Alexander White McCullough

 

SOURCE: "Portrait and Biographical Album of Champaign County, Illinois," Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1887
SURNAMES: BOND, BURWASH, MCCULLOUGH, RANEY, ROBINSON, SYLER

 

ALEXANDER WHITE MCCULLOUGH, of Urbana Township, is a pioneer of this county, and one of her most respected and honored citizens. He was born on the 19th of February, 1810, in Franklin County, Pa. The family are of Scotch and Irish extraction and Mr. McCullough’s grandfather, John MCCULLOUGH, was born in New Castle County, Del. When a child eight years of age, John McCullough was captured by the Delaware Indians. His parents were at that time living near Upton, in Franklin County, Pa., and young McCullough was held a prisoner by the Indians for eight years and four months in Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. He was a brave, high-spirited boy, and was treated so kindly by his dusky captors, that after his return home he ran away and rejoined them.

Our subject’s father, James MCCULLOUGH, married Miss Margaret WHITE, the daughter of Alexander WHITE, and about the year 1822 they removed to Delaware County, Ohio. Their family consisted of six children, only two of whom are living at the present time.

Alexander W. McCullough was married in 1842, to Miss Elizabeth SYLER, the daughter of Frederick and Sarah (ROBINSON) SYLER. She was a native of Pennsylvania, and was born July 9, 1824. After his marriage Mr. McCullough and his wife continued to live in Franklin County until 1854, when they removed to this county and located in Urbana Township, where they have since permanently resided. He first invested in timbered land, which he cleared and cultivated, and in the meantime brought up and educated a family of eight children, whose names are as follows: James; Adeline, the wife of Nelson RANEY, residing in Sumner County, Kan.; Anna E., the wife of John BOND, residing near Tolono; Frederick, a resident of California; Margaret, the wife of Samuel BURWASH, residing in Philo Township; Benjamin, a resident of California; Albert, a resident of this county, and John, who lives on the homestead.

Mr. McCullough is highly esteemed by his community, and formerly served as School Director for about ten years. His family are all members of the Methodist Church, in which they take an active interest. In his early life he was a Jacksonian Democrat, later he became an old-line Whig and has since become a stanch Republican. His son James served in the Civil War, and was so severely wounded at the storming of Ft. Blakeley that he was obliged to lose his left arm. Mr. McCullough is now seventy-eight years of age, and his wife is sixty-three. They have passed nearly half a century of happy married life, during which time they have encountered and overcome many difficulties, and their declining days are crowned with repose and comfort.