Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1914-02-27
Death Of Prominent County Man

enato Lewis h. Cresee. 01ed teDru-
airy 18th, at the home of one of his
daughters, Mrs. Coleman f. Leaning,
10 South Dennis. He was 10 his nine
tieth year.
Mr.. Cresse's health had been falling
rapidly for the past year or more, due
10 his old age. For the last few
months Of his life he was totally blind.
At his bedside when he expired were
Mr.. Crosse, Mrs. Leaning and Mrs.
w. Scott Hand, three Of his four
children.
Mr.. Crosse, who was a lineal descend
ent Of Arthur Creese, founder Of the
New Jersey branch of that family, was
born June 4, 1924, at Gravelley Run,
near Cape May Court House, N. J., his
parents being Daniel and Hulda
(Hand) Crosse. His father lived on
one Of the largest plantations in that
region, and the son was educated III
the private schools of the county.
Mr.. Crosse was the last of New
Jerseys "Forty-niners,u he having at
the age. of twenty-five left his Cape
May County home, going first to Illi-
nois, where he worked at his trade of
carpenter for upwards Of three years.
This brought the time up to 1S49, the
year OF the great rush of gold seekers to
California. He caught the spirit of
adventure and, with a friend started for
the "Golden Gate" They did not,
however, make the 1000 mile march
across the plains, but braved all the
perils of the journey across the 18TH
mus Of Panama. He frequently, in his
very old age, told Major L. r. Thomas,
about that trip on mules with Indian
or half-breed guides from Aspin wall to
Panama. 1t was beset with dangers
from disease, poisonous reptiles and
insects and from savage and treache-
rOus men.
Mr.. Cfesse used t. say that In Cali
fornia he never mined any gold, but
he made use of the great business OPP
portunities offered in the state in the
early SOS and used them to such pur-
pose hat he returned home about 1853
with very much more money than he
left home with. The return was made
across the isthmus, but by that time
the Aspinwall and Panama railroad
had been for more than a year in full
operation. The time from San Fran
cisco to New York was about three
weeks.
When he returned from the West he
engaged In the milling business at
Graveley Run, but later purchased a
farm of 100 acres at Townsend's Inlet,
now known as Swainton, where he re-
sided until a few years ago.
Shortly after his return home MI.
Crosse was united in marriage to Miss
Mary A. Hoffman, daughter OF Geo.
w. Hoffman, OF Goshen. They were
married January 2, 1853. The pair
settled on the ancestral farm at what
Is now called Swainton.
Mrs. Cresse dying October 81, 1908,
he sold his farm and since lived with
his children, spending the winter
months with bis son, T.. M. Cresee,
and daughter, Mrs. w. Scott Hand, in
this city, and the summer months with
his daughter, Mrs. Coleman f. Learn
ing at South Dennis.
Beside these children, there is an
other son, George Hoffman Crosse, who
is a professor of mathematics in Mid
dlebury College in Middlebury, VT.
Mr.. Crosse was a Democrat of the
old school up to the great days OF 1861
and then he Joined the great party of
Lincoln and helped save the Union.
He was a lifelong Methodist and his
life was in full accord with the doctrine
and the discipline of thai church; it
was more, for the word of God itself
was 1.-THE man Of his counsel.n His
children were reared in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord and now they
s'rise up and call him blessed.n
His biography written out would be
the history of Cape May for three
quarters of a century and such had been
his close observation all his life, and
such had been his intelligence of judy
ment on passing events, that to talk
fwith him was to mentally see the life
of the county during the eight decades
from 1880 to 1910.
Speaking of Mr.. Crosse, Major
Thomas, who frequently conversed
with him, says his memory was a store
house ofinteresting facts. MI. Thomas
says he can bear witness that nothing
delighted Mr.. Crosse more than to tell
of the many experiences of his long
life, and he never failed to entertain
llatauara -Ooaon Eifv gonfinaI