J. T. Crane

Jonathan Townley Crane (June 18, 1819 – February 16, 1880) was an American clergyman, author and abolitionist. He was born in Connecticut Farms, in Union Township, New Jersey, and is most widely known as the father of writer Stephen Crane.

Early years

Crane was the son of William Crane (1778-1830) and Sarah Townley (1776-1830), who both died when he was 13 years old. He was subsequently apprenticed to a trunk maker in Newark. Although raised in the Congregational church, he rejected its deterministic teachings. Accidentally, in 1838, he wandered into a Revival meeting, and was converted to Methodism.

Education

He graduated from the Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey in 1843 and in 1844 was licensed to preach, after which he was admitted to the New Jersey Annual conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1845. Dickinson College conferred upon him the Doctorate of Divinity in 1856.

Career

Throughout his career as an educator, pastor and writer, Crane was active in local temperance movements, and strongly supported abolitionist causes.

Ministry

In 1846, he was stationed as pastor at Hope Township, Warren County, New Jersey, and in 1847 at Belvidere, New Jersey. In 1848–49, he was the pastor at Orange, New Jersey, and in June 1849, was elected principal of the Conference school and seminary at Pennington, New Jersey, the post from which he resigned in 1858 to become pastor of Trinity Church in Jersey City, New Jersey. From 1863 to 1865, he was the pastor of another large and important church, the Methodist Episcopal Church in Morristown, New Jersey. In 1868–72, he was the presiding elder of the Newark, New Jersey district, during which time his son Stephen was born. Crane was a delegate to the General conferences of 1860, 1864, 1868, and 1872 while he was the elder of the Newark (1868-1872) and Elizabeth districts (1872–76). He rejected the mid-19th century Holiness Movement of Christian perfection as unattainable and unreasonable; Crane's opposition subsequently limited his advancement as an administrator in the Methodist Episcopal denomination and drew the wrath of his father-in-law, Bishop George Peck. After his administrative career ended, he returned to parish work, serving at Cross Street Church in Paterson, New Jersey, and then to Drew Methodist Episcopal Church in Port Jervis, New York.