Mrs. Bathsheba H. Crane, 1811-1895
Author of Life, Letters, and Wayside Gleanings, for the Folks at Home. Boston: James H. Earle, 1880.
It is unclear if this work is fact or fiction. It appears to be fact and presents the life of Mrs. Crane through a series of letters. She was married to a minister who moved a number of times to new parishes, and one of their stops was Dorchester, seemingly the Stoughton Street Baptist Church. The fourth book, containing six letters on, over 50 pages, is supposed to have been written there. The language is a little flowery. “Dorchester, from its proximity to the ocean, its elevation, prospect, and verdure, is a green coronal in the landscape wreath that encircles Boston, and altogether a desirable location. The face of the country is undulating and singularly beautiful, with all the romance and dreamy grandeur of bold, rocky scenery. … She mentions a number of historical people and events along with the overly elegant description of the scenery.
Bathsheba H. (Morse) Crane, actually Morse was her mother’s maiden name, her own maiden name was Phillips
Her husband, Denzel M. Crane, was a Baptist clergyman. The following source states that he served in North Dorchester. The only Baptist church in that part of the town was the Stoughton Street Baptist Church.
Historical Catalogue of Brown University 1764-1904 (Providence, Brown University, 1905)
A fuller description of his life was written by Bathsheba for the Vermont Historical Gazatteer.
Vermont Historical Gazetteer. Volume V The Towns of Windham County. (Brandon, VT, 1891)
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~vtwindha/vhg5/brookline.htm
REV. DENZEL MANSFIELD CRANE BY MRS. B. H. CRANE.
Denzel Crane was born in Brookline, Feb. 29, 1812, and died at his son-in-law’s, Rev. I. R. Haskins, in West Acton, Mass, Sept. 4, 1879, aged 67. He was the third son of Thomas Crane, Esq. He early attended the district school of 10 weeks in summer and winter ; but when old enough to labor was limited to the winter term. Under the instruction of his father, an experienced teacher, he acquired the elementary branches of an English education. His evenings were spent at home in the family circle. Thus was the period of his boyhood and early youth passed. When 15, he united with the Baptist church. At the age of 18, he was impressed with the importance of the gospel ministry. He commenced study with Rev. Phineas Howe, and subsequently studied at Franklin and Pierce academies and Brown university, preaching and teaching to meet his expenses.
He married Bathsheba H. Phillips of Newfane, March 1, 1837, and was ordained in his native town the following June. He was pastor, successively, in Brookline, Grafton and North Springfield, Vt., Northampton, Boston and Dorchester, Woonsocket, R. I., Greenfield, Mass., North Springfield, Vt., again, Winthrop and Northampton. In nearly all of these pastorates revivals were enjoyed, resulting in the encouragement and rebuilding of the churches. The most extensive revivals in connection with his labors were during his first pastorate of three years at North Springfield, when 84 were baptized into the church, and at Boston, in six years, 189. His longest pastorate was 12 years, – it was his first in Northampton – during which he was elected 10 times a member of the school committee and for six years he was superintendent of the public schools, and, while thus engaged, the honorary degree of A. M. was conferred upon him by Amherst college. There his remains were tenderly laid away, with his three sons, and only grand-son.