Crisfield, John W.

Born: 1808-11-06 Kent County, Maryland

Died: 1897-01-12 Princess Anne, Maryland

Born near Chestertown, Maryland, John Crisfield attended Washington College and studied law. He earned admittance to the bar in 1830 and started a practice in Princess Anne, Maryland. He served as a member of the State House of Delegates in 1836. Crisfield won election, as a Whig, to the U.S. House of Representatives, serving from 1847-49, alongside Abraham Lincoln. Crisfield served as a delegate to the Maryland constitutional convention in 1850 and a member of the Washington Peace Conference of 1861, in an attempt to prevent the impending Civil War. He secured a seat back into the U.S. House of Representatives, as a Unionist, serving from 1861 to 1863. He ran unsuccessfully for reelection and returned to his law practice.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996 (Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997), 881; Gravestone, Manokin Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Princess Anne, MD.