Deloss Carlton Shull

CUTLER, SHULL, PERKINS

Posted By: Connie Swearingen- Volunteer (email)
Date: 12/3/2015 at 18:37:21

Northwestern Iowa
Its History and Traditions
1804 – 1926

In the largest and best sense of the term, Deloss Carlton Shull is distinctively one of the notable men of his day and as such his life record is entitled to a conspicuous place in the annals of his state. As a citizen he is public spirited and enterprising to an unwonted degree; as a friend and neighbor, he combines the qualities of head and heart that have won confidence and commanded respect; as an attorney, who has a comprehensive grasp upon the philosophy of jurisprudence and has brought honor and dignity to the profession which he has practiced with such distinguished success, he is easily the peer of any of his professional brethren of the Iowa bar, and as a servant in high places of honor he has had no superiors.

Mr. Shull was born in Pella, Iowa, on the 28th of March, 1858, and is a son of Jacob Henry and Martha (Cutler) Shull. He received his elementary education in the public schools and then attended Des Moines University, where he was graduated in 1881, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He then entered the law School of Drake University, where he was granted the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1882. In that same year he engaged in the practice of his profession at Vermillion, South Dakota, remaining until 1887, when he moved to Sioux City, where he has been identified with the practice of law continuously since, a period of nearly forty years. In 1888 he formed a partnership with L.S. Fawcett, under the firm name of Fawcett & Shull, which relationship existed two years, after which he was for two years alone in practice. In 1892 he became associated with Orville J. Taylor and William H. Farnsworth, under the style of Taylor, Shull & Farnsworth, which existed until 1896, when Mr. Taylor retired and the firm name Shull & Farnsworth until 1907, when J.M. Sammis joined the firm, which thus became Shull, Farnsworth & Sammis. Three years later C.M. Stillwill was admitted to partnership under the style of Shull, Farnsworth, Sammis & Stillwill. Two years later Farnsworth retired and until 1914 the firm was known as Shull, Sammis & Stillwill. When Frank E. Gill entered the firm in 1915 it became Shull, Gill, Sammis & Stillwill, which title was retained until 1921, when Messrs. Gill and Sammis retired and Mr. Shull’s two sons, Deloss P. and Henry C., came into the firm, which became Shull, Stillwill & Shull. In 1922, Sylvester F. Wadden was admitted to the firm, which has since borne the title of Shull, Stillwill, Shull & Wadden. Mr. Shull is a director and general counsel for the First National Bank of Sioux City and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, as well as many other important corporations. He is president and a director of the Great Western Land Company, president of the Shull Realty Company, attorney for the Manhattan Realty Company, and the Massachusetts Realty Company, of Boston, a holding company, and of the Colonial Land Company.

On the 2d of October, 1883, Mr. Shull was married at Maple Grove, Iowa, to Nettie Merrill Perkins, who was born in Madison County, Iowa, September 13, 1858. She died June 8, 1887, in Vermillion, South Dakota, leaving a son, D/P. Shull, born May 20, 1887. On October 24, 1889, at Sioux City, Mr. Shull was united in marriage to Miss Fannie Edith Mitzell, and to them were born three children, namely; Deloss P. and Henry C. who are associated with their father in the practice of law, and Laurens C., who was vice president of the Farmers State Bank of Woodward, Iowa, enlisted for service in the World War, becoming a lieutenant in the regular army, and was killed in the battle of Chateau Thierry, France. Mr. Shull is a member of the Sioux City Bar Association, the Iowa State Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He belongs to the Professional Men’s Club of Sioux City, to Shull Post, Veterans of Foreign Wars, the United States Reserve Officers of the Seventh Corps area, the Sioux City Golf and Country Club, the Hamilton Club of Chicago, and the Sioux City Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the board of trustees of the University of Chicago and of Des Moines University. He is a staunch supporter of the Republican Party, while his religious connection is with the Baptist Church. He was president of the Northern Baptist convention of 1919 – 20, has been chairman of the finance committee of that body for fourteen years and a member of the executive committee for sixteen years. Mr. Shull has been much more than ordinarily successful in his legal career, being a master of his profession, a leader among men distinguished for the high order of their legal ability, and his eminent attainments and ripe judgment have made him an authority on all matters involving a profound knowledge of jurisprudence and vexed and intricate questions of law and equity. Personally Mr. Shull is a man of kindly and courteous manner, is generous in his support of all worthy causes, public spirited in his attitude towards all movements or measures for the advancement of the general welfare and consistent in his advocacy of all those things which are really worth while in life.