Camden People - Albion R. Lane

ALBION R. LANE was born in Camden on November 15, 1865 in Philadelphia PA, one of at least seven children born to Catherine and Charles M. Lane. His father worked as a carpenter. His uncle, James M. Lane, was prominent in Camden politics, served for quite some time with Camden Fire Department.

When the Census was taken in 1879 the family was living in Camden's Middle Ward. When the next census was taken, in 1880, the Lane family was living at 528 South 2nd Street, in Camden's Third Ward.

The city directories show Albion Lane living at 337 Clinton Street in the years 1887 through 1890. He was working as a laborer in 1887, but by the time the 1888-1889 Directory was compiled he had secured a position as a "floatman" aboard the tugboat Jamesburg. Around this time newspaper accounts state that he founded a wholesale butter and egg business at South 3rd and Senate Streets in Camden. The 1900 Census shows Albion Lane and his wife, the former Nevada French, living at 514 South 3rd Street with their 7 year old son, Wilmer Russell Lane. Two other children, sadly, had passed by this time. The census shows that he was in the butter business. Another son, Forrest, came a few years later. The family was still at the South 3rd Street address through January of 1920. They moved to Collingswood during the 1920s.

Albion Lane operated this business until 1927 when he retired, turning over the operation to his sons Robert and Forrest.

Albion Lane lived in Collingswood for several years thereafter. Nevada Lane passed away in Collingswood on December 18, 1935. Albion Lane was staying with his son Forrest at 2776 Congress Road in the Yorkship Square section of Camden when he passed away on May 20, 1942. After services at the Joseph H., Murray Funeral Home at 408 Cooper Street, he was interred at Evergreen Cemetery.

Albion Lane's grandson, Private Robert C. Lane, was killed in action in North Africa in April of 1943.

Forrest Lane and his sons were still in the butter and egg business as late as the fall of 1955, at 2766 North Congress Road in Fairview.

	Philadelphia Inquirer September 4, 1888

Thomas Dudley - Isaac Shreeve - William T. Bailey - Christopher A. Bergen Isaac Githens - George Barrett - Frank Welch - Howland Croft - Samuel Bakley David Freeman Sr. - Albion Lane Christopher Mines Jr. - William Ireton Howard Lee - Amos R. Dease - John Brothers - James Hewitt John C. Edwards - Malachi D. Cornish - J.Willard Somers - Frank C. Somers John Wells - W.H. Day - Dilwyn Pettit - J. Milton Powell - George Denny Everett Ackley - Samuel M. Gail - Joseph Brown - Frederick Parker John H. Milton - David Rankin - Samuel Roach - James Brown Isaac Robinson - William K. Price - Reuben Gaskill - John W. Everman Samuel H. Mourey - William H. Smith - Herman Heimbold - Thomas Watson - E. Thompson

Camden Courier-Post - June 14, 1933

Thieves Routed by Chickens Rob Second Place of Same Man

Robbers believed to have been frightened away from a butter and egg storage house in Collingswood when chickens made an uproar, continued their search for provisions and looted a warehouse owned by the same man in Fairview.

A. R. Lane, 101 Ardmore Terrace, produce man, reported yesterday he was awakened last night by the noise of the chickens he had penned up near his storage house. Two ends of the pen were knocked down, Lane said, and he believes thieves fled when the chickens became frightened.

This morning Lane discovered that the storage house at 2766 Congress Road had been entered by thieves, and butter, cheese and eggs valued at more than $100 had been taken.

The Fairview plant, he said, was entered during the storm. The thieves trampled the municipal gardens of unemployed in Fairview to reach the storage house, where a window was removed. Neighbors reported a touring car was seen parked near the warehouse during the storm.

The thieves took two 50-pound cases of butter, one case containing four large cheeses, 400 small cheeses averaging about five pounds each, three cases of eggs, each containing 30 dozen, and one case of salad dressing in pint jars.
Lane said the thieves were experienced in produce for they replaced eggs that had been removed from the cases. F. F. Lane is in charge of the Fairview storage house.

Camden Courier-Post - June 15, 1933

'BUTTER AND EGG MAN' SOUGHT AS BURGLAR

Somewhere in Camden yesterday there was a "butter and egg man," but he was not from the West and is not the kind that many young flappers like to meet.

This man attained his title by virtue of a robbery in the Fairview section in which two boxes of butter, two crates of eggs and one box of cheese were stolen.

Forrest Lane, the owner of the stolen commodities, told the police it was stolen from his garage at 2768 Congress road.