John Griffith McCullough (September 16, 1835 – May 29, 1915) was an American state legislator,

businessperson A businessperson, also referred to as a businessman or businesswoman, is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial ...

and attorney. He served as

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

of California during the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, and the 49th governor of Vermont from 1902 to 1904.

Early life

John G. McCullough was born on September 16, 1835, in

Newark, Delaware Newark ( )Not as in Newark, New Jersey. is a city in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. It is located west-southwest of Wilmington. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 31,454. The University of Delaware is ...

, to Albert and Rebecca (Griffith) McCullough.Hill, Edwin Charles. ''The Historical Register.'' New York: E.C. Hill, 1921.Duffy, John J.; Hand, Samuel B.; and Orth, Ralph H. ''The Vermont Encyclopedia.'' Lebanon, N.H.: University Press of New England, 2003. His father was Scotch-Irish, and his mother Welsh. An ancestor on his mother's side had fought in

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

's army. His father died when he was three years old, and his mother four years later."McCullough, General John." ''History of Bennington County, VT.'' Lewis Cass Aldrich, ed. Bennington, Vt.: 1889. Relatives and family friends took him in, and provided him with a private school education. He attended

Delaware College The University of Delaware (colloquially known as UD, UDel, or Delaware) is a Statutory college#Delaware, privately governed, state-assisted Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Newark, Delaware, United States. UD offers f ...

, and graduated first in his class with an AB degree after just two years of schooling. He clerked in the law firm of St. George Tucker Campbell in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Pennsylvania, while attending the

University of Pennsylvania Law School The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (also known as Penn Carey Law, or Penn Law; previously University of Pennsylvania Law School) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Phi ...

, and graduated with an LL.B. in 1858, and was admitted to the bar of the

Pennsylvania Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It began in 1684 as the Provincial Court, and casual references to it as the "Supreme Court" of Pennsylvania were made offici ...

. After a heart attack he was advised to seek a warmer climate. He sailed to California, where he took up the practice of law in Mariposa, California. He was admitted to the bar of the

California Supreme Court The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sac ...

California years

McCullough supported General

Edwin Vose Sumner Edwin Vose Sumner (January 30, 1797March 21, 1863) was a career United States Army Commissioned officer, officer who became a Union Army General officer, general and the oldest field commander of any Army Corps on either side during the American ...

when the Union general seized Fort Alcatraz in 1861, preventing Colonel

Albert Sidney Johnston General officer, General Albert Sidney Johnston (February 2, 1803 – April 6, 1862) was an American military officer who served as a general officer in three different armies: the Texian Army, the United States Army, and the Confederate States ...

from using the fort in support of bringing California into the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

on the side of the Confederacy. His public speech-making in support of Sumner led to his election to the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature (the upper house being the California State Senate). The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, Califor ...

the same year. He was re-elected in 1862. In 1863, he was elected

, but lost re-election in 1867. He moved to San Francisco, where he established a lucrative legal practice.

Move to Vermont and governorship

He moved to Vermont in 1873, where he devoted himself to business. He had married Eliza Hall Park, daughter of Panama Railway president Trenor W. Park, on August 30, 1871. The couple had four children: a son, Hall Park McCullough, and daughters Elizabeth Laura McCullough, Ella Sarah "Sallie" McCullough, and Esther Morgan McCullough. His father-in-law appointed him vice-president and general manager of the Panama Railway. After Park's death in 1882, he became the railroad's president. He helped reorganize the

Erie Railroad The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Northeastern United States, originally connecting Pavonia Terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey, with Lake Erie at Dunkirk, New York. The railroad expanded west to Chicago following its 1865 ...

in 1884 and 1893, becoming chairman of the company's executive committee. He was president of the Bennington and Rutland Railway from 1883 to 1900, and president of the Chicago and Erie Railroad from 1890 to 1900. A lifelong Republican, McCullough was very active in politics. He was elected a delegate to the

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in 1880, 1888 and 1900, being elected chairman of the delegation in 1900. He was elected to the

Vermont State Senate The Vermont Senate is the upper house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The senate consists of 30 members elected from multi-member districts. Each senator represents at least 20,300 citizens. ...

in 1898, and elected president pro tempore. McCullough was elected Governor of Vermont in 1902. During his administration, Vermont abandoned statewide

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

in favor of a local option law.

Later life

After leaving the governorship, McCullough became active in business again. He was president or a director of the First National Bank of North Bennington, the Bank of New York, the Fidelity & Casualty Co., National Life Insurance Company of Vermont, Hudson and Manhattan Railroad, Central Vermont Railroad,

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at vario ...

, and the Lackawanna Steel Company. He received honorary

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

degrees from

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont, United States. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists, Middlebury w ...

in 1900, the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, commonly referred to as the University of Vermont (UVM), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont, United States. Foun ...

in 1904, and

Norwich University Norwich University is a private university in Northfield, Vermont, United States. The university was founded in 1819 as the "American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy". It is the oldest of six senior military college, senior militar ...

in 1905. McCullough died in New York City on May 29, 1915. He is interred in the family vault at Bennington's Old First Church Cemetery.

Notable placenames

The Park-McCullough Historic House, where Trenor Park and (after his death) Governor McCullough lived, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. The John G. McCullough Free Library in North Bennington, Vermont, was built by McCullough's widow, Eliza McCullough, in memory of her husband. The two-story brick building was designed by the firm of Renwick, Aspinwall and Tucker, and opened on August 24, 1921."Our History." John G. McCullough Free Library. No date.
Accessed November 1, 2013.

References

External links

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:McCullough, John G. 1835 births 1915 deaths American people of Welsh descent Members of the California State Assembly California attorneys general Republican Party governors of Vermont Republican Party Vermont state senators Presidents pro tempore of the Vermont Senate Vermont lawyers American Congregationalists 19th-century American railroad executives University of Delaware alumni University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni Politicians from Bennington, Vermont Norwich University alumni People from Newark, Delaware 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century members of the California State Legislature 19th-century members of the Vermont General Assembly