USA > New Jersey > Genealogical and memorial history of the state of New Jersey, Volume I > Part 10
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of the pleas for Essex county, Mr. Crane con- tinued with him and subsequently became his assistant, a position which he occupied for eight years, doing most of the pleading and trying the causes before the court of special sessions. Colonel Abeel having been succeeded in office by the Hon. Oscar Keen, Mr. Crane continued to fill the place of assistant prose- cutor during the last named gentleman's incum- bency.
Upon the expiration of Mr. Keen's term of office in 1888, Governor Greene appointed Mr. Crane his successor as prosecutor, a position he was probably better equipped for than any other member of the bar in the state. The abil- ity which he displayed in the management of his cases, the painstaking way in which he con- ducted his trials, and his integrity, combined with his fairness and undoubted honesty of purpose in all things, brought him the esteem and confidence of the community, and earned for him the popular approval of a large num- ber of the citizens of the state. When his term expired, there was practically no opposition to his reappointment which was given to him by Governor Werts for a second term of five years. During his terms of office Mr. Crane successfully prosecuted many of the most important criminal cases that have ever been brought to trial in the state of New Jersey, among them being the Emma Wood, the "Fid- dler" Smith, and the Henry Kohl cases.
In October, 1881, Mr. Crane became a trus- tee of the Newark City Home, and served for several years. For more than thirty years he was very active in the councils of the Demo- cratic party of the state, and gave much of his time and ability to the advancement of the cause of that great political party. For a time he was chairman of the Democratic city central committee, and in 1887 was elected a member of the New Jersey legislature. In 1898 his party selected him as the candidate for governor of the state, but after a vigorous campaign he was defeated by less than six thousand votes. In every office he has served with credit, fidelity and distinction. In De- cember, 1906, he was chosen for the position of county counsel. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity and also of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.
July 9, 1879, Elvin Williamson Crane mar- ried Emma J., youngest daughter of Jacob and Mary ( Masterson) Esch, born September 24, 1856, who survives both her husband and chil- dren. Mrs. Crane's father, Jacob Esch, was a native of Alsace, who came to New York.
where he married and had ten children, besides Mrs. Crane, Sarah Louisa, wife of Paul J. White; Mary A., wife of Charles E. Sage; Adelaide F., wife of William S. Vliet; Fred- erick W., married Charlotte Randolph; Joseph L .; William V., married Dora Taylor; Kate M .; Lucie W .; George F. The children of Elvin Williamson and Emma J. (Esch) Crane were: I. Elvin Williamson Jr., born Novem- ber 28, 1884, died January 4, 1885. 2. Harold Williamson, born April 2, 1886, died October 18, 1892. 3. Elvin Masterson, born August 16, 1890, died May 4, 1897.
(For early generations see preceding sketch).
