Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/139

 McCULLOUGH

McCURDY

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McCULLOUGH, John Edward, actor, was born in Coleraine, Ireland, Nov. 14, 1832. His parents immigrated to the United States after John had spent his boyhood and early manhood

on a small farm in Ireland, with no educational advan- tages. On locating in Philadelphia, Pa., he worked as a chair- maker. He became interested in the stage and played with an amateur com- pany, taking Othello as his initiatory part. He obtained an en- gagement at the Arch Street theatre in 1855, taking a minor part in "The Belle's Strategem." His success determined his profes- sion, and he played in different cities in the United States, 1855-66, where he attracted the attention of Edwin Forrest, and during 1866-68 filled second parts to that actor. He undertook the management of the Bush Street theatre, San Francisco, in connection with Lawrence Barrett in 1869, and was fairly successful. Forrest con- sidered him as his legitimate successor, and left most of his manuscript plays in his possession, and in 1873 he began to take Forrest's roles in " Brutus," " Jack Cade," " The Gladiator," " Vir- ginius," " Damon and Pythias," and Shaksperian plays. He was not a great actor, lacking education and originality, and creating no new characters, but was the best imitator of Forrest on the Ameri- can stage, in 1881 he made a tour of England, where he was not successful. In 1884 he began to decline, and the end came in a performance of " The Gladiator," in Chicago, where he collapsed and was placed in a lunatic asylum. He died in Philadelphia, Pa., Nov. 8, 1885.

McCULLOUGH, John Griffith, capitalist, was born in Newark, Del., Sept. 16, 1835 ; son of Alexander and Rebecca (Griffith) McCullough and grandson of John Griffith. He was grad- uated from Delaware college, A.B., 1855, A.M., 1858, and from the University of Pennsylvania, LL.B., 1858. He was admitted to the bar in 1859, removed to California the same year and prac- , tised law in Sacramento, and soon after in Mari- posa. In 1861 he supported Gen. E. V. Sumner in preventing the secession of California. He was a Republican representative in the state assembly, 1862 ; state senator, 1863, and attorney -general of the state, 1864-67. He practised in San Fran- cisco, 1867-73, when he removed to Vermont and settled at North Bennington. He became exten-

sively interested in railroad enterprises ; was vice-president of the Panama railroad company, 1874-82; president, 1882-88; was elected presi- dent of the Bennington and Rutland railroad company in 1882 ; president of the Chicago and Erie railroad company in 1890, and a director in the Erie and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad companies. He was also president of the First National bank of North Bennington ; a director in the New York Security and Trust company the Bank of New York, the National Life Insurance company of Vermont, the Fidel- ity and Casualty Insurance company of New York, and other industrial, charitable and liter- ary corporations. Tlie honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by Middlebury college, Vermont, in 1900. He was married, Aug. 30, 1871, to Eliza Hall Park, granddaughter of Gov. Hiland Hall, and their son Hall Park Mc- Cullough, became a lawyer in New York city.

McCUMBER, Porter James, senator, was born in Crete, 111., Feb. 3, 1858 ; son of Orlin and Anna Elvira (Fuller) McCumber, and grandson of Ben- jamin and Sally McCumber, and of Zaccheus and Eliza (Durham) Fuller. He was brought up on a farm ; attended the district schools and subse- quently the city schools, and was graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan in 1880. He removed to Wahpeton, Richland county, Dakota Territory, in 1881, and commenced the practice of his profession. He was a repre- sentative in the territorial legislature in 1885 and 1887, and took part in the long controversy that led to the formation of the states of North and South Dakota, Nov. 2, 1889. He was attorney- general, 1887-88, was married in 1889 to Jennie Shorning and was elected to the U.S. senate, Jan. 26, 1899, by the Republican legislature, for the term expiring March 3, 1905.

McCURDY, Charles Johnson, jurist, was born in Lyme, Conn., Dec. 7, 1797. He was graduated from Yale in 1817, and was admitted to the bar at New London, Conn., in 1819. He was a repre- sentative in the Connecticut legislature, 1827-29, 1833-34, 1838, 1840-41 and 1844, and speaker for three sessions. He was a state senator in 1832, and was lieutenant-governor of Connecticut, 1847-48. He was appointed U.S. charge d'affaires to Austria by President Fillmore in 1850 and was succeeded by F. M. Foote in 1852. He resumed practice in New London in that year ; and was judge of the superior court of Connecticut, 1856- 63 ; an active member of the peace conference at Washington, in February, 1861, and a judge of the supreme court, 1863-67. He was. the author of the law in Connecticut allowing principals in criminal suits to testify in their own behalf. He was the last survivor of his college class and the oldest living Yale graduate in 1890, He received