LANE, Higgins - Putnam

LANE, HIGGINS, was born in Montgomery County, Ky., in the stirring times of 1812, and from the traditions still fresh, as he became old enough to understand them, he seemed to draw inspirations of patriotism and philanthropy, which remained his guiding stars through his entire life. He was the youngest son of Col. James H. and Mary LANE, and brother of the Hon. Henry S. LANE. His education in early life was limited, his opportunities for attending school being only such as were offered in the rural districts; but he had a mind that was ever active in the acquisition of knowledge, and yet valued knowledge only in so far as it could be made available and practical. He was no theorist for the sake of theory, but always blended theory and practice, and judged of any proposition or enterprise in the light of its results. He possessed a keen perception, a correct and ready judgment, which always made his opinions and decisions valuable. He was a great reader throughout his whole life, and whatever moments were not employed in the daily business of life were utilized in reading. He was passionately fond of history and geography. On August 8, 1837, at the age of twenty-five, he was married by Elder John SMITH to Miss Angeline L., daughter of Lloyd and Elizabeth THOMPSON. His wife was also a native of Montgomery County, Ky., having been born there December 3, 1818. By this union, ten children were born. Of these, five lived to be grown, but three of the five have died from consumption. Henry S. LANE, Jr., died in the fall of 1862; Mary E. LANE died in November, 1870, and Carrie L., wife of Elder J. H. BAUSERMAN, died May 1, 1877, a few weeks after the demise of her father. The wife and mother still survive, together with her two sons, Elder Oscar F. LANE, an able and honored minister of the Christian Church, and Edwin T. LANE, who represented Putnam and Hendricks Counties in the Fiftieth Session of the General Assembly of Indiana. The subject of this sketch being convinced that Jesus is the Christ, under the preaching of Alexander Campbell, was, upon the confession of his faith, immersed by Elder John SMITH. His life was a constant testimony of the sincerity of that profession. He, together with his wife and little family removed, in the spring of 1844, to Putnam County, Ind., and settled on a farm near Bainbridge, where he resided for over twenty-eight years. There, at his request, his body rests. Mr. LANE was one of those sterling men who characters and lives have done so much for human society, in the various capacities in which the early settlers of this country were called upon to act; and the present generation is more indebted to them for schools, colleges, churches, humane and charitable institutions, than perhaps will ever fully be known. In politics, Mr. LANE, like his father and grandfather, was first a Whig; but at the formation of the Republican party, he at once accepted its principles and remained true to them to the moment of his death. Next to his God stood his country. While an active politician, he was far from being one in the narrow partisan sense, as is evidenced in the fact that he was three times elected to our State Legislature, in a county where the majority were of the opposite party. He could not be said to be ambitious of political honors. He accepted office neither for its honor nor profit, but because he deferred to the wishes of his fellow citizens, who earnestly and repeatedly demanded his public services. He was elected to the Legislature in 1849, 1860, and again in 1864. The subject of this sketch was a life-long and active member of the Christian Church. Soon after their removal to this State, he and his wife identified themselves with the Somerset congregation, four miles from Bainbridge. He was soon made an Elder, and served the church for fifteen years in that capacity. In 1860, he with others, made a determined effort for an organization in Bainbridge, in which he was successful. He served this congregation as an Elder, over fifteen years, aided liberally with his means to build a house of worship, and saw the cause firmly established. Mr. LANE was a man who blended the positive characteristics of a vigorous and active life with the gentle and refining influences of Christianity most perfectly. He was self-sacrificing to a large degree; consulted the interests of others rather than his own; was a stranger to selfishness, and liberal almost to a fault. He never turned the beggar hungry from his door, nor a deaf ear to the cry of the oppressed. He was a friend and promoter of the interests of education. He always contended that a good name and a good education were the best inheritances that a parent could leave to a child. He was for many years a member of the Board of Directors of the N. W. C. U., now Butler University, whose charter he was instrumental in obtaining in the Legislature of 1849-50, of which he was a member. Throughout his whole, life, he was a radical temperance man, having taken the pledge at the age of fifteen, he kept it to his death. Mr. LANE was born to be a leader. His character was strongly positive; he had few passive virtues. He was constitutionally radical in all of his convictions, whether political, moral, or religious. His whole life was an open book. He despised sham and show; abhorred trickery and littleness, envy and deceit. As a public speaker, he possessed superior native ability. He scarcely ever made an appeal in vain. In his address, he spoke with force and precision, and was master of that oratory which, if not ornate in style or classic in lore, was better - it was the oratory that carried his point. In the social circle he possessed rare qualities - both agreeable and instructive; but never indulged in jests or foolish things. He contracted a cold in 1865, which resulted in catarrh of the head, which gradually reached itself down into the throat and lungs, and, finally, undermined the whole system. He peacefully fell asleep on Lord's Day morning, March 4, 1877, in the sixty-fifth year of his age.