(IV) William Crane, son /of
CRANE Major Nathaniel Crane, has left no record of the dates of his birth and death, but he resided for many years at Cranetown, or West Bloomfield, now Montclair, and in many ways was quite a prominent man. In 1748 he subscribed eight shillings towards the building fund of the parsonage at Orange, and eleven pounds towards the building fund of the second meet- ing house in 1753 ; and with Samuel Harrison, Samuel Freeman, Joseph Harrison, Stephen Dod, David Williams, Samuel Condit, and Joseph Riggs, he was one of "those of the parish regularly chosen to manage the affair of the building," of the latter edifice. He was also one of the "Members in communion of the Mountain Society prior to 1756," noted in the journal of the Rev. Caleb Smith. From 1753 to 1756, inclusive, he was overseer of the poor ; from 1760 to 1764 he was overseer of the highways; in 1767 he was one of the chosen freeholders of the town. It is probable that he may have inherited property in Crane- town from his father, and also possible that he succeeded to the home estate, but of this there is insufficient evidence for certainty. The notable Crane mansion, however, which was undoubtedly occupied either by him or his family during the war of the revolution, and which is still standing at the junction of the Valley Road with Clairmont avenue, Orange, was his home, and was occupied for about three weeks by General Washington as his headquarters, General Lafayette being with him at the time. After the battle of Spring- field in June, 1780, when the troops returned from the Hudson, Washington, who had ex- pressed himself as greatly pleased with the conduct of the troops from the Bloomfield region, placed his main encampment at Totowa, near Paterson. Colonel Maryland's regiment
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was stationed near Little Falls and Major Paul's rifle corps in a ravine near the Great Notch, where he was ordered to watch the roads through the Notch into this region and into Acquackononck and to guard against sur- prises. Lafayette's headquarters were at Gaf- fel, near Centreville. In October the light infantry was ordered to a new position the better to watch the Notch and the Cranetown Gap. Washington, with a detachment, was scouring the country on his blooded Virginia horses, looking after the stragglers, and cor- recting the mutinous tendencies of his wretched soldiers. His favorite lookout point was, it is said, the bold hill on the east side of the Notch ; and from here he once detected a raid- ing party of British sallying from Elizabeth- town to the mountains. The army here was in that deplorable condition which led, in 1781, to the mutiny of the Pennsylvania troops at Pompton. From October 7 to November 27, 1780, Washington's detachment extended along the road and mountain southward from the Crane homestead, and the story, as related by the Rev. Oliver Crane, D. D., LL. D., is that one day General Washington arrived at the house and found Mrs. Crane quite dis- turbed because there was no tea in the caddy. Starting to offer an apology to the commander- in-chief for the lack of what might seem to him an important feature of his repast, she met - with the response, "Never mind so small a thing as that, my dear madam, please have a crust of bread toasted, and use that to make the tea. It will be quite good enough for me." Later on in the evening, when bedtime came, the lower back room, which had been used as a dining room, was selected by the two gen- erals for their own use, and it was then dis- covered that there was a deficiency of beds; whereupon General Washington is reported to have remarked, "A soldier's bed is often times only a blanket and a board, but there is plenty of straw in the barn, is there not?" William Crane, who at the time the above related inci- dents were taking place, was with four if not five of his sons serving in the Continental army. He was twice married, (first) to a Miss Wheeler, of Newark, and (second) to a lady named Mercy or Mary. It is this second wife who was the hostess of Generals Washington and Lafayette. Which of William's wives was the mother of his children is still a matter of uncertainty, but by one or both of them he had eleven children.
I. Rachel, married Simeon Baldwin, son of
David, son of Benjamin Baldwin and Eunice, daughter of Daniel Dodd.
2. Hannah, married her cousin, Major Na- thaniel Crane, sixth child of Noah and Mary ( Baldwin) Crane. Hannah Crane's father- in-law was also her uncle.
3. Matthias, born September 12, 1743, died September 14, 1786 ; married Elizabeth, daugh- ter of Job and Abigail (Dodd) Crane. Abi- gail (Dodd) Crane was the daughter of John and Elizabeth (Lampson) Dodd, granddaugh- ter of Daniel and Phebe ( Brown) Dod, and great-granddaughter of Daniel and Mary Dod, the emigrants. Job Crane was the son of Azariah and Rebecca Crane, grandson of Deacon Azariah and Mary (Treat) Crane, and great-grandson of Jasper and Alice Crane, the emigrants. Matthias and Elizabeth (Crane) Crane had two children : Israel, married Fanny Pierson ; and Abigail, married Hugh Holmes.
4. Jonathan, died according to one record, August 1, 1801, and according to another, in Caldwell, New Jersey, in 1805. He married Mary Ward, who died November 4, 1820, leaving three children: Abijah, Uzeal and Timothy.
