
| 2. | i. | WILLIAM2 LANE, b. Abt. 1469, Orlybere, County Northampton, England; d. Abt. 1546. |
| 3. | i. | RALPH3 LANE, b. Abt. 1526, Orlybere, County Northampton, England; d. 1541. |
| i. | RALPH4 LANE, JR., b. Abt. 1530, Lympstone, Devonshire, England; d. October 1603. |
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Notes for RALPH LANE, JR.: From Gene Cowherd: >BIOGRAPHY OF SIR RALPH LANE Junior one of Maud Parr's sons > >Written by John W. Shirley > >In (ca. 1740- 1795) > >William S. Powell, Ed. Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, Vol. 4. >Chapel Hill NC: The University of North Carolina Press, pp. 14-15. > >Lane, Sir Ralph (ca. 1530- October 1603), first governor of "Virginia," was >born in Lympstone, Devonshire, England, the son of Sir Ralph Lane (d.1541) >and his wife Maud Parr (daughter of William Lord Parr) of Northamptonshire. >He is believed to have been a cousin of Edward Dyer, the poet. In 1563 he >entered the service of Queen Elizabeth I as equerry and did a variety of >court tasks, including searching Breton ships for illegal goods in 1571. In >general, however, Lane was better suited as a soldier than a courtier. >After serving as sheriff of County Kerry, Ireland, from 1583 to 1585, he >was invited by Sir Walter Raleigh to command an expedition to America. He >sailed on 9 April 1585 under Sir Richard Grenville, with whom he soon began >to quarrel. Towards the end of June, they arrived at Wococon on the North >Carolina Outer Banks and established a colony with Lane as governor. > >After Grenville departed for England in August, the colony moved to Roanoke >Island where it remained for the next eight months. As supplies became >scarce, the colony was plagued with bickering and quarrels among its >members and with the natives. Lane reportedly was not diplomatic in dealing >with the Indians and often reacted violently to provocation. > >He quarreled with Wingina, an Indian chief, who was attempting to organize >neighboring tribes to attack Lane's group. Lane solved this problem by >killing Wingina on 10 June 1586 before the surrounding tribes convened and >then managed to disperse the rest of the group. The next day, 11 June, Sir >Francis Drake arrived and promised to leave men, supplies, and a ship. >However, a hurricane blew the ship out to sea and plans were changed. Lane, >discouraged, decided to return to England. In the frenzied rush to be gone, >three colonists, exploring up-country, were left behind, and in an effort >to lighten the ship's load, valuable records were thrown overboard. Lane >returned to England on 27 July 1586 and never again commanded a colonial >Expedition. Ironically, Grenville's relief squadron arrived shortly after >Drake sailed for home, causing widespread criticism of Lane for leaving >Virginia when he did. It has even been suggested that Lane's distrust of >Grenville led to his abandoning the colony. > >It is thought (without much proof) that Lane was the first to introduce >tobacco to England. Following his return, Lane set down a "Discourage on >the First Colony," which was sent to Sir Walter Raleigh and later printed >in Richard Hakluyt's Principal Navigations (1589). Afterward, Lane wrote >another treatise on his experiences as a colonial commander and sent it to >Lord Burghley on 7 Jan. 1592. In it he emphasized the need for strict >discipline to avoid illness among the soldiers. > >Among the colonists of this Virginia expedition were John White, an artist, >and Thomas Harriot a mathematician, who took meticulous notes and made >remarkably accurate drawings of the wildlife, fauna, and natives of the New >World. These efforts have been preserved in their book, A briefe and >true report of the new found land of Virginia, published in 1588 and 1590. >Lane wrote the foreword to this book. > >After Lane's return to England, he performed a series of petty tasks for >the court, including in 1588 the office of muster- master of the camp at >West Tilbury in Essex and the next year at muster- master general of the >army on the Spanish and Portuguese coast. In January 1592 he took the post >of muster-master general and clerk of the check in Ireland. He remained in >that country for the rest of his life. > >Lane apparently never married but continued, as he had throughout his >career, to beg favors from the well-placed for himself and his relatives. >On 15 Oct. 1593 he was knighted by the lord deputy of Ireland, Sir William >Fitzwilliam. In 1594 Lane was badly wounded in an Irish rebellion. He never >regained his strength and his office was generally neglected during the >last years of his life. Edward E. Hale summed up his career: "He seems to >have been an eager courtier, a bold soldier, a good disciplinarian, an >incompetent governor, a credulous adventurer, and on the whole, though not >a worthless, an unsuccessful man." > >SEE: DAB, vol. 5 (1932); DNB, vol. 11 (1967); Edward E. Hale, "Life of Sir >Ralph Lane," Transactions >and Collections of the American Antiquarian Society, vol. 4 (1860); David >B. Quinn, ed., The Roanoke >Voyages, 1584 -1590, 2 vols. (1955). |
| 4. | ii. | ROGER LANE, b. 1569, Hereford, England; d. April 30, 1603, London, England. |