The Oxford intelligencer., 1860-08-08
CHAPEL Hut, October 20, 1859.

the pen of the President of the University
ofNorth Carolina:
CHAPEL Hut, October %, 1859.
Dear Sir: Your letter of the 18th, owing
to my absence in the discharge of official du.
ties, did not reach me till day or two since
and ! avail myself of the earliest practicable
opportunity to reply.
There is probably no family whose authen,
tic history can be more closely traced through
every period of the annals of North Carolina
than that of Gen. Lanes. In proportion to
numbers, comparatively few of its member.
have aspired TO, or obtained political distinc.
ton, or local distinction of any kind. On the
other hand, there are probably few who have
enjoyed greater average responsibility.
Gen. Lanes great grandfather, Joseph (who
signed his name Joseph Lane Jr., in l727),
died at his residence near Halifax, on the
Roanoke, in l776. His three sons, Joel,
Joseph and Jesse, were pioneer settlers in the
neighborhood Of Raleigh, in l74l. Ofthesc,
Col. Joel was the wealthicst and most con-
spicuous. lie conveyed to the State the $40
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 Andrew
Baylcr, Esq, and they were Wings during
the Revolution, and Col. Joel and Jesse did
service in the army, the latter as private.
Jesse was the grandfather of Gen. Joseph
Lane and of myself lie was born in Hall
fax,July 4, l722, and married Winircd Awck.
They had sixteen children, ieghth sons and
eight daughters, all of whom lived to bear
families. In I779m grandfather emigrated
TO Wilkes, near Oglctlropc county, Ga,
where he resided until 1900, when he re-
moved to St Louis, where he died in 1904,
in the Sand year of his aye. Gen. Lane is
the son of John Lane, the icght child and
fourth son of our grandfather Jesse. At the
time of the removal Of the family to Georgia
ono, Wilkes was frontier county, and,
during series of wears subject to frequent
invasions from the Greeks and Cherokees.-
There was no member of the family able to
bear arms, whose services were not put into
requisition, and no one, male or female, who
was not familiar with the horrors of savage
warfare. My mother beguiled many an hour
during my infancy, in the recital of hair
breadth escapes, which, delicate woman as
she was, rendered her pcsonal history one of
remarkable suffering and adventure.
| have no recollection of my grandfather
or uncle John. The former visited my father
on his way to Missouri, and the latter was an
inmate of our family for some time previous
to and subsequent to my birth. heard
much of hin in my boyhood, and suppose
that in all respects the son is a counterpart
of the father, brave, enterprising and gencr-
Gus. He was universal fayorite in the midst
of the men who were at the Cowpens and
Kings Mountain, and who considered To-
ray diloiiB iiic lhuitiilS ~ llttle ltoS llidu Il
pastime.
Gen. Lanes mother was Betsey, daughter
of James Street, the first sheriff of my native
county (Buncomb). The descendants of the
sixteen children of Jesse are dispersed through
all the Western and Southern States. Judge
G. w. Lane, of Huntsville, Richard A. Lane,
Of Georgia, arc cousins to Gen Lane; Judge
Colquitt, Senator from Georgia in ~, George,
the formor Mayor of Atlanta, Ga, and DR..
Jones, recently of the House Of Representa-
tives, married his cousins.
enter into these particulars simply to sat
isfy you that while the family of Gen. Lane
have no just pretentions to the praise of her
aldry, there is no cause, on the other hand,
why they should blush for his ancestry or
his connections.
l write in considerable haste, but viii be
ready at any time to communicate more spe-
cial information if it should be called for.
Yours, very respectfully.
d. L. SWAIN.