Joel Lane, pioneer and patriot. a biographical sketch, including notes about the Lane family and the colonial and revolutionary history of Wake County, North Carolina

F 258 ;

copy 1 JOEL LANE,

PIONEER AND PATRIOT.

A BIOGRAPHICAL. SKETCH.

INCLUDING NOTES ABOUT THE LANE FAMILY AND

THE COLONIAL AND REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY

OF WAKE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA.

MARSHALL DELANCEY HAYWOOD.

REMEMBER THE DAYS OF OLD

RALRHiH, N. C. :

Alpohi), Hyni'm iSc CiiRiSTOi'UKRs. B()ol< :iml .I<>li rrintcrs.

190U.

TWO COPIES RKCElVeiD,

L iurary cf CSRgr08%
Offleo of tlii

APR \ 0 1900

Kegitt«r of Copyrlghfft

61035

Copyrighted, March, 1900,
by Marshall Del^neey Haywood.

SECOND COPY.

TO
''MY NATIVE HEATH ''

THE (lOOI) OLD COUNTY OF WAKE

THESE PAGES
ARE AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED.

JOEL LANE,

A PIONEER AND PATRIOT OF WAKE COUNTY

NORTH CAROLINA.

^^^ HOUGH comparatively few of tlie name now re-
^^main in the State, tlie family of Lane was one of
the most numerous, as well as influential, in the
province of North Carolina. It is said to be collater-
ally descended from Sir Ralph Lane, who, with Sir
Richard Grenville and other bold adventurers, sailed
from Plymouth, England, in 1585, and founded (in
what is now North Carolina), the Colony of Roanoke,
of which Lane became Governor — the first English
Governor in America. This Colony, as is well known,
had no permanent existence, and Governor Lane re-
turned to Great Britain where he died — in Ireland —
in 1G04, three years prior to the first permanent Amer-
ican settlement, at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. The
father of this Sir Ralph was Sir Ralph Lane, of Or-
lingbury, whose wife, nee Parr, was a first cousin of
Katherine Parr, the sixth Queen of that exemi^lary old
Mormon, King Henry VIII.

Not many years after Jamestown was founded, sev-
eral other members of the Lane family came to Vir-
ginia, and their descendants aided in the permanent
settlement of North Carolina.

This alleged connection between Sir Ralph and the
Lanes of Colonial Virginia, from whom spring the
Lanes of North Carolina, is vouched foi* only by tra-

6

clition, but this tradition exists in many separate and
divergent branches of the family. Whether it should
be taken cum grano sails, let the reader judge.

" I cannot tell how the truth may be ;
I say the tale as 'twas said to me."

After removing to North Carolina, the Lanes lived
j)rincipally in the eastern section of the State. They
were useful members of society and adherents of the
Church of England. In Halifax County quite a num-
ber of the family settled, and there was born Joel
Lane, the subject of this sketch. His father, Joseph
Lane, of Halifax, married Patience McKinne, a daugh-
ter of Colonel Barnabas McKinne, Jr.

Of this Colonel McKinne the writer is unable to
speak further than to observe that he was a resident of
North Carolina and died in the year 1736, leaving
quite a number of descendants, several of whom bore
his full name. Through him the name of Barnabas
was also introduced into the Lane family.

The above mentioned Joseph Lane, of Halifax (who
died about 1774), had five sons, all of whom left issue.
They were : Joel, of whom this sketch will treat at
length; Joseph,* who married Ferebee Hunter, and
died in Wake County in 1798 ; James, f who married
Lydia Speight, and died in Wake County on January
6, 1805; Jesse, t who married Winifred Aycock, and

*Joseph left a son and a grandson, both named Joseph. They should not be con-
fused with General Joseph Lane, of Oregon, who, as hereinafter mentioned, was a
grandson of Jesse Lane.

