Lane, Ebenezer

Born: 1793-09-17 Northampton, Massachusetts

Died: 1866-06-12 Sandusky, Ohio

Ebenezer Lane, attorney and judge, graduated from Harvard College in 1811, then read law under an uncle in Connecticut. After being admitted to the bar in 1814, he practiced law in Connecticut for three years before relocating to Ohio where he took up farming. Lane settled in Norwalk, Ohio, in 1819 where he was named Huron County prosecuting attorney that same year. About 1824, Lane was appointed judge of the court of common pleas, and six years later was named to the Ohio Supreme Court, ultimately serving as chief justice. He moved to Sandusky in 1842 and continued to serve on the Ohio Supreme Court for three more years. After he retired from the bench in 1845, Lane returned to his law practice and did work for railroads, including serving as resident director and legal advisor of the Illinois Central Railroad. Lane lived in Chicago between 1855 and 1859 while he served in this capacity. He married Frances Ann Griswold in 1818 and was survived by three children. In religion, he was an Episcopalian.

William K. Ackerman, Historical Sketch of the Illinois-Central Railroad (Chicago: Fergus, 1890), 130, 151; Alfred Newton, “Sketch of the Life and Character of Ebenezer Lane, LL.D., Late Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio,” New England Historical and Genealogical Register 21 (October 1867), 301-13; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Erie County, OH, 37; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Sandusky, Erie County, OH, 40; The Wooster Republican (OH), 21 June 1866, 2:3; Gravestone, Oakland Cemetery, Sandusky, OH.