[1] Admitted to the bar in 1876 in West Virginia, Payne entered politics five years later as the chairman of the Preston County Democratic Party.

He moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1883,[citation needed] and was elected in 1893 to the Superior Court of Cook County, which he served on until resigning from that post in 1898.

In 1913 he declined an offer from president Woodrow Wilson to serve as solicitor general of the United States.

In May 1921, Payne pledged funds for the permanent structure for the Warrenton Library[7] in Fauquier County, Virginia.

[10] In World War II, the United States liberty ship SS John Barton Payne was named in his honor.