+There seems to have been a superfluity of James Lanes: (1) James Sr., above
mentioned — Col. Joel's brother; (2) James, son of Col. Joel; (3) James, son of an-
other Joel, and grandson of James, Sr, I think there were some Lanes in other
parts of the State, who also bore this given name.

tin the State Records, Vol. XVI., p. 1101, it appears that a Jesse Lane enlisted for a
three j'ears term of service on March 1, 1777, in Cai)tain Jacob Turner's Company,

died in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1804; and Barnabas,'^
who died about 1775. Barnabas had three children :
Martin, Barnabas, Jr., and a daughter, Jean. His
son Martin — born 1755, died 1825 — served in the Rev-
olutionary war, was one of the earliest landowners in
Raleigh, and died in Giles County, Tennessee, leav-
ing descendants.

General Joseph Lane, the "Marion of the Mexican
War," who was Governor of Oregon and United States
Senator, as well as a distinguished soldier, was the
son of John Lane and his wife Betsey Street. This
John was a son of Jesse and a nephew of Joel.

When General Lane was a candidate for Vice Pres-
ident of the United States in 1860, he visited Raleigh
in July of that year and was entertained at the coun-
try-seat of his kinsman, the late Henry Mordecai, just
north of the city. To this entertainment every mem-
ber of the Lane connection, who could be found, was
invited. Mr. Mordecai' s residence was originally built
by his grandfather, Henry Lane, eldest son of Joel ;
but afterwards, in 1824, was added to and remodeled
under the supervision of AVilliam Nichols, who also
altered the architecture of the old Capitol, which was
destroyed by fire on the 21st of June, 1831.

It has sometimes been stated that the late Governor

Third North Carolina Continontals. Captain Turner was kilh'd at tlu* Battlo of (ier
mantown in the following October. After Jesse's enlistment had expired, he af?ain
entered the service; for I)}- n-ference to the manuscript books, entitled " Army Ac-
counts," in the office of the State Auditor, at Ralei/^h, Vol. lU, Section A. A., p. 50.
will be found the entrj^: "Allowed Jesse Lane for pay to tlie first of January, 17b2,

including interest, the first day of Auf?ust, 1783 175. 11. "K" (iovernor Swain, in

the letter presently given, says that Jesse moved to Georgia before this (in 1779).
Qufere : Were there two Jesse's, or did Jes.se of Wake send his family to Georgia,
and follow them later?

*See abstract of the will of his grandfather, Co'. Barnabas McKinne, Jr., in tlie
North Carolina Historical and Genealogical Register, Vni. l.,ii, 61, (January, lUdo).

8

Henry Smith Lane, of Indiana, was descended from the
Lanes of Wake County. This, as the writer learns
from a member of the family in Indiana, is a mistake;
though the Governor was probably of the same stock,
for his ancestors were of Virginia origin, as were also
the Lanes of North Carolina.

After General Joseph Lane, of Oregon, had won a
great reputation in the war with Mexico and was gain-
ing distinction in national politics, a gentleman in
Tennessee, desiring to know something of the history
of the Lane family, wrote in 1859 to ex-Governor
Swain (then President of the University of North Car-
olina, and a first cousin of the General), for the infor-
mation desired. Governor Swain's reply was pub-
lished in the Memphis Avalanche^ and was afterwards
copied in the North Carolina Semi- Weekly Standard,
a paper x^nblished at Raleigh, in its issue of July 21,
1860, when Lane was a candidate for Vice President.
Commenting upon it, the editor of the Standard ob-
served that in old Buncombe where General Lane was
born, there was a " Lane's Pinnacle," a " Lane's Mine
Hole Gap," and "Lane's Iron Works," named for his
family.

The letter of Governor Swain is so rej>lete with in-
formation concerning the whole connection that we
give it in full :

OiTAPEL Hill, October 23rd, 1859.

Dear Sir: — Your letter of the 14th, owing to my absence in the dis-
charge of official duties, did not reach me' until a day or two since,
and I avail myself of the earliest practicable opportunity to reply.

There is probably no family whose authentic history can be more
clearly traced through every period of the annals of North Carolina
than that of General Lane's. In proportion to numbers, compara-
tively few of its members have aspired to or obtained political dis-

9

tinction, or indeed distinction of any kind. On the other hand there
are probably few tliat have enjtiyed greater averaj^e res])ectability.

