GEORGE CRISWELL

(From the History of Callaway County Missouri, 1884, page 583 - 584.)
Transcribed by Kris Breid, 17 December 2004

GEORGE CRISWELL, one of the old settlers of Callaway county, and a man who, now in his eighty-fourth year, is still active in mind and body, and reads without glasses, is of Scotch ancestry (although his father came from Ireland), and was born in Harrison county, Kentucky, on the 13th of August, in the year 1800. His grandfather, William Criswell, was a native of Scotland, but came over into Ireland as a drummer in the army of William of Orange in 1698, and participated in the battle of Boyne, which decided the downfall of James II. He entered London with William’s army, but subsequently settled in Ireland, where he received a grant of land, as did the other soldiers of the “Protestant Deliverer,” as William of Orange was called.

He reared a family in Ireland, and one of his sons, James Criswell, came over to the United States in 1783 and settled in Pennsylvania, where he met and married Miss Sarah Maloneson, daughter of Robert and Jane (Buchanan) Maloneson, also of Scotch origin. James Criswell was born May 16, 1756. His wife was born in York county, Pennsylvania, in 1771. They were married in 1790. Three years afterwards they removed to Harrison county, Kentucky, where George Criswell, the subject of the present sketch, was born and reared.

In 1827 the family removed to Callaway county, Missouri, and bought land near Guthrie, which the son, George, had selected two years before. There the parents lived until their deaths. The father died September 15, 1845. The mother died five years afterwards. The father was eighty-nine years of age at the time of his death, and the mother seventy-nine when she died. They had a family of nine children: Martha, Robert, William, Jane, George, Elizabeth, James, John and Sally. George, the subject of this sketch, is the only one now living. All but one, however, lived to reach maturity, and nearly all reared families.

George Criswell was married in this county on the 2d of February 1840, to Miss Elizabeth Fitzhugh, daughter of Alexander and Ann (Alexander) Fitzhugh, who came to this county at an early day. Mr. and Mrs. Criswell have reared two children: James A., born March 19, 1846, and Robert W., born October 19, 1849. A third son, George W., born February 20, 1854, died at the age of eight years, June 16, 1861. Mr. Criswell has always followed farming and has been fairly successful. He has a comfortable estate on which to rely in his old age. His good wife is still spared to him, and both are apparently in good health and seem to enjoy life as much as those many years their junior. As has been said, Mr. Criswell reads without glasses and his memory is as clear and distinct as it was fifty years ago. He gave all the dates without reference to memoranda mentioned in this sketch. He still carries on the farm and his wife does the household work, the same as they did when they were just starting out in life. None in the county are more highly respected than this venerable and worthy old couple. Their earlier years well spent have brought them their just reward—an old age of health and happiness and a competence of this world’s goods.

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