Clarence Arthur Crane (1875-1931) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree

Clarence Arthur Crane

Born 5 Apr 1875 in Garrettsville, Portage County, Ohio, USA

Ancestors

Son of Arthur Edward Crane and Ella Melina (Beardsley) Crane

Brother of Verdi B. Crane, Alice Ella (Crane) Williams and Elizabeth Verde (Crane) Madden

Husband of Grace Edna (Hart) Crane — married 1 Jun 1898 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois

Husband of Bessie M. (Meacham) Crane — married 25 Jan 1930 in Cuyahoga County, Ohio

Father of Harold Hart Crane

Died 6 Jul 1931 at age 56 in Chagrin Falls, Cuyahoga, Ohio, United States

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Profile last modified 5 Jun 2023 | Created 21 Jul 2014

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1 Biography
2 Research Notes
3 Sources
- 3.1 Research Notes

Biography

This profile is part of the Crane Name Study.

Clarence Crane was born on April 05, 1875 in Garrettsville, Portage County, Ohio, USA. His parents were Arthur Crane and Ella Beardsley. He married Grace Hart on June 01, 1898 Together they had 1 child:

Harold Crane

He married Bessie Meacham on January 25, 1930.

He died on July 06, 1931 in Chagrin Falls, Cuyahoga, Ohio, United States

As the heir to commerce and prosperity Clarence was sent to village schools before attending Allegheny College at Meadville, Pennsylvania. There he befriended Byron Madden, later husband to his sister Bessie, later still his executor, but in the winter of 1894 he suddenly tired of the impracticalities of study and returned to Garrettsville unqualified. Madden recorded that his friend `then went on the road selling crackers for the National Biscuit Company of Akron, Ohio' and while roving for custom he dreamed and schemed for affluence and commercial autonomy. Ambition and impetuosity were a part of him, complements to the more obvious virtues that made him affable to the small town. He was known to be generous and gregarious; an optimist who recited parodies of Shakespeare and played the cornet dutifully and badly. He believed in hard work and easy play, in pretty girls and in the destiny of America. His sister Bessie thought him `the very best of brothers' and treasured her memories of his impetuosity: of how he gave his sisters his old Packard instead of exchanging it for a new car; and of how, seeing a woman crying on a street corner, he took her to the nearest grocery and bought her lots of vegetables.

But there were more reckless acts than these, not least the dramatic courtship he unleashed on Garrettsville in the spring of 1898 when Grace Hart, a young beauty from Chicago, came to visit her aunt and cousin. Crane and his cousin Orsa Beardsley planned a picnic and proposed to escort Jessie Sykes and Grace Hart respectively. By the time the four friends returned home, however, affections had switched and Crane remained so fascinated by the metropolitan belle that on the day of her departure he boarded her Cleveland-bound train to instigate a courtship of letters, telegrams and flowers which was sustained until her capitulation and the handsome Chicago wedding which occurred on 1 June 1898, with a listing the following day in the Chicago Daily Tribune.

Inventor of Life Saver Candies

In 1903 in Warren, Ohio, Crane started what became the largest maple sugar producer in the world at the time. He would sell the business in 1909 and make chocolate candies at his Queen Victoria Chocolate Company. Chocolates tended to melt in the summer so he thought about producing a candy mint to help his sales during the hot weather. Crane punched a small hole in the middle of this mints to resemble a life preserver, which were starting to be used on ships. Crane's Pep-O-Mint Life Savers were born.^[1]

Ohio History Central Biography

Clarence A. Crane (1875-1931) spent his youth in Garrettsville, Ohio. His father produced maple sugar.

Clarence Crane married Grace Edna Hart on June 1, 1898, after a courtship of only two months. The following summer, the couple's only child was born, poet Harold Hart Crane^[2]. The Cranes' marriage was a difficult one. Grace Crane suffered from mental illness, and the couple separated on several occasions. The marriage finally ended in divorce on April 7, 1917.

Despite his troubled personal life, Crane prospered as a businessman. He worked for his father until 1903, when he formed his own maple sugar business in Warren, Ohio. Crane's company quickly emerged as the largest producer of maple sugar in the world. In 1909, Crane sold the business, but he continued to work for the firm as a salesman in Cleveland, Ohio, for the next two years. In 1911, Crane began to produce chocolate candy in Cleveland. His company was known as the Queen Victoria Chocolate Company.

In 1912, Crane created a new type of candy. He realized that many people refused to buy chocolate during the summer months because chocolate melted easily in the heat. To produce the new candy, the chocolate maker used a machine that pharmacists used to manufacture round flat pills. He then punched a hole in the middle of the candy, making it resemble a life preserver. Crane called his new candy Life Savers.

Initially, Life Savers only came in peppermint flavor. Crane marketed the candy, known as Pep-O-Mint Life Savers, as a breath mint, claiming on the packaging that it was "For That Stormy Breath." Originally, Crane packaged the candy in cardboard tubes. The wrapper had a picture of a sailor tossing a young woman a life preserver.

In 1913, Crane sold the rights to Life Savers to two New York candy manufacturers. These new producers wrapped Life Savers in foil tubes to better preserve the candy. They also marketed the candy to saloon owners, hoping that customers would use Life Savers to improve their breath after drinking and smoking in the bars. Once saloon owners began selling the candy, Life Savers soared in popularity. As of 2015, Life Savers were a brand of Mars, Inc.

Crane remained involved in the candy business for the remainder of his life, although he no longer manufactured Life Savers after 1913. He formed the Crane Chocolate Company in 1916. While the company was headquartered in Cleveland, by 1921, the firm had sales offices in New York City, New York, and Kansas City, Missouri. Crane died on July 6, 1931.

Clarence A Crane at Age: 56; Married; Occupation: manufacturer candy; died on July 6, 1931 at Chagrin Falls, Cuyahoga, Ohio^[3]

Research Notes

Familysearch bio has date of birth as 7 Apr 1875; however all sources found show 5 Apr 1875. Only the single source found for April 7, 1875.

Name: Clarance Crane

Sex: Male

Birth Date: 7 Apr 1875

Birthplace: Garretsville, Portage, Ohio

Race: w

Ethnicity: American

Father's Name: Arther E. Crane

Father's Sex: Male

Mother's Name: Ella Beardsly

Mother's Sex: Female

Event Type: Christening

Event Place: Portage, Ohio, United States

Note: Portage, Ohio^[4]

Sources

↑ It is believed that the 'hole' in the Life Saver came about as a result of the attempt to press a relatively large diameter 'tablet'. The maker was having trouble with the center becoming hard, and suggested the hole to solve the problem.
↑ See Hart Crane and His Western Reserve Roots
↑ "Ohio Deaths, 1908-1953," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X6CR-G4S : 8 March 2021), Clarence A Crane, 06 Jul 1931; citing Chagrin Falls, Cuyahoga, Ohio, reference fn 41216; FHL microfilm 1,992,433.
↑ "Ohio Births and Christenings, 1821-1962", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X6YR-82N : 19 January 2020), Clarance Crane, .

Research Notes

A blog concerning this Clarence Crane was found at Florida Tech's History of Science 2: Renaissance to Modernity Class BLog. This record incorrectly identified Clarence Crane's parents as William Bradford Crane and Alice Jane McCully, and showed incorrect birth and death dates. The blog has since been deleted. Should it be reinstated, anyone who is a author or member of this blog should have the records corrected.

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