John McLane

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For the protagonist of the Die Hard films, see John McClane.

John McLane (February 27, 1852–April 13, 1911) was a furniture maker and politician from Milford, New Hampshire. He was Governor of New Hampshire from 1905 to 1907.

He was born in Lennoxtown, in Scotland, the son of Alexander McLane and his wife Mary, née Hay, and was brought to America with his family in 1853, when he was one year old. They settled in Manchester, and moved to Milford in 1869. Upon completion of his schooling, he became a cabinetmaker's apprentice, and opened his own shop in 1876. The business's success (it was for a time the largest manufacture of post-office furniture in North America) secured other business opportunities for him: he became a director of the Milford Granite Company, the Souheagan National Bank and the New Hampshire Fire Insurance Company.

On 10 March 1880 he married Ellen Luetta Tuck (1855-1927). They had four children, Clinton Averill McLane (1881), Hazel Ellen McLane (1885), John Roy McLane (1886), and Charles Malcolm McLane (1910).

McLane was elected, as a Republican, to the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 1885, and to the New Hampshire Senate in 1891, representing the 16th District 1891-92 and the 15th District 1893-94. He was president of the senate during his two terms. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention from New Hampshire in 1900, and was elected governor in 1904.

As governor, McLane was instrumental in securing funding for highway improvement, and welcomed delegates to the Russo-Japanese War Peace Conference, which was held in Portsmouth during his term in office.

He died in Pinehurst, Moore County, North Carolina and was interred at the Milford Cemetery, Milford, New Hampshire.