Vermilion county Illinois, OLIVER HARRISON CRANE ==================================================================== Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives Joy Fisher ==================================================================== p. 196-197 OLIVER HARRISON CRANE. The leading event in the life of this gentleman was his birth, which occurred in Fountain County, Ind., on the 4th of March, 1841, the day of the inauguration of President William Henry Harrison: and in honor of whom the infant was given his second name. He is now a man of forty-eight years, and one of the most substantial farmers of Grant Township, being the owner of 160 acres of choice land, pleasantly located on section 29, township 23, range 12. Mr. Crane spent the first eighteen years of his life in his native county, acquiring a practical education in the common schools and becoming familiar with farm pursuits. In the fall of 1859, leaving the parental roof, he came to this county and assumed charge of the land which his father had entered from the Government at $1.25 per acre. He boarded at the house of a neighbor until the spring of 1861; then put up a house into which he removed with his young wife, having been married Feb. 7 of that year to Miss Charlotte Bowling of his own county in Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Crane, although removing into a more modern domicile, have occupied the same farm which they moved upon at the time of their marriage. Their labors and struggles have been similar to those of the people around them; their rewards likewise. Industry and economy have been repaid fourfold, and now, in the enjoyment of all the comforts of life and many of its luxuries, they sit under their own vine and fig tree and are blest with the respect of their friends and neighbors. For some time after Mr. Crane settled here there were no neighbors north for fifteen miles, the nearest being at Ash Grove. Deer, wolves and other wild animals were plentiful, but these slowly disappeared as the country became settled up. The children born to Mr. and Mrs, Crane, eleven in number, are recorded as follows: The two eldest died in infancy; Elmer E. was born May 28, 1865; John N., Sept. 3, 1867; Lillian L., Jan. 6, 1870; Alfaretta. Feb. 11, 1872; Winifred, Dec. 4, 1873; Morris S., Nov. 2, 1876; Mary A., June 24, 1879; Perry D., Jan. 28, 1883; Anna M., Oct. 23, 1885. The eldest son living, Elmer, married Miss Olive Keplinger, is a resident of Northwest Nebraska and the father of two children. Mrs. Charlotte (Howling) Crane was born July 3, 184-3, in Fountain County, Ind., and is the daughter of Willis P. and Mary (Bruce) Howling, who were natives of Ohio. The father was born in Warren County, Jan. 25, 1816, and lived there until a lad of eight years. His parents then removed to Indiana, and after the death of his father in Fountain County he continued on the farm, where he reared his family and spent his last days. This farm is located in Van Buren Township six miles northeast of Covington. The maiden name of the mother of Mrs. Crane was Mary Bruce, and the parents were married in 1838. Of the eight children born to them three are living— Charlotte, Arthur and Morris. The two boys live at the old farm in Fountain County. Ind., with their father. The latter, with his estimable wife, is a member of the Christian Church, and the family stand high in their community. Mrs. Mary (Bruce; Bowling was born in Lawrence County, Ohio. Jan. 21, 1817, to Joshua and Margaret (Innes) Bruce, the father a farmer by occupation. When Mary was a girl of eleven years, they left the Buckeye State and removed to Fountain County. Ind., where she remained under the parental roof until her marriage. Joel Crane, the father of our subject, was born Jan. 28, 1817, in Warren County, Ohio, near the birthplace of Mr. Bowling. He lived there until 1882, and then, a lad of fifteen years, migrated to Fountain County, Ind., with his parents, where he was married and still lives on the old farm northeast of Covington which his father took up from the Government. His wife was formerly Miss Elizabeth Jenkins, and they reared a family of three children—Oliver H., Lewis C. and Cyrus, the latter two of Missouri and Kansas respectively. Mrs. Elizabeth (Jenkins) Crane was born Dec. 5, 1820, in Ohio, and departed this life at the homestead in Indiana Sept. 2, 1853. She left the Buckeye State with her parents in 1839 and remained witli them until her marriage. Mr. Crane, our subject, has been a man always full of business and one who has little respect for the drones in the world's busy hive. He has kept himself well posted upon events of general interest, and is one with whom may be spent an hour very pleasantly and profitably. His course in life has been that of an honest man, while his industry has been rewarded with a competence.