Pvt. Robert Thompson Lain, son of Doctor Joseph Lain, was born at Mount Hope, Orange county, NY, Nov. 3, 1837, died in Bradford, Pennsylvania on December 13, 1909. He was educated in the public schools of Otisville, NY and fitted himself for the profession of civil engineer; later he came to western PA and was one of the engineers employed in the construction of the branch of the Erie railroad between Bradford and Alton. He enlisted Aug. 13, 1861 in the PA Bucktail regiment and went to the front in the civil war: was wounded in his first battle and after partially recovering was assigned to duty in the office of the hospital steward. His duties consisted in accompanying the surgeons with the ambulance, medicine, etc. to the battlefields administering to the wounded. After receiving an honorable discharge from the army when the war closed, he came to Bradford in 1865. He next removed to Alton, PA where he was postmaster, and engaged in mercantile business in partnership with Charles Melvin, continuing until their store was burned in 1867. He then removed to Wilcox, PA where he was manager of a general store until 1869. In that year he went to Dunkirk, NY, returning to Bradford in 1873 and engaging in the production of oil and the real estate business, continuing until his death.
He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic; the Union Veteran Legion; the Heptasophs; the Country Club and was the second oldest member of Bradford Lodge, No.334, Free and Accepted Masons at the time of his death. He married June 26, 1865, Olive M. Fisher, who survives him with one son, William Fisher Lain.
