John Lewis Lane

John Lewis Lane was my grandfather’s maternal grandfather. He was born on December 2, 1824 and died September 4, 1894. His father was from Tennessee and his mother was from North Carolina. He is buried alongside his second wife Delila Ann Webb Lane (Ralph Wellons grandmother) in Elwood.

John Lane was first married to Hannah Gentry on August 27, 1845 in Wayne County. They had at least two kids, and maybe as many as four kids.

Their son Francis M. Lane was turned over to a relative of Hannah’s to raise. The document is shown above. This was dated March 14, 1862 when Francis was 11 years old. Francis “Frank” Lane was born on December 2, 1850 and died on December 31, 1922 in Portland, Oregon. His mother had died 8 years before this and his father had been remarried for 6 years. With a growing family, this may have just been an economic move where on family could use the help as Francis was almost working age for that time and there were too many mouths to feed in the Lane household.

A daughter, Martha C. Lane, was born in 1846 and died “1 year, 8 months” later on October 1, 1854.

There are possible connections to two other children during the marriage to Hannah Gentry. The connections are suspect. Mary E., born in 1846 and living until 1925, became a member of a family named Taylor. William H., born in 1848 and living until 1910, kept the name Lane, but lived from early childhood with the Banta family. It’s possible that these two kids were given up for adoption, but I can’t see convincing evidence. They were both born at the right time and in the right place to be kids of John Lane and Hannah Gentry Lane. The idea that Hannah wouldn’t have been pregnant from marriage in August 1845 until Francis was born in 1850 is not likely. Both kids were born Wayne County, Indiana.

Hannah Gentry was born January 24, 1827 in Wayne County, Indiana and died on July 30, 1854 in Madison County. She was the daughter of Ephraim and Elizabeth Foland Gentry. She is buried in Neese Cemetery in Jackson Township of Madison County.

John Lane married my grandfather’s grandmother, Delila Ann Webb Lane, on August 16, 1856, a little more than two years after his first wife’s death. They had 13 children according to her obituary.

We do have a nice picture of John Lewis Lane shown above.