John J. Crittenden - Early Life

Early Life

John Jordan Crittenden was born September 10, 1787 near Versailles, Woodford County, Kentucky. He was the second child and first son of Revolutionary War veteran John Crittenden and Judith (Harris) Crittenden. John and Judith Crittenden ultimately had four sons and five daughters, all but one of whom survived infancy. On his father's side, he was of Welsh descent, while his mother's family was French Huguenot. His father had surveyed land in Kentucky with George Rogers Clark, and settled on the land just after the end of the Revolutionary War. Two of Crittenden's brothers, Thomas and Robert, became lawyers, while the third, Henry, was a farmer.

Crittenden began a college preparatory curriculum at Pisgah Academy in Woodford County. From there, he was sent to a boarding school in Jessamine County. Among his classmates were Thomas Alexander Marshall, John C. Breckinridge, and Francis P. Blair. Crittenden became close friends with Blair in particular, and later political differences did little to diminish their friendship. After a year in boarding school, Crittenden moved to the Lexington, Kentucky home of Judge George M. Bibb to study law. He began his collegiate studies at Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) in Lexington, Virginia. During his brief tenure there, he studied mathematics and belles-lettres and befriended Hugh Lawson White. Crittenden became dissatisfied with the curriculum at Washington College and matriculated to the College of William and Mary. There, he studied under St. George Tucker and became acquainted with John Tyler. He completed his studies in 1806 and was admitted to the bar in 1807. He briefly practiced in Woodford County, but seeing that central Kentucky was already supplied with able lawyers, he relocated to Logan County, Kentucky on the state's western frontier and commenced practice in Russellville. At age twenty-two, Governor Ninian Edwards of Illinois Territory appointed him attorney general for the Territory. The following year, Edwards also made Crittenden his aide-de-camp.

On May 27, 1811, Crittenden married Sarah O. Lee at her house in Versailles. Lee was a cousin of future U.S. President Zachary Taylor. The couple had seven children before Sarah's death in mid-September 1824. Among the children were Confederate major general George Crittenden and Union general Thomas Leonidas Crittenden. Daughter Sallie Lee "Maria" Crittenden was the mother of John C. Watson, a Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy during the late 19th century.