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Historical records matching Alexander Parker Crittenden
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About Alexander Parker Crittenden
Alexander Parker Crittenden
- Find A Grave Memorial ID # 49547142
- Alexander Parker Crittenden Papers
- Alexander Crittenden's Wikipedia Page
- Crittenden Family Papers at the University of Michigan
- Alexander Parker Crittenden Papers C058820
Murdered Lawyer/Politican
A native of Kentucky, Crittenden graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1836. Admitted to the bar a few years later, he moved to California following the Gold Rush in 1849.
Soon after his arrival, he was elected to the California State Assembly serving from 1849-1850 and again in 1852. After leaving office he moved to San Francisco where he practiced law until 1863, when he went to Virginia City, Nevada following the discovery of silver.
While there he met boarding house owner Laura Fair and the two began a seven-year affair. By 1870, Fair had become disillusioned with Crittenden's juggling between her and his wife, and on November 3, 1870, she shot and mortally wounded him in front of his family while on the San Francisco-Oakland ferry El Capitan.
In what quickly became a highly publicized and sensationalized trial, Fair was found guilty of murder in 1871 and sentenced to death, the first women in California to receive the sentence. A year later, she was granted a re-trial by the California State Supreme Court and was ultimately acquitted of the charges.
Civil War
In 1861, he became the leader of the southern wing of the California Democratic Party and was elected chairman of the state Southern Democratic Central Committee, of Confederate sympathies. In 1863, with his brother-in-law attorney/politician Tod Robinson, he relocated to Virginia City, Nevada Territory after refusing to take the wartime oath of allegiance to the federal government. In Nevada Territory, Crittenden handled mining claims cases, and speculated in mining stocks. He lived in Virginia City and Aurora. He was defeated as the Esmeralda County, Nevada representative to the Nevada state constitutional convention in 1863.
Clara remained in San Francisco and assisted the wife of Confederate Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston who had gone east for the war; falling in 1862 at Shiloh. The families had been connected in friendship and politics back in the Texas Republic.
The Crittenden extended family personified Lincoln's House Divided Speech during the American Civil War.Two of Parker's sons, Churchill and James Love, joined the Confederate States Army without their father's permission. After he sent them to Europe, they jumped the ship in Havana and made their ways to the Confederacy. Churchill Jones Crittenden (1840-1864), a private in the 1st Maryland Cavalry, CSA, was later captured behind the Union lines and executed as a spy; James Love Crittenden (1841-1915) had risen to be captain.
His cousin General George Bibb Crittenden served the CSA, while other cousins, General Thomas L. Crittenden and Lt. Colonel Thomas Theodore Crittenden remained loyal to the Union. His brother Thomas Turpin Crittenden, a veteran of the Mexican War, commanded a regiment in the first land battle of the Civil War at Philippi in western Virginia - a Union win. Later he was captured by General Nathan B. Forrest in the Battle of Stones River.
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A cadet at West Point, Alexander Parker Crittenden, a nephew of Kentucky U.S. Senator John Jordan Crittenden, was an early 49'er who traveled the southern route from Texas through Mexico to San Francisco. He was a member of the first session of the California Legislature, the compiler of the laws of 1852 enacted by that body, an associate of his brother-in-law Tod Robinson and Crockett and John Glover Baldwin, attorneys for the banks and heavy firms of San Francisco, and last but not least, a staunch Democrat - once Chairman of the Democrat State Central Committee. In short, he was a lawyer of rare legal and literary attainments,
During the War, when loyalty oaths to the Union were required for many business and professional men, he left his successful practice in California and migrated to the Nevada Territory -- first in Aurora, than in Virginia City. Crittenden found the abundance of mining claim disputes a new source of income. His two sons-in-law were also involved with the Nevada mines as assayers and supplied him with much "insider" information on the various mines which enabled him to play the Comstock stock market - and maintain a "notorious woman" as a mistress.
At his life's end, he became the Clerk of the Supreme Court of California.
"He has died a violent death after attaining fame and fortune, passing away almost unhonored and unsung, and leaving a widow and seven fatherless children to live down, if possible, his disgrace."
He was on a ferry boat -- accompanied by California Governor Leland Stanford - to meet his wife, who was returning from a trip to the East, when he was shot by his Virginia City lover, Mrs. Laura D. Fair. A murder trial followed thereafter which became a newspaper sensation, as it included adultery with a notorious woman, the wronged widow, great political families, sensationalism and sectional animosities.
The Crittendens were re-interred upon the demise of Laurel Hill in their own plot, but without their original memorials. See Cypress Lawn, Colma memorial for current grave and family links.
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