Richard Cranch (1726 - 1811) owned:
The herball or Generall historie of plantes by John Gerard, in 18C America.
A new treatise on British and foreign vegetables which are now constantly used in the practice of physick; ... Being an improvement upon the Materia medica of the celebrated Steph. Fran. Geoffroy, ... with complete indexes of the English and Latin names by Etienne-François Geoffroy.
Cranch was a Massachusetts watchmaker, legislator, local official. Born at Kingsbridge, Devonshire, Cranch arrived in Boston in November 1746 & established a shop as a card-maker. He taught himself Latin, Hebrew, & Greek. Cranch relocated to Braintree in 1750, & later to Weymouth, where he took up the business of watch repair. He married in 1762 Mary Smith, the sister of Abigail Smith (later the wife of John Adams).
By 1766 the Cranches had moved to Salem, but returned to Braintree in 1769. Cranch served 2 terms in the state House of Representatives (1779-1783) & a term in the State Senate (1785-1787), & held the office of Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for Suffolk County from 1779 - 1793. Cranch was a delegate to the Massachusetts convention to ratify the federal constitution, & supported ratification.
He was a supporter of the Harvard library, & the college granted him an honorary M.A. degree in 1780, placing him with the class of 1744. He was a founding member of the Massachusetts Charitable Society, & the Massachusetts Society for Propagating the Gospel in North America (in its 1787 iteration). He sat as a fellow in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. He was a strong Federalist politically. Richard Cranch & his wife died within hours of each other in 1811.
Cranch was a Massachusetts watchmaker, legislator, local official. Born at Kingsbridge, Devonshire, Cranch arrived in Boston in November 1746 & established a shop as a card-maker. He taught himself Latin, Hebrew, & Greek. Cranch relocated to Braintree in 1750, & later to Weymouth, where he took up the business of watch repair. He married in 1762 Mary Smith, the sister of Abigail Smith (later the wife of John Adams).
By 1766 the Cranches had moved to Salem, but returned to Braintree in 1769. Cranch served 2 terms in the state House of Representatives (1779-1783) & a term in the State Senate (1785-1787), & held the office of Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for Suffolk County from 1779 - 1793. Cranch was a delegate to the Massachusetts convention to ratify the federal constitution, & supported ratification.
He was a supporter of the Harvard library, & the college granted him an honorary M.A. degree in 1780, placing him with the class of 1744. He was a founding member of the Massachusetts Charitable Society, & the Massachusetts Society for Propagating the Gospel in North America (in its 1787 iteration). He sat as a fellow in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. He was a strong Federalist politically. Richard Cranch & his wife died within hours of each other in 1811.
