RESIDENCE:  LOWELL, MIDDLESEX, MASSACHUSETTS

“When a young man, he went to Lowell, Mass., where with two sisters, he lived in a boarding house owned by — Hacket, an aunt. He became a journeyman carpenter, but in winter he worked in a hat factory, or at building caskets.” 

SOURCE:  Lane, Frank C.  & Lane, Roger.N., Ancestry and Descendants of James Lane of Hingham, Massachusetts, 1966, p 32-33.

I have searched for evidence to substantiate the year(s) that Emery Orson Lane lived in Lowell. U.S. Census records show that he was living in Winthrop, Maine in 1880.  It seems most likely that he went to Lowell in 1874/5 and returned to Maine before 1880. He would have been just out of high school, wanting to learn a trade and earn money in the city. However, it is equally possible that he went to Massachusetts after the 1880 census, and did not return to Maine until about 1885.

The hat factory in Lowell was likely CG Hines Co., Silk Hat Manufacturer, 170 Merrimack Street, Lowell, MA. There were other large hat manufactories in the region, but that is the only one I’ve found reference to which is actually in the city of Lowell.  SOURCE: 1875-76 Lowell Business Directory.

I continue to search for evidence of a boarding house owned by Hackett. I have not found any connection yet between the Hackett family and the Lane family, other than that of neighbors in the town of Readfield.  I am hoping to visit my grand-uncle and get more information about this family connection.