"9 … Henry (Crane), b. Oct. 25, 1677."
"34. Henry Crane2 [9], (Henry1), married Abigail, daughter of Robert Flood of Wethersfield, Conn., Jan. 27, 1703-4, and settled in that part of Killingworth afterwards set off to Durham, on the place now (1866) occupied by Henry E. Nettleton. Mr. Crane was one of the thirty-four original proprietors of Durham, and in March, 1708, was one of a committee of three to run out the boundary line between Killingworth and Durham. In June, same year, he with his brother John Crane were on the committee to adjust the land claim between the said towns. He was chosen deacon of the Congregational Church at its organization in 1710, and performed the duties of the office with signal acceptance and usefulness up to the time of his death. Oct. 8, 1714, chosen one of a committee to seat the meeting-house. For twenty-eight sessions, from 1718 to 1740, he represented the town in the State legislature. He was justice of the peace for the County of New Haven from 1728 to the time of his death. … May, 1716, commissioned as lieutenant. Oct., 1718, he was confirmed captain of the Durham Train-Band by the General Court of the Colony, and ranked among the most esteemed and influential men in that community.
About 1732 he purchased for £30, of Jonathan Rose of Guilford, sixty acres of land near Black Rock, just south of Durham bounds. … He died April 11, 1741, leaving a large estate for the time, which the two sons, Silas and Henry, after having settled with their sister, divided the real estate between them by a partition deed dated Nov. 10, 1741, granting to Henry three hundred and fifty-eight acres and three hundred and ninety-one to Silas, besides undivided land rights. … His widow died Aug. 31, 1754, aged 78. Her mother
was Abigail, daughter of Nicholas Desborough. In 1734 the General Assembly of Connecticut appointed Captain Crane and James Wadsworth, Esq., a committee to return the thanks of the Assembly to Rev. Mr. Nathaniel Chauncey for the sermon he preached before that body May 9, that year, and solicit a copy of the same for printing.
Oct., 1738, Capt. Crane was again appointed by the Assembly on a committee with James Wadsworth, Esq., both of Durham, and Captain Samuel Hall of Wallingford, to locate a site for a meeting-house in the parish of Amity in New Haven County (the place is now known as Woodbridge); after viewing the place the committee selected a spot on land belonging to Lieut. Ebenezer Beecher, and May, 1739, so reported to the Assembly, also stating that said Beecher would give two acres of the land for the purpose. The report was accepted and the location confirmed."
