S. H. (Salmon Hodges) Crittenden

S. H. Crittenden, or Salmon Hodges Crittenden, was a 19th-century American writer and business educator associated with Crittenden’s Philadelphia Commercial College. Sources from the period identify him as a principal of the college, a consulting accountant, and an instructor in commercial customs, showing how closely his writing was tied to practical business training.

His best-known surviving work is Usury; Or, Interest, Premium and Discount (1863), presented as a lecture for students at the college. In it, he explains financial terms in a direct, useful way, moving between ledger practice, law, and the wider question of fairness in commerce. That mix of legal and accounting knowledge gives his writing a grounded, instructive tone that still feels accessible.

Crittenden also helped revise and enlarge bookkeeping manuals connected with the family’s commercial-education work in Philadelphia. Although relatively little biographical detail is easy to confirm today beyond his dates, 1829 to 1864, the record that remains suggests a teacher-author focused on giving future merchants practical tools rather than abstract theory.