Denver, History of Colorado, BIOS: CRISP, John D (published 1918)
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"History of Colorado", edited by Wilbur Fisk Stone, published by The S. J. 
Clarke Publishing Co. (1918)  Vol. II


p. 490-491



JOHN D. CRISP, M. D.

 Dr. John D. Crisp is known to the general public of Denver and of 
Colorado as a most able physician and surgeon, but added to his 
professional skill is marked literary ability. Literature is to him a 
means of rest and recreation, from arduous professional duties and in 
both lines of his activities he has shown decided talent. Dr. Crisp is 
a native of Illinois. He was born at Apple Pie ridge, in Scott county, 
and he is descended from English ancestry, the family many generations 
ago being represented in Northumberlandshire. The progenitor of the 
American branch of the family was Benjamin Crisp, who came to America 
in 1689 and settled in North Carolina. The grandfather of Dr. Crisp was 
Charles Crisp, who participated in the battle of New Orleans in the War 
of 1812. His son, John A. Crisp, was born in Nashville, Tennessee. in 
1817 and became a planter. He was but ten years of age when his parents 
removed to Jacksonville, Illinois, and such was the unsettled condition 
of the Mississippi valley at that time that between Nashville, 
Tennessee, and Jacksonville, Illinois, there was to be found but one 
bridge and that was over the Okaw river in Illinois. The family 
traveled overland in a two-wheeled ox cart which conveyed their entire 
worldly possessions. There were eight children and the parents. On 
reaching the Ohio river they crossed the stream on a ferry. This trip 
was made in the winter and spring of 1828 and was attended with many 
hardships and privations. In the previous tall Charles Crisp had made 
the trip on horseback from Nashville to Illinois and had purchased 
three hundred and twenty acres of land, trading in his horse and saddle 
and bridle as a part of the purchase price. He then returned on foot to 
Tennessee, reaching his old home, after a nine days' journey, footsore 
and weary. He was at that time in his late '40s. He died in the year 
1865 at the very advanced age of eighty-four years. John A. Crisp, the 
father of Dr. Crisp, was reared and educated in Illinois and there 
engaged principally in the purchase and sale of farm lands and also 
cultivated his fields to some extent. In 1896 he removed to Denver and 
for a number of years lived retired, passing away in 1900 at the age of 
eighty-two. In early manhood he had wedded Mary Ellen Comstock, a 
native of Brown county, Illinois, born in 1838 and a representative of 
one of the old pioneer families of that state who had removed to the 
middle west from New York. She was a representative of a family of 
English lineage. Her great-grandfather was Samuel Comstock, who came 
from England. Mrs. Crisp is still living in Denver and her son. Dr. 
Crisp, is her only surviving child, her two daughters having passed 
away.

 Dr. Crisp was educated in the public schools of Scott county, 
Illinois, and in the University of Missouri, from which he was 
graduated in 1882 with the LL. B. degree, for he then thought to make 
the practice of law Ins life work. For five years he engaged in active 
practice in Holden, Missouri, and then turned his attention to 
newspaper publication, becoming editor and publisher of the Holden 
Enterprise, a weekly journal. He continued in that business for six 
years and afterward removed to Galveston, Texas, where he was managing 
editor of the Daily Tribune. He continued with the latter paper for two 
years and then removed to Denver, where he took up the study of 
medicine. He successfully passed the state board examination in 1902 
and in 1905 he was graduated from the University of Denver with the M. 
D. degree. He has since been engaged in active practice in Denver and 
his developing powers along this line have given him a prominent place 
in the ranks of the medical profession. He is keenly interested in 
everything that tends to bring to man the key to the complex mystery 
which we call life and he keeps in touch with the advanced thought and 
researches of the profession through wise reading and study and through 
his connection with the Denver City and County Medical Society, the 
Colorado State Medical Society and the American. Medical Association. 
His taste for literature and his ability as a writer have been manifest 
in his authorship, which includes many interesting short stories 
published in magazines throughout the country and he is also the author 
of a novel entitled "Orpah," which was published by the Scroll 
Publishing Company of Chicago.

 On the 4th of September, 1878, Dr. Crisp was married in Exeter, 
Illinois, to Miss Ada Morris, a native of that state and a 
representative of one of the old families of Baltimore, Maryland. Her 
parents were John W. and Mary J. (Crafton) Morris, both of whom are now 
deceased. To Dr. and Mrs. Crisp has been born a son, John Manford, 
whose birth occurred in Exeter in 1879 and who is now a resident of 
Cheyenne, Wyoming, being employed as a civil engineer and draftsman 
with the Union Pacific Railroad Company.

 Dr. Crisp votes with the democratic party and he is a member of 
all the Masonic bodies except the Scottish Rite and he is likewise a 
member of the Mystic Shrine. The life record of Dr. Crisp shows what 
may be accomplished through individual effort intelligently directed. 
He worked his way through school and previous to his first winter in 
college he fed ninety-one head of cattle in order to earn the money for 
his tuition. His success is entirely attributable to his own efforts, 
his ambition and his innate talent and ability. Today he occupies a 
very pretty home, which he owns, and enjoys a large practice, which has 
come to him in recognition of his highly developed powers in the 
practice of medicine and surgery. His wife is a very active worker in 
the Woman's Relief Corps, in the Red Cross and in various charitable 
movements. In a word, their aid and influence are always given on the 
side of progress and improvement and their efforts have been a 
contributing factor to the general welfare in many ways.