Hello family, Mark your calendars Sunday, September 9, 2001, make your calls, write your letters, do whatever you think necessary to gather the family. We will meet at the American Legion Hut in Newport, Arkansas again this year.

Last year as always, the food was great, the games were fun and the fellowship was Excellent. I did not see the count of attendance but I think someone said it was over 140, if that is so it would have been one our largest crowds. The success of the reunion is something very near and dear to the children of Charles Richard and Mannie Lee (Vance) Lane. Grandfather’s birthdate was September 16, 1871 and grandmother’s was September 4, 1882 and over the years it had become somewhat of a custom to meet sometimes in September and celebrate their birthdays and to just enjoy each others company. This year 2001 will be the 43rd year the family has gathered to celebrate this heritage of ours and to just have fun.

 A few old pictures, some cracked and broken, some with notes on the back partially readable, a couple were picture post cards addressed to Miss Addie Dobbs and a few stories that I only remember fragments of. Is this all that is left of my grandmother Ada Ethel Dobbs Collier. It could have been, there was no gravestone, and no book written about her, my mother Willyne Collier Layne was the last one that remembered her. She died in 1929 when mother was 15 years old, but her memories were kept alive in the stories mother told. They were not elaborate or long-winded but just every day things told with love. Mother did have a way of adding the special little details in her stories that kept the listener interested. The weather was many times the start of the story. "It had been raining for several days when we started out and Dad was worried the creek was out." Cars with air conditioners and heaters sort of insulate us from the weather but making a trip in a wagon pulled by a team of horses, kept you very much in touch.

Mother told us how she liked to hear her mother sing and play the organ. This was just about all I had until a couple of years ago I met my second cousin, Diane Dobbs Wilson. She gave me a copy of a diary written between 1891 and 1909 by mother’s grand Aunt Elizabeth J. ‘Rudolph’ McSpadden. Most of the entries were simple act of life in a turn of last century home. She told of setting hens, quilting, spinning, cooking and births and deaths. The entry for July 17, 1895 "Went to Ida and Addie’s birthday dinner, they are 16 years old." This was my grandmother Addie and her twin sister Ida. Then, February 3, 1900 sandwiched in between having a picture taken and news of her grandson’s birth, the entry "Mack Dobbs got them an organ." Was this the organ mother so loved to hear her mother play? I like to think so.

 Will your story be remembered? Have you written anything down? Don’t assume that everyone already knows this stuff, they don’t especially the younger ones. Telling a story doesn’t have to be a saga, it can be just one small thing of interest or as elaborate as you want to make it. What about Uncle Tom Westbrook making some of the best sorghum molasses in the country. Aunt Ozella raising all those children, hers and many more. Uncle Albert Williams was a great dog trainer, so was Bobby Layne. Aunt Polly ‘Lane’ Williams worked in a store for a guy that became a household name. Is there a story there? Dad used to tell about his brother Cledith’s exploits as a hunter. He said he could walk up on you in the woods and stand next to you before you heard him. He also said he could run barefooted down the road and turn up sparks in the gravel.

Aunt Dessie ran a dress shop, everyone within miles of Trumann, Arkansas knew Arthur Lane, especially the young people. How was this? Is there a story about walking from Trumann, to Hardy with the Boy Scouts of America?

photo # 4

Luther Layne ran for election as City Marshall and won. Could this be of interest to someone? I recently ran across some information on Aunt Bea’s family. Her name was Jacquline Beatrice Beebe before she married Uncle George. Her grandfather George Washington Beebe was killed December 23, 1899 in a dispute over water rights at Lepanto, in Poinsett County, Arkansas. Her father was born January 8, 1899 was less than a year old and the youngest of 10 children.

Set down and write something. If you want I will print it in the next NewsLetter. Please remember that both Harriet Lane and I are trying to gather genealogy information on this family of ours. A good story is a wonderful way to share. Also don’t forget to add the new arrivals to the family genealogy. I will list my address and Harriet's at the end of this letter. If you don’t have the story ready, just tell us of the new arrivals, wives, daughter-in-laws, son-in law, and babies, you get the point. If they have joined the family in the last few years and you haven’t sent me or Harriet the information, we may not have it. We needthe maiden name for new females, you know, the one they were born with.

 Pictures

I have been rambling around in Mother’s old picture and thought I would just drop a few in here and there, in random order. They will be numbered and the answer to ‘who’ they are will be on the last page.