5. Jonas, referred to below.
6. Sarah, born in 1755, died in 1825 ; married Stephen Fordham.
7. James, died unmarried.
8. Zadoc, born in 1758, died in 1841. He married but had no children. "General Wash- ington had an old gray horse, almost as well known as its rider. Zadoc took care of it while the General was at Cranetown, enter- tained by his mother. The oats fed to the horse were kept concealed under a stack of hay, and every time Zadoc got a mess from under it he replaced the hay nicely and care- fully picked up every scattered straw for fear the British might discover them. One day the alarm came that the British were about to make an attack on the American lines; and Washington called for volunteers to act as couriers to warn the minute-men living beyond the first and second mountains. Zadoc, who had remained at home because he had been lame from a boy, offered to go, as his short leg did not prevent his riding. Mounted on his own horse with a heavy cutlass for his only weapon, just as the sun was disappearing be- hind the mountains, under special orders from General Washington he set out, riding through the night, calling at every house and routing out the inmates from their slumbers. As the gray of the morning began to show itself, he
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was marching his men toward the Crane man- sion, and just at daybreak drew up his squad in front of the doorstep, where stood the Gen- eral. "Well done, my man," was the latter's greeting. "Now come in and take a horn of whiskey, for you must need it."
9. William Jr., born 1759, died November 16, 1832 ; was a lieutenant and captain in the revolution and in the war of 1812; married Lydia, daughter of Joshua Baldwin. Their eleven children were: Henry, Elisha, and an- other, name unknown, all three of whom died young ; Hannah ; Sarah; Josiah W .; William ; Mary, became the second wife of Joseph, son of Joseph and Phebe (Durand) Harrison, whose half-sister Abigail, daughter of Joseph and Rhoda (Freeman) Harrison, married Bethuel Crane, first cousin of Mary (Crane) Harrison (see Bethuel below) ; Lucy, wife of Lewis Pierson; Joshua; Prudence, wife of Z. Baldwin. 10. Oliver, born 1759, died Au- gust 31, 1817 ; was in the war of 1812 ; married Susanna, daughter of David Baldwin, of Bloomfield, and had eight children: Sarah, Lydia, Stephen Fordham, Rachel, Amos, Zophar Baldwin, Nathaniel Marcus and Isaac Wheeler.
II. Amos, baptized by the Rev. Jedediah Chapman, March 6, 1768.
(V) Jonas, fifth child and third son of Will- iam Crane, was born in 1750, died in Caldwell, New Jersey, October 17, 1806. The name of his wife is unknown, but she bore him eight children, four boys and four girls, namely : I. Amos, married and had a child George. 2. William. 3. Calvin Smith, born January 20. 1795, died March 4, 1837 ; married (first ) May IO, 1818, Nancy, daughter of Samuel Day, of New York, born February 15, 1793, died Jan- uary 9, 1827, having borne her husband three children: Stephen Munson, Phebe Ann and Van Zant. Calvin Smith Crane married (sec- ond) Julia Angelina, daughter of Nathaniel Douglas, on April 2, 1829; she was born at Pompton, New Jersey, 1800, died in Caldwell, January 22, 1835, leaving two children, Delia and Walworth Douglass; Calvin Smith Crane married (third) October 17, 1836, Mary, daughter of John Hier, who died March 4, 1887, having borne her husband one child, Catharine Augusta. 4. Bethuel, referred to below. The four daughters of Jonas Crane were : Lydia, Rachel, Phebe and Abigail.
