NEW ENGLAND

HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL REGISTER.

VOL. XXI.

OCTOBER, 1867.

No. 4.

SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF EBENEZER LANE, LL.D., LATE JUDGE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF OHIO.

By Rev ALFRED Newton, Norwalk, Ohio.

On the 17th of Sept., 1793, Ebenezer Lane first saw the light. He was born at Northampton, Mass., one of those beautiful villages which adorn the valley of the Connecticut River. His father was Capt. Ebenezer Lane, the son of Deacon Ebenezer Lane, of Attleborough, Mass., who was descended from William Lane, an emigrant in 1635, to Dorchester, Mass., from England. His mother was Marian Chandler, a descendant from Henry Wolcott, of Windsor, Conn., and of Matthew Griswold, of Lyme, Conn., a daughter of Matthew Griswold, Governor of Connecticut, who was first married to Charles E. Chandler, Esq., Counsellor of Law, at Woodstock, Conn., whose second husband was Capt. Ebenezer Lane.

At eight years of age, he was sent to a Grammar School at Leicester, in the County of Worcester, where he prepared for College. At the early age of 14, he entered the University of Cambridge, and graduated in 1811. To the same class belonged Rev. N. L. Frothingham, D.D., a distinguished clergyman of Boston, Edward Reynolds, M.D., an eminent physician of the same city, and the late Edward Everett, whose ripe scholarship, finished oratory, and polished manners, gave him a trans-Atlantic fame. Young Lane did not aim at distinction in the studies of the College course, though he maintained a respectable standing for scholarship. He began while yet a student to develop that mental trait, which became so prominent in after life -a fondness for general knowledge-leading to an acquaintance with all kinds of books, particularly books of history. So extensive and accurate was this acquaintance, that he was called "the walking library." In addition to the prescribed studies of the course, he had learned the French language.

Soon after leaving College, he commenced the study of Law at Lyme, Conn., with his uncle, Judge Matthew Griswold. He began the practice of Law at Norwich, Sept. 14, 1814-during our war with Great Britain. Three months afterwards he moved to East Windsor, and subsequently to Windsor Hill. He was made a Notary Public for Hartford County, May 21, 1816, by commission from Gov. John Cotton Smith.