Writer, Artist. Born outside of Washington, D.C., Cranch relocated to Cambridge, MA to attend Harvard Divinity School. He served as a minister only briefly before becoming an early member of the Transcendental Club, a group which challenged his traditional religious beliefs. He is today recognized as the member with the greatest sense of humor. His most famous illustration grew from this period: a caricature of Ralph Waldo Emerson as the “transparent eyeball” mentioned in the essay “Nature.” Cranch also contributed poems and essays for “The Dial,” the official journal of the Transcendentalists, as well as “The Harbinger,” the “Western Messenger” and other periodicals with Transcendental leanings. His first collection of poems was published in 1844; he continued publishing poems and essays throughout his life. He wrote children’s fiction as well and translated Virgil’s “Aeneid” into English. He also became a painter, focusing on landscapes, which earned him a fair amount of income and celebrity. (bio by: Midnightdreary)  Family links:  Children:  Leonora Cranch Scott (1846 – 1933)*  George Williams Cranch (1847 – ____)*  Quincy Adams Cranch (1855 – 1876)* *Calculated relationship