Background Information on J.J. Crittenden
Researched & written by Judy C. Ware
March 2009
©
Judy C. Ware
 Although never attaining the office of President
of the United States, John Jordan Crittenden was still one of the most active politicians
of his era. At different times during his
life, he held the position of Senator from Kentucky, United States Attorney General,
Governor of Kentucky, and member of the House of Representatives.
Crittenden was born in Versailles, Woodford
County, Kentucky on September 10, 1787. This
was the same area that James Ware II had settled in when he moved the majority of his
family from Virginia to Kentucky in 1791. According
to family letters, “. . . Thompson
Ware had already settled near Paris, Kentucky. James II and Caty homesteaded in Fayette County
around Lexington on land “that James II subsequently lived and died on.” It was written later that “Charles lived near Versailles. . . .” (ref. #299 & 334)
With the population smaller during those years, it is possible that the Ware
and Crittenden families knew each other even back then.
At the time J.J. Crittenden wrote
his letter to Josiah Ware (dated 1838) he would have been fifty-one years old and Josiah
was thirty-six. Josiah opened his home,
Springfield Plantation, to many of the high profiled politicians of his time and
Crittenden was no exception. We don’t
know if the Senator from Kentucky was ever able to actually make it to Springfield for a
visit at a later date, but clearly the invitation had been made.
J.J. Crittenden graduated from
William & Mary in 1807 and he set up his criminal law practice in Frankfort, Kentucky
where he was soon well established. It
wasn’t long before he was serving in the House of Representatives and ended up as
Speaker of the House. In the election of 1825,
he actually ran (and ultimately was elected with) a man named Solomon P. Sharp who
happened to be the husband of one of Josiah’s cousins, Betsy Scott. Unfortunately,
Solomon Sharp was the victim of a highly publicized assassination. In an old family letter, it stated; “Your
cousin, Betsy Sharp, lost her husband the 1st Sunday in November last by a
midnight assassin. He was stabbed in the
abdomen in his own house at 1 or 2 o’clock and expired without speaking a word in a
few minutes in the midst of his family.” Crittenden
refused to represent the murderer (Jereboam O. Beauchamp) when he came to trial.
In 1817, Crittenden was elected to
the Senate and served there (off & on) for the rest of his life. He entered the cabinet of William Henry Harrison as
Attorney-General, continued to serve in that capacity under President Tyler, and was
appointed to the same office in the Fillmore administration.
The consummate politician, John J. Crittenden was even a candidate for
re-election at the time of his death on July 26, 1863 – at the age of seventy-six.
References:
Letter from Lucy Webb to her niece, Sarah Stribling and her nephew,
Josiah William Ware - - written June 5 (possibly 1830’s).
Lawyers and Lawmakers of Kentucky, by: H. Levin, editor, 1897. Published by Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago.
BIOGRAPHY OF DR. JAMES WARE
II written and researched by Judy Ware posted on the web
March 17, 2006
Letter from Charles Ware to his niece Sarah (Sally) Ware Stribling dated 1831.
Letter from Thompson Ware to his niece, Sarah (Sally) E.T. Ware.
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