Ichabod Crane (colonel) Published for the New Jersey Historical Society by the Grassmann Pub. Co., 1964 Original from the University of Michigan Digitized September 22, 2008 Ichabod Crane (colonel) Ichabod Bennet Crane (July 18, 1787 – October 5, 1857) was a career military officer for 48 years and the probable namesake of the protagonist in Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". Crane was born in Elizabethtown (now Elizabeth), New Jersey. He was the son of Gen. William Crane. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1809 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant, assigned to the USS "United States", a
Ichabod Crane Kinderhook town school district (Ichabod Crane Central School District) is also named for the Irving character. It is claimed by many in Tarrytown that Samuel Youngs is the original from whom Irving drew his character of Ichabod Crane". Author Gary Denis asserts that while the character of Ichabod Crane is loosely based on Kinderhook Schoolmaster, Jesse Merwin, it may possibly include elements from Samuel Youngs' life. Irving's characters drive the story and are most memorable because of his detail in describing each. He says of Ichabod Crane (the main character), 'He was tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long