The Death of Robert Shane – 1884

Robert Shane’s Obituary, September 25, 1884 as printed in the Monticello Express
Robert Shane was my great-grandfather, not to be confused with Robert Nolan Shane (1863-1918) who was my grandfather. Robert Shane (the first) was born in Limerick, Ireland about 1816-1822.  There’s some confusion about his birthdate because Census records vary significantly about that piece of [...]

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The Marriage of Robert Shane and Bridget Hogan

One of the documents I recently obtained is the marriage certificate of Robert Sheen (Shane) and Bridget Hogan who were married September 3rd, 1858 in Jones County, Iowa.

The certificate is a little tough to read but has the number “93″ in the upper right corner and “655″ on the left side.   This indicates it’s [...]

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Following the Deeds, Part 2

My grandfather, Robert Nolan Shane died of Pernicious Anemia in 1918. He was just 55 years old at the time of his death.  Robert must have known he was dying as he deeded the farm property to his wife Susan (Samels) Shane in November of 1917 which was about three months prior to his death. [...]

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Following the Deeds

Recently, my sister and I had a chance to spend a couple of days in Portland, Oregon looking for information on our paternal grandparents, Robert and Susan (Samels) Shane.  They had a farm near Portland, in the community now known as Farmington, which is just south of Hillsboro. I’d been curious for some time about [...]

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Graduation Day, 1910

My dad was just a youngster when his family moved first to Minneapolis, then to Portland, Oregon and it was in Portland that dad received most of his early education.  So I wanted to share with you a favorite picture from my collection.  It’s of a graduation ceremony and my dad is second from the [...]

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