CULLOM, (Hon.) B. North, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana Submitted by Mike Miller ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** HON. B. NORTH CULLOM, OPELOUSAS.--Among the prominent members of the bar of Southwest Louisiana few surpass in profound legal attainments him whose name heads this sketch. He is a brilliant and forcible speaker, an excellent judge of law, and a faithful and conscientious attorney. Strength of mind and purity of purpose are his leading traits. These in his profession have made him a great lawyer. In that branch of the law practice that sometimes requires scheming and cunning diplomacy he is neither great nor successful, a proof that his nature is faithful and just. Judge Cullom was born in Opelousas, September 14, 1824, and is a son of Francis and Maria (Prewett) Cullom; the former was a native of Kentucky, born at Monticello, in 1793, and the latter was born in Tennessee, and died in Louisiana in 1829. She was the mother of three children, of whom Judge Cullom is the eldest. Francis Cullom was a carpenter by trade. He emigrated to Louisiana in 1820, and located in Opelousas. He continued to work at his trade until 1845, when he commenced the practice of law, which he followed until the time of his death in 1855, at the age of 62 years. Judge Cullom received but a limited school education, but through private study and tutorship attained a thorough literary education, being an excellent Latin and French scholar, with considerable knowledge of Greek. He studied common law at Danville, Kentucky, and was admitted to the bar in that city, March 9, 1849. It was not his intention, however, to locate there, and he returned to Louisiana, and devoted himself to the study of the civil law of this State under the preceptorship of his father. He taught a school at intervals, meanwhile pursuing his studies, and, September 7, 1850, was admitted to the bar before the Supreme Court of Louisiana in Opelousas. He at once entered into practice with his father, and was his partner until the latter's death in 1855. Judge Cullom arose quickly to distinction and soon acquired a lucrative practice. His ability as a speaker brought him into general notice, and made him a leader in all matters for the public good. He became one of the most active agitators of the project known as the New Orleans, Opelousas, & Great Western Railway, now known as Morgan's Southern Pacific Railroad. He remained in Opelousas until the latter part of May, 1865, when he removed to Avoyelles parish, practising [sic] his profession until 1858, when he was elected by the popular vote Judge of the Thirteenth Judicial District, composed of the parishes of Rapides and Avoyelles. He was a Whig in politics, and at the close of his term he found considerable opposition to his reëlection in 1861. But notwithstanding the boundaries of the district had been changed, he was reëlected by a large majority. He was again elected in 1865, this time without opposition. During the last two terms the district was composed of the parishes of Avoyelles, Pointe Coupée, and West Feliciana. During his last term he was forced to take the oath of allegiance to the Confederate States Government, and, when Federal authority was restored, he was, of course, decapitated for the Confederacy. He immediately filed application before Congress to have his disability removed, and through the influence of Thaddeus Stevens was restored July 20, 1868, to full citizenship. In the meantime he had resumed practice in Avoyelles, Rapides, and Pointe Coupée parishes. In February, 1869, he opened a law office in New Orleans, and was active in getting up what was known as the Liberal Party at that time, and afterward as the Fusion Party. By this party he was nominated in the convention for Judge of the Fifth District Court of the parish of Orleans, and was elected, serving four years. As he would not become the tool of factions--too honest to descend from the dignity belonging to the high position he held--he was forced to retire from the bench, and again he resumed his law practice. In 1877 he was the chief attorney in the noted returning board case, defending the Hon. J. Madison Wells in that interesting matter. In 1878 he was nominated by the Working Men's and the Greenback parties for Congress in the Second District, but was defeated. In the fall of 1882 he was appointed assistant attorney of the United States on the French-American Claims Commission, vice Judge Taylor Beattie. In 1883, his interests calling him back to the country; he settled on his farm in Avoyelles parish, on the bank of the Bayou Boeuf, and remained there until 1889, when he removed to Opelousas, with the intention of practising [sic] law. In September, 1890, he became editor of the St. Landry Democrat, in which capacity he continued until January 4, 1891. In 1853 and 1854 he edited the St. Landry Whig at Opelousas. All through his life Judge Cullom has been a constant contributor to all the leading journals of Louisiana. Judge Cullom was married February 28, 1848, to Miss Mary J. Gilmore of Danville, Ky. They have had three children. The eldest, Robert L., died in 1884, leaving four children, three of whom are being reared by Judge Cullom; the second is William M., and the third, Edward, is practising law at Marksville, La. Such in brief is the record of Judge Cullom. The foundation of his active life was laid here in Southwest Louisiana, and the people who have known him long and well will ever entertain for him the highest regard and admiration as a man, a lawyer and a jurist. In every position of life to which he was elevated, he gained distinguished honors. Firm and conscientious in all his views, and bold and fearless in their enunciation, he always commanded the respect of those who differed from him in his political faith. His personal experience, his education and his reason taught him the fallibility of human judgment, and the liability of honest and wise men to disagree upon almost every question of political philosophy in a government constituted as ours is, and he claimed no charity for himself that he did not cordially extend to others. In all his public acts a sense of duty accompanied him, and disregarding selfish and personal considerations, he unflinchingly obeyed its behests. Southwest Louisiana Biographical and Historical, Biographical Section, pp. 11-13. Edited by William Henry Perrin. Published in 1891, by The Gulf Publishing Company.