(VI) Bethuel, fourth son of Jonas Crane. was born in 1780, died in West Orange, Au- gust 26, 1854. He married Abigail, sixth child and second daughter of Joseph Harrison,
of Livingston, New Jersey, by his first wife Rhoda, daughter of Abel Freeman, grand- daughter of Samuel and Mary (Lindsley) Freeman, great-granddaughter of Samuel and Elizabeth ( Brown) Freeman, and great-great- granddaughter of Stephen Freeman, the emi- grant, and Hannah, daughter of Captain Ast- wood. Joseph, the father of Abigail Harri- son, was married three times, his second wife being Phebe Durand, and his third Polly or Mary (Kirk) Van Emburg, the last, of whom bore him no children. By his first wife Joseph Harrison had eight children: Demas, Tamer, Rufus, Jared, Samuel, Abigail, Joanna and Jared Freeman; by his second wife four more children: Joseph, married Charlotte Gould, Mary, daughter of William Crane Jr., and Betsey Blinn ; Rhoda, Harvey and Phebe. Joseph Harrison himself was the son of Joseph Harrison and either Martha, daughter of Jonathan Sergeant, or Mary, daughter of Micah Tompkins Jr., grandson of Joseph Har- rison and Dorcas, daughter of Sergeant John Ward, of Newark, great-grandson of Sergeant Richard Harrison, and great-great-grandson of Richard Harrison, the emigrant from West Kirby, Cheshire, England, to New Haven and Branford. The children of Bethuel and Abi- gail (Harrison) Crane were : Aaron Dodd, re- ferred to below ; Jonas Smith ; Rachel ; Louisa ; Phebe Harrison : Abigail Ann and Harriet. Rachel married Stephen C. Moore, a merchant of Caldwell, New Jersey ; Harriet, married and had children : Abigail Ann, born about 1829, died in 1852.
(VII) Aaron Dodd, eldest son of Bethuel and Abigail (Harrison) Crane, lived at Dodd- town. in the Oranges. He married Sarah A. Campbell. and had five children: I. Maria, married Milton Hulme. 2. Moses Griffin. 3. Augustus Smith, referred to below. 4. Mat- thew Henderson. 5. Louisa, married (first) John Kendrick and (second) Alpheus Meade.
(VIII) Augustus Smith, third child and second son of Aaron Dodd and Sarah A. (Campbell) Crane, was born in Newark, New Jersey, December 31, 1834, and is now living in that city. For his early education he at- tended the common schools of the town and later on was sent to the famous school kept by Dr. Nathan Hedges. After leaving school, he was apprenticed to Durand & Company, the jewelers, and after completing his term of ap- prenticeship started in for himself as a manu- facturing jeweler, making a specialty of braided wire bracelets. Mr. Crane is a Re- publican, but has held no office. For years
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he sang in the choirs of different churches in Newark and elsewhere.
May 1, 1862, Augustus Smith Crane mar- ried Henrietta, eldest child of William S. and Harriet Speer Palmer, her only brother being Frederick Augustus Palmer, granddaughter of Jacob and Blandina (Hedenburg) Speer, and of Ajah and Sarah (Flewelling) Palmer, and great-granddaughter of Samuel and Sarah ( Pierce) Palmer. Children of Augustus Smith and Henrietta (Palmer) Crane are :I. Frederick Palmer, referred to below. 2. Helen Speer. 3. Henrietta Louise. 4. Mabel Maria, died at the age of three years. 5. Elizabeth King. 6. Palmer Griffin, referred to below. 7. Anna Augusta, born October 17, 1876; married, January II, 1905, Clarence Edgar Beers, D. D. S.
. (IX) Frederick Palmer, eldest child and son of Augustus Smith and Henrietta (Pal- mer ) Crane, was born in Newark, New Jersey, October II, 1863, and is now living with his family in that city. For his early education he was sent to the public schools of the town and then to a private school, after leaving which he entered the Newark high school, from which he graduated in 1878. He then entered the wholesale jewelry trade, becoming a clerk in New York City, where he remained for the next fourteen years, rising to the po- sition of salesman. In 1892 he gave up his position with the jewelry firm and took up the insurance business, in which he continued for two years, when he accepted the position of credit manager for the firm of Whitehead & Hoag, of which he is now assistant treasurer. Mr. Crane is a Republican. His secret socie- ties are the K. O. T. M. and the Modern Woodmen. In religion he is a Methodist.
August 4, 1888, Frederick Palmer Crane was married in Newark, New Jersey, to Phebe Caroline, eighth child and fourth daughter of John Henry and Matilda Ann (De Vausney ) Mackey.
