Aaron Martin Crane (1839-1914) was born in Glover, Vermont, and died in Norfolk, Virginia. He worked as a farmer in Glover until the outbreak of the American Civil War. In 1862 he enlisted as a private in a Vermont cavalry unit and served until 1865, ultimately attaining the rank of captain. In 1867, he married Lida D. Crane (b. Flint), an office clerk, in Irasburg, Vermont. From 1865 to 1869 he was the editor of a newspaper in Westchester, Virginia. He then served as an Internal Revenue Agent, being posted in St. Louis, Missouri; Cincinnati, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; and San Francisco, California. Sometime around 1884 Crane moved back to Vermont and then by 1888 to Boston, Massachusetts, where he worked as a teacher and healer in the New Thought movement. In 1900 Crane participated in the first meeting of the International Metaphysical League in New York, New York. He also authored several religious-themed books, including Right and Wrong Thinking and Their Results; A Search after Ultimate Truth: The Divine Perfection Inherent in Man and in All Creation; Knowing the Master through John: An Interpretation in the Light of Modern Thought and Understanding; Ask and Receive; and Christian Science: A Brief Answer to the Question, What is It? Having spent his winters in Virginia for many years, Crane moved permanently to Norfolk around 1908, where he remained for the rest of his life. In 1886, he ordered a copy of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures and wrote to the Massachusetts Metaphysical College for information about studying Christian Science. Crane then took Mary Baker Eddy's Primary course in November 1887.

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