Notes
Ref#190:
Joseph Crane, the third son of Noah Crane, who with his brother Nathaniel
inherited the farm under the mountain, was born in 1751, and married
Hannah Lampson of Orange. He built and lived on the opposite side of the
street from the old homestead, a little north of the northeast corner of
Orange Road and Plymouth Street. The old grandfather home with its
hallowed surroundings, the mysterious old garret with its spinning wheels
and other implements for converting the home-grown flax and wool into
material for family use, with the dark cellar in which were stored the
bins of apples and vegetables, barrels of cider and vinegar, together
with the peculiar odor of the special closet for cookies and pies, are
still fresh from childhood's memory. He was a man of strong physique and
marked integrity of character, interested in public affairs, the
promotion of religion and education; was highly esteemed as a citizen and
was an elder in the old church in Bloomfield from the time of its
organization until his death. He contributed, as per subscription list
still extant, £60 sterling toward the building of the church. Two of his
sons were graduates of Princeton College and later ministers in the
Presbyterian Church. He died October 11th, 1832. The following epitaph on
his tombstone in the Bloomfield Cemetery is recognized as an honest
record by the few who remember him: "As husband and father he was
affectionate and faithful; as a neighbor, upright and obliging; as a
citizen, patriotic and useful, and as a professor of religion, was an
officer in the church in an eminent degree exemplary. He had the
confidence of all that knew him. Lived esteemed and died lamented. He was
a good man and full of the Holy Ghost."
DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRIES
In the development of the town the earliest mill interests of Montclair,
of which I have any personal knowledge, were a sawmill and cider mill.
The sawmill, run by water power, was located on Toney's Brook at Bay
Street, a little south of Glen Ridge Avenue. The mill seemed to be a
community interest where the farmers converted their logs into boards or
timber to suit their needs. It preceded my memory many years, but Uncle
Jim, mentioned above in the old time stories that he used to tell us of
the early days, gave me some account of this sawmill. He said he used to
go with Deacon Joseph Crane to the mill to assist him in sawing logs into
boards. It was first necessary to cut the logs into the proper length for
the boards, this being done with a hand or cross-cut saw. The old
gentleman took the handle of one end of the saw and young colored Jim the
other, and with a twinkle about his face Jim said: "Back and forth the
old man kept the saw and me going without a stop till the cut was
finished, and I was right glad when it was done." He told this as an
illustration of the physical power of my grandfather of whom it was said
he would plow a half acre of land before breakfast.
The primitive cider mill was located on the west side of Orange Road
about two hundred feet back and midway between Myrtle Avenue and Plymouth
Street, joint property of the two brothers, Major Nathaniel and Joseph
Crane. It was also regarded as a neighborhood convenience, as the apple
crop had come to be quite a factor in the farm products. A few barrels of
cider and vinegar were included in the cellar stores for the winter, and
the long evenings were cheered with doughnuts and cider. This mill was
constructed with a circular trough hewn from logs, and into this was
fitted a heavy solid wooden wheel with axle to which the horse was
attached. The trough was partly filled with apples and these were crushed
by the wheel in its rounds ready for the press from which the apple juice
flowed under the power of the great wooden screws, and when barreled it
was a boyish pleasure that I well remember to such through a straw,
inserted in the bunghole, this new sweet cider. Years later, in the
development of farm land, apple orchards multiplied and the cider
industry became prominent in this locality. There were four mills with
greatly improved machinery from which it was estimated six thousand
barrels were annually shipped. New York was the principal market, but
large quantities were shipped to the Southern States, for Jersey cider
had a reputation. At the time of apple gathering in the Fall, it was a
common sight to see a long line of large farm wagons at the approach to
the mill, loaded sometimes with fine fruit, waiting their turn to unload.
There was a distinction made in the kind of apples. The early or Fall
fruit were called "common" and sold for five and six cents per bushel.
The latter consisted of three particular kinds. Harrison, Canfield and
Nursery were designated as "fine" and brought from ten to twelve cents
per bushel. There was a very perceptible difference in the quality of the
juice from the two grades of apples. The former or "common" was usually
converted into vinegar and the latter a much richer quality, was kept for
market as "fine Cider." Only one of these four mills had a distillery
connected with it.
Joseph Crane B. Newark, N.J. Children: Ebiezer, Daniel (m) H. Crane,
Noah, Nathaniel, and Harrison Crane.
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