Job Lane (1689-1762)
On a sunny August Sunday afternoon in 2008, Ruth and I visited a home first built by Ruth’s 7thgreat-grandfather, Job Lane (1689-1762). Located on the Old North Road, just north of Bedford,
Massachusetts, the home was built by Job Lane for his bride, Martha Ruggles at the time of their wedding in 1713. Maintained by the Bedford Historical Society, the home is open for tours one Sunday each month. The original home was from the front door to the right. The left portion of the home was built more than one hundred years later.
The property for the home was part of a larger 1,500 acre parcel which Job Lane’s grandfather, Job Lane (1620 – 1697) was given as payment for building a home for the grandson of Governor Winthrop in New London, CT in 1664.
The house is maintained by Friends of the Job Lane House. More information and hours for tours can be found here. You can also find them on Facebook. The Bedford Historical Society also maintains an extensive list of historical papers from the https://www.facebook.com/JobLaneHouse Lane family that can be viewed at Bedford Historical Society – Lane Family Papers.
Job Lane’s son – Job Lane Jr. (1718-1796) was a private in the Bedford Company that marched to Concord on April 19, 1775 to defend against the attack by the British troops. Hit in the leg by a musket ball, Job Lane served only one day, but was a part of that historical step in our nation’s history. His wound left him crippled; some reports say that his leg was amputated. Fortunately he survived for another twenty-one years to see the fruits of the struggles – the birth of our new nation.
Job Lane. Jr’s great granddaughter, Abigail Kittredge Richardson, was the grandmother of George Rogers Wales. The line: George Wales; Susan Howard Rogers; Abigail Kittredge Richardson; Hannah Bacon; Hannah Lane; Job Lane, Jr; Job Lane. Many of these families are found back to the earliest of English days in towns such as Woburn and Billerica, MA.