The Daily Gazette, Sterling-Rock Falls, Illinois

June 21, 1927 - Tuesday, pg 2

ELIZABETH  (Wroe)  LANE

Death Comes To Old Resident Of Leon on Monday

Mrs. Elizabeth Lane Dies At home After Long illness, Funeral WednesdayProphetstown, Illinois, June 21, -- (Special ) -- Mrs. Elizabeth Lane, one of this community's most highly esteemed residents, passed peacefully away at 10 o'clock Monday morning at her home at Leon, four miles south of Prophetstown, after an illness of several months. 

Mrs. Lane was 77 years of age and was one of the oldest settlers of this vicinity.  Her maiden name was Elizabeth Wroe and she was married in 1868 at the age of 16 to William Lane, in Prophetstown, and they began housekeeping on a 40 acre farm near Leon.  Her thrift and industry were valuable aids to her husband in his successful career, and at the time of his death he had become the owner of several hundred acres of the choicest land in this vicinity. 

She is survived by two sons, Charles Frank Lane and Clark Lane, both of Prophetstown, though the former is living temporarily in Davenport, Iowa, and by four daughters, Miss Ida Lane, Mrs. Mary Naftzger and Mrs. Grace Woolums, all of Prophetstown, and Mrs. Nellie Whitcomb of Alton. The children were all with her during her last hours. 

Mrs. Lane was a lady of splendid qualities of mind and character.  She was a member of the Leon Methodist church and her Christian fortitude was manifested in the retention of her life-long cheerfulness during the months of her last illness. 

Even during her illness she kept in touch with events of her time and studied the situation in China and with maps and the latest reports of the military movements and the missionary situation. She was a lover of good reading and her mind was stored with many of the best thoughts of the world's most enlightened intellects.  Only those who knew her best appreciated fully her unusual qualities, as she was of a retiring disposition.  She is mourned by the entire community in which her life has been an influence for good for 60 years. 

Funeral services will be held Wednesday at 1 p.m., at the family home, and at 2 o'clock in the Leon Methodist church.  Interment will be in the family lot in the Leon Cemetery. 

June 23rd - Obituary of Mrs. Elizabeth Lane 

Elizabeth Wroe Lane, widow of the late William Lane, passed away at her country home in Leon, south of Prophetstown, Ill., Monday, June 20, 1927, at 10 a.m..   The end came peacefully after an illness of several months, borne with the Christian fortitude characteristic of this faithful wife and loving mother.  The following children were present when the final summons came:  Ida, with whom the deceased had made her home since the death of her husband in 1916;  Clark of Leon;  Frank of Davenport;  Mrs. Mary Naftzger of Leon;  Mrs. Grace Woolums of Prophetstown; and Mrs. Nellie Whitcomb of Alton, Ill.  A daughter Elena, died at the age of three years in 1876. 

Besides six children, she leaves eight grand-children; Paul Lane, Hazel Winkler, Gladys Elliot, Ralph Naftzger, Violet Woolums, Kenneth Woodworth, Jack Wooolums and Clark Woolums. 

The influence of Mrs. Lane will be felt for generations in the community where she was a power for good for nearly 60 years.  So quietly and unobstrusively did she labor to rear her children in the love and fear of God, that only her most intimate friends had the ooportunity to know the depth of her soul and the richness of her intellect. 

Married at the age of 16, with only a common school education,  her love of good reading and her unusual interest in the events of the day, not only in her own state but in the nation and in the world at large, develops her mind so that she became a woman of rare culture and strong convictions.  She had a practical mind and yet loved poetry, music and the other arts, which made her an inspiration in her home, a source of good counsel to her husband and children. 

She was an efficient helpmate and assisted Mr. Lane in amassing a large landed property in the vicinity of Prophetstown.  The outstanding trait of her nature was her self-sacrifice for her loved ones.  No burden was too heavy for her shoulders and she took up the cross daily and followed him who was her source of strength and consolation in the many trials of a pioneer mother. 

Her thoughtfulness was depicted so poignantly in the finding, after her death, of the following trite account of her life written by herself and left in the family Bible:   "I was born, near Morgan Town, W. Va., March 11, 1852, and came with my parents when an infant to Bureau county, Ill.  When I was two years old my parents moved to Gentry county, Mo., where my father died when I was five years old.  When I was six years old my mother moved back to Bureau county, Ill., where I lived until I was married to William Lane, Oct. 18, 1868, in Prophetstown, and commenced housekeeping at Leon where I have lived ever since." 

Funeral services were conducted at the family home by Rev. Weatherman, pastor of the Leon church, at 1 o'clock Wednesday, June 22, and at 2 o'clock at the Leon church.  Interment was in Leon Cemetery.