CJeneral Lane's great-grandfather, Joseph (who signed his name Jo-
seph T.ane, Jr., in 1727), died at his residence near Halifax, on the lio-
anoke, in 1776.* His three sons — Joel, Joseph, and Jesse — were pi-
oneer settlers in the neighborhood of Raleigh, in 1741. Of these. Col-
onel Joel was the wealthiest and most conspicuous. He conveyed to
the State 640t acres of land, the site of the present City of Raleigh.
His dwelling-house, at the period of its erection the best within a
hundred miles, is the present residence of William Boylan, Esq. All
three were Whigs during the Revolution, and Colonel Joel and Jesse
did service in the army, the latter as a private*.

Jesse was the grandfather of General Joseph Lane and of myself.
He was born in Halifax, July 4th, 1733, and married Winifred Acock.
They had sixteen children — eight sons and eight daughters — all of
whom lived to rear families. In 1779 my grandfather emigrated to
Wilkes, now Oglethorpe County, Gai, where he resided until 1800;
then he removed to St. Louis, where he died in 1804.

General Lane is the son of John Lane, the eighth child and fourth
son of our grandfather Jesse. At the time of the removal of the fam-
ily to Georgia (1779), Wilkes was a frontier County, and, during a
series of years subject to frequent incursions from the Creeks and
Cherokees. There were no members of the family able to bear arms,
whose services were not put into requisition, and no one male, or
female, who were not familiar with the horror of savage warfare. My
mother beguiled many an hour during my infancy, in the recital of
hair-breadth escapes, which, delicate woman as she w^as, rendered her
personal history one of remarkable suffering and adventure.

I have no recollection of my grandfather or uncle John. The former
visited my father on his way to Missouri, and thelatter was an inmate
of our family for some time previous to and subse(]uent to my birth.
I heard much of him in my boyhood, and sui)pose that in all respects
the son is a counterpart of the father, brave, enterprising, and gen-
erous. He was a universal favorite in the midst of the men who
fought at the Cowpens and King's ]\Iountain, and who considered a
foray among the Indians as little less than a pastime.

♦Error— he died in the winter of 177:}-"7l.— M. DkL. H.

+At a hiter (lute, MM, (governor Swain makes n more accurate .statement (in liis
Tucker Hall Address) of the amount of land sold by Lane, to-wit : l.(JO<» acres, 4tH)
icres of which were laid off into lots and the remainder held, for the time Ijeing,
i.y the State.— M. DkL. U.

JSee last note on p. 0, ante. — M. DkL. II.

10

General Lane's mother was Betsy, daughter of James Street, the
first Sheriff of my native County (Buncombe). The descendants of
the sixteen children of Jesse are dispersed through all of the Western
and Southern States.

I enter into these particulars simply to satisfy you that whilst the
family of General Lane have no just pretensions to the pride of her-
aldry, there is no cause, on the other hand, why they should blush for
his ancestry or his connections.

I write in unavoidable haste, but will be ready at any time to com-
municate more special information if it shall be called for.
Yours very respectfully,

D. L. SWAIN.

Many years before Wake County was formed, Joel
Lane liad settled at the point wliicli afterwards became
its county-seat, and was later tlie capital of tlie State.
His place of residence was called Bloomsbury, and was
then within the territory of Johnston Connty. Land
was taken from Orange and Cumberland, as well as
Johnston, for the formation of Wake, and Mr. Lane
was one of the commissioners who laid out its boun-
daries. The new county was established by the colo-
nial assembly in December, 1770, with a proviso that
the act of creation should not take effect until March
12, 1771. Governor Tryon, for whose wife, neeWsike
— and not " Esther Wake " — it was named, formally
signed the charter on May 22, in the latter year. *

The first court was held on the 4th of June, 1771.
Theophilus Hunter was chairman, and Joel Lane and
his brother Joseph were among the members of this
tribunal. t The other justices were : Benjamin Hardy,
James Martin, Hardy Sanders, Abraham Hill, Thomas
Wooten, James Jones, Tingnall Jones and Thomas
Crawford.