 Charles Richard Lane and Mannie Lee Vance Family History

They returned to Sharp County with their family and Charles Richard ran a cotton gin while Mannie was called upon to perform the duty of midwife.

Photo # 6.

Two more children were born during their stay in the hills- Cledith and Ozella. In the fall of the year the family would go to Craighead County to pick cotton and return after the season ended. In 1919 on one of these work trips, their ninth child, Polly, was born and their oldest, Jack, married. George, the tenth and last child was born in 1922, and they remained in Sharp County until the early '30s when the depression, in full swing, was the cause of Charles Richard being laid off from the gin.

Photo # 7.

By this time Floyd and Arthur had married, both in Craighead County, and the remaining family went back to Grubbs to pick cotton, living there two years. From Grubbs they moved to Newport where Charles Richard worked for Arthur Cathey in the blacksmith shop and his sons farmed Mr. Cathey’s land. Afterwards to Greenhaw to pick cotton again, when Charles Richard, getting on in years, became somewhat disabled. It was about this time he got his glasses- all the years of firing up the furnaces at the mills and gins began to take its toll on his eyesight. During their second stay in Jackson County, the rest of the children married except for George, who joined the army. (Editor’s note: George was in the 804th Engineers, Aviation Construction Battalion, Seabees, Navy. They were assigned to build airports for the 7th Army Air Force.)

photo # 8..

Charles Richard and Mannie then went to Palestine (Arkansas) and lived with Ozella, helping her husband Tom with some of the fieldwork on the farm. It was told that in picking cotton, Charles Richard would hold the boll with one hand and pick out the cotton with his other hand, always picking the boll clean! Around 1945 they moved to Trumann (Poinsett County) and bought a house on Kentucky Street where they lived until Mannie died in 1959. After her death, Charles Richard lived with Polly for a while, then Qzella, and finally with George in Jonesboro where he died in 1962. "(He also lived with his son Luther during this time. TDL)

 Photo # 9.

It became somewhat of a tradition for me to call my mother on my birthday. She would always tell me the ‘Story’ of my birth. She had it down pat and would always start with; "We were living in a little house out from Bay, Arkansas. Mrs. Lane (my grandmother Mannie Lane) and Mrs. Settlemire were there to help out. We eyed a sack of seed potatoes to plant the next day and left them on the kitchen table when we went to bed. During the night it turned cold and it was snowing when we got up the next morning. The potatoes were frozen and we had to throw them away. You were born that day, March 4, 1943".

Grandmother Mannie ‘Vance’ Lane was the Mid-Wife that delivered me, at home. This may seem a bit strange today but was common then. I was one of probably hundreds of babies that she delivered.

The last time I had a birthday talk with mother was March 1994, I was in Cheyenne, Wyoming, opening a new Store. It was bitter cold and the wind had been blowing 40 to 50 miles an hour all day and snowing hard, in other words a full-blown blizzard. When I finally got back to my motel room I picked up the phone and called my mother and said Happy Birthday, just like I had so many times before. For a few minutes, all was right in the world.

  Photo # 10.

Homes Burned

On June 13, 2000 the home of Boyd and Marie Lane was destroyed by fire. They were at home asleep when the fire started but escaped without injury. The loss was estimated at 90% with very little saved.
On June 26, 2001 the home of Sam and Norma Ellen 'Williams' Gates was completely destroyed by fire. They too escaped without injury but were not able to save anything.
Boyd and Marie have after several months living in a travel trailer rebuilt and now have a beautiful new home. Sam and Norma at this time are planning to buy a home and not go through the time consuming and very difficult task of rebuilding. I think both couples are doing OK and with time will be comfortable in their new homes.
While visiting Boyd and Marie the one thing that was so obviously missing were the family pictures. These of course are irreplaceable but with the many thousands of pictures taken at the reunion over the years I am sure someone has a few extras. Drag your shoe boxes out from under the bed and see if you have a few extras.

Photo # 11

Now a little Civil War History,

Allen D. Metcalf has a unique place in the Lane family history. He is the Brother-in-law of Byrd Lane. Not just any run of the mill brother-in-law. First he was the brother to both of Byrd Lane’s wives and second he married Byrd’s sister Martha.

Allen was born 1832 in Rutherford, North Carolina, the son of Andrew K. and Elizabeth Metcalf .He married Martha Lane, October 21, 1851 in White River Township, Lawrence County, Arkansas. The marriage was blessed with 4 children, Sarah in 1853, William W. 1856, James W. 1858 and Joseph in 1860.

