Charles Frederick CRISP, Congress, GA (1845-1896)

CRISP, Charles Frederick, (father of Charles Robert Crisp), a Representative from Georgia; born in Sheffield, England, January 29, 1845; later in that year his parents immigrated to the United States and settled in Georgia; attended the common schools of Savannah and Macon, Ga.; entered the Confederate Army in May 1861; commissioned lieutenant in Company K, Tenth Regiment, Virginia Infantry, and served with that regiment until May 12, 1864, when he became a prisoner of war; upon his release from Fort Delaware in June 1865 joined his parents at Ellaville, Schley County, Ga.; studied law at Americus, Ga.; was admitted to the bar in 1866 and commenced practice in Ellaville; appointed solicitor general of the southwestern judicial circuit in 1872, and reappointed in 1873 for a term of four years; appointed judge of the superior court of the same circuit in June 1877; elected by the general assembly to the same office in 1878; reelected judge for a term of four years in 1880; resigned that office in September 1882 to accept the Democratic nomination for Congress; president of the Democratic gubernatorial convention at Atlanta in April 1883; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-eighth and to the six succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1883, until his death; chairman, Committee on Elections (Fiftieth Congress), Committee on Rules (Fifty-second and Fifty-third Congress); Speaker of the House of Representatives (Fifty-second and Fifty-third Congresses); nominated for United States Senator in the State primary of 1896; died in Atlanta, Ga., October 23, 1896; interment in Oak Grove Cemetery.

Bibliography

Malone, Preston St. Clair. “The Political Career of Charles Frederick Crisp.” Ph.D. diss., University of Georgia, 1962; Martin, S. Walter. “Charles F. Crisp: Speaker of the House.” Georgia Review 8 (Summer 1954): 167-77.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present