Deem's History of Butler County Missouri
           by David Bruce Deem, Probate Judge, Butler County, MO
                                     

                              THOMAS M. LANE
                                     
    No man was better known among the earlier settlers of  Butler  county  than
    that of the late Judge Thomas M. Lane, who was born in  Tennessee  May  11,
    1836 and who came to the county from Dalton, Whitfield county,  Georgia  in
    1869. He moved from Tennessee to Georgia at an early age  and  grew  up  at
    Dalton before going to Butler county to make his home.

    Upon his arrival in the county there were just two stores, a post office, a
    courthouse but no church building. Church services were  conducted  at  the
    courthouse.

    Lane served as an officer in the Southern Army during the Civil War  before
    arriving in Butler county. He was unusually active in public  life  in  the
    pioneer days of the county and served as  presiding  judge  of  the  county
    court for four years from 1872 through 1875. He was elected  probate  judge
    of the county in 1876 and served in this office until 1883. He was  elected
    twice to the office of  public  administrator  of  Butler  county  and  was
    serving his second term at the time of his death on January  30,  1895.  He
    had served one term as county surveyor.

    Mr. Lane was a student of  the  Bible  and  was  a  leading  force  in  the
    execution of some of the county's first churches. He died at the age of  59
    after having contributed the last 26 years of his life to  the  development
    and welfare of Butler county.

    Mr. Lane's children were Charley, deceased; Addie,  deceased'  Charles  W.,
    Hannah J., Mollie, T. Bascom, Bell, John, Lulu Lee, Neal M.,  Day  and  May
    (twins), F. E. Lane, Curtis, Marvin and Freddie. Charles  W.  Lane  married
    Scytha S. Bullock and their children are Henry  F.  Lance,  deceased,  Mrs.
    Laura A. Bellah, Mrs. Altie E. Gerhart and Thomas J. Lane.  Hannah  married
    Charles H. Crowley and their children are Vashti Crowley, deceased,  Thomas
    Crowley, deceased, Mrs. Ethel Briggs and Jesse  Crowley,  deceased.  Mollie
    married Will Allen who died. In later years she became Mrs. T. E. Johnson.

    T. Bascom Lane married Bessie Depoyster and they had one child, Klyta Lane,
    deceased. Lulu Lane married Herman Stoelting and their children are Billie,
    Eva, Pearl, Edith, Dorothy, Lester, Chester and Hazel,  deceased.  Neal  M.
    Lane married Jettie Fizzell and their children are Carl Lane  and  Lawrence
    Lane. Day Lane married Minnie Pennington and their children  are  Henry  L.
    Lane, Mrs. Beulah adair and Mrs. Lillian  Offill.  May  Lane  married  Will
    Mathis and their children are Curtis and Benjamin Mathis. Other children of
    theirs died in infancy.

    F. E. Lane married Bertie Risley and their children are  Elmer  Lane,  Mrs.
    Mabel Watson, Frank Lane, Mrs. Marjorie Baker, William Lane and  Alpha  and
    Alfred Lane. (twins)

    Marvin Lane married Sarah Christopher and their children  are  Cecil  Lane,
    Raymond Lane and Lu Ella. Curtis and Freddie Lane are both deceased.