SHELBY MOORE CULLOM
CULLOM, SHELBY MOORE, LL.D., United States senator, has shown the possibilities of the American boy who will be wise, persistent, and energetic in his efforts to make his way in the world. By successive steps he has risen from a farmer's boy to be a successful lawyer, member of the state legislature, member of the lower house of congress, governor of his state, and member of the upper house of congress.
He was born in a country district of Wayne county, Kentucky, November 22, 1829. He was the son of Richard Northcraft and Ehzabeth (Coffey) Cullom.
The father of Mr. Cullom was a farmer. He was a man of more than ordinary ability, of unwavering integrity, and of great force of character. He removed to Illinois in 1830. He was elected to the state legislature and served several terms in the house and in the senate. While his early ancestors were people of excellent character they were not especially active in public affairs.
Mr. Cullom spent the early years of his life in the country He was not strong physically, and many of the conditions under which his childhood and youth were passed were far from encouraging. Though he was not required to work constantly, he performed all the various tasks which fall to the lot of the boy and the young man on a farm. He worked in the fields planting, cultivating and harvesting the principal farm crops. One memorable summer, he says, was largely spent in breaking the prairie with a plow drawn by five yoