Numbered
among the pioneers of LaSalle county is Thomas Cullen, of Adams township,
now arrived at the venerable age of eighty-four years. He is the eldest
child of James Cullen, who emigrated to the United States from Ireland in
1835, reaching New Orleans on the 1st of June of that year. He was
accompanied by his family, and had no definite place of location decided
upon, and therefore stopped at different points on his way northward, up the
valley of the Mississippi, working at his trade, that of blacksmith. It was
not until 1846 that he finally arrived in LaSalle county, thenceforth to be
his permanent place of abode. Buying the farm, in Adams township, now owned
by Ernest Suppes, he improved it and spent the rest of his active life
there, his death occurring in 1879, when he was in his eighty-fourth year.
One of his sons is the Hon. William Cullen, ex-congressman, of Ottawa,
Illinois, and the second son, James Fleming Cullen, is deceased. The
daughters were Catherine, the wife of James McNeal, of Redding, California;
Margaret, wife of John Reed, both deceased; and Eliza, widow of Byron
Braden.
Born in the parish of Invers, county Donegal, Ireland,
February 4, 1816, Thomas Cullen was reared to young manhood in his native
land. He was remarkably apt as a student and prided himself upon his memory.
He was instructed in the catechism and was a very small boy when he was able
to repeat as many as twelve chapters of the Bible, missing only a few words
of the whole. It was a joke in the family that his mother hid an old
dictionary which they possessed, in the fear that he would commit that to
memory, also! The love for study and books which he then formed has never
left him, and has been a source of great pleasure to him in all the past
years. Very few of the really valuable works of history and fiction have
been neglected by him, and many of the classics as well, have possessed deep
interest for him. Religious and theological works were much read by him
prior to his conversion to Christianity, and Clarke's Commentaries on
Ecclesiastical History and the works of William Paley, D. D., had a great
influence in forming his religious opinions.
In Pittsburg,
Pennsylvania, Mr. Cullen learned the business of building locomotives, and
followed that calling for a quarter of a century. About 1837 he became
convinced that he ought to devote some of his time to the spreading of the
gospel of Christ, and for ten years thereafter he traveled through
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and Illinois, preaching and doing whatever good
he could. In 1847 he returned to Adams township, where he has since resided,
secure in the love and genuine esteem of neighbors and associates. In his
political faith he has always adhered to the Democratic party, and strongly
believes in the Jeffersonian principles. He is unalterably opposed to any
form of aristocracy, and views with deep concern the concentration of wealth
in the hands of the few.
On the 1st of April, 1855, Mr. Cullen
wedded Mary Lindsay, a daughter of Samuel Lindsay, who was of Scotch
descent, and whose wife, Annie (Barnes) Lindsay, was a native of
Steubenville, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Cullen have three children, namely:
Benjamin, who married a Miss Guir and is managing the home farm; Jennie, who
became the wife of William Smith; and William, a railroad engineer, of
Chicago. Both Mr. and Mrs. Cullen are members of the Protestant Methodist
church, and this venerable couple have long enjoyed the highest esteem and
confidence of a wide acquaintance. Richest blessings of health, prosperity
and happiness have been granted them, for which, with grateful hearts, they
give thanks and praise to God. Devout Christians, their lives have been
largely devoted to work in behalf of the Master, — Jesus Christ. Many happy
years have been allotted them in this life, through the declining years of
which they journey with unshaken faith in the hand of God to strengthen them
in life, care for them in death and reward them with happiness, peace and
rest in the great beyond.
Extracted 19 Dec 2018 by Norma Hass from Biographical and Genealogical Record of LaSalle County, Illinois, published in 1900, volume 2, pages 560-561.
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