circa 1820-1921, undated, predominant 1828-1860
HAV-01-702-B-E-0403
GUSN-187807
1. Memorandum Book entitled "Sketch of My Life OGL" (Oliver Griffin Lane)
This diary consisting of 112 pages written in ink in which Captain Oliver Lane describes his life (1798-1867), his career as a sea captain, entrepreneur and family man during the first half of the 19th century. The diary has been transcribed by Melinda Talbot, and a photocopy is available for reference.
2. Family Photograph Album
Secured with brass clasps, the album contains cartes-de-visite portraits of Oliver G. Lane, his wife Charlotte, and numerous relatives of the Lane family identified in Oliver Lanes (?) handwriting. A separate listing of names with some additional descriptions of these images is available for reference.
3. Family Bible
Published in 1820, this American Bible Society Edition contains notes on inside pages in OGLs handwriting in which he lists important family dates regarding his marriage and the birth of his seven children. Following pages contain notes written mostly in pencil describing voyages made between the years 1828-1860. Additional blank space on the pages between the Old and New Testaments was also used for notes. A transcription of the handwritten contents is available for reference.
4. Second Family Bible
This large leather-bound Bible, with heavily foxed pages, (Holbrooks Stereotype Edition, circa 1820) contains a family register between the Old and New Testaments which is marked by a cross-stitched bookmark embroidered "From AEL." The register lists the date Oliver G. Lanes marriage, childrens names and dates, along with childrens marriages and lists of childrens children. A transcription of these entries is available for reference.
memoirs
Bible
seamen
merchants
shipping
trade (function)
shipmasters
travel
journeys
business (commercial function)
families
children (people by age group)
deaths
marriage
wars
manuscripts (document genre)
0.84 linear feet (1 legal-size document case and 1 letter-size document case; 4 volumes)
An electronic finding aid is available through Historic New Englands Collections Access Portal. A paper finding aid is available in the Library & Archives.
MS019
Oliver Lane papers
MS019
Memorandum book, photograph album, and family Bibles belonging to members of the Lane family of Annisquam, Mass. Collection particularly focuses on family life and maritime career of Captain Oliver Griffin Lane, Sr. (1798-1867).
Annisquam (Gloucester, Essex county, Massachusetts) [neighborhood]
West Indies [archipelago]
Boston (Suffolk county, Massachusetts)
Baltimore (Baltimore Independent City, Maryland)
Castine (Hancock county, Maine)
Guadeloupe [dependent state]
Saint Thomas (Virgin Islands of the United States) [island]
Washington (Beaufort county, North Carolina)
Richmond (Richmond Indep. City, Virginia)
Portland (Cumberland county, Maine)
Gibraltar [dependent state]
Trieste (Trieste province, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy)
Trapani (Trapani province, Sicily, Italy)
Martinique [dependent state]
Cap-Haïtien (Nord, Haiti)
Gloucester (Essex county, Massachusetts)
Sint Eustatius (Netherlands Antilles) [island]
San Felipe de Puerto Plata (Puerto Plata province, Dominican Republic)
Salem (Essex county, Massachusetts)
Cape Verde
Charleston (Charleston county, South Carolina)
Saint-Barthélemy (Saint-Martin-Saint-Barthélemy arrondissement, Guadeloupe) [island]
Pernambuco (Nordeste region, Brazil)
Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro state, Sudeste region, Brazil)
Bahia (Nordeste region, Brazil)
Rio Grande (Rio Grande do Sul, Sul region, Brazil)
Santos (São Paulo state, Sudeste region, Brazil)
Buenos Aires (Distrito Federal, Argentina)
New York City (New York state)
Philadelphia (Philadelphia county, Pennsylvania)
Le Havre (Département de la Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France)
New Orleans (Orleans parish, Louisiana)
Liverpool (Liverpool urban district, Merseyside, England, United Kingdom)
Savannah (Chatham county, Georgia)
Cadiz (Cádiz province, Andalusia, Spain)
Puerto Rico island (Puerto Rico) [island]
Key West (Florida Keys, Monroe county, Florida) [island]
Pensacola (Escambia county, Florida)
Nassau (New Providence, Bahamas)
Fredericksburg (Rockbridge county, Virginia)
Mobile (Mobile county, Alabama)
Apalachicola (Franklin county, Florida)
Tampa Bay (Florida) [bay]
Port-au-Prince (Ouest, Haiti)
Caracas (Distrito Federal, Venezuela)
La Guaira (Distrito Federal, Venezuela)
Antigua (Antigua and Barbuda) [island]
Sacramento (Sacramento county, California)
San Francisco (San Francisco county, California)
Shanghai (Shanghai Shi, China)
London (Greater London, England, United Kingdom)
Melbourne (Victoria, Australia)
Saint John's (Newfoundland island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada)
Chincha Alta (Ica department, Peru)
Montevideo (Montevideo department, Uruguay)
Saint Joseph parish (Barbados) [parish (political)]
Lane, Oliver Griffin, Sr., 1798-1867
manuscripts (document genre)
Lane, Oliver Griffin, Sr., 1798-1867
Lane, Oliver Griffin, Jr., 1823-1872
Lane, Charles Augustus, 1826-1869
Cunningham, James Adams, 1830-1892
Cunningham, Ann Eliza Lane, 1835-1918
Cunningham, Nathaniel Fellows, Jr., 1798-1871
Lane, Charlotte Phippen, 1800-1886
Lane, Charlotte Augusta, 1833-1924
Lane, Clifford, 1832-1832
Lane, Eliza Harper Peabody, 1802-1875
Lane, Francis Ganahl, 1840-1846
Lane, Frederick Fomme, Sr., 1829-1909
Lane, Gideon, III, 1790-1865
Lane, Gideon, Jr., 1764-1821
Lane, Hannah Griffin, 1772-1852
Lane, Nancy Pearce, 1824-1852
Lane, Sophronia Elizabeth Pulcifer, 1831-1922
War of 1812
This collection is available for research.
