Born at Freeport, Pennsylvania, on the 16th of March, 1830. He was educated at the University of Lewisburg in that State, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and came west in 1854 in search of a location. He stopped in Davenport, then a flourishing little city on the upper Mississippi River. Here he located on the 23d of February, 1854, and opened a law office, making it his permanent home. He soon acquired a good practice and upon the organization of the Republican party on the 22d of February, 1856, Mr. Lane took an active part, serving as a delegate from Scott County in the first State Convention which met at Iowa City and was one of the secretaries of that gathering which brought a new party into existence. He entered into partnership with Abner Davisson, upon the death of D. S. True, and Davisson & Lane was for many years one of the leading law firms of Davenport. In 1801 he was elected on the Republican ticket to the House of the Ninth General Assembly and took rank among the leading members; was made chairman of the committee on military affairs, then the most important of the standing committees, as the country was in the midst of the great Civil War. In 1873 Mr. Lane was appointed by President Grant United States District Attorney for Iowa, serving with distinction until 1882. He died on the 19th of March, 1890.