At the very beginning of the Civil War Allen joined Company I, First Arkansas Regiment, 30 day Volunteers, a State Unit. Then as the war grew more serious and the Confederate Government started recruiting in earnest Allen enlisted August 7, 1862 in Company K, 38th Arkansas Infantry Confederate States of America. Byrd Lane had enlisted in the same Regiment just 2 weeks before in Company F. The information I have shows Allen died March 20, 1863. I don’t know if it was from disease or a war wound.

Photo # 12.

George Henry Lane was born March 2, 1922 in Evening Shade, Sharp County, Arkansas. Died May 23, 2001 at his home in Brookland, Craighead County, Arkansas.

Jacqueline Beatrice ‘Beebe’ Lane was born March 13, 1925 in Lepanto, Poinsett County, Arkansas and died March 12, 2001 at her home in Brookland, Craighead County, Arkansas.

Visiting with Uncle George and Aunt Bea was a little like going home. They had that married couple way of talking as one. It was the same when I talked to them on the phone, I would be talking to uncle George and I could hear aunt Bea in the back ground, finishing his sentences for him. Oneness like this can only be achieve by spending a lot of time with each other. They were married July 25, 1942 and with the exception of the 33 months and 17 days George spent in the South Pacific as a Navy Seabee, working and fighting for his country they spent the next 58 years together.

They both worked very hard to make this reunion of ours a special place to meet each year and set down to a family meal. This special family bond is a wonderful legacy to leave to their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Every time I talked to them they would say, "you need to move back home, close to the people that love you". I loved them both very much.

. Photo # 13.

Judy was born November 7, 1954 in Jonesboro, Craighead County, Arkansas. She was the daughter of Chester and Jo Ann ‘Gipson’ Beaty. Her father Chester Beaty died in 1963 when Judy was only 8 years old. When I met them in the early 70s, Ann along with her son Chester were the owners of Acadiana Exchange, a telephone answering service for the professional people of Jonesboro. If you called your physician or lawyer after office hours there was a good chance you would talk to Judy or one of her family. Coordinating people and handling emergencies was a job she learned at a very early age. Her later job as a surgical coordinator for a group of 11 physicians probably relied on some of this early training.

Judy and Rayburn Lane were married December 31, 1975 and moved to Lufkin, Angelina County, Texas. It was here 10 years later the twins, Sarah Ann and Eric Ray Layne were born on October 30, 1985. In 1987 they moved to Altamonte Springs, Flordia and in 1991 back home to Arkansas.

Judy was a wonderful host who always made you feel at home and would outlast just about everyone at board games or computer games. She was also the ultimate Soccer Mom. She never missed a game or event where her children were involved. She left a multitude of friends and will be missed greatly.

Kerry James Brewington was born August 17, 1974 in Jonesboro, Craighead County, Arkansas, and died July 13, 2001. Kerry lived in Conway, Faulkner County, Arkansas.

He was the son of Gerry E. Brewington and KaSandra Jean ‘Layne’ Brewington. The grandson of Gene Oliver Layne and Tommy Lyle ‘Cosner’ Layne. The great grandson of Floyd Erma Layne and Elva Dean ‘Akin’ Layne and the great great grandson of Charles Richard Lane and Mannie Lee ‘Vance’ Lane.

1. 1. Charity Dawn Goodson age 4 and sister Patti Lynne Goodson age 3.
2. 2. Addie 'Dobbs' Collier mother of Willyne Collier Layne.
3. 3. Merrill Richard Layne
4. 4. Jackie Darlene 'Lane' Townsend age 7.
5. 5. Patrica Tate Leatherwood age 11.
6. 6. Martin Dwight Lane
7. 7. Norma Ellen 'Williams' Gates age 8.
8. 8. Carolyn Sue 'Williams' Austin age abt. 7.
9. 9. Thurman Dwight Lane age 1.
10. 10. 1920s Kodac Bellows Camera.
11. 11. Allen D. Metcalf.
12. 12. George Henry and Jacqueline Beatrice ' Beebe' Lane.
13. 13. Judy Ann 'Beaty' Layne.
14. 14. Bernice Beatrice 'Lane' Sanders center.
15. 15. Ethel Oretha 'Lane' Tate.

 Editor:

 Genealogy to either address.: