John Jordan Crittenden was born September 10, 1787, near Versailles, Woodford County, Kentucky.[1] He was the second child and first son of Revolutionary War veteran John Crittenden and his wife Judith Harris.[2] John and Judith Crittenden had four sons and five daughters, all but one of whom survived infancy.[2] On his father's side, he was of Welsh ancestry, while his mother's family was French Huguenot.[3] His father had surveyed land in Kentucky with George Rogers Clark, and settled there just after the end of the American Revolution.[2] Two of Crittenden's brothers, Thomas and Robert, became lawyers, while the third, Henry, was a farmer.[4]