CAPT. B. S. CRANE, steamboat pilot and farmer, P. O. Sandusky, was born in Louisville, Ky., July 24, 1824, and is a son of William and Hannah (Johnson) Crane, both natives of Virginia, from which State they emigrated to Kentucky about 1795. His school days were but few, but since manhood he has taught himself. At the age of twelve, he was apprenticed to a rope maker, and remained with him four years. He then went on to the river, first as a knife scourer, and has since become one of the foremost pilots of the Mississippi. He commenced piloting about 1840, and ran first from Louisville to New Orleans. Over that route, he directed vessels until after the war, and has since ran over the same course, and also taken in St. Louis. For several years past, he has been acting as pilot on the Government boat "William Stone." While at home for a number of years, he stopped at Cairo, but in March, 1883, he purchased a farm in Sandusky Precinct, which his wife now directs. It is situated in Section 13, Town 15, Range 2 west. It is a farm of 120 acres, of which about thirty acres are in cultivation. In the war, he rendered good service as pilot on Admiral Porter's flag-ship, and was all through the siege and fall of Vicksburg. Mr. Crane was married, April 8, 1871, to Mrs. Myra Josephine Kenyon, nee Nathans. This lady is the daughter of William and Rebecca (Boliet) Nathans. The father was one of the leading lawyers in Richmond, Va., and the mother was a native of Port Canton, in the Bay of Biscay, France. Mrs. Crane was born April 16, 1836, at Laporte, R. I., and is the mother of one child, Ralph M. Kenyon, now in business in Custer City, D. T. In politics, Mr. Crane is a Democrat.
Extracted 29 Mar 2017 by Norma Hass from 1883 History of Alexander, Union, and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, page 246.
| Cape Girardeau MO |
Union | |
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Pulaski | |
| Scott MO | Mississippi MO | Ballard KY |
