Alexander Parker Crittenden (January 14, 1816 – November 5, 1870) was a 19th-century pioneering attorney and politician in California, and a member of the influential Crittenden family of Kentucky.
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Early life
Alexander Parker " A.P." Crittenden was born in 1816 to Thomas Turpin Crittenden (1788–1832) and Mary Wilson Parker (1792–1869) in Lexington, Kentucky. He was the nephew of John Jordan Crittenden and grandson of John Crittenden Sr.
He graduated from West Point in 1836 at age 20. He had once been expelled for a prank but was reinstated by appealing directly to President Andrew Jackson. He joined the army as a Lieutenant of Artillery, but quickly resigned his commission. He gained employment as an engineer for railroad companies. In 1838 he married Clara Churchill Jones Crittenden (1820–1881), and they had fourteen children altogether, but only eight lived to adulthood.
In 1839, the family moved to Brazoria County, Texas where Crittenden read law, was admitted to the bar, and started practicing law. In 1849, seeking wealth, he trekked on horseback by way of Mexico and Arizona to Los Angeles, California. His traveling companions included James Audubon and Parker's brother-in-law, Dr. Alexander Jones, who suffered a knife wound in a fight in Tucson, Arizona.