Recollection of William E. Lane

COMMUNICATION FROM WM. E. LANE.

Zionsville, Ind., Oct. 18, 1886.

Messrs. Harden & Spahr, Lebanon, Ind.:

Dear Sirs – Inclosed [sic] find a short sketch of my life, my parents and grand parents.

My grandparents, Lambert Lane and Nancy Anderson, were emigrants from England. They were both young when their parents arrived in this country. Their parents settled on the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania about fifteen miles north of its mouth, in the wild woods and amongst the Indians. While living there my grandparents became acquainted and were married in the quaint old style. My grandfather wore a blue cloth coat cut “claw hammer” style, with no lapels, ornamented with large brass buttons which closely buttoned up his coat; his pantaloons were white linen, buckled with a large silver buckle just below the knees to a pair of white silk stockings. His shoes were leather, fastened with another pair of silver buckles. Grandmother wore a white cambric dress, with nice hand embroidery on the skirt. In a few years they moved to Virginia and lived there about four years; then they moved to Tennessee on the Holston River and remained there for a few years, after which they moved to Shelby County, Kentucky, about five miles from Shelbyville. While living there my father, Thomas Lane, became acquainted with Anna Ellis, and was married to her on the 11th day of April, 1799. They lived together thirty-six years, when my father took pneumonia and was sick for six weeks. His disease became chronic and he died August 18, 1835. My mother never married again, but lived to raise her family. She died of remittent fever May 24, 1848. My father served as a Revolutionary soldier for seven years; he was a private for three years, when he was commissioned as an officer, which he held to the close of his soldiery. He underwent many trials and privations, but was never sick a day while in the army, save from the wounds he received. He was wounded four times, once seriously while guarding the Moccasin Gap. He was surrounded by the Indians and would have lost his life if providence had not favored the occasion with a very severe rain storm, which wet the powder in the Indians’ old flint-lock guns, and prevented them from firing. He put spurs to his gallant horse and was hastily making his escape, when a sturdy warrior seized his bridle rein and brought his horse to a sudden halt. Father used his saber and cut one Indian’s arm off, hacked another on the head till he fell to the ground. He then forced his horse through their ranks, but received a severe cut in his right side which lasted him several weeks.

He was sent home then and remained there about three months, when he was called back to resume his place in the army. He always obeyed his superiors, and was never punished during his term of soldiery. He served his time out in the army and came home without a dollar in his pocket; but the Government allowed him to bring his horse, sword and pistol home, with the assurance that he should be paid for the whole seven years’ service and receive a land bounty, but too sad to think of, neither got money nor land; yet he came home in good health and good spirits, hoping that a large yield of his tillage might make prospects brighter. He soon made money enough to enter a quarter section of land.

He remained on that farm (Shelby County, Ky.) until the spring of 1811, when he with his family came to the Indiana Territory and settled on the Ohio River in what is now Harrison County. He entered land there, built a cabin and went to work in the green timber to make a field, for it was root hog or die. He accumulated means very rapidly and was soon able to own a large tract of land, notwithstanding he raised a large family, five daughters and nine sons. All lived to be grown but one son. I herewith insert a copy of the old family register, just as it was written by my father, and only wish that I could give a fac simile [sic] of the writing:

THE FAMILY RECORD OF THOMAS LANE.

Thomas Lane was born June 5, 1763.
Thomas Lane died August 18, 1835.
Anna Lane was born January 25, 1782.
Anna Lane died May 24, 1848.
Isaac Lane was born October 17, 1800.
Sarah Lane was born January 30, 1802.
Craven Lane was born November 9, 1803.
Malinda Lane was born June 13, 1805.
William E. Lane was born July 3, 1807.
Linna Lane was born October 10, 1809.
Fielding W. Lane was born July 1, 1811.
Eliza E. Lane was born March 3, 1814.
Ellis Lane was born July 11, 1816.
John A. Lane was born July 1, 1817.
Pleasant G. Lane was born July 3, 1819.
Anna A. Lane was born November 19, 1820.
Davis W. Lane was born September 24, 1823.
Nelson Lane was born January 8, 1827.
Ellis E. Lane died August 22, 1816.
Linna White died September 1, 1837.
John A. Lane died September 7, 1843.
Nelson Lane died July 13, 1851.
Davis W. Lane died March 27, 1852.
Isaac Lane died June 23, 1875.
Pleasant G. Lane died August, 1876.
Craven Lane died September 4, 1873.
Sarah Keller died December 12, 1863.
Malinda Barnett died October, 1858.
Eliza E. Barnett died September 15, 1868.
Anna Gresham died February 11, 1881.
Fielding W. Lane died January 11, 1883.

