Thomas Theodore Crittenden

Thomas Crittenden

Thomas Theodore Crittenden (born January 1, 1832 in Shelbyville , Shelby County , Kentucky , †  May 29, 1909 in Kansas City , Missouri ) was an American politician and from 1881 to 1885 the 24th  governor of Missouri.

Early years and political advancement

After elementary school, Thomas Crittenden, whose uncle John J. Crittenden was US Attorney General twice , attended Center College in Danville until 1855 . After completing a law degree, he was admitted to the bar in 1856. After moving to Missouri in 1857, he began working in Lexington in his new profession. Between 1862 and 1864 took Crittenden as an officer in the army of the Union in the Civil War part. There he made it to the lieutenant colonel.

In 1864 he was appointed Attorney General of Missouri. Between 1873 and 1875 and again from 1877 to 1879 he represented his state in the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC On November 2, 1880, he was elected as a candidate for the Democratic Party for governor of his state, with 52.2 percent of the vote prevailed against Republican David Patterson Dyer .

Missouri governor

Crittenden took up his new office on January 10, 1881. A health committee was created in Missouri during his tenure. It was also during this period that the state government established its own department to monitor mining. A nursing school was established in St. Louis . Also in his time in Missouri, Jesse James, who became famous for many westerns, was up to mischief. The governor offered a reward for his capture. James was finally shot in 1882.

After the end of his tenure on January 12, 1885, Crittenden was again active as a lawyer. Between 1893 and 1897 he was the American consul in Mexico and from 1898 until his death on May 29, 1909 he was a bankruptcy administrator. He had four children with his wife, Caroline Wheeler Jackson.

additional

His son Thomas Theodore Crittenden, Jr. (December 23, 1863 - July 31, 1938) was Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri between 1908 and 1909. Thomas Turpin Crittenden (1825-1905), General in the Civil War on the Union side, was his Cousin (son of John J.) his brother Thomas Leonidas Crittenden (* May 15, 1819 - † October 23, 1893 ) was also General of the Northern States. Another cousin (also son of John J.), George Bibb Crittenden (1812-1880), was an American general who fought on the side of the Confederation in the Civil War. In the film The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) Thomas Theodore Crittenden is portrayed by James Carville .

Web links

• Thomas Theodore Crittenden in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Thomas Crittenden in the National Governors Association (English)
• Thomas Theodore Crittenden in the database of Find a Grave (English)