(IX) Palmer Griffin, seventh and youngest child of Augustus Smith and Henrietta (Pal- mer ) Crane, was born in Newark, New Jersey, December 19, 1874, and is now living in that city with his family. After receiving his early education from the public and high schools of Newark, he took a commercial course in one of the business colleges, and then entered the employ of the hardware dealers, Hainski & Tucker, with whom he remained for eight years. Then he accepted a similar position with Roe & Conover, with whom he remained for nine years more, when he resigned and
went into business with Sidney J. Milligan. under the name of Crane & Milligan, dealing in hardware and mill supplies, pipes and fit- tings, etc., where he has been since 1906. Mr. Crane is a Republican. He is a member of the Royal Arcanum of Newark, and attends the Methodist church. His present address is 133 Milford avenue, near Bigelow street.
February 24, 1906, Palmer Griffin Crane was was married in Newark to Anna Carbury, eighth child and fifth daughter of Robert Bowen and Jane, daughter of Adam and Mary Clarke.
(For preceding generations see Jasper Crane 1). ( VII) Henry Conkling Crane,
CRANE third child and second son of the Rev. Noah and Bethia T. (Conkling) Crane, was born May 24, 1816, died March 20, 1858. He married Janu- ary 16, 1838, Cornelia Hurd, born July 5. 1819; children: 1. Emma S., born March 9, 1840; married, July 5, 1859, William A. Gregory and had two children: William H. and Frederick A. Gregory, the last of whom died in infancy. 2. Amelia J., born June 5, 1842, died January 30, 1907 ; married, March 13, 1866, Robert Law and had one child. Daisy. 3. Cornelia E., born September 3, 1844; married, February 27, 1862, S. Herndon Yates and had one child, Frederick G., who died in infancy. 4. Charles Henry, referred to below.
(VIII) Charles Henry, youngest child and son of Henry Conkling and Cornelia (Hurd) Crane, was born in Brooklyn, New York, No- vember 6, 1856, and is now living at 399 Mount Prospect avenue, Newark, New Jersey. For his early education he was sent to the public schools of Newark, and after leaving them he entered the employ of William B. Guild in whose office he remained for three months, and then took a position in the office of the New- ark Daily Advertiser, which he retained for one year, giving it up in August, 1873, in order to enter the jewelry trade. After learning the business with the firm of Field & Company, up to 1877, he worked in various shops for seven years, and May 14, 1884, left them and started in for himself in partnership with Mr. Stro- bell- as jewelry specialist in rings, lockets, bracelets, fobs and bangles. Mr. Crane is a Republican. He is a member of several clubs among them being the Jewelers' Club of New York. He is also a member of the New York Board of Trade, and of the Board of Trade in Newark, in which latter body he has served
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on several committees, in particular, the com- mittee on municipal affairs. For many years he has been an attendant at the Park Presby- terian Church of Newark and was appointed on the board of trustees as the successor of the Hon. F. J. Swazey.
October 6, 1879, Charles Henry Crane mar- ried in East Orange, Anna Voorhies, the eldest daughter of John B. and Caroline (Van Duyne) Wilson, who has borne him two chil- dren, Edward Sidney, born September 20, 1880; and Albert Ernest, January 20, 1885. Mrs. Crane was born in Newark, New Jersey, June 21, 1856.
McCOSH James McCosh, D. D., LL. D., LITT. D., the eleventh presi- dent of the College of New Jer- sey, now Princeton University, belonged to an old and highly respected family in Ayrshire, Scotland, whose earliest recorded ancestor, Jasper McCosh, died at Straiton in Ayrshire, in 1727, and is buried there. A descendant in the third generation from Jasper McCosh was Andrew, who married Jean, daughter of James Carson, a large farmer on Loch Doon, and died on his estate at Carskeoch, July 9, 1820. This property is situated on the Doon in Ayrshire, about twelve miles from Ayr. Andrew and Jean (Carson) McCosh had six daughters and one son, James, born April 1, 1811.