Thomas Lane, Anna Lane and seven of their children, to wit: Ellis E. Lane, Linna White, Nelson Lane, John A. Lane, Davis Lane, Sarah Keller and Craven Lane, were buried in Cedar Ridge on father’s own farm, near Lane’s Landing on the Ohio River, Harrison County, Ind. Malinda Barnett was buried in a Presbyterian cemetery near Reesville, Putnam County, Ind. Eliza E. Barnett was buried in a Baptist cemetery near Reelsville, Ind. Pleasant G. Lane was buried in a country cemetery near Shoals, Martin County, Ind. Isaac Lane was buried at Shellsburg, Benton County, Iowa. Fielding W. Lane was buried at Brookly, Iowa. This is the family record of my father, which carries all the family to their graves but myself.

In August, 1828, I came to Boone County and entered the tract of land that I now live on. I then went back to Harrison County, and was married to Elizabeth Simpson on the 4th day of February, 1830. Her father, Thomas Simpson, was a man of more than ordinary intellect, was of foreign birth – born in Scotland June 27, 1757. He, with his parents, came to Virginia in his boyhood days, and remained there until the beginning of the Revolutionary War; he then volunteered for a soldier, and went to the army as a private under General Washington. He was in the army for seven long years. Although he started as a private, he soon honored the First Sergeant’s rank; but long before the war closed he bore the commission of Second Lieutenant. He, like many others, suffered many privations during the war. On one occasion, when camping for the night, he kicked the snow from a brush heap, spread his blanket and slept for the night, as they were in the enemy’s country and no fire was allowed. He served his time in the army and when discharged went back to Virginia to farming, and married Abigail Moore (the exact day and month we can not give, the paper being so old, and very pale ink, that it could not be read) in 1784. That coming February he went to Jefferson County (now Nelson County), Kentucky, and laid a warrant for a patent containing five hundred acres. He remained there the following summer and deadened the green timber on a parcel of ground, giving a desirable location for a house and field. The whole summer he was compelled to sleep on the bare ground to prevent the savage Indians from scalping him, each night sleeping in a different place, with his old “killing iron” by his side.

He worked all summer on this piece of land, then returned to his native home and found his wife enjoying the sweet hum of her spinning-wheel. He then rented a farm of George Washington, and was to have the use of the horses and slaves on the farm. Simpson was to provide for the negroes and sell Washington’s corn at “two shillings and six pence per bushel, hay at the same price.” This quotation is taken from the original contract made between Simpson and Washington, dated December 21, 1785. While engaged in deadening the green timber on his Kentucky land, the Indians stole his horse, which left him with nothing but his ax and gun (old killing iron) to fight his way with those savage wretches. This compelled him to walk from Bloomfield, Kentucky (nicknamed Gandertown), to his old home place on the Monongahela River, Marion County, West Virginia (then Virginia), a distance of over five hundred miles. He arrived on the Virginia home in good health, vigorously pushed the work on the Washington farm until 1790, when he, with his wife and two little children, went to his own home near Gandertown, Kentucky. He spent the remainder of his life on that farm, in the noble pursuit of a farmer’s life, in the steadfast faith of a Presbyterian. His only brother, John Simpson, was the father of President U. S. Grant’s mother. He was a member of the noble order Free and Accepted Masons, and died in good standing, a member of the Bardstown lodge. He died from a bullet wound received from a British soldier while struggling for our nation’s liberty. The bullet went through his right lung and rested against the shoulder-blade, producing a running sore, which brought his worthy life to a peaceful close about twelve o’clock, August 10, 1825. His wife, Abigail, died of dropsy of the heart on the 12th of February, 1825. They were both buried on the old farm on Simpson’s Creek, near Bardstown, Kentucky.

