Cole-Lane Collection

Access and use

Location of collection:
College of William and Mary
Special Collections Research Center
Earl Gregg Swem Library
College of William and Mary
400 Landrum Drive
PO 8795
Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795
Contact for questions and access:
Phone: (757) 221-3090
Fax: (757) 221-5440
Restrictions:

Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.

Terms of access:

Before publishing quotations or excerpts from any materials, permission must be obtained from the Curator of Manuscripts and Rare Books, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.

Summary

Extent:
2 Boxes
Creator:
Cole, Henry Denison, 1856-1938 and Lane, Levin Winder, Sr.
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

Collection includes materials related to the Lane and Cole families of Williamsburg, Virginia including wills, voting ballots, property reciepts, deeds, photographs, contracts, estate documents, invitations, diaries, and correspondence. The materials detail the political, economic and social issues in Williamsburg during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Specific Virginia properties are named, i.e. "Lilliput" and "Lightview." The emancipation of named enslaved individuals are in the last will and testament of Ezechael Lane, and the hiring of an enslaved man named William by L.W. Lane and William K. Davis in January 1862.

Short note, stamped with Miss Mary Inman, 308 Griffin Avenue, Williamsburg, that details when Julia Tyler, daughter of William & Mary President Lyon G. Tyler, allegedly roomed with Portia Washington, daughter of Booker T. Washington at Wellesley College. Williamsburg residents R.J. Armistead and Preacher Roberts threatened to publish a story about the roomate situation, and they were both summarily told by William & Mary students and faculty that such an action would result in bodily harm i.e. "tarred & feathered" and "beat to a pulp."

Story was originally shared with Inman by Vernon Geddy, Jr.

Photocopied newspaper articles, folder details, provided by donor

Notebook is mostly blank, with four pages of penciled notation at the front.

Materials included in the financial records of L.W. Lane

Bond is in pieces. Handle with care.

Contract outlines the hire of William by L.W. Lane and William K. Davis from William's enslaver, Armistead Davis. The requirements for William's summer and winter clothes are described at length.

Materials related to Lane's tenure as Treasurer and Deputy Sheriff of James City County

Materials include deeds and correspondence related to the timber business

Correspondence written on Alabama Polytechnic Institute (A.M. College) stationary

Handwritten biography, titled "James H. Lane and His Battles," appears to be written in Land's handwriting.

Will sets free nine enslaved persons and some of their children; lands and enslaved person to his grandson; specifically mentions Point Comfort, Piankatank River, Mathews County.

Deed is for a property on Victoria Avenue in West Hampton, Virginia

Signed by B.R. James, of Kappa Sigma Fraternity

Biographical / historical:

Several of the documents reference "L.W. Lane" and it can be difficult to discern which family member is being referenced. The below geneology may assist in identifying who authored/is associated with the materials.

Captain L.W. Lane, Sr. (born January 6, 1839, died April 27, 1933) Colonel L.W. Lane, Jr. (born August 31, 1891, died March 7, 1934) L.W. Lane III (born February 1, 1892, died September 24, 1934)

Acquisition information:
Gift of Ann Geddy Cross and Vernon M. Geddy, III, through the Williamsburg Historic Records Association
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard