. and four men he hired kidnapped Kitty and her three children from their home in Bendersville and took them south.
Newspapers reported they were beaten, gagged and forced into a covered wagon.
But Quakers, who had befriended Kitty's family, saw the wagon, knew something was wrong and attempted to chase them, McCauslin said.
They helped Kitty hire an attorney in Virginia to fight for her freedom, she said. Kitty and her children were held in a Rappahannock County jail for more than 300 days while a trial dragged on. Samuel Maddox was being billed for their room and board, McCauslin said.
"One day in court, he relinquished all claim to the slaves," she said. A Maryland man, Thomas Finnegan, was eventually found guilty of kidnapping the family, according to McCauslin and a book written by Kitty's great-granddaughter, Mary (Goins) Gandy.
Kitty and her family were free once again and returned to Adams County. She and her children split up, living with different families, Gandy wrote in "Guide My Feet, Hold My Hand."
Eventually, she married Abraham Brian (spelled "Brien" in a census document and "Bryan" on the plaque outside the Gettysburg home he once lived in), a free black man in Gettysburg. She raised the child they had together and his children from a previous marriage, but he wouldn't allow her other children in the home, Gandy wrote.
Kitty died in Aug. 12, 1850. Her headstone in Lincoln Cemetery said she was 38, though Gandy's book said she was born in 1816.
"According to my mom, and I think a lot of people felt that way, that she died of a broken heart," Staples said.
But her children thrived, according to McCauslin.
One daughter, Eliza Jane, lived with a family in Gettysburg through the war and saw Abraham Lincoln deliver the Gettysburg Address, Gandy wrote in her book. Daughter Mary continued to live the Quaker life she was raised in, according to McCauslin, and son Arthur was a soldier in the U.S. Colored Troops.
McCauslin has pored over court documents and other researchers' work, but said Gandy's book was key to learning the end of the story of "Kidnapped Kitty."
Next weekend, she'll meet Staples and Gandy's other children as they visit Adams County to see sites that feature in their ancestor's story. McCauslin said it's "really gratifying" to be able to meet the family.
"Kitty's story just really gets inside of you, I think," she said.
Reach Angie Mason at 771-2048 or amason@ydr.com.
In print
"Guide My Feet, Hold My Hands" is a book about Kitty Payne and her family, written by Mary (Goins) Gandy, Kitty's great-granddaughter. The book is available in the Adams County Library system.
Kitty honored
Gettysburg Mayor William Troxell and the Adams County commissioners have proclaimed April 7 as Kitty Payne Day.