*Colonial Records, Vol. VIII., pp. 299, 333, 334. Copy of charter in court-house of
Wake County. Chapter 22, Laws of 1770.
+Court Records of Wake County.

11

In the early si>ring of 1771, when Governor Try on
raised an army to snppress the insnrrection of the
Reguhitors, the principal place of rendezvons for his
forces was AYake Cross Roads, Avhere Raleigh now
stands. Colonel John Hinton, Lane's father-in-law,
then commanded the connty militia and marched nn-
der Tryon to the scene of action, in wiiicli he bore a
conspicuous part.* Of Colonel Hinton' s conduct on
this occasion, and afterwards at the battle of Moore's
Creek Bridge, during the Revolution, Governor Cas-
well says: ''In both instances I was an eye-wit-
ness and can venture to assert he behaved with be-
coming bravery and resolution."! At Alamance the
Regulators were routed in the battle fought on May 16,
1771. AVhile waiting for reinforcements during that
campaign, Governor Tryon located his headquarters
near the present Fayetteville road at Hunter's Lodge,
the residence of Theo^^hilus Hunter. This was some
distance southeast of Spring Hill, later the home of
Tlieophilus Hunter, Jr. For three days, from the 5th
to the 8th of May, the army remained there. As
the old road was too rough to carry artillery over,
Tryon had a new one cut in the direction of the
Regulators' country. After a town in Kent, Eng-
hmd, he called it '' Ramsgate Road." That classic
h>cality near Raleigh, now known as Raincat, derives
its name from this circumstance. When the army
marched l)ack from Alamance, Colonel Hinton' s de-
tachment was disbanded at Wake Court-IIouse on the
22nd of June. On the day before this, Governor Tryon
l)ade his army farewell, and Id't for New York, liav-

*Colonial Records, Vol. VIII., pp. fiTrt, 7<U.
fState Records, Vol. XII., p. 707.

12

ing been appointed Governor of that Province.* He
was succeeded, as Governor of North Carolina, by
Josiah Martin, who remained in office until driven out
during the Revolution. AVhether Joel Lane served
in the Alamance campaign is not known, but he prob-
ably did, for his name appears as Lieutenant-Colonel
of Colonel Hinton's Regiment on a roster made out in
1772. t

For many years Colonel Lane was a Justice of the
County Court of Wake ; and during the war for Inde-
pendence, he was at one time its presiding Justice.:}:
Throughout the entire conflict with Great Britain, he
served with fidelity in many imjiortant civil stations.
Together with John Hinton, Michael Rogers, Theoph-
ilus Hunter, Tingnall Jones, || John Rand and Thomas
Hines, he represented Wake County in the Provincial
Congress at Hillsborough in August, 1775, and that
body, on Sej)tember 9, elected him a member of the
Committee of Safety for the Hillsborough District. §
John Hinton and Michael Rogers were likewise elec-
ted members of this Committee. On September 9, 1775,
the above named Congress also elected militia officers
for Wake County as follows : John Hinton, Colonel ;
Theophilus Hunter, Lieutenant-CoLmel ; John Hin-
ton, Jr., First Major; Thomas Hines, Second Major.
When the militia was reorganized, on April 22, 1776,
these officers were continued in the same rank.Tf

Michael Rogers succeeded Hunter in 1778 ; for, by

♦Colonial Records, Vol. VIII., pp. C75, 676.
fOolonlal Records, Vol. IX., p. 'dU.
JCourt Records of Wake.

lIThis gentleman (whose signature I have seen) wrote liis lirst name as here
given, but I think his son and namesake signed himself Tignall or Tignal.
$Oolonial Records, Vol. X., pp. 106. 215.
irColonial Records, Vol. X., pp. 207, 582.

18

the minute docket of the Court of Pleas and Quarter
Sessions in that year, it appears that on the 19th of
February, "Michael Rogers, Esq"", produced into Court
a commission from His Excellency Richard Caswell,
Esq'", Governor, constituting him Lieutenant Colonel
for the County of Wake; came into Court and quali-
fyed agreeable to law." Hardy Sanders likewise held
that rank at a later period, and James Hinton was
either a Colonel or a Lieutenant Colonel.

