Minnesota, Deaths and Burials
Name: Frank Irving Crane
Gender: Male
Burial Place: Austin, Minn.
Death Date: 15 Jan 1910
Death Place: Rochester, Olmsted, Minnesota
Age: 61
Birth Date: 1849
Father's Name: Wm. A. Crane
Mother's Name: Laura Chatfield
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: B02081-0
System Origin: Minnesota-EASy
GS Film number: 2118579
Reference ID: cn 8849
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Mayor at some time.
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HISTORY OF MOWER COUNTY, 1911.
Frank Irving Crane, now deceased, was one of the well-known citizens of Austin, and well deserved the honor and esteem in which he was held.
He was born in Sharon, Medina county, Ohio, September 26, 1848, and lived there until 1863, when his father, William A. Crane, sold his homestead on which he had resided for thirty years and came to Minnesota.
The family came across the lake to Milwaukee, and from there came to this state in an emigrant wagon. All of the family were present except Eugene, who left the party at Madison, Wis., to go to Ann Arbor to continue his law studies. The party crossed the line between Iowa and Minnesota on Frank's fifteenth birthday.
The Crane family spent the winter of 1863 with Frank's uncle, William CHATFIELD, then living near Spring Valley. In the spring they came to Austin, reached here March 16, 1864, located in the log house on the farm that is now the property of the Oakwood Cemetery Association and in 1865 built the brick house which still stands to the west of the cemetery.
Frank worked on the farm and attended district school. In 1872 he joined his brother, Eugene B. Crane, now of Minneapolis, and worked with him as appraiser of Northern Pacific lands, and later attended a business college in Minneapolis. From there he entered the old Mower County Bank to learn more of business methods. In 1873 he went to work for William Richards, father of Mrs. Lafayette French, who conducted a lumber yard near the present C., M. & St. Paul station. Bray & French at that time also had a lumber business here, near the corner of Franklin and Water streets. In 1876 Mr. Crane succeeded Bray & French, and continued in the lumber business until the time of his death.
Mr. Crane took a prominent part in all public movements, belonged to the old Board of Trade and the Booster Club, was a member of the Board of Education, was appointed on the first Library Board of the city, and was its president from its organization until his death.
One of his most distinguished services was as mayor. He was elected in 1896, and it was due to his efforts that the finances of the city were put in a greatly improved condition. So great was the favor with which his official acts met that he was re-elected without opposition in 1897.
He was a high degree Mason, and also belonged to the Elks. The subject of this sketch was married March 14, 1880, to Sylvia Pettibone, of Bainbridge, Ohio. Mr. Crane and his wife were born within forty miles of each other, but never met until she came to Austin to visit her sister, Mrs. H. H. Kent. To them were born four children: Leah, Ralph, Clara and Florence.
Mr. Crane lived in Austin from 1864 until the time of his death in 1910, a period of forty-six years, and his mind was a storehouse of first-hand knowledge of local history. Few events happened here in the half century of which he had no mental record.
He had a wide acquaintance in his home town, his county and surrounding towns. He knew and called his friends by name in his fraternal fashion, and never forgot them. One needed to go about with him to realize the number of friends who gave him hearty greeting wherever he went. His hospitality was genuine and extended alike to rich and poor. His keen, practical mind gave him business sagacity and a cool judgment to discriminate between the real and the sham, while his warm heart taught him the worth of men and helped him to forget their failings.
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USA Census, 1880
Name: Frank I Crane
Event Place: Austin, Mower, Minnesota
Gender: Male
Age: 31
Marital Status: Married
Race: White
Occupation: Lumber Dealer
Relationship to Head of Household: Other
Birth Year (Estimated): 1849
Birthplace: Ohio
Father's Birthplace: Massachusetts
Mother's Birthplace: New York
Household Role Gender Age Birthplace
Frank I Crane Other M 31 Ohio
Sylvia E Crane Other M 26 Ohio
George Telley Other M 27 New York
Jay L Truesdell Other M 18 Minnesota
K Walter Other M 30 Germany
District: 172 , Sheet Number and Letter: 596B , GS Film Number: 1254626 , Digital Folder Number: 004241847 , Image Number: 00924
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Minnesota, State Census, 1895
Name: T I Crane
Event Place: Austin city, Ward 01, Mower, Minnesota
Age (Original): 46y
Birth Year (Estimated): 1849
Birthplace: Ohio
Race (Original): W
Gender: Male
Page Number: 22
Household Role Gender Age Birthplace
T I Crane M 46y Ohio
Selbia Crane F 42y Ohio
Leah Crane F 11y Minnesota
Ralf Crane M 8y Minnesota
Clara Crane F 6y Minnesota
Florence Crane F 3y Minnesota
Ellen Torgeson F 29y Norway
Gerusha Kent F 56y Ohio
Line Number: 8 , Family Number: 179 , GS Film number: 000565790
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USA Census, 1900
Name: F. Crane
Event Place: Austin Township Austin city Ward 1, Mower, Minnesota
Gender: Male
Age: 52
Marital Status: Married
Race: White
Relationship to Head of Household: Head
Years Married: 20
Birth Date: Sep 1848
Birthplace: Ohio
Marriage Year (Estimated): 1880
Father's Birthplace: Ohio
Mother's Birthplace: New York
Household Role Gender Age Birthplace
F. Crane Head M 52 Ohio
Sylvia Crane Wife F 48 Ohio
Leo Crane Son M 16 Minnesota [Shoulr be Leah Daughter, error on original]
Ralph Crane Son M 13 Minnesota
Clara Crane Dau F 11 Minnesota
Florence Crane Dau F 9 Minnesota
Mary Larson Servant F 25 Denmark
Louise Minert Lodger F 23 Iowa
District: 81 , Sheet Number and Letter: 11B , Household ID: 236 , Line Number: 93 , Affiliate Name: The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) , Affiliate Publication Number: T623 , GS Film Number: 1240776 , Digital Folder Number: 004120292 , Image Number: 00589