Transcriptions and scanned copies of the collection materials have been created as convenience copies to limit handling of fragile items.
Collection
HAV-01-702-B-E-0403
Accruals are not expected.
Materials are in English.
Item identification. Oliver Lane papers (MS019). Historic New England, Library & Archives.
Sophie Cos, Assistant Archivist, 2025.
2nd-edition DACS
Testimonial given to Massachusetts Civil War soldiers
Civil War honor
Oliver Griffin Lane, Sr. was born in the village of Annisquam in Gloucester, Mass., on November 25th, 1798. He was the fourth child and second son out of eleven children born to Gideon Lane, Jr. (1764-1821) and Hannah (Griffin) Lane (1772-1852). Olivers father was a mariner, and both Oliver and his older brother Gideon would follow in their fathers footsteps. He first went to sea as a teenager, joining his father and brothers vessel as their cook. Thus began a long sea-faring career. In 1813, Oliver and his brother Gideon were aboard a ship from Boston to Maine when they were captured by a British frigate (as the United States was at war with Britain in the War of 1812) but were ransomed after several days. Oliver continued working aboard trading vessels, traveling up and down the east coast of the U.S. as well as to the West Indies and Caribbean islands, Gibraltar, Trieste, Sicily, Cape Verde islands, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela, the American Gulf coast, Canada, United Kingdom, Spain, France, the California coast, the Pacific islands, Peruvian coast, China, India, and Australia among others. Depending on the voyage, he was a crewmember, the ships captain, a partial shareholder, a merchant, and more. Oliver had intermittent financial success and his memoir details the instability and dangers of a life in trade, especially as both a businessman and as an active sailor. He eventually was successful enough to build a house near Squam Rock in Annisquam in 1833, where the Lane family would live for decades to come; it remains standing to this day. Oliver continued working in the maritime trade up until a few year prior to his death. He died in Annisquam on January 17th, 1869, at the age of seventy.
Oliver married Charlotte Phippen (1800-1886) of Salem, Mass., in 1822, and the couple would have seven children total (five sons and two daughters), five of which survived to adulthood. His eldest son Oliver G. Lane, Jr. (1823-1872) followed his father into the maritime trading business; his other surviving sons, Charles Augustus Lane (1826-1869) and Frederick Fomme Lane, Sr. (1829-1909) also worked in the trade periodically, eventually becoming a land-based merchant and Pacific Northwest farmer/settler, respectively. Olivers younger daughter Ann Eliza Lane (1835-1918) married Civil War soldier James A. Cunningham (1830-1892), son of Olivers sometime business partner Nathaniel F. Cunningham, Jr. (1798-1871); James later held political and military posts for the state of Massachusetts. Olivers elder daughter Charlotte Augusta Lane (1833-1924) never married but continued to live in the Annisquam home that her father built, eventually renting it out as a boarding house in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Source:
Materials within MS019.
Oliver Lane papers, MSS 38, Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass.
Lane family materials at the Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, Mass.
Lane family materials at the Annisquam Historical Society, Gloucester, Mass.
The collection is arranged in the order it was received.
Historic New England is committed to implementing reparative language description for existing collections and creating respectful and inclusive language description for new collections. If you encounter language in Historic England's Collections Access Portal that is harmful or offensive, or you find materials that would benefit from a content warning, please contact info@historicnewengland.org.
Sign up to our newsletter for our latest news and events
Loading...