THOMAS SIMPSON’S FAMILY RECORD.

Thomas Simpson was born June 27, 1757.
Abigail Simpson was born July 6, 1761.
Mary Simpson was born May 15, 1786.
J. Moore Simpson was born November 2, 1787.
Tamer Simpson was born January 15, 1789.
Samuel Simpson was born December 5, 1789.
Nancy Simpson was born August 4, 1793.
Nelly Simpson was born January 29, 1795.
John Simpson was born October 27, 1796.
Gilbert Simpson was born January 23, 1799.
Elizabeth Simpson was born January 19, 1801.
Hannah Simpson was born June 18, 1804.

The Simpson family was scattered all over the country in different states until I lost sight of them, and do not know where all of them died; but all the family is gone, not one is left to tell the sad story.

My wife and I arrived in Boone County, on our wooded home, on the 31st day of December, 1830. That winter I cut trees to build a cabin; the next spring I got a few of the old settlers and we erected a cabin 18 x 23 feet; we covered it with clapboards that I had split out of a large red oak tree. They were made four feet long and laid down loosely and weighted down with heavy poles; the lower one, or eave-bearer, had a large pin through it to prevent it from slipping off.

We moved into our cabin without any shutter to the door, when there were plenty of rattlesnakes, wolves and bear in the country, and worse to be dreaded of all was the wild boar. There were no mills near us, and milling was a great item. On one occasion when it became necessary for me to get corn ground (for that was nearly all the kind of bread we used) I took a sack of corn and put it on a horse and started to mill to be gone over night, my wife remaining at home to do as best she could. In the early part of the night our large savage dog began baying at something. Betsy (as I called her) got up and built a fire, and stepped to the door and raised the blanket that hung up for a shutter; she hissed the dog so as to drive away the intruder, but the coarse grown from a bear frightened her very badly. She stepped to the firm, took a burning stick in her hand to singe him if he came in. Suddenly the dog was boxed into the middle of the room, but rose instantly and fought so hard that the bear was driven away. On another occasion when I had been away from home to do a day’s work, I returned by the light of the stars, ate my supper, and went to doing my chores; and as corn was always scarce in the fall we fed pumpkins until they would freeze. This time I took my pumpkin stick, went to the field, got my load and came to the house to feed my horse and cow. Suddenly I heard a rustling behind me, and I pitched my load off of my shoulder, turned around and saw a very large wild board just ready to jump at me. I jumped the little yard fence, went into the house and got my gun and came out and “settled” with him.

We had a very hard time in the wilderness, as it might be called. Coming away from a locality where everything was plenty and market near. The nearest dry goods store or grocery was at Indianapolis, fifteen miles away. About three years after we came to this county, William Miller put up a few dry goods in an old cabin in old Eagle Village about two miles away.

We struggled on in life, striving to raise our family, which had to be clothed by our home production, which was flax and tow linen for summer, and jeans colored with walnut bark for winter. Wool was carded by hand and spun on a little spinning wheel.

We had eleven children born to us – eight sons and three daughters – six sons and two daughters still living. But my devoted companion bid adieu to earthly friends and went to her heavenly home on the morning of March 28, 1879; but ere long I too will have gone to meet her, for I am now seventy-nine years old, having been born July 3, 1807, and my companion, Elizabeth Simpson, January 19, 1801.

William E. Lane.

Source Citation: Boone County History [database online] Boone County INGenWeb. 2007. <http://www.rootsweb.com/~inboone> Original data: Harden & Spahr. "Early life and times in Boone County, Indiana." Lebanon, Indiana. May, 1887, pp. 109-116.

Transcribed by: Julie S. Townsend - July 8, 2007