John Finley Crowe was born in Greene County, Tennessee, growing up there and in Missouri, where his family migrated. He grew up in a Presbyterian household. After meeting some Presbyterian elders who had moved from North Carolina to his area in Missouri, Crowe became interested in pursuing a religious education. He attended Transylvania College in Lexington, Kentucky, and continued his education at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey. After completing his Masters of Divinity in 1815, Crowe accepted his first ministerial calling in Shelbyville, Kentucky. It was a slave state, but Crowe became actively involved in the abolitionist movement. He established a Sunday school for African-American children, but could not find a place where they were allowed to meet. On May 7, 1822, he began publication of the "Abolition Intelligence and Missionary Magazine". Crowe's abolitionist sympathies alienated him from his slave-holding neighbors, and he soon lost access to the printing press.