In the Provincial Congress which assembled at Hal-
ifax in- April, 1776, Colonel Lane again represented
Wake County." His colleagues in this body were
John Hinton, John Rand, Tingnall Jones, and William
Hooper. The last named, though put down as a del-
egate from Wake, was not a resident of the county,
but came from the eastern part of the State. He was
one of those, who, a few months later, made their
names immortal by signing the Declaration of Inde-
pendence at Philadeli:)hia. While a member of this
Provincial Congress, Mr. Hooper was also a member
of the Continental Congress.

Colonel Lane did not serve in the Provincial Con-
gress which met at Halifax in November, 1776. The
delegates from Wake County in that body werB Ting-
nall Jones, Michael Rogers, James Jones, Britain Ful-
ler, and John Rice.f

From February, 1778, till September, 1779, Joel
Lane was Entry Taker ;:j: and, for thirteen terms, rep-
resented Wake County in the State Senate, At that
time the Legislature met annually, and sometimes

•Coloniul Rocords. Vol. X., p. 501.
+Coloiiial Krcords, Vol. X., p. fll5.
J Court Records of Wake.

14

oftener. During the Revolution, James Jones was the
first to hold the office of Senator, in 1777. The follow-
ing year, Michael Rogers succeeded him and held until
1782, when Colonel Lane was elected. Up to the year
of his death (with the exception of one term when his
brother-in-law, James Hinton, defeated him in 1793),
Colonel Lane continued to serve. "^ Those who repre-
sented Wake County in the House of Commons dur-
ing the Revolution were : John Rand, Tingnall Jones,
Lodowick Alford, Hardy Sanders, Thomas Hines, John-
Hinton, Jr., Nathaniel Jones, the elderf (of Crab tree),
John Humphries, Burwell Pope, James Hinton, and
Theophilus Hunter. :t

On June 23, 1781, while the war was raging with its
greatest fury, the Legislature met at Wake Court-
House.§ For want of a more commodious edifice, Col-
Lane's residence was used as the place for assembling.
At this session, Thomas Burke was elected to succeed
Abner Nash as Governor.

A ludricrous reminder of the depreciation in x^aper
currency caused by the gloomy prospects for the suc-
cess of the American cause, is the official record! that
when Colonel Lane was paid for the house-rent, pas-
turage for horses, etc., used by the above Legislature
during this session of less than one month's duration,
the amount voted him was fifteen thousand pounds !

nVheeler's History of North Carolina, Part II., pp. 421, 422.

fThere were three gentlemen in Wake County bearing the name of Nathaniel
Jones: (1) Nathaniel Jones, of Orabtree ; (2) his father, Nathaniel Jones, Sr., men-
tioned above ; (3) Nathaniel Jones, of White Plains. The last named was not con-
nected with the Jones family of Orabtree except by marriage. In old county rec-
ords they were usuallj' distingxiishcd by placing the letters G. T. for Orabtree, and
W. I', for White Plains, after their names.

tWheeler's History. Part II., pp. 421. 422.

$State Records, Vol. XVII., pp. 794,877.

llState Records, Vol. XVII., pp. 876, 977.

15

or about thirty thousand doUars (a pound was then
only two dollars). This was many times as great as the
sum paid by the State for the Lane plantation (where
Raleigh is built) after the war, when money was worth
more than the paper it was i^rinted on.

During the Revolution those who occupied the office
of High Sheriff of Wake (then a station of great im-
portance) were : Thomas Hines, from June, 1775, till
June, 1777 ; Thomas AVooten from June, 1777, till
September, 1780 ; Hardy Sanders, from Sei3tember,
1780, till September, 1782 ; Britain Fuller, from Sep-
tember, 1782, until after peace was declared. "

After the end of hostilities, Colonel Lane exerted
every effort to allay the bitterness which had arisen
while the war was in j^rogress, and befriended many
Loyalists who were objects of hatred to a less generous
element of the Whigs than that to which he belonged.
Among other Tories, who had reason to be thankful
for his good offices, was Colonel John Hamilton, whom
he probably knew before the war, as both were from
Halifax County. Hamilton was one of the bravest
and most active officers siding with the King, and a
man of character, who had treated American prisoners
with more than ordinary kindness, though even this
(lid not save his estates from confiscation. For some
years after the Revolution, he was British Consul at
Norfolk, Virginia, and finally went to England, where
he died. Serving on Hamilton's staff was a young en-
sign, Dugald McKethen, who became a useful and re-
spected citizen of Raleigli al'tei" the return of peace,
and married one of Colonel Lane's daughters.

