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Note: Will of E. L Crane, probated 11-11-1887 “I will my estate be divided equally after my wife has her share, between my three children, Wm, Van and Allie.
To Wm and Allie, all my real estate I have I Miami County, Ohio, divided evenly.
To Van, all my real estate I own in Michigan.
To Allie, I leave her share to her lifetime and then to her heirs.
I leave 1,000 dollars for cemetery purposes
Will signed Dec. 5, 1885.
Transcription from collection of Dorothy Looker, 189 Kiser Drive, 937-667-3715
From Tippecanoe City Herald, Jan. 22, 1887
The burial service of the late Dr. E. L. Crane was held at the residence on last Sunday afternoon. A large number of friends were present, and many followed the body to its last resting place. Dr. S. D. Hartman delivered the following obituary address:
“Dr, Edward L. Crane was born Oct 26, 1803 near Middletown, in Orange County, New York. He read medicine with Dr. B. F. Fredenborg in Quemans, in the Hudson, twenty miles from Albany, and attended lectures at Berkshire Medical College, Pittsfield, Mass. In 1828 he journeyed to Buffalo, thence across Lake Erie to Sandusky; from there he walked to Perrysburg on the Maumee near Toledo, where two of his brothers then lived. He stopped there but a few weeks, when he started again on foot, coming by way of the Wyandot Indian villages of upper and lower Sandusky, on to Dayton. His intention on leaving New York was to push on to Tennessee, but being charmed with the beauty of the Miami Valley and impressed that he was then in the richest lands he had ever seen, he tarried in Dayton. Wishing to see more of the Miami country he procured a horse and came up the river, going as far north as Sidney, but not finding any eligible point for him he was on his return stopping for a night at Asahel Wright’s Tavern, two miles south of West Charleston. During the night his horse escaped; he was several days searching for it and in that time he called at the farm of Wm Woodward - the present Woodward farm. Here he met Sarah Ann Woodward who is now the venerable wife and mother, stricken with years, deep in tears, but bravely bearing this greatest sorrow of her long life. We all recall the Golden Wedding now seven years past.
Dr, Crane was married Feb. 14, 1830, in the brick house that is yet standing on the old Woodward homestead. He soon after settled in Charleston at his profession, where he continued in active practice for twenty-eight years. Tippecanoe, then becoming the most important village of the neighborhood, he moved here into this very house where he has since lived thirty years. He has always taken an active interest in every matter connected with the material welfare of the town, aiding with his means and council each young business that had been started.
His individuality was marked. All his life he was a careful reader and almost constantly engaged in deep thought. His advice to young men was “Don’t read too much; be sure you get a clear idea of every sentence you do read, and learn to think for yourself.” He often said, “My ideal freeman is a free man who thinks for himself and the most abject slave is one who allows another to think for him.”
The hour does not permit extended remarks; we will only add: He knew the end was near and made his preparations for it as calmly as for an ordinary journey. He looked death in the face and did not blanch. He died without dying… there was no hard breathing, no purpling of the nails; his fingertips were warm; no rattle in his throat, no cold sweat upon his brow. He breathed his life away so gently that his children standing at his feet thought him sweetly sleeping. Going to his face, they found him dead.
In his religious views the same independence characterized him, and he lived and died by his convictions.”
A Kind Act
At an Early hour on Friday morning January 14th, 1887, Dr. E. L. Crane passed peacefully to his long rest at the ripe old age of nearly four score and ten years.
The notice of the Doctor’s death was early communicated to the employees of Ford and Cos Wheel Works, of which firm he was a prominent stockholder and one of the originators. According to a long custom of this establishment, the employees desired the Works to be closed until after the funeral; which request was granted by Supt. T. C. Leonard. The family did not wish this to go unnoticed, and Dr. W. W. Crane, acting for the heirs of the deceased, paid the employees for the lost time.
The following note accompanied the gift: “This enclose is to make good your pay for the week ending Jan. 15th. We appreciate your kindly feelings; but we know that some of you who are struggling to pay for your homes can ill afford to lose one-fourth of any week; and we know we are doing Father’s will, and this is coming direct from him.”
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