CO-OPERATIVE PURCHASING COMMITTEE ----OF THE---- STATE HOSPITALS AND TRAINING SCHOOLS DR. J. PERCY WADE, CHAIRMAN, SPRING GROVE STATE HOSPITAL, DR. F. W. KEATING, SEC'Y & TREAS., SPRINGFIELD STATE HOSPITAL, MR. R. A. ATKINSON, CHIEF CLERK CROWNSVILLE STATE HOSPITAL, EASTERN SHORE STATE HOSPITAL, 221 N. LIBERTY ST. ROSEWOOD STATE TRAINING SCHOOL, MARYLAND TRAINING SCHOOL FOR BOYS. BALTIMORE, MD. July 30, 1920. Mr. C. K. Hill, Harriman, Tenn. My dear Mr. Hill: Yours of the 15th ult., enclosing me copy of the "Rev" Tidence Lane D.A.R. paper of your sister's and the LANE notes written by Mr. Trader, reach me safely, and should have been acknowledged long before now, but I seem never to have a moment of my very own in which to attend to personal correspondence. I thank you tremendously for sending me these papers. I understand that the D.A.R. paper is a copy and I may keep it. The Trader Lane notes, I will return to you; first I want to have them copied, which I will do at my very earliest convenience and returned to you intact. Rest assured that they will be safely and carefully guarded, as I am a person with much experience in this sort of work and know the inestimable value of such papers, and therefore I appreciate all the more your great kindness in sending me the "original" papers, which I do not think it always safe to do. But, you have proven yourself so worthy of consideration and interest in such matters, I am going to show you my great confidence and trust, by sending you a lot of my "original" papers by registered mail. I would not ordinarily do this for fear of them being misplaced or lost but I believe you are a person who appreciates as I do the value of such things and will not betray the trust. I have picked out from the great mass of data I have accumulated by years of work and correspondence, just such papers as I believe will answer some of the questions you have asked me from time to time. I simply have not the time to "copy" all of them, so I am going to send you the original and exact a promise from you that you will guard them carefully and return them to me just as soon as you can and they have served your purpose. You will appreciate, I am sure, that I could never duplicate them. All I ask is that you read them over as soon as your can and study them and return them to me by "registered mail". If some of these papers I am sending you were lost, then I would never be able to give any information at all, for I have no copies of them. Now, about the matter of Richard & Sarah Lane's marriage in 1739, I most frankly say, I do not know. This is just as apt to be correct as the data I had. Until we can find and prove the maiden name of this Richard Lane's wife, or find his will, I guess one guess is just as good as another. I found all this in the Maryland Archives in the Library of the Md. Historical Society here in Balto, of which I have long been a member. I should like to have it all cleared up, and only hope that you will find by your further investigations that Mr. Trader is correct. You must understand that I undertook this work years ago, without experience, my only incentive being to find out something about my grandfather Lane's ancestors, which I had never known, and to enable my Aunt, whom I love so dearly, to join the C.D.Society. When I moved to Baltimore to live about ten yrs. ago, I learned that these old Lanes were originally from Maryland, so I then began the search in earnest with the result of discovery of the dates as given in St. Paul's Parish Register. Dr. Christopher Johnston, was living at that time and he was the official examiner for the C.D. and I know him personally and after I had finished my work he went over it all and stated that he felt I had made a clear and positive line and attested my work and papers. I send his original certificate to this effect. But, nothing is sure in this work without documentary evidence of court papers, so Mr. Trader may be correct in this, I may be wrong. Now, you do the clan a great favor and work it all out and let us be sure. It will not affect anything I have already done by undoing the accepted C.D. papers as now put it. Dr. Culver took Dr. Johnston's place with the C.D. Society and I am sure he would approve anything that Dr. Johnston had already approved. The Mrs. P. J. Allen you speak of is the same woman who bought from me along with some of her other women relative for $15.00 the Lane data on C.D. I first established. She at that time lived at Tate Springs, Tenn. and I had a good deal of correspondence with her about that time. I have sold this data to a good many of the connection, and I am sure they must all have been accepted on my original work, as I have never had word to the contrary, and as some of them paid me for this, I feel sure I would have heard from them if they had not been accepted. The data about Esther Bibbins (or Beavans) I am sure you can get from that Mrs. P. R. Jenkins, of Spring City, Tenn. You will note the pictures she sent me of the old place near Whitesbuarg, Tenn. Surely the records around Whitesburg would tell us something more about her. You look over all these old papers carefully and study them and all I ask is that after you have unraveled it all to let me have copies of your papers and findings. I have not undertaken to arrange these papers I am sending you in any sort of systematic shape. You will have to dig out what you want, but I feel sure from these many points will be cleared up. Now, Mr. Hill, I am relying on you to take good care of papers and return all of them to me just as soon as you can by registered mail. Apologizing for typographical errors and hoping you may find the papers of interest, I am, Sincerely yours, R. A. Atkinson ================================================== Transcription copyright © RoaneTNHistory.org 2005. All rights reserved. Archivist: Transcription and scan by G. Anne Sloan