Massachusetts, Crane Name Study

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surname/tag: Crane

Contents 1 Cranes in Massachusetts 1.1 Berkshire County 1.2 Bristol County 1.3 Norfolk County

Cranes in Massachusetts

Brig.Gen. John Crane's House

The first permanent English settlement in New England came in 1620 with the founding of Plymouth Colony by the Pilgrims who sailed on the Mayflower. The Puritan Migration began in 1630 with the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and spawned the settlement of other New England colonies. Friction with the natives erupted in the high-casualty King Philip's War in the 1670s.

The king in 1686 established the Dominion of New England to govern all of New England to centralize royal control and weaken local government. The intensely unpopular rule by Sir Edmund Andros came to a sudden end in 1689 with an uprising sparked by the Glorious Revolution in England. The new king William III established the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1691, to govern a territory roughly equivalent to that of the modern state and Maine. Its governors were appointed by the crown, in contrast to the predecessor colonies, which had elected their own governors. This created friction between the colonists and the crown, which reached its height in the early days of the American Revolution in the 1760s and 1770s over issues of who could levy taxes. Massachusetts was where the American Revolutionary War began in 1775 when London tried to shut down local self-government.

The commonwealth formally adopted the state constitution in 1780, electing John Hancock its first governor. The state was the first to abolish slavery in 1783.

Research further:

• Henry Crane of Milton, Mass and some of his Descendants
• Biographies of the "Witches" of Massachusetts
• The Pioneers of Massachusetts Full Text.
• Genealogies of the Families and Descendants of the Early Settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts Full Text.

Berkshire County

Winthrop M. Crane, Governor of Massachusetts

Research Further:

• "A History of the County of Berkshire, Massachusetts in Two Parts" Full Text.
• "History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts" Vol 2. Full Text.

Bristol County

Research Further:

• "History of Bristol County, Massachusetts" Full Text.
• "Supplement to the History of Taunton, Massachusetts" Full Text.
• "Vital Records of Taunton"

Norfolk County

Thomas Crane Memorial Library

The Thomas Crane Memorial Library was built by descendants of Henry Crane and Tabitha Kingsley in honor of the family's contribution to the history of the area.

Research Further:

• History of Braintree, Massachusetts Full Text.
• The History of Milton, Mass. 1640 to 1887 Full Text.
• Births, Marriages, and Deaths in the Town of Dedham, 1635-1845
• History of the Town of Medfield Full Text.