Fanny Griswold Lane

Fanny Griswold Lane was born in Sandusky on June 21, 1850, to Dr. Ebenezer Shaw Lane and Pallas Elizabeth Anderson Lane. Dr. Lane was the son of Judge Ebenezer Lane, and Pallas Lane. Pallas Lane was the only daughter of early Sandusky physician Dr. George Anderson. Fanny's middle name, Griswold, was the maiden name of her grandmother, Frances Ann Griswold Lane.

Fanny moved with her family to Chicago. The 1880 U.S. Census, available at FamilySearch, listed the Ebenezer Lane family as residing in Chicago, Illinois. Fanny was 29, and her father listed his occupation as retired physician. Fanny's brother, also named Ebenezer, was 32, and her sister Mary was 25. The ages of Fanny's parents, Ebenezer and Pallas were 60 and 55, respectively. After the death of Dr. Ebenezer Lane, Fanny and her brother, the third Ebenezer Lane, donated the Lane book collection to the University of Chicago. The Lane book collection had been started by Judge Ebenezer Lane, and was passed down to Dr. Ebenezer Shaw Lane.

You can read more about the Lane family history in the three volume book entitled LANE GENEALOGIES, by Jacob Chapman and James Hill Fitch, published between 1891 and 1902 by the Newsletter Press in Exeter, New Hampshire. Volume 2, which contains details about Judge Ebenezer Lane and his descendants, is accessible at the Internet Archive. Miss Fanny Griswold Lane passed away in Chicago on November 23, 1938, and she was buried at Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery.

Wordless Wednesday: Lane Monument at Oakland Cemetery

Dr. Eben S. Lane

In Helen Hansen's AT HOME IN EARLY SANDUSKY, we read that Ebenezer Shaw Lane was born in August 1819 to Ebenezer Lane and Frances Ann Griswold Lane. When young Ebenezer (later called Eben, probably to avoid confusion with his father) was only two years old, the family moved from Elyria to Norwalk, by horseback. Dr. Eben Lane was in partnership with Dr. Aaron Austin and Dr. I. P. Randell in 1844. During the cholera epidemic of 1849, Dr. Lane worked tirelessly.

Pallas Anderson, daughter of Sandusky's first physician, Dr. George Anderson, became the wife of Dr. Lane. In 1870, Dr. Lane moved his family to Chicago. Dr. Eben S. Lane died in Chicago on January 3, 1893. He is buried in Block 11 of Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery. Several members of the Lane family are in this section, with identical tombstones.

The former home of Dr. Eben S. Lane is pictured on page 56 of AT HOME IN EARLY SANDUSKY. The home, located at 318 Huron Avenue in Sandusky, was later occupied by Mr. and Mrs. John H. Hudson.

Mrs. Pallas Anderson Lane

Pallas Anderson was the only daughter of Dr. George Anderson, Sandusky's first doctor. She was born in Sandusky in 1825, which was located in Huron County at that time. (Erie County was founded in 1838.) According to records found at www.familysearch.org, Pallas Anderson married Dr. Ebenezer Shaw Lane in 1845. Ebenezer Shaw Lane was the son of Judge Ebenezer Lane, a beloved early citizen of Sandusky.

Helen Hansen wrote in AT HOME IN EARLY SANDUSKY, that the Dr. Ebenezer Shaw Lane and his wife Pallas lived at 318 Huron Avenue in Sandusky. Dr. Lane worked faithfully to aid the sick during the cholera epidemic of 1849. He was the first secretary of the Erie County Medical Society, which was organized in 1850. By 1870, Dr. Lane and his wife moved to Chicago. The 1880 U.S. Census for Chicago lists the children of Dr. E. S. Lane and his wife Pallas as: Ebenezer, Mary, and Fannie. Mrs. Pallas Anderson Lane died in 1886, and is buried in Oakland Cemetery, where many other Lane family members also are buried.

Judge Ebenezer Lane

Ebenezer Lane was born in Massachusetts in 1793 and died in Sandusky, Ohio on June 12, 1866. He was married to Frances Griswold, the daughter of Governor Roger Griswold of Connecticut.

In 1817, Ebenezer Lane moved to Ohio. He settled in Sandusky, after living in Elyria for a short time. Ebenezer Lane became Judge of Common Pleas of the Second Circuit in 1824, and in 1830 he became of Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio. He held that position until 1845. Judge Lane was fond of books, owned 4,000 of them. Some called him a "walking library."

After his career as a judge, Ebenezer Lane focused his attention on railroads. Helen Hansen wrote in her book AT HOME IN EARLY SANDUSKY that Judge Lane had interests in the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad, the Junction Railroad, and the Central Railroad of Illinois. He lived for some time in Chicago.

Judge Lane died of throat cancer in 1866. He was sadly missed by his family and friends. Judge Lane and his wife, and several family members are buried at Sandusky in Oakland Cemetery. An article about the life of Judge Ebenezer Lane can be found in the June 1867 "Firelands Pioneer."

William Lane, the son of Ebenezer Lane, was also a judge. He is buried in Oakland Cemetery as well.