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Speaker of the House
Date published: 8/3/2002
IT'S BEEN MORE than 140 years since the speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates hailed from the Fredericksburg area. William J. Howell of Stafford County is poised to become the new speaker in January, after winning the support of fellow House Republicans last month. The last speaker from this area was Oscar Minor Crutchfield of Spotsylvania County, who held the post for nearly a decade immediately before the Civil War. Crutchfield, born at Spring Forest in Spotsylvania on Jan. 16, 1800, was the son of Col. Stapleton Crutchfield and Elizabeth Lewis Minor Crutchfield. According to research provided by Barbara Willis, manager of the Virginiana Room of the Central Rappahannock Regional Library in Fredericksburg, Crutchfield was from a family with deep roots in Spotsylvania. He served as a major in the state militia, a justice of the peace, sheriff and judge of the county court before being elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. Crutchfield served several terms in the House, from 1834 to 1843, and from 1850 to 1861. He held the post of speaker of the House from 1852 until his death in 1861, at the age of 61. According to the book "Speakers and Clerks of the Virginia House of Delegates, 1776-1996," revised under the direction of Bruce F. Jamerson, Crutchfield presided over the deliberations of the House "with a felicity of administrative vigor rarely surpassed." He entertained the Marquis de Lafayette in Fredericksburg in 1824, the book noted. Lafayette returned the favor a few years later, hosting Crutchfield at his home near Paris. Masonic records indicate Crutchfield was initiated into Fredericksburg Lodge 4 in 1824, and received the second and third Masonic degrees in 1825. Although he never presided over the local lodge, Crutchfield was elected grand master of the Grand Lodge of Virginia in 1840 and served until 1842. He spearheaded an unsuccessful effort to build a Masonic Memorial to George Washington in Fredericksburg. In October 1833, Crutchfield married Susan Elizabeth Gatewood, daughter of Dr. William Kemp and Barbara Minor Gatewood of Ben Lomond in Essex County.
Date published: 8/3/2002
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