As referenced in “THE LANE FAMILIES OF SOMERSET COUNTY AND VICINITY,” by Abraham Van Doren Honeyman, Plainfield, NJ, from the Somerset County Historical Quarterly; based on previous research by Judge Joseph P. Thompson of Readington.
THE LANE FAMILY (original name Laenen), appears to have been but one branch of a large number of families in Europe, which, on the Continent, where they originated, were known under the names of Laenen, van del' Lane, van del' Laen, de la Lanen, etc. Some had coats-of-arms, those which the writer has seen being of families bearing the two latter names. In England the name has always been Lane, and such is the uniform spelling in America today.
This particular family of Lanes whose descendants are in Somerset County, was a Laenen family of North Belgium, which was originally a part of the United Netherlands.
Two of this family, with their wives and children, came from the province of Liege, now in Belgium, to the New Wor1d, in March, 1663, They arrived on the vessel ''Rose Tree." We know their names and the names and ages of the children they brought over. We know, too, their father's name in the old country, because each of the immigrants bore the middle name "Jansen," meaning son of Jans. He was either Jans Laenen or Jans Laenen van Peelt, as the immigrants put the "van Peelt" (or van Pelt) after Laenen, as a rule, by which it is to be understood that, while their real surname was "Laenen," they were also "from the Peel," expressed in Dutch by the words "van Peelt." Both were entered on the ship's lists of passengers, however, in the customary short form of "Thys jansen" and "Teunis jansen." (See "N. Y. Gen. and Biog. Record," vol. 14, p. 181).