MAJOR HIGGINS LANE. The eminently worthy career of such a man as Major Higgins Lane is worthy of conspicuous mention in such a work as the one at hand, for many valuable lessons could be gleaned therefrom by the youth whose destinies are yet matters for the future to determine. He was born in Montgomery County, Kentucky July 9, 1812, the youngest son of Col. James H. and Mary Higgins Lane. His parents on both sides were of English descent, the first Lanes who came to this country having settled in Loudon Co, VA and the Higgins family in Fairfax Co VA at the beginning of the 18th century. The land on which the Lanes located was the arena of the battle of Bull Run. At the close of the 18th century, Col. James H. Lane moved to KY and erected the first log cabin constructed in Montgomery Co. As a pioneer he had many encounters with the Indians. It was in this humble cabin that his son Higgins first saw the light of day, and it was from there, among the green hills of his childhood, that he received the simple rudiments of education, common to this early day. In the spring of 1837 he came to Putnam Co IN and pioneer fashion, began establishing a home on unimproved land, having purchased 160 acres in Sec 11, Monroe Twp. Returning to KY, he was married Aug 8, 1837 to Angeline L. THOMPSON, second daughter of Lloyd and Elizabeth JAMESON Thompson. Mrs. Lane was a lineal descent with George Washington, her great grandmother on her mother's side being Judith Ball, first cousin to Mary Ball, Washington's mother. Mrs. Lane was a woman of strong character and unusual mental poise, considerate, affectionate and kind hearted. Her death occurred at her home in Bainbridge, Oct 3, 1881, in her 74th year. To thse parents were born 10 children, 4 in KY and six in Indiana; 3 died in infancy and two in early childhood, 3 after reaching the age of maturity,namely: Mary E, who was born in KY on Dec 13, 1841 died Nov 1, 1870; Carrie L. who married Eld JH Banserman, was born in KY Feb 5, 1844 married Sept 8, 1867 died May 1, 1877. The only remaining children are Elder Oscar F. Lane of Bainbridge, born May 5, 1848 (full sketch appears elsewhere in this work) and ELder Edwin T. Lane, of Oklahoma City, OK who was born Feb 7, 1851. The bitterly hard times caused by the low tariff bill of 1837 and the repeal of the US banking law caused the Lane family to postpone coming to their land in Indian auntil the spring of 1844. In order to make a second payment on his land, Mr. Lane borrowd money at 16 and 2/3 per cent interest. Three years after purchasing his Indiana land he could have bought the same kind of land for $. 50 per acres, just 1/2 the price paid for it in 1837, land values having greatly depreciated in the meantime. Their first dwelling in Putnam Co was a log house, costing $10 including the clearning of two acres of ground. When Higgins located here he became actively identified with the civil, religious and educational interests of the state of his adoption and he never lost an opportunity to further the interests of Putnam County. He identified himself with the Somerset Church of Christ, Montgomery Co KY in April 1837. Convinced under the preaching of Alexander Campbell, that Jesus is the Christ, Mr. Lane was immersed on confession of his faith by Elder John SMith. As soon as he established his home in Indiana he identified himself with the Somerset church, four miles from his home, and he was soon made an elder of that congregation, serving in this capacity for 15 years. In 1860, securing the help of Elder John Smith of Ky, and Elder OP Badger of Greencastle, a Church of Christ was established at Bainbridge. The present house of worship of this congregation was the result of his gifts of time and means, all the lumber used in its construction coming from his farm. He served this congregation as elder for a period of over 15 years. The confidence of his brethren in his judgment and sense of right was such that he was often called upon to adjust church difficulties in