Moe's misunderestimations: William Henry Cullen

One of my two paternal great grandfathers was William Henry Cullen.

Here is what is written about him in the Paulding County records:

History of Paulding, Ohio

(The Men who Built the Town 1880-1920)

William H. Cullen: W.H. Cullen was born Feb. 4, 1864, coming to Paulding in 1873. He ran a Dry Goods Store on the S/S of the Square as well as laid out the Cullen's Addition in the north end of town. The early nineties found him a partner in a large insurance agency on South Main Street where the police station now stands. On November 15, 1893, he was elected County Auditor for a term of three years. In June, 1898, he was appointed Village Postmaster for a term of four years, and was reappointed later for three more terms, serving in that office until August 27, 1914. It was during his term of office that we saw the beginning of rural mail service, as well as delivery of mail to the homes of the town. For years, with the aid of his son Seth, he operated the Armory Garage where he sold Dodge Automobiles. Here he also started the Paulding-Ft. Wayne Bus Line. It made two round trips a day to Ft. Wayne by the way of Payne and Antwerp. While postmaster, he built the Cullen Block at 100 E. Jackson Street as a rental investment. He died in 1955 at the ripe old age of ninety-two years.

And this fills out a bit of his early history as well:

Historical Atlas of Paulding County, Ohio 1892

W. H. Cullen. - Prominent among the businessmen of Paulding County is W. H. Cullen, of the firm of Cullen, Richards & Savercool, agents for various life and fire insurance companies. Mr. Cullen is the son of Seth and Susan (Perrin) Cullen, and was born on the 4'th of February, 1864, at Napoleon, Henry County, Ohio. The father is a native of England, and the mother of Nova Scotia. The subject of this sketch was reared in his native town, and there attended the common schools, acquiring an education. From his earliest years he developed qualities of accuracy and promptness, which inspired him to make the choice of a strictly business-like vocation. Accordingly, at the age of thirteen years, his first business experience was found in a dry goods store, where he acted as a clerk until 1888. Feeling in need of a wider scope for his business transactions Mr. Cullen embarked in the insurance business, taking as his partner Mr. James Richards. These gentlemen, who are of the energetic and progressive type, continued the business as the firm of Cullen & Richards until June 1, 1891, at which time, their business having increased to such an extent, it became necessary for them to increase their force, which they did by taking in as a partner E. M. Savercool, making the present firm of Cullen, Richards & Savercool, who represent the following companies: Home, of New York; L. & L. & G., of Liverpool; Royal, of London; Phenix, of Brooklyn; Hartford, of Hartford; Connecticut, of Hartford; AEtna, of Hartford; German American, of New York; California, of San Francisco; Springfield, of Springfield, Mass.; Queen, of Liverpool; German, of Freeport; Niagra, of New York; Traders', of Chicago; Manchester, of Liverpool; Ohio Farmers', of Leroy, Ohio; Travellers' Accident, of Hartford; Standard Accident, of Detroit; and Union Central Life, of Cincinnati, Ohio. They are businessmen of such ability, and, as a result of their integrity and enterprise, are enjoying a lucrative patronage. Mr. Cullen was happily married to Miss Lula Huston, of Paulding, in October 1890, and, with his estimable wife, enjoys a high social rank. Fraternally, our subject is a member of the K. of P., Paulding lodge, No. 270. In his political affiliations he is a republican.

I have my great grandfather's pocket calendar from 1908. It is clear from its appearance and its numerous enclosures, that WH kept this with him for many years:

On three of the first pages of his pocket calendar, he's listed addresses of (what I presume to be) relatives still back in England and others scattered around the US. I have no idea whether there are any English descendants. I know that the Huston that is listed as living at the Leamington Hotel in Minneapolis, died with only a pair of diamond chip gold cuff links to his name. My father gave those to me years ago:

I've made copies of the many newspaper clippings and various licenses that are interleaved in WH's pocket calendar. First let's start with his driver's licenses. He must have obtained them to drive his buses between Paulding and Fort Wayne, Indiana:

WH was a devoted Republican, as the above history attests. His tenure as the elected Auditor of Paulding County was remembered in the local paper:

WH was first appointed postmaster of Paulding, OH in 1898, when William McKinley was president, and the appointments were quite political. He was quite proud that he was reappointed by Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft, losing the job only after Woodrow Wilson, Democrat, was elected president.

WH Cullen, Postmaster, Paulding, OH June 1, 1913

with his assistants Guy Michael, Jim Burtch, Ed Burtch

Jim Burtch is probably the same fellow who corresponded with my Aunt Bebe from France during World War I that I referenced in an earlier post.

Did I mention he was a staunch Republican?

He seemed to have followed the market in 1928 with alarm:

He was also not a fan of Prohibition:

He was quite fond of poetry, some good, but most dreadful, by today's standards:

I was married in Lexington, Kentucky in 1980. To get the marriage license both my fiance and I had to take the Wasserman test, which was a test for syphilis. As we were going into the courthouse with our test results to obtain our marriage license, my father, WH's grandson, quoted Dorothy Parker to us: "I'd rather flunk the Wasserman test than read the poems of Edgar Guest!" I didn't realize that my dad may have grown up listening to his grandfather recite Guest's poetry because there were quite a number of his poems in the pocket calendar:

He held memberships in various organizations:

And (just like me) he got behind in his church contributions!

He also had a photograph of his oldest child, my grandfather, Seth (note the Little Lord Fauntleroy blonde curls!), and two pictures of what must have been favorite automobiles from his time of owning the Dodge dealership:

He also idealized the feminine sex to a degree perhaps because he was surrounded by seven sisters growing up:

He had concerns about death:

He had business cards from several gentlemen he considered important enough to save:

He also paid a visit to a doctor:

His philosophy ran to living the best life you could and honoring your word. One story that was told about him was that he had guaranteed a loan taken out by a business associate early in his career. It was for a large amount of money at the time: $10,000. When his associate defaulted on the loan, WH paid it back, but it took a long time. He even went so far as to put the family into a small apartment and rent out the family home in an effort to save up the money to pay the loan back.

Hoever, he did pay off the loan and the family lived comfortably but not in wealth. At some point (probably in the 1920's given the date on the bill of sale), WH made a handwritten assessment of his assets:

For the times, this was not too shabby for a net worth, although WH was ever frugal. According to my grandmother, he didn't pay Seth (his son and my grandfather) a salary for working at the auto dealership and for the bus lines, until Seth and Helen's oldest, Caralou, was in college.