George Payson (1824-1893)

He was born at Portland, Maine. He graduated from Bowdoin College (1843) and studied law in New York. In 1856, he came to Chicago and established his own law firm "with unvarying success". After 1874, he focused on patent law and patent cases and as a patent lawyer was viewed as "second to none". From the same year he was retained by the Western Railroad Association as their general counsel, defending the interests of all the Western railroads in all matters relating to patent appliances. He was described as, "rich in scholarly attainments, a true gentleman, the purest of men and one of the noblest in the profession... His frank and gentlemanly bearing have endeared him to his professional brethren". In 1857, he married Margaret Almira, daughter of Randolph A.L. Codman, "one of the most distinguished members of the Maine Bar".