Cranes, Davenports and Wares
By Donald Crane

The Crane family is related to both the Davenport and the Ware families. A brief genealogy of the Crane family is attached.

Cranes and Davenports

Mary Jane Crane's second marriage was to John McNew Davenport (1849 in Kaufman County, TX). {1} Mary Jane and John had five children together.

John McNew Davenport's parents were John Davenport (b 1796) and Margaret McNew (b abt 1799), both of whom were born in Washington County, Virginia. By 1838, they moved to Wayne County, Kentucky, and then to Johnson County, Missouri. Margaret died about 1840 in Johnson County, Missouri and John remarried later in 1840 to Susan Little. {2} John died Oct, 1876 and Susan died Mar, 1874, both in Sabinal, Uvalde County, Texas.

John and Margaret McNew had seven children together: Dorcas, James Booker, William, Ann, Sidney Jane, Catherine Kate, and John McNew. John and Susan Little had two children together: Lewis Claiborne (Clabe) and Andrew Jackson ("A.J." or "Jack").

John and Susan came to Kaufman County (previously Henderson County), TX, in 1843 from Johnson County, Missouri, following his father's death (Claiborne died 18 Aug 1842). John brought his children from both marriages with him to Texas. {3} John and his family remained in Kaufman County until 1850. The 1850 census showed John and Susan Davenport (with the two children from their marriage), John McNew and Mary Davenport with their family, and James Booker and Lethe Davenport with their family, all living in Henderson County, TX. During the same period, the 1850 census showed both William Davenport and William Ware and their families living next to each other in Cibilo, Bexar County, TX. According to information from the Selma Historical Foundation, William Davenport and his wife, Mary Ware (daughter of William Ware's 1st marriage) moved to the Cibilo area in 1847, shortly after their marriage in Kaufman County (in 1847).

According to an article in Southwest Texas, Volume II, 1907, p. 223, "after his marriage John McNew and Mary left Kaufman County, in company with his father, to Lockhart and afterward to Cibilo, and then in 1852 he arrived in Sabinal Canyon in Uvalde County." Actually, both John McNew Davenport and James Booker Davwenport, along with their families, accompanied William Ware to Sabinal Canyon. The Wares and Davenport families were some of the first anglo settlers in Sabinal Canyon (Uvalde County, TX) in 1852. {4}

In 1853, John and Susan Davenport, arrived in Sabinal Canyon, as well, along with their two sons, Clabe and Jack. {5}

Cranes and Wares

Elizabeth (Betsy) Ann Crane's second marriage was to William Ware (1836 in Montgomery County, TX). {6} Betsy and William had seven children together (William Ware also had three children from his 1st marriage to Ann McMurphy). {7}

William Ware was a captain in the Texas Army that fought in the Battle of San Jacinto (1836). While still in the Texas Army, one spring day in 1837, the Captain took a temporary leave of his command and rode westward to investigate the Sabinal Canyon. On scouting expeditions to the Indian country, at military outposts, and at settlements on the western fringe of the frontier -- wherever he met western Mexicans and Indians -- glowing stories of the beauty and fertility of the canyon had been heard. Most of the settlers promptly dismissed these seemingly fanciful accounts as Indian "fables", but William Ware was fascinated by them, and had to find out if they were true. Upon arriving in the canyon, all of the descriptions he had previously heard, regardless of their seeming extravagance, had been beggarly, and he fell in love with the area, and vowed he would return. {8}

In 1844, William Ware and his family relocated to Kaufman County, remaining there until 1849, but then he loaded his family into ox wagons and headed South, with their ultimate destination being Sabinal Canyon. They spent the first winter on York's Creek, twelve miles southeast of New Braunfels, and there on December 20, 1849, his wife Betsy Ann, died. {9}

Betsy's passing under such circumstances was a heavy blow to the staunch Captain. She loved the new land to which they were going, even though she knew it only by her husband's glowing descriptions. {10} Not wishing to risk the continued journey westward for a while, William Ware purchased a farm on the Cibilo {11}, next to William Davenport's Settlement. The 1850 census showed him and his family in Cibilo, along with Narcissy, John, and Ambrose Crane, siblings of his widow, Betsy Ann Crane, who apparently were to be raised by Betsy following their mother's death, Mary DeLozier Crane, in August of 1849. Following the ill-timed death of Betsy, however, it is believed that Greenberry Crane, Betsy's brother, came and got the Crane children, and took them to live with him and his family in East Texas. {12}

William Ware did eventually push on to the Sabinal Canyon in the summer and fall of 1852, after residing in Cibilo for two years. During the first months of the settlement, he worked shoulder to shoulder with the younger men at the exhausting task of building, clearing and plowing, even though he was well along in years, having already passed the half-century mark; and the grueling life he had led for many years had taken its toll of his former rugged strength. In the early hours of March 9, 1853, his eyes rested for a moment upon the long musket beside his bed (used at San Jacinto), shifted to some cherished momentos left by Betsy Ann, his beloved wife, and then closed his eyes for the last time. {13}

End Notes

1. Henderson County, Texas, Marriage Book, 1847-1854, p. 36, published by the Henderson County Historical Commission. The records show that Mary Jane Crane married John McNew Davenport at the residence of William Ware.

2. "William Davenport: Settler at Selma, Bexar", published by Mrs. Ted Schoch, a descendant, and submitted by Jean Heide, President, Selma Historical Foundation.

