GEORGE McCULLOCH, M. D.

No history of Wayne county would be complete without a record of the career of Dr. George McCulloch, who, throughout the years of an upright and honorable life, has left a deep impress upon the professional and business history of Humeston, where for forty years he has made his home. Throughout a longer period he has been active in this section of the state, and as the years have passed has proved his worth as a public-spirited citizen who never sacrifices the general good to individual interests. At present he is not only honored in his profession, but as president of the Home State Bank is one of the dominating figures in the business life of the city, his honesty, enterprise and resolute work having gained him wealth and prosperity. Dr. McCulloch was born in Holmes county, Ohio, October 24, 1848, and is a son of Joseph and Nancy (Miller) McCulloch, natives of Pennsylvania. The father died in Ohio when the subject of this review was only seven years of age, and the mother passed away in the same state at the age of seventy-nine. In their family were thirteen children: One who died in infancy; Hugh and James, both of whom have passed away; Miller R., who was a captain in the Second Kentucky Cavalry and was killed at the battle of Murfreesboro in the Civil war; David and Mrs. Nancy Jane Painter, who have also passed away; Albertus P., a veteran of the Civil war, who served during that conflict as a member of an Ohio regiment; Mrs. Martha Ann Sherlock, residing in Indiana; Joseph who died in infancy; George, of this review; Alfred D., postmaster at Humeston, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work; Joseph C., whose home is in Cleveland, Ohio; and Mrs. Elizabeth Slagle, of Millersburg, Ohio.

Dr. George McCulloch acquired his early education in Holmes county, Ohio, and in 1871 moved to Brooklyn, in Poweshiek county, Iowa, where he began the study of medicine. He remained in that section until the fall of the same year and then entered Rush Medical College of Chicago. After the destruction of this institution by fire in 1871, he, together with practically the entire student body, attended the medical department of the Michigan State University at Ann Arbor, but completed his professional studies in Rush Medical College, graduating from that institution with the class of 1873. He located first for practice in Malcolm, Poweshiek county, and remained there for a short time, coming to Humeston in 1873, and has since made this city his home. At that time there were no plastered houses in the community, although there was one railroad, and conditions of life were extremely primitive. Dr. McCulloch has therefore seen the development of this section of Iowa and has to a great extent been identified with it. He first came to the section in order to look after eight hundred acres of choice land in Richman township entered by his father, and, being attracted by the future possibilities which he recognized, he established his residence here. He is especially fitted for the duties of a physician, for in his character ready sympathy and quickness of perception combine with a broad and comprehensive knowledge of the principles of medical science. Consequently he has secured a gratifying and representative patronage and is classed among the efficient and successful physicians in Humeston.

Dr. McCulloch has also attained unusual success in the business world and few if any business men of Humeston are better known throughout this section than he. He stands as a central figure in banking circles here, being president of the Home State Bank, and his name is known and honored among the leading financiers. The Home State Bank of Humeston was founded as a private institution in 1880 by Mr. Hasbrouk and Dr. McCulloch, who conducted it in its original form until 1898, when it was incorporated. At present it has a capital of sixty thousand dollars and is one of the sound, safe and conservative financial institutions of southern Iowa. As its president Dr. McCulloch’s fine business and executive ability have been called forth and the success of the bank is largely due to his efforts. He has given his best energies to the advancement of the enterprise and is widely known as one of the leading financiers in this part of the state. He has other important business interests and extensive property holdings, owning at the present time twelve hundred and twenty-four acres of choice land in Wayne county, upon which there are seven sets of good improvements. Upon these farms Dr. McCulloch carries on the breeding and raising of high-grade stock, having a herd of two hundred head of registered Angus cattle. Upon one of his tracts on section 21, Richman township, the state of Iowa experiment station has been established. By judicious investments and the wise use of every opportunity Dr. McCulloch has secured a comfortable competence which to a great extent has been used in a public-spirited way, since he aids and supports all movements which have for their object the development and advancement of his community.

In Holmes county, Ohio, in 1880, Dr. McCulloch married Miss Druscilla A. Maxwell, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Maxwell, natives of that section. In this family were nine children: Robert, deceased; John T., who for three terms was circuit judge of Holmes county and who is still a resident of his native section; Mrs. Emily McCulloch, deceased; Mrs. Mary Ann Lower, of Indiana; Mrs. Mary Ann Lewis; Mrs. Martha Vorhees and Mrs. Lauretta Kingman, both deceased, the latter passing away in Des Moines; Mrs. Elvira Mitchell, of Millersburg, Ohio; and Mrs. McCulloch, the wife of the subject of this review. Dr. and Mrs. McCulloch became the parents of two children, the elder of whom died in infancy. The younger son, Milan Ellsworth, was born in Humeston on the 6^th of January, 1883, and was graduated from the Humeston high school. Later he attended the State Agricultural College, studying scientific farming, and was for one year in Drake University and for a similar period of time in the State University of Iowa. For one year he acted as instructor in agriculture at Ames, but resigned this position in order to go to Chicago, where he completed a law course in the Chicago University. During the period of his residence in Iowa he was one of the leading figures in agricultural circles and recognized as an authority upon everything connected with practical, scientific farming. He visited every county in the state and afterward reported agricultural statistics for the national government in January, 1911, and was also overseer of the civil service department of the department of agriculture, Washington, D. C. He retired from this position in March, 1912, when he located in Humeston to look after his father’s farms.

Dr. McCulloch has extensive fraternal relations. He is a member of Chappaqua Lodge, I. O. O. F., and of Fidelity Lodge, No. 228, F. & A. M., of Humeston. He belongs to the nobles of the Mystic Shrine at Cedar Rapids, but was initiated in that body at Des Moines. In official circles, too, he is a dominating and commanding figure. He gives a loyal support to the men and measures of the republican party, and was for twelve years a member of the Humeston town council. He was in the Iowa house of representatives as a member of the nineteenth, thirtieth and thirty-first general assemblies, proving himself at all times high in his ideals of public service and incorruptible in his integrity. In 1908 he was elected state senator and in this connection he served four years. His vote may be relied upon in support of all progressive measures and he regards public office not as an avenue to personal advancement, but as a trust reposed in him by his fellow citizens. Over the record of his official career there falls no shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil, for in this relation as in all others his work is that of a loyal, conscientious and high-mined man.

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