Shane, John Dabney

Shane, John Dabney, a Presbyterian minister, was born in Cincinnati, O., in 1812. He graduated at Hampden Sidney College, Prince Edward Co., Va., and studied theology at the Union Theological Seminary in that state. He was licensed by the Cincinnati Presbytery on May 31, 1842, and shortly after ordained by the West Lexington Presbytery, laboring until 1855 at North Middleton, Ky., and with other churches in that region of country. He returned to Cincinnati in 1857, and afterwards preached as occasion presented in the bounds of the Cincinnati Presbytery. He died Feb. 7, 1864. Mr. Shane, from his earliest years, revealed a passion for collecting and hoarding everything that had any direct or indirect bearing upon the planting and history of the Presbyterian Church in the Mississippi valley. To carry out the great objects of his life, he declined the pastoral office, as he had that of the family relation, so that he could roam untrammelled over that broad land. After his death, his collections were sold at auction, and realized about $3000. A large portion of them were secured through the attention of Mr. Samuel Agnew, of Philadelphia, for the Presbyterian Historical Society. See Wilson, Presb. Hist. Almanac, 1865, p. 119. (J.L.S.)