*Court Records of Wake.

16

In the time treated of by tliis sketch, Wake County
abounded in large game, and hunting was a favorite
pastime. ^ Just inside, and westward of the southern
entrance, of Capitol Square in Raleigh, there is still
living a large sassafras tree, which was a famous deer-
stand. The writer learned this from his father, the
late Dr. Richard B. Haywood, who personally remem-
bered one of Colonel Lane's nephews, Edmund Lane,
who himself claimed to have killed nearly forty deer
there.

Before the Revolutionary war, and during that
struggle, the caj)ital of North Carolina was some-
what migratory. It was, as a rule, located where
the Governor happened to reside, for that functionary
usually summoned the Legislature to meet at the x)lace
which best suited his convenience. So, after inde-
pendence had been achieved, the State Convention,
which met at Fayetteville in 1788, gave the General
Assembly instructions to fix permanently the capital,
provided it should be within ten miles of Isaac Hunter' s
j)lantation in Wake County, which radius was chosen
on account of its central location. Nine Commission-
ers were appointed to purchase a site, but only six
attended the meeting which was held for that purpose.
Those present were : Frederick Hargett, Chairman,
William Johnston Dawson, Joseph McDowell, James
Martin, Thomas Blount, and Willie Jones. The mem-
bers of this board were from different x)arts of the State.
They had to choose from seventeen tracts which were
offered. In reference to their decision, the Honorable
Kemp P. Battle, in his 1892 Centennial Address on Ral-
eigh, says that the Hinton tract on Neuse river received,
on the first ballot, three of the six votes cast ; the tract

17

offered by Joel Lane received two ; and the other vote
was cast for land owned by Natlianiel Jones, of AVhite
Plains, near the present village of Gary. As a major-
ity was not received by either tract on this baUot, the
board adjourned until next day. Continuing his ad-
dress. Dr. Battle says :

'' Willie Jones was a master of the art of persua-
sion and was an intimate friend of Joel Lane. Lane
liimself was a man of influence, who had served tlie
State in the Colonial Congress and as Senator for ten
years in succession. Very i)robably he offered new
inducements as to j^rice. At any rate, on Friday, the
8()th of March, a second ballot was taken, with the
result that Wake Court House received five votes, and
the llinton land received only one vote. Possibly
Lane was adversely criticised for his tactics in win-
ning tlie contest. There was abundant room for un-
pleasant talk on account of his entertaining the Com-
missioners at his house. They were acting as judges,
and were certainly, notwithstanding their high char-
acter, liable to the criticism that they ate the bread of
one of the litigants. I cannot find their accounts of
expenses, but it is altogether pro])al)le that they, paid
for their entertainment. I notice that Lane was Sen-
ator from 1782 to 1702, l)()th inclusive, but that in the
next year James Hinton had his place. This is some
evidence that the Hinton family resented his success
in the negotiation and that the people took their side.
If so, the displeasure was evanescent, for he was Sen-
ator again in 1704 and 171)r)."

James Iredell (afterwards a .ludge of the United
States Supreme Court) introduced the Convention or-
dinance requiring the capital to be located in Wake

18

County, and the name " Raleigh " is said to have been
first suggested for the new city by Governor Alexander
Martin.

As Colonel Lane's residence was the most important
house at Bloomsbury, or Wake Cross-Roads, before
Raleigh was laid out, he was often inconvenienced by
the number of travellers who claimed his hospitality.
To get rid of those who were not his personal friends,
he caused to be erected a small ordinary — or of nary
as it was called by the natives. This old inn was
afterwards turned into a school-house, and is now used
as an out-building to a residence on the north side of
Hillsborough street, between McDowell and Dawson.
It is about three-quarters of a mile in an easterly di-
rection from where the old Lane homestead stands,
and somewhat resembles the architecture of that build-
ing.

