Ebenezer Crain

Ebenezer Crain was born April 1, 1781, the second of 5 children who lived to adulthood. Ebenezer married Hannah Rice February 5, 1807. Hannah was born August, 1779. At the time of their marraige she was of Walpole, New Hampshire. At the time of the 1900 U.S. Census, Ebenezer, their youngest son, indicated his father was born in New Hampshire and his mother Hannah was born in England. The name Rice suggests a Welsh lineage which seems to back up that claim.

Hannah died March 24, 1844 at the age of 65. Ebenezer died on June 23, 1863 at the age of 83 during a walk back from the Major Grant Farm just northwest of the Gilbert Crain residence. Their burial location is at the Southwest Burial Yard in Surry, New Hampshire just a mile south of where they lived. A number of his family including his son Gilbert (d. July 18, 1882), Gilbert’s wife Harriett (d. January 15, 1885) and daughter (d. May 8, 1902) are buried in the northeast corner of the Village Cemetery behind the Town Hall.

Ellery Bicknell Crane lists Ebenezer as a veteran of the Revolutionary War, but it was actually his father Zebulon who served.

Interestingly, the headstones for Hannah and Ebenezer use different spellings for their last name. Hannah’s headstone uses the earlier and most common spelling, but Ebenezer who died later spells his name Crain—the same as we see today. Both books by Frank Burnside Kingsbury and Ellery Bicknell Crane reflect the spelling change in each of their accounts.

Transcriptions

The following has been transcribed from “Genealogy of the Crane Family. Volume II.”

1236. Ebenezer Crain⁶ [497], (Zebulon,⁵ Lemuel,⁴ John,³ Jonathan,² Benjamin¹), married Hannah Rice, Feb. 5, 1807. At time of marriage she was of Walpole, N. H., born August, 1779. He was a soldier of the Revolutionary war. She died in 1844. He died in 1863. Children:

1237—1. Rhoda, b. Aug. 27, 1807; m. David Cushing, Jr. He d. March 19, 1872. She d. June 30, 1879. One daughter.
1238—2. Leander, b. April, 1809.
1239—3. Albert, b. June, 1811.
1240—4. Gilbert, b. Aug. 27, 1813.
1241—5. Elisha, b. February, 1815.
1242—6. Ebenezer, b. Sept. 5, 1819.

The following has been transcribed from “History Of The Town Of Surry Cheshire County, New Hampshire.”

10. EBENEZER¹ CRAIN (ancestry unknown) b. 1780 (?), d. S. June 23, 1863. There is some reason to believe he was of Alstead and connected with the Crain family of that town. In 1809 he was living in S. and had his tax abated; in 1828 he was living on or near the Major Grant farm No. 187. In his old age he came to live with his son Gilbert at No. 186. On the day of his d. he took a walk up the road towards the Grant farm and had started on his return when he sat down to rest and expired; his d. actually took place in the edge of Walpole. He m. Hannah Rice (perhaps of Walpole), b. 1779 (?); d. S. Mar. 24, 1844. (There was a Mrs. Rhoda Crane, w. of Ebenezer who d. in Alstead May 14, 1840; age 64 years.—K. S. item.

Ch. b. (order, date and place of b. incomplete) :
i. Rhoda² b. Aug. 27, 1807; d. S. June 30, 1879; m. 1835 (?), David Cush- ing, q. V.
ii. Leander S. Apr. 28, 1809; d. Belle Plaine, Wis., Oct. 13, 1895. (11)
iii. Elisha        ; d. in Nevada of "a cancer." (12)
iv. Gilbert Aug. 21, 1813; d. S. at No. 44, July 18, 1882. Farmer in S. (13)
v. Albert        ; d.        ; rem. to Leominster, Mass. (14)
vi. Ebenezer about 1818; d. Zearing, Iowa, 1899. Farmer in S. (15)

Filed under: ancestry