Putnam and adjoining counties. He was liberal almost to a fault, he not only freely respondedto all calls at home, but for a missionary work abroad as well, having been a life member of the American Home Missionary Society of the Christian Church. He was an earnest advocate of education and among the many good acts of his useful life may be mentioned the aid he rendered in securing the charter for the Northwestern Chrisian (now Butler) University at Indianapolis through the Legislature of 1849 and 1850, of which he was a member. This univeristy was the first in Indiana to open its doors for the coeducation of the sexes. Mr. Lane was a member of its board of diretors for 20 years and he assisted very liberally ini ts endowment. He was one of the organizers of the 1st National bank, Greencastle. In 1872, in connection with DT Thorntown, DS Ward, Thomas Bayne and John Wilkinson, he organized the Bainbridge Bank and was made its president. During the Mexican War, Mr. Lane was elected major of a mililtia regiment organized in Putnam County of which George Piercy was colonel and James Fish Lt. Col. Politically he was first a Whig as were his father and grandfather and he was an emancipationist, having always had great sympathy for the oppressed. He allied himself with the Republican party upon its organization and maintained his allegiance to it until his death. He was a nephew of Daniel Lane, the first secretary of state of Indiana, and a second cousin of Gen. Joseph Lane, who commanded the Indiana troops during the Mexican war and who was made 1st governor of Oregon and then US Senator and who, in 1860 was a candidate for the vice presidency. Major Higgins Lane was a 3rd cousin to Gen. James H. Lane, Lt. Gov of Indiana from 1849-1853, then leader in the struggle of the KS Settlers against the Missouri slave holders, and he was the first US senator from KS. He was a brother of Henry S. Lane, one of the organizers of the Republican Party and chairman of its first national c onvention held in Philadelphia in 1856, that nominated Gen. John c. Fremont for President. He was the first Republican governor of Indiana and the state's first republican US senator and he was recognized as one of the foremost political orators of his day. At all times Higgins took an active interest in political issues, but he had no ambition for personal preerment or political office, yet as a sense of duty, he yielded tothe unanimous call of his party and was 3 times a representative of Putnam Co in our state Assembly, each time overcoming a majority against him. As a speaker he made no attempts at rhetorical flights or ornateness, but possessed rare native ability, was logical, argumentative, practical, impetuous and intensely earnest. He rarely ever failed to carry his point. He despised sham and hypocrisy, and held tenaciously to what he believed to be right. His life was clean and open, and those who came into contact with him at once had confidence and faith in him. He was an uncompromising temperance man, having taken the temperance pledge at age 15, which he kept until his death. He was not only an ardent temperance advocate, but he did what he could to abolish the liquor traffic. His views against the use of tobacco were as radical as were those against the us eof intoxicants. His nature was positive; he was born to be a leader of men, he could not be neutral on any subject involving the interests of his fellow men. H is heart was tender towards those deserving sympathy and his hand was ever open to help the distressed and needy. In social circles he displayed rare qualities, both agreeable and instructive, but he never indulged in jest or foolish things. The memory of such men - good and true - is humanity's best heritage. The summons came to this worthy character, public-spirited citizen, generous neighbor and Christian gentleman at his home in Bainbridge March 4, 1877 and his body is sleeping the sleep of the just in the family cemetery on the farm where he lived 28 years.