Major John Crane
Major John Crane was born in the State of New Jersey in 1796, and died on the 16th of March, 1864. He came with his family to this county in the first quarter of the century, and first settled in Jacksonburg, where in 1818 a post-office was established, he becoming the first postmaster. In 1825 he was elected a county commissioner, serving in this capacity for three years. In 1828 he was a member of the Ohio Legislature, having as a fellow-member Fergus Anderson, of this county. From 1841 to 1845 he was coroner. Major Crane removed to Hamilton in 1825, keeping for several years a hotel in the frame building on the corner fronting the public square. During his residence in this town he was engaged for several years in the grocery and liquor business, in company with William B. Van Hook, and was at the same time city inspector. About 1855 he prepared with great labor and expense a useful map of this county. Being a loser by it to the amount of five hundred. dollars. He was for several years the commandant of a splendid battalion of uniformed light infantry. One of the companies, known as the Miami Guards, was composed of the finest young men in Hamilton. Major Crane had taken the lodge, chapter, and encampment degrees of Masonry. He was a Knight Templar, becoming such in the year 1827, in Lebanon. For a few years before his death he resided in Covington, Kentucky, but his remains were brought here, and he was buried in Greenwood Cemetery.
From A History and Biographical Cyclopædia of Butler County Ohio, With Illustrations and Sketches of its Representative Men and Pioneers, Western Biographical Publishing Company, Cincinnati Ohio, 1882.