HENRY C. LANE, retired, Platteville; was born Sept. 19, 1819, in Hartford, Trumbull Co., Ohio. In early life, he learned the trade of blacksmith, which trade he began soon after his arrival in Platteville in the spring of 1840. A log shop, on the present site of Hendershott's store, was the scene of his first labors here. He worked for and boarded with Samuel Moore for a time. In 1842, he built a frame house - part of which is still standing in the rear of Hendershott's store - and the same year bought the log shop of Mr. Moore. In August, 1843, he married, in Ohio, Miss Alvira Holcomb, who was born in Broome Co., N. Y., but reared in Ohio. She has vivid and amusing memories of their "wedding tour," notably the journey through the then new and primitive Southern Wisconsin. Milwaukee was a hamlet with two small hotels, so crowded that the landlord was obliged to dislodge certain guests, in order to accommodate them. He said the routed sleepers had "gone to bed early, any way." The young couple began in the before-mentioned frame house, which was their home until 1847, when Mr. Lane bought out Judge Inman. Thus they lived in what is now a part of the Wright House until 1856 or 1857, when they took possession of the large and pleasantly located residence previously built, and now occupied by them. Mr. Lane has taken much pride in laying out and planting his grounds, and has a beautiful place. He carried on blacksmithing and the hardware business until 1867, building for a shop the present store of Mrs. Block. It was then the best blacksmith-shop in Wisconsin. L. N. Devendorf and himself built their store, and Mr. Lane has built and remodeled other structures in this city. Mr. and Mrs. Lane have four children - Maria, Etta, Gulana and Jessie, all born in Platteville, and all married and settled in homes of their own.

This biography generously submitted by Roxanne Munns.