Two blocks north of Capitol Square, in Raleigh,
one of the city's thoroughfares, running east and west,
is called Lane Street in honor of the former owner of
the soil.

Colonel Lane was one of the first Trustees of the
University of North Carolina, and (on November 5,
1792,) offered that institution a gift of six hundred
and forty acres of land, near the plantation of Nathan-
iel Jones, of AVhite Plains, on condition that it should
be located there, but the offer was declined.

Hinton James, the first graduate of .the University,
was a nephew of Mrs. Lane, whose father. Colonel
John Hinton, had two daughters who married mem-
bers of the James family. Hinton James was the son
of Captain John James, of the Revolution, and his
wife Alice Hinton. Alice's sister, Elizabeth, married
Thomas James.

19

Colonel Lane was twice married. Both of his wives
were daughters of the well known Revolutionary sol-
dier and statesman, Colonel John Hinton, of AVake
County, and his wife, Grizelle Kimbrough.

To his first wife, Maktha Hinton, Colonel Lane was
married on the 9th of December, 1762. She died on
September 9, 1771, leaving three sons. They w^ere :

I. Henry Lane, born March 6, 1764^ w^ho married his
first cousin, Mary Hinton (daughter of Major John
Hinton, Jr., of Wake County), and left descendants.
He died in Wake County in 1797.

II. James Lane, who was born October 7, 1766."

III. William Lane, who w^as born October 15, 1768. '^
Mary Hinton, the second w^ife of Joel Lane, to

whom he was married in 1772, bore him nine children,
as follows :

I. Nancy Lane, born July 22, 1773.

II. John Lane, born March 6, 1775, w^ho married Sa-
rah Elizabeth Jones, daughter of Nathaniel Jones, of
White Plains, Wake County, and left descendants.
He removed to Marshall County, Tennessee, and died
there in 1864.

III. Martha Lane, born February 19, 1778, who was
twice married : (first), to Dugald McKethen, hereto-
fore mentioned ; (second), to Jonathan Brickell. She
was Mr. Brickell' s second wife. Her death occurred
in Raleigh, May 20, 1852. She had children, but no
descendants are now living.

IV. Elizabeth Lane, born August 6, 1780, who was
the first wife of Stephen Haywood, of Raleigh, where

*Whorf' the inarriaf?('S of Coloiu'l Lane's cliildren are not jjlven, it is l)PC'aus(' I
have been unable to ascertain wlioni tiiey married. Some of his children may liave
died 3'ounj^. James and William were living in 17«4 when their fatiu'r madi- liis
will. As to other James Lanes, see note, page tt, ante.

20

she died March 7, 1805. She has descendants, but none
are now living who bear the name of Haywood.

V. Mary Lane, born January 1, 1783.

yi. Thomas Lane, born September 12, 1785, who
married Nancy Lane, daughter of his cousin and guar-
dian, Martin Lane, heretofore mentioned. Thomas
removed to Giles County, Tennessee, and died there
March 29, 1832, leaving issue.

VII. Dorothy Lane, born December 13, 1787, who was
the second wife of Dr. Allen W. Gilchrist, and left
descendants. Her marriage took place on May 29, 1806.
Dr. Gilchrist was from Halifax County, North Caro-
lina, but afterwards removed from the State.

VIII. Joel Hinton Lane, born October 11, 1790, who
married Mary Freeman, and died without issue, in
Giles County, Tennessee, June 22, 1832. He was a vol-
unteer from Wake County, North Carolina, in the War
of 1812.

IX. Grizelle Lane, born June 13, 1793, who married
George Lillington Ryan, and died without issue, in
Raleigh, March 4, 1808.

Joel Lane's second wife, Mary, survived him less
than a week, and died on the 3rd of April, 1795.

