Andrew M. Criswell was born near Scotland, Pennsylvania on November 29, 1824 to Robert and Sarah McElwain Criswell.  He had some early schooling at the nearby Chambersburg Academy and then entered Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in 1844 with the class of 1847.  Criswell was a member of the Union Philosophical Society while at the College. He left his studies in 1845 to take up farming and then school teaching.  He was later involved with a store and local real estate dealings in Scotland.

Criswell married Louisa Renfrew of Duffield, Pennsylvania, and the couple had four children: Robert Thompson, Nancy Jane, Henrietta Alice, and John Renfrew.  Only the latter married.  After Criswell retired from business, the family moved to Chambersburg.  Andrew Criswell died there on March 31, 1899.  He was seventy-four years old.