Stephen Crane (Continental Congress)

Stephen Crane
File:Stephen Crane (Continental Congressman) Headstone.jpg
Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly
In office 1770–1772
Governor	William Franklin
Preceded by	Cortlandt Skinner
Succeeded by	Cortlandt Skinner
Member of the New Jersey General Assembly from the Essex County district
In office 1766–1775 Serving with John Ogden, Henry Garritse
Member of New Jersey Legislative Council
In office 1776–1778
Preceded by	Office created
Succeeded by	Abraham Clark
In office 1779–1780
Preceded by	Abraham Clark
Succeeded by	James Caldwell
Personal details
Born	1709 Elizabethtown, New Jersey
Died	July 1, 1780 Elizabethtown, New Jersey
Resting place	First Presbyterian Churchyard, Elizabeth
Nationality	American
Spouse(s)	Phebe

For the writer and poet see: Stephen Crane.

File:The-first-prayer-in-congress-september-1774.jpg

'First Prayer in Congress'; the first Continental Congress September, 1774. Stephen Crane is the second person to the right of Reverend Jacob Duché at the lectern.

Stephen Crane (1709 – July 1, 1780) was an American politician from Elizabethtown (Elizabeth, New Jersey) who was a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1776. He also served in the Provincial Congress of New Jersey, New Jersey General Assembly and New Jersey Legislative Council. Crane was part of the Congressional delegation that opposed separation from Great Britain which caused the state’s provincial congress to replace their entire delegation in June 1776.

Crane was born in Elizabethtown. He served as sheriff of Essex County and was elected as a member of its town committee in 1750. He was also a judge of the court of common pleas. From 1766 to 1773, he was a member of the colony's general assembly 1766–1773 and served as speaker in 1771. He was also mayor of Elizabethtown before he became a member of the Continental Congress. Until his death in 1780, Crane held several public offices in New Jersey.

Crane was bayoneted by British troops passing through Elizabethtown on their way to Springfield on June 23, 1780, and died of his wounds on July 1, 1780. He was buried at the First Presbyterian Churchyard in Elizabeth.

Family

• Phebe Crane, wife (died 1776)
• William Crane, son; born 1748 in Elizabethtown, served as major of an Essex County, New Jersey regiment. Fought with Richard Montgomery in the Battle of Quebec, received a leg wound that required amputation years later. Promoted to brigadier general in the New Jersey militia after the war.
• Ichabod Bennet Crane (July 18, 1787 – October 1857) grandson; born in Elizabethtown, commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, served aboard the USS United States.
• Charles Henry Crane (19 July 1825 – October 10, 1883) great-grandson; became a Brigadier General and Surgeon General of the United States (1882–1883).
• Joseph Halsey Crane grandson
• William Crane; (1778–1830) grandson,
• Jonathan Townley Crane, great-grandson, father of author Stephen Crane.
• Stephen Crane; great-great-grandson, author, who is best known for the novel The Red Badge of Courage.
• Bruce Crane; American painter (1857–1937)

External links

• Crane’s Congressional biography