32 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



May 10. 1917 



Clinton C. Crane 



Clinton C. e'rane, millionaire lumber dealer, died of heart disease at 

 6 :30 o'clock, Friday, May 4, at his home, 2180 Grandin road, Cincinnati. 

 He had been in poor health since December 1, 1916, but with the coming 

 of spring and milder weather had rallied and, at times, was able to go 

 to the office of C. Crane & Co., 1739 Eastern avenue, of which he was 

 secretary-treasurer and general manager. 



Representatives of a number of business organizations attended the 

 funeral of Mr. Crane, which was held from the residence on Grandin road, 

 Monday afternoon. Notable among the business men present were the 

 board of governors of the Hardwood Manufacturers' Association of the 

 United States, who attended the funeral in a body. Services were con- 

 ducted by the Reverend Mr. Charles Blake, pastor of the First Presbyterian 

 Church of Madisonville. The honorary pall bearers were Harvey Cole, 

 Omer Cole, John E. C. Kohlsaat, Albert Krippendorf, Charles Crane. Mr. 

 Campbell, William Crane and Omer Crane. Burial was in Spring Grove 

 Cemetery. 



Clinton C. Crane was born three miles southwest of Eaton, O., October 

 11, 1S44. His father, William Crane, was born in Virginia, but had 

 passed the greater part of his life in Preble county, Ohio. The elder 

 Crane was a farmer and live stock dealer. His business required him 

 to make frequent trips to Cincinnati. On one of these trips in 1S4.5 he 

 died sudilenly at the old Blackbear hotel in this city. 



Clinton Crane was given such education as the public schools of those 

 days afforded. When twelve years old he determined to follow in the 

 footsteps of his father and, much to the surprise of his neighbors and 

 friends, began buying live stock, displaying a shrewdness and apprecia- 

 tion of values in his deals hardly to be expected in one of his tender 

 years. Like his father, he made frequent trips to Cincinnati. 



In 1861 he started a cattle ranch Ave miles southeast of Kent Station, 

 Ind. Three years later he turned his attention to the business he was 

 to devote his entire attention to the lialancc of his life. He contracted 

 with a Canadian firm to take charge of a lumber camp at Peru, Ind., 

 and in a short time had thbroughly mastered the logging business. His 

 brother, W. B. Crane, was associated with him in tlie business and they 

 in time adopted the firm name of C. Crane & Co. 'J'hcjr partnership was 

 dissolved in 1868. 



In 1871 Mr. Crane formed a partnership with James O. Cole, Peru, 

 Ind., the former firm name of C. Crane & Co.. being retained. They in- 

 corporated under this name in 1894, Mr. Cole becoming president and 

 Mr. Crane general manager and treasurer. 



C. Crane & Co. built its first sawmill in Cincinnati in 1880. Here the 

 firm did a business that in recent years has been estimated at more tiian 

 100,000,000 feet of lumber cut and placed on the market yearly. The 

 company owns extensive timber and stumi)age lands in West Virginia 

 and Eastern Kentucky. 



Mr. Crane married Miss Isabelle Blake, daughter of Major Horace 

 Blake, I'eru, Ind., in 186S. Two children were born of this union — Mrs. 

 John E. C. Kohlsaat and Mrs. Albert Krippendorf, both residents of 

 Cincinnati. 



At one time Mr. Crane was a member of the Chamber of Commerce 

 executive board, in which body he retained membership up to the time of 

 his death. He was also a member of the Ilardw'ood Manufacturers" 

 Association of tin- United Stales. Lumbermen's Club and Business Mcu's 

 Club. 



The Crane Will 



-Vn estate said to amount to more than ?1, 000.000 is disposed of by the 

 will of Clinton Crane, which was filed for probate in Cincinnati May 7. 

 Mrs. Isabella Crane, the widow, is left the palatial house on exclusive 

 Grandin road. East Walnut Hills, the furniture, auto stock and all per- 

 sonal property at the home. 



The widow and daughters, Mrs. Frances Kohlsaat and Mrs. Gertrude 

 M. Krippendorf, are left the residue of the estate, including valuable real 

 estate in West Virginia and eastern Kentucky, after the following special 

 bequests are made: .$10,000 each to five, grandchildren — ilrs. Louise Kohl- 

 saat Henderson, Mrs. Frances Kohlsaat Harrison, Dietrich Kohlsaat, Miss 

 Karlina Krippendorf and Miss Maybelle Krippendorf ; .$.5,000 each to his 

 nephews, Omer Crane and W. B. Crane and his niece, Mrs. Martha Cramer, 

 and $7,500 to Charles W. H. Crane, a nephew. 



His sons-in-law, John E. C. Kohlsaat and Albert Krljipendorr, and his 

 nephew, Charles W. H. Crane, are named executors, with power to main- 

 tain or dispose of his partnership in C. Crane & Co. * 



Mr. Crane's real estate holdings in West Virginia and eastern Kentucky 

 are principally in coal and timberlands. although considerable of the prop- 

 erty has been improved after the timber was developed. 



W. H. Weller in the Lumber Business 



W. H. Weller, formerly secretary of the Hardwood Manufacturers' Asso- 

 ciation, now has offices at 616 Mercantile Library building, Cincinnati, and 

 is doing business as a manufacturers' agent, handling hardwoods and 

 cypress lumber. Mr. Weller writes that he is doing nicely considering 

 that he has been at it only two weeks. He states that he is representing 

 Lee Wilson & Co. in Indiana and Ohio and several other good concerns on 

 stock not now on the Lee Wilson list. 



Joseph L. Johnson Assistant to Swan 



The oflicc force of the Northern Hemlock and Hardwood Manufacturers* 

 Association at Oshkosh was increased with the arrival from Philadelphia, 

 Pa., of Joseph L. Johnson, who has assumed the duties of assistant secre- 

 tary to O. T. Swan. Mr. Johnson has spent the greatest part of his time, 

 since completing his preliminary education, in the lumbering industry. 

 having been six years in South Carolina with the Three State Lumber 

 Company and with the Saltkeatchle Lumber Company of Madison and 

 Scofield respectively. 



William Lodge 



A stroke of apoplexy following an attack of acute indigestion proved 

 fatal to William Lodge, sixty-eight years old, pioneer machine and wood- 

 working tool manufacturer, at his home, 40.33 Rose Hill avenue, Avon- 

 dale, suburb of Cincinnati. 



Mr. Lodge awoke at 4 o'clock and passed nearly two hours reading. 

 Shortly before 6 o'clock he went to a bath room and just was entering 

 when he was stricken, and died before members of his family could 

 reach him. His sudden end was a great shock to the business com- 

 munity, in which he for more than forty years had be(m a leading figure, 

 being head of the Lodge & Shipley Machine Tool Company. Mr. Lodge 

 was born in Leeds, England, May 12, 184S, where be served his ap- 

 prenticeship as an expert mechanic, coming to the United States in 1869. 

 He lived three years at Philadelphia and became a resident of Cincinnati 

 in 1872. lie was made foreman of Steptoe, McFarland, Nottingham & 

 Co.'s machine tool works, the pioneer concern of its kind west of the 

 .Vlleghanies. 



The Late Clinton C Crane. 

 Ohio. 



Cincinnati. W. H. 'Weller, Cincinnati, C>., Who Has 



Recently Engaged in the Hardwood 

 Business. 



J. L. Johnson, O.shkosh, Assistant Secretary 

 of Hemlock and Hardwood Association. 