3. A History of Uvalde County, Texas, published by the El Progreso Club, 1975, Call No. 976.4432 in the San Antonio Library.

4. Sabinal Canyon, 150 years (1852-2002), published by the Sabinal Canyon Museum in 2001, p. 11.

5. Sabinal Canyon, 150 years (1852-2002), p. 58.

6. A Part of the Lord's Big Garden, Kaufman County: Its Early Years, by Horace P. Flatt, published by the Taylor Publishing Company, Copyright 1997 by the Kaufman County Historical Commission.

7. A History of Uvalde County, Texas, p. 444, published by the El Progreso Club, 1975, Call No. 976.4432 in the San Antonio Library.

8. "The Magic Canyon Comes of Age", 1952, by Morris H. Breazeale, story within the Sabinal Canyon, 150 years (1852-2002), published by the Sabinal Canyon Museum in 2001, p. 55.

9. The Handbook of Texas Online, "William Ware", and San Antonio Express-News article, dated March 15, 1931, "John C. Ware, 92, Uvalde County Oldest Settler".

10. "The Magic Canyon Comes of Age", 1952, by Morris H. Breazeale, story within the Sabinal Canyon, 150 years (1852-2002), published by the Sabinal Canyon Museum in 2001, p. 56.

11. San Antonio Express-News article, dated March 15, 1931, "John C. Ware, 92, Uvalde County Oldest Settler"; and, Handbook of Texas Online, "William Ware".

12. Crane Family History, compiled by John Crane McVea, prior Historian of the Sons of the Texas Republic, and published by William E. Merrem, a Crane descendant, on February 22, 1974.

13. "The Magic Canyon Comes of Age", 1952, by Morris H. Breazeale, story within the Sabinal Canyon, 150 years (1852-2002), published by the Sabinal Canyon Museum in 2001, p. 58.

Brief Genealogy of the Crane Family

I am extremely proud of my family's heritage that has been documented through membership applications submitted and approved by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT), and the Sons of the Republic of Texas (SRT). My family's genealogy in Texas begins with John Crane, who was born in Virginia, migrated to Tennessee, and arrived in Texas with his family in 1834, applying for admission as a colonist at Nacogdoches November 20, 1834. While in Tennessee, John Crane served in the War of 1812 as a private in Lieut. Co. John Edmonston's Detachment of Tennessee Calvary, and later took part in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.

John Crane's application for land was granted and he was given a league of land on Harmon Creek (now in Walker County) about six miles northeast of Huntsville, which was part of Vehlins County.

John Crane was Captain of a company of men who entered Bexar in December, 1835, under Ben Milam, participating in the Siege of Bexar, the battle in San Antonio prior to the Battle of the Alamo. He was honorably discharged by General Edward Burleson, Commander in Chirf of the Texas Army, on December 14, 1835 and granted additional days pay to return to his home in East Texas, and awarded land grants for his participation in the battle. Shortly after that, John Crane participated in the Runaway Scrape, moving his family and the family of his son-in-law, William Ware, to safety across the Sabine River until after the Battle of San Jacinto, where William Ware commanded a company in that battle.

John Crane continued to serve in the Texas army, having enlisted under both Capatin John Wade and Captain Harrison during the years 1836 through 1839. He lost his life on July 15, 1839, in the Battle of the Neches.

Most of my family's Texas history after 1852 occurred in the Sabinal Canyon area (towns of Utopia and Sabinal in Uvalde County) where the familieis of Ware, Davenport, Crane, Patterson, Kincheloe and others played a prominent part in the history of that area.

John Crane and his wife, Mary DeLozier, had nine children. Here are the nine children:

1. Elizabeth (Betsy) Ann Crane (b 6 Apr 1814 TN; d 20 Dec 1849 TX). 1st marriage to Wash Robinson; 2nd marriage to William Ware. Betsy died at York's Creek, south of New Braunfels, while the Ware family was on their way from Kaufman County (east Texas) to the Sabinal Canyon area.

2. Eliza Crane (b abt 1816 TN; d abt 1846 TX). Married John ("Jack") Robbins in 1837. John Robbins mother was Rebecca Robbins, and one of his brothers was Nathaniel Robbins, who owned and operated Robbins Ferry in East Texas.

3. Green Berry Crane (b 15 Jun 1821 TN; d 28 Aug 1905 TX). Married Susan Bernice Winters, whose father was James Washington Winters.

4. Mary Jane Crane (b 6 Feb 1824 TN; d 4 Aug 1904 TX). 1st marriage to James Elkins, Jr. and 2nd marriage to John McNew Davenport (1849).

5. Andrew Jackson Crane (b 26 Mar 1826 TN; d May 1896). Married Mary Elizabeth Farris (1849).

6. Narcisus Emaline Crane (b 1829 TN). Married William H. Jones.

7. Newell Walton Crane (b 1830 TN; d Jun 1862). Married Elizabeth Talbert.

8. John Houston Crane (b 24 Jan 1836 TX; d 1 May 1888 TX). Married Martha Jones.

9. William Ambrose Crane (b 4 Jun 1839 TX; d 1 Nov 1911 TX). 1st marriage to Sarah Catherine Miller; 2nd marriage to Sarah Jennie Watson; 3rd marriage to Malinda Jane Key-Power.


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