Last night I promised a citizen of Roseburg I was coming there to wake his sleepy town up, when I stand before the City Council and make my presentation about getting rid of the name of a Confederate Candidate for Vice President in the 1860 elections. Roseburg’s middle school is named after Joseph Lane who is in the Benton Family Tree via Polly Hart Lane. I named the Pioneer statue of a woman after another Hart kin, but not of the Bentons. I am kin to the Hart family via Commodore Isaac Hull, the Captain of the Constitution and Enterprise.

https://rosamondpress.com/2014/04/08/eliza-hart-spalding/

This morning I discovered Joseph Lane was involved in the Whitman Missionary murders, he bringing Native Americans to justice. I believe I read a report about how they Cayuse tribe were ruled not complete Christians because they refused to dress like white people.

Commissioner Pat Farr convened a County Commission to take up the matter of renaming Lane County. I have stood in front of the Springfield City Council and suggested Harry Lane replace his grandfather’s name. I will make the City Council of Roseburg aware of this Commission. Above is the tomb of Joseph and Polly in the Roseburg Cemetery.

Trump is threatening to go to Mount Rushmore. He has ordered Federal Marshalls to protect statues from “wise guys” a term that suggests these demonstrators are made members of the Mafia. Gone With The Wind now comes with a disclaimer. Study the election of 1860, because, we are there again! We have gone back in time.

John Presco

President: Royal Rosamond Press

https://rosamondpress.com/2019/02/04/rename-franklin-street-harry-lane/

https://jolane.roseburg.k12.or.us/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1860_United_States_presidential_election

https://www.facebook.com/PatFarrOR/

https://offbeatoregon.com/1412c.318.president-joseph-lane.html

https://rosamondpress.com/2020/06/16/i-claim-the-pioneer-statues/

https://rosamondpress.com/2017/02/07/hart-benton-boone-brothers/

https://rosamondpress.com/2016/09/07/joseph-lane-and-john-breckenridge/

https://rosamondpress.com/2020/06/18/oregon-a-puritan-promised-land/

The next year, the Democratic party split over the issue of slavery, with the Southern Democrats nominating John C. Breckinridge president.

Lane became his running mate as the vice presidential nominee on the pro-slavery ticket.

They lost.

The Civil War broke out the next year.

Lane, a former general in the Mexican-American War, was openly sympathetic to the Confederacy, but he didn’t fight in the war between the states.

He finished his term as a senator and returned to Douglas County, Oregon, to ranch.

He never re-entered politics.

But his name lives on – in the name of Lane County and the schools, organizations and businesses that use his name.

Now a new ad hoc committee convened by the County Commission will take up the question of Lane’s legacy, his pro-slavery stance – and whether it is time to change the county’s name.

“It’s not just a small segment of people. A lot of people who take a look at the history of Joseph Lane don’t like what they see,” Commissioner Pat Farr said. “Other people say, ‘Well, it’s a part of history and we need to retain history’.”

The Commissioner passed a resolution June 9 “in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and Lane County’s commitment to putting in the work to achieve racial equity.”

Part of the community discussion by the new ad hoc committee will Lane’s legacy. The commitee will consider whether or not the county should seek to change its name, or if there are any other notable Lanes who would make a better namesake for the county.

“Some of it will be absolute action items, and some of it will be more of a community discussion,” Farr said. “The discussion about Lane County and the naming of Lane County is going to be a community discussion.”