Biography of Benjamin H. McCulloch - Mercer Co. WV

The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume II,
Page 316

BENJAMIN H. MCCULLOCH is one of the progressive young business men of
his native city of Bluefield, Mercer County, where he is secretary,
treasurer and manager of McCulloch's, Incorporated, of which his mother
is the president and his sister Ruth the vice president.  This company
conducts one of the leading general mercantile establishments of this
thriving little city.
   Mr. McCulloch was born in a house at 19 Bland Street, just to the
rear of the present building of the First National Bank of Bluefield,
and the date of his nativity was August 25, 1894.  He is the son of
Benjamin J. and Georgia McCulloch.  His father was born in Montgomery
County, Virginia, September 21, 1861, and his death occurred December 6,
1919.  Benjamin J. McCulloch was the son of Benjamin and Elizabeth
(Bower) McCulloch, the latter having been the widow of Peter Rash at the
time of her marriage to Benjamin McCulloch.  Mrs. McCulloch had two sons
by her first marriage and two also by her second.  The latter two sons,
Benjamin J. and John R. became associated with their half-brother,
George M. McCulloch, in the general merchandise business at Hinton,
Summers County, West Virginia, where also they established a cannery.
The three brothers were among the first to realize the advantages and
promising future of Bluefield, which was a mere village when, in 1888,
they came to this place and opened a store at the corner of Bland Street
and Princeton Avenue.  Later Benjamin J. conducted a store in the 300
block on Bland Street, besides one at 910 Grant Street, these two stores
having been consolidated in 1914 and constituting the large and well
equipped establishment now conducted by his family under the corporate
title of McCulloch's , Incorporated.  Benjamin J. McCulloch was a
business man of marked ability and prevision, was always ready to grasp
opportunities and achieved substantial and worthy success, together with
inviolable place in popular confidence and esteem.  He became the owner
of valuable real estate at Bluefield, and in many ways aided much in the
development and upbuilding of the city.  Benjamin McCulloch, father of
Benjamin J., first married Elizabeth Ackers, and the only son of this
union was George M., of whom mention has been made in an earlier
paragraph.  Benjamin McCulloch was born in Pennsylvania and upon removal
to Virginia his father settled on a farm near Roanoke.  It is
interesting to note that the McCulloch family, originally from Dornoch,
Scotland, was founded in America in the early Colonial days (1665), and
that Robert H. McCulloch, an ancestor of the subject of this review, was
living in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, when he went forth as a
patriot soldier in the war of the Revolution, for his valiant service in
which connection he received from the Government a large grant of land
in what is now Mercer and McDowell counties, West Virginia.
   Benjamin J. McCulloch was an earnest member of the Bland Street
Methodist Episcopal Church,South, and was superintendent of the first
Methodist Sunday School organized at Bluefield.  Of his four children
two are deceased, William having died at the age of twenty-three years.
the two surviving children, Benjamin H. and Ruth, are associated with
their mother in McCulloch's, Incorporated, as already noted, and Ruth is
a popular teacher in the public schools of Bluefield.
   Benjamin H. McCulloch received the advantages of the public schools
of Bluefield and continued his studies in the University of West
Virginia, his intention having been to prepare himself for the legal
profession, but as he had gained youthful experience in connection with
his father's mercantile business he was led to identify himself actively
with this line of enterprise, in which he is making a splendid record
and adding to the prestige of the family name.  He is a director of the
Bluefield Chamber of Commerce, is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity
and is a member of the Bland Street Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
He entered the nations service at the time of the World War and was in
training at Camp Johnston, Jacksonville, Florida.  He was in service in
France.
   May 24, 1918, recorded the marriage of Mr. McCulloch and Miss Emma
Millet, daughter of Albert Millet, of Bluefield.  Mrs. McCulloch is
especially active in educational work and is now supervisor of the city
schools of Bluefield, besides which she is  prominent in the general
social and cultural activities of her home city.  She is a member of the
Presbyterian Church.


Submitted by Susie Lloyd <eslloyd@impop.bellatlantic.net>

****************************************************************

USGENWEB NOTICE:  These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in
any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or
persons.  Persons or organizations desiring to use this material,
must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal
representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb
archivist with proof of this consent. Files may be printed or copied
for personal use only.

****************************************************************