Crane, Stephen, 1709-1780

<ul><b>RACES</b>
<li> 12/31/1775 NJ Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1774 NJ Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>09/01/1774 NJ Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
</ul>

CRANE, Stephen, (Grandfather of Joseph Halsey Crane), a Delegate from New Jersey; born in Elizabethtown (now Elizabeth), N.J., in July 1709; sheriff of Essex County; was chosen by the Elizabethtown Associates to go to England and lay a petition before the King in 1743; member of the town committee in 1750; judge of the court of common pleas during the agitation over the stamp act; member of the State general assembly 1766-1773 and served as speaker in 1771; mayor of Elizabethtown 1772-1774; was appointed chairman of the county committee of New Brunswick in 1774; Member of the Continental Congress 1774-1776; chairman of the town committee in 1776; member of the State council in 1776, 1777, and 1779; died in Elizabeth, N.J., July 1, 1780; interment in the First Presbyterian Church Cemetery.

<p>Stephen Crane (1709 – July 1, 1780) was an American Founding Father and politician from Elizabethtown (Elizabeth, New Jersey) who was a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1776 and signed the Continental Association. He also served in the Provincial Congress of New Jersey, New Jersey General Assembly and New Jersey Legislative Council. Stephen did not attend the next Congress in Philadelphia as he needed to attend to divisions in his own state between East Jersey and West Jersey. He felt deeply about the taxes that Britain had imposed upon the Colonies and had made sure of his protest upon his journey to England with Matthias Hatfield.</p>

<p>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 from 1766 to 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.</p>

<p>Crane was bayoneted by Hessian soldiers passing through Elizabethtown on their way to Battle of Springfield on June 23, 1780, and he died of his wounds on July 1, 1780. He was buried at the First Presbyterian Church of Elizabeth with his wife and father, Daniel Crane.</p>