Jesse Armour Crandall

Life & Legacy

Jesse Armour Crandall (October 20, 1834 – August 3, 1920) was an American inventor and toy-maker. He took out over 150 patents on toys in his 75 years of inventing. Crandall's father, Benjamin Potter Crandall, was also a toy-maker as well as three of Jesse's brothers (Benjamin, Charles Thompson and William Edwin). Unlike his brothers who remained primarily associated with their father's toy business in New York City, Jesse started his own company in Brooklyn. It was a friend, perhaps Henry Ward Beecher, who named him "The Child's Benefactor". This became his trademark and slogan.