Samuel Crane (1794 – November 13, 1858) was a businessman and political figure in
Canada West.
Biography
Samuel Crane was born in
in 1794 and had settled in
Lower Canada
The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...
by 1820. He became a partner in a forwarding business at
Lachine, west of
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
. The firm owned a share in the ''Ontario'', an American
steamship
A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...
operating on the
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...
. Crane moved to
Prescott in
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the ...
some time later and partnered with John Macpherson of Kingston in the transporting of goods and passengers.
The Crane-MacPherson partnership dominated the forwarding business in the area, in part because of their alliance with the Ottawa and Rideau Forwarding Company which controlled the forwarding trade on the lower
Rideau Canal
The Rideau Canal, also known unofficially as the Rideau Waterway, connects Canada's capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, to Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River at Kingston. It is 202 kilometres long. The name ''Rideau'', French for "curtain", ...
. In 1837 at the age of 43, Crane became a director of the Commercial Bank of the Midland District.
In 1838, Crane stood for election to the
Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada in a
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
, but withdrew before the poll. In 1841, he was elected to the
Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada
The Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada was the lower house of the legislature for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper C ...
for
Grenville in 1841. He supported the union of the Canadas and was generally a moderate supporter of the
Reformer
A reformer is someone who works for reform.
Reformer may also refer to:
*Catalytic reformer, in an oil refinery
*Methane reformer, producing hydrogen
* Steam reformer
*Hydrogen reformer, extracting hydrogen
*Methanol reformer, producing hydrogen ...
, but was frequently absent from the sessions.
[Paul G. Cornell, ''Alignment of Political Groups in Canada, 1841–67'' (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962; reprinted in paperback 2015), pp. 93–97.] In 1849, he was named to the
Legislative Council.
In the early 1850s, the partners began to sell off their assets due to declining business and the nearing completion of the
Grand Trunk Railway in the area. When the company that purchased much of their business failed in 1857, the partnership was dissolved and declared bankruptcy.
By 1858, Crane largely had stopped attending the Legislative Council and his seat was declared vacant due to lack of attendance.
Crane died at Prescott in 1858.
References
External links
Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crane, Samuel
1794 births
1858 deaths
Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada West
Members of the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada
Pre-Confederation Canadian businesspeople