Norman B. Lane and Mary Angeline Rice

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Husband Norman B. Lane ¹

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           Born: 30 Aug 1820 - Jacksonville, Tompkins Co, NY 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 18 Feb 1907 2
         Buried: 

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         Father: Azel Lane (1793-      ) 1
         Mother: [Unk] Thompson (1790-      ) 1

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       Marriage: 20 Jan 1846 - Whitesville, Allegany Co, NY 2

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Wife Mary Angeline Rice ²

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 25 Mar 1907 2
         Buried: 

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Children

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1 F Ida Eugenia Lane ²

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           Born: 25 Jan 1847 2
     Christened: 
           Died: 28 Jun 1911 2
         Buried: 

         Spouse: William G. McMinn (      -      ) 2

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2 F Nancy Lavonia Lane ²

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           Born: 31 May 1852 2
     Christened: 
           Died: 1 Sep 1853 2
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Did Not Marry

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3 M Charles Sumner Lane ²

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           Born: 27 Jun 1856 2
     Christened: 
           Died: 10 Jul 1857 2
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Did Not Marry

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4 M Fred Avery Lane ²

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           Born: 14 Apr 1862 2
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Linnie B. Cooley (      -      ) 2

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5 F Carrie Elenor Lane ²

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           Born: 2 Nov 1864 2
     Christened: 
           Died: 10 Jan 1904 2
         Buried: 

         Spouse: James L. Bond (      -      ) 2

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General Notes: Husband - Norman B. Lane

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When he was eleven years old his moved family to the village of Mud Creek (now Savona), Steuben County, New York, and from that time until he was twenty-five years old he worked at millwrighting, with his father, and lumbering as well, during this period gaining valuable business experience which guided him well in his own ventures later. About the time of his marriage he went to lumbering on the Honeoye creek in Potter County, Pennsylvania, when that country was almost an unbroken wilderness, and built two sawmills there. The first lot of lumber he ran down the river was floated down the Ohio to Cairo, Illinois, taken out of the water there and dried, and then shipped up the Mississippi, Missouri and Platte rivers into Kansas to find an acceptable market. In 1851 Mr. Lane became a partner of Daniel Kingsbury, of Bradford, Pennsylvania, who had valuable land, timber and coal holdings in McKean, Elk and Jefferson counties, Pennsylvania, and they built a double steam sawmill in Elk County, on Mead run, near the present site of the railroad station at Brockport. It was the first steam sawmill erected in the district, which was then almost an unbroken forest from Smethport, McKean County, to Brookville, Jefferson County, eighty miles through by pike and the old Ceres road. Some idea of the difficulties to be overcome in starting such an enterprise in such a region may be gained from the account of the roundabout way in which the equipment was acquired. Mr. Lane went to Cincinnati and had his engine, boiler and machinery made there, shipping them by canal to Toledo, thence on Lake Erie to Dunkirk. After waiting six or eight weeks for the New York & Erie railroad (later the New York, Lake Erie & Western) to be completed to Dunkirk he sent them on by freight to Olean, New York, from which point it took four good horses a week to haul a single boiler to its destination. But the mill was put in operation that winter, and the production ran from two million to five million feet a year for over forty years thereafter. Most of the product was rafted from the Elk County mill to Cincinnati, where it was dried and manufactured into building stuff which went to the central and central southern states.
In 1857 Mr. Lane and others bought four thousand acres from Mr. Kingsbury and others, the area known as the Rattlesnake tract, built a mill, and commenced operations. The firm of Lane & Humphreys was formed, and had in connection with the general mercantile store one of the best plants for making bill lumber to be found anywhere from Buffalo to Pittsburgh. Besides taking advantage of facilities afforded by the local railroads they built a railroad three miles in length into their own timber, which enabled them to forward shipments promptly and economically. In other ways also they showed a degree of enterprise which looked well for the development of the region. In 1863 Mr. Lane introduced into his own and other mills in this section the first circular saws for sawing lumber out of round logs used hereabouts, and continued this business in a general way until the time of his death. He also became interested in the coal deposits in the vicinity in the middle eighteen-fifties. In the summer of 1856 Dr. David Owen Platt and Professor Meedham, whilemaking the first geological survey of the Little Toby valley, in search of coal and other minerals, boarded with their large corps of assistants at Mr. Lane's house, and the information gleaned from them brought to him the realization of the enormous value of the coal fields so near at hand. Acting on their advice, he invested in coal properties a few years later, and the firm of which he was the senior member acquired large holdings.
During the six years that he lumbered in Elk County he managed to keep intoxicating liquors at a distance from the site of his operations, none being sold within six or seven miles of his mills. When he came to Snyder township, Jefferson County, he found liquor selling one of the leading businesses in the locality, and he found it difficult to keep men working more than four days a week, the men spending Saturdays and Sundays at the hotel, and laying off Mondays to recover. So he gave the hotel three hundred dollars a year to sell no liquor, and the plan worked well for three years, until other hotels which had to be bought off in the same way became too numerous. As a last resort he went before the Legislature, and worked zealously until a law was passed prohibiting the sale of liquor in Snyder township, which also embraced the territory of Brockwayville borough, both having been "dry" since 1872. The remedy was effective, and of course was of greater benefit to his employes than to himself, a fact properly appreciated in the township, where his action was warmly commended by the best element in all classes. [HJC 1917 II, 26]
When he and his wife moved to Snyder township Mr. Lane erected a spacious residence on the Lane's Mills road, southeast of the town, which they continued to occupy to the end of their days.

1 —, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People, Vol. II (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Company, 1917), Pg 26.

2 —, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People, Vol. II (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Company, 1917), Pg 27.