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
DAB; Malone, Preston St. Clair. “The Political Career of Charles
Frederick Crisp.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Georgia, 1962; Martin, S.
Walter. “Charles F. Crisp: Speaker of the House.” Georgia Review 8
(Summer 1954): 167-77.
-- Biographical
Data courtesy of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.