In things spiritual, Colonel Lane was most exem-
plary, and enforced strict religious observance upon
all within his household. It has been noted that his
ancestors were adherents of the Church of England ;
so, when this sturdy pioneer came to the wilds of Wake
County, the Book of Common Prayer came also. Un-
der the English Church Establishment of that time,
the territory embraced in Wake was known as the
"Parish of St. Margaret." Though the adjacent coun-
try was too thinly settled for the Church to thrive, the

21

Lane residence always remained the home of religion
as well as of hospitality. Not only was the family
called daily to prayer, but Colonel Lane himself ob-
served each fast and other devotional exercise pre-
scribed by the Church, in which he remained a com-
municant up to the time of his death. At inter-
vals, some regularly ordained clergyman would pass
tlirough; and, on these occasions, younger members
(d' the family were baptized. Among other clerical
visitors, was Parson Micklejohn, of Hillsborough,
whom *'Shocco'' Jones describes as "a high Cliurch-
luan in religion and a high Tory in politics." When,
some years after the Revolution, Bishop Ravenscroft
came to Wake County to revive, under its new name,
the Church of England, the Lanes could boast that in
one quarter, at least, it had never been dormant.

The death of Joel Lane occurred on the 29th day of
March, 1795. In an address delivered in Raleigh, on
August 24, 1867, Ex-Governor Swain (Colonel Lane's
great- nephew) refers to the last resting place of the old
patriot, saying that his remains "moulder in the midst
of other unrecorded dead beneath the shade of a mul-
berry on his ancient domain." There, indeed, is. his
grave, of which no vestige now appears. The spot is
in an open field (upon which the town is fast closing
in), and lies a few feet east of Boylan Avenue, about
thirty-live yards south of Morgan street.

After the death of Joel Lane, his son Thomas, to
whom he l)equeathed his residence,* sold it on Decem-
ber 31, 1808, to Dr. Allen W. Uilchrist who married
Colonel Lane's daughter. It was afterwards bought

♦The Randall Ktc'hin>» Co., »>f Rah-iKli. i?* "<'nv propariiiK. mid will soon have for
Bale, an etching of this Imilding.

22

by Peter Browne, a native of Scotland, who was an
able lawyer, but withal a miser and utilitarian, re-
specting nothing above its value in dollars and cents.
Finding that the burying ground (where, also, many
other early citizens, besides the Lanes, were interred)
was an unprofitable x)iece of property, he had it plowed
up and planted in cabbages! If one leaves this spot, and
walks about a mile and a half eastward along Morgan
Street to what Raleigh people now call the Old Grave-
yard, there he will find the slab which marks the
grave of Browne himself. It states that he died Octo-
ber 26, 1833, "aged 6711 years." Verily, one may
think, Methuselah would turn green with envy, and
feel youthful, could he read this. What means it ?
may be asked by another, less credulous. The solu-
tion is this : Originally the inscription read, "67"
years ; and some vandal, with a good knowledge of
stone-cutting, did the rest by adding the two other
figures. Thus the grave of this desecrator has not itself
escaped desecration.

Before concluding our sketch, further mention
should be made of the house in which Colonel Lane
lived, and which was built by him. It still stands, and
is the oldest house in Raleigh — much older than the
city itself. William Boylan, editor of the Minerva^
bought it from the aforementioned Peter Browne, in
1818, and it has been in possession of the Boylans ever
since. It faces east on the avenue named for that
family. To one of the present generation, it is an un-
imposing structure ; but, when built, was considered
quite palatial. Two stories, low in pitch, with a
steep double-slanting roof and a small wing on the
south side, is the house as it stands. But it seldom

28

fails to attract attention. Its quaintness of architec-
ture speaks of a generation now passed into history —
of Tryon, marching witli liis army against the Regu-
lators ; of Burke, Spaight, Lenoir, and their compa-
triots in the Revolutionary assembly which met be-
neath its roof; of the Hintons, Hunters, and Jones's,
of early Wake.

" A kind of old Hobgoblin Hall,

Now somewhat fallen to decay,
With weather-stains upon the wall.

And stairways worn and crazy doors.

And creaking and uneven floors.
And chimneys huge, and tiled and tall —

A region of repose it seems,

A place of slumber and of dreams !"

LE N '10

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