Yolo-Sonoma County CA Archives Biographies.....Crane, James A. 1860 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 14, 2006, 4:04 pm Author: Tom Gregory (1913) JAMES A. CRANE Agricultural enterprises occupied the attention of James A. Crane from early maturity until recent years, when, retiring from the manifold activities associated with ranch life, he came to Woodland and here owns and occupies a comfortable home at No. 815 Court Street. It is said that few men are better posted than he concerning farm values and crop -possibilities in Yolo county and certainly his long experience has given him a fund of information neither insignificant nor unimportant. Deeply interested in the development of the state, of which he has been a life-long resident, he also keeps well posted concerning its progress in agriculture and horticulture, its upbuilding in commerce and its growth in population and in wealth. To a large extent his interest centers in Yolo county, where he successfully prosecuted agricultural labors and where he has spent much of his active life. The Crane family is of southern lineage. Robert Crane was born in Mercer county, Ky., December 8, 1822, but at an early age accompanied his parents to Washington county, the same state, where he lived on a plantation. At the age of seventeen he removed with the family to Missouri and settled in Marion couilty,-where he undertook the task of transforming a tract of raw land into a productive farm. As soon as he heard of the discovery of gold in California he determined to come to the west and early in 1849 he started across the plains with a party of thirty gold-seekers. At the end of six months the prairie schooners, with their load of human freight, landed at Cold Springs, Eldorado county. There Mr. Crane remained for two and one-half years, engaged in mining and in mercantile pursuits. July 31, 1852, he arrived in Sonoma county, practically penniless, but with a willing heart and capable hands to aid him. Soon he took up four hundred and eighty-six acres seven miles from Santa Rosa and with the development of that farm his own prosperity was associated. For many years, and indeed until his death, which occurred October 31, 1900, Robert Crane ranked as a prosperous farmer of Sonoma county and as a public-spirited citizen. In 1856 and 1858 he served as a constable and from the latter year until 1860 he served as a justice of the peace. About 1878 he was chosen a member of the board of county supervisors and continued in that capacity for two terms. For years he officiated as a deacon in the Baptist Church, and his wife is also a faithful member of that denomination, having her membership at present with the congregation at Santa Rosa, where she has resided since the death of her husband. Their marriage was solemnized November 3, 1853, three years after she had crossed the plains from Missouri. Susan C. Davidson (such was her maiden name) was born in Kentucky March 24, 1833, and accompanied her parents to Missouri, whence she crossed the plains and settled near Santa Rosa, Cal. Twelve children were born of her marriage, of whom James A. was fifth in order of birth, and he was born November 5, 1860, at the family home seven miles south of Santa Rosa in Sonoma county. In boyhood he attended a country school and an academy taught by Prof. G. W. Jones. At the age of twenty-two years he left home and started out to earn his own way in the world, coming direct to Yolo county, where he worked as a ranch hand for three years. The period from the fall of 1886 to the spring of 1888, spent in Tulare county as a renter of a quarter-section farm, proved an unfruitful season, and the young man returned to Yolo county poorer in pocket by the venture. For two years he worked by the month. Next for ten years he rented a ranch of two hundred and eighty acres in this county. While there he devoted the land chiefly to the raising of grain and also engaged in dairying to a small extent. In the fall of 1899 he bought two hundred acres four miles west of Knights Landing and for a considerable period he remained actively engaged in ranching on this place, which under his supervision became very productive. Recently he retired from ranching and removed to Woodland, where he and his wife, formerly Miss Addie Leathers, a native daughter, have a large circle of warm personal friends. His first wife, whom he married August 20, 1885, was Lena Leathers, an older sister of the present Mrs. Crane, and who at her death in 1891 left an only child, Nellie, the wife of W. D. Cole, of Knights Landing. Politically Mr. Crane votes with the Democratic party, while fraternally he holds membership in the Woodland Camp, Woodmen of the World. Additional Comments: Extracted from HISTORY OF YOLO COUNTY CALIFORNIA WITH Biographical Sketches OF The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth and Development From the Early Days to the Present HISTORY BY TOM GREGORY AND OTHER WELL KNOWN WRITERS ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA [1913] File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/yolo/bios/crane180gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cafiles/ File size: 5.5 Kb