James McCosh studied at the University of Glasgow, continued his theological education at Edinburgh, was licensed to preach in 1834, and in the following year accepted his first charge at Arbroath, removing to Brechin in 1838, where until 1843 he was minister of the established church. On the Disruption, he re- signed his charge, formed a Free Church con- gregation and labored thus until 1851, when he was appointed professor of Logic and Meta- physics at Queen's College, Belfast. It was from this chair that he was called to the presi- dency of Princeton in 1868. For twenty years he occupied the latter position, galvanizing and remodeling the entire institution until in 1888, when he resigned, he had placed the college on a University basis. He died at Princeton, No- vember 16, 1894.
At the age of thirteen he had been sent to Glasgow, where after a year in a preparatory class he entered the University in 1825. Four years later, attracted by the reputation of Thomas Chalmers and David Welsh in the- ology and of Sir William Hamilton in Philos- ophy, he left Glasgow and entered Edinburgh University, joining the crowd of eager students
under these professors. He completed his ac- ademic education at Edinburgh, and in 1834 presented a dissertation on "Stoic Philosophy" for which he was granted the Master of Arts degree. Lincensed that spring, he preached wherever opportunity offered. Then for a while he acted as tutor in the family of a Mr. Graham, of Meiklewood, near Stirling. At the end of 1835 he was called to his first regu- lar pastorate at the Abbey Chapel of Arbroath in Forfarshire. Two years later he declined a call to the pulpit of the historic Old Grey- friars at Edinburgh, and had the pleasure of urging for the place a close friend, the Rev. Thomas Guthrie, who accepted the call and won for himself a fine reputation in that church. In 1838 young McCosh accepted an appointment to Brechin, an old cathedral town near Arbroath, and here he labored until the Disruption took place. In this movement Mc- Cosh and Guthrie had leading parts, forming as it were a neucleus of ministers who dis- cussed the dangers that threatened the Scot- tish church through appointment of ministers by the Crown, regardless of the preferences of congregations, an unavoidable development of the patronage system. A little pamphlet published by Dr. McCosh at Brechin late in 1843 or early in 1844, entitled "Recollections of the Disruption in Brechin," and printed for private circulation, shows the successive steps of the movement and clearly outlines his atti- tude. In 1843, when Disruption from the Es- tablished Church became inevitable, he sur- rendered his living at Brechin: but his work had won for him so large a following that he was able to form a Free congregation without delay and here he continued therefore in pas- toral work. His labors, however, were not confined to his own parish, for he spent much time organizing Free churches elsewhere, rais- ing funds for their support, and securing pas- tors for their pulpits. For five years longer he remained at Brechin, by which time the Free Church seemed to be on a firm basis and he was able to turn his attention to authorship.
In 1850 he published his first important work "The Method of Divine Government, Physical and Moral.". It met with the instant approval of Sir William Hamilton and Hugh Miller, at that time two leading thinkers of Scotland, and it was everywhere favorably re- ceived. The German "Zeitschrift für Philos- ophie." for instance, was outspoken in its praise, remarking that it was distinguished from other works of similar nature by being based on a thorough study of Physical Science
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and an accurate knowledge of its present con- dition, together with a deeper and more un- fettered discussion of the psychological, ethical and theological questions involved, than any work up to that time published. The first edition was exhausted in six months, and dur- ing the next forty years the book passed through twenty editions, and is still sought after.
To this book it is said Dr. McCosh in a measure owed his call to the chair of Logic and Metaphysics in Queen's College, Belfast, a branch of the newly founded Queen's Uni- versity of Ireland, the Earl of Clarendon, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Regent of the Uni- versity, becoming so absorbed in its perusal one Sunday morning that he forgot to go to church. The call to Belfast followed shortly after, and there in January, 1852, Dr. Mc- Cosh began his lectures.
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