The Lane family's ability to add a punch line to any story calls into question the veracity of the tales I heard growing up. Many of the stories seemed too work out too well as a joke to be true. One such anecdote was that when the blacksmithing business was beginning to dry up in the early 1900s, with the increasing availability of the automobile, the Lane family business went from outfitting horses with shoes to outfitting cars with their new rubber shoes, tires. I loved that story but it seemed to be a transition of industry on par with time travel from the Back to the Future series, where everything has its equal counter part in the future and the past. "Progress is his middle name" (The campaign slogan of incumbent Mayors Goldie Wilson and Red Thomas 30 years apart)
The following research confirms that story and another one about the Lane's counter movement to the great American migration west in the mid 19th century.
Link: 1900 Census showing Henry Clinton Lane as a "Horse shoer"
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