Abraham Lane b. 1861 – d. 1906
Abraham was Bethlehem’s first black businessman, a well-known caterer and owner of properties in South Bethlehem. He also ran a tea room in the 500 block of Cherokee Street. Abraham had the property at 627 Cherokee Street built in 1890.

Abraham (Abram) Lane was born July 26, 1861, in Piney Grove, Sampson County, North Carolina to Richard and Lavinia (nee Cox) Lane.  His siblings were a sister Caroline and a brother Robert. Abraham married Clara Brown in 1885 in Philadelphia. They had nine children, 7 boys and two girls. All were baptized at the Cathedral Church of the Nativity, 321 Wyandotte Street, Bethlehem, PA.

We don’t the means by which he arrived in Bethlehem, but by 1880 or maybe before, Abraham as a young man, was working as a servant for E. P. Wilbur, the industrialist / banker and nephew of Lehigh Valley railroad founder Asa Packer of Jim Thorpe, PA.  Clara lived in Jim Thorpe at the time and it is known since Abraham accompnaied E. P. Wilbur on his trips to visit his uncle Asa, that the two met.

Children of Abraham and Clara:
Richard Henry Lane**
b. 1886 – d. ? – Dining Car Waiter
Aaron Faucett Lane**
b. 1887 – d. 1964 – Waiter on ships
Abraham Lane II*
b. 1891 – d. 1970 – Waiter (upstate New York)
William Thurston Lane*
b. 1893 – d. 1977 – Waiter at Hotel Bethlehem
Robert Julius Lane*
b. 1895 – d. 1980 – Waiter at Hotel Bethlehem
Albert Victor Lane*
b. 1898 – d. 1943 – Waiter
Clara Isabella Lane
b. 1899 – d. 1936 – School Teacher, Atlantic City, NJ
Lavinia Lane
b. 1902 – d. 2001 – Cook
Walter Lane*
b. 1904 – d. 1984 – Waiter and Red Cap

** Shown in photo Richard and Aaron
   (boys with dresses)
* All enlisted in WWI and WWII

Clara Lane, 1940s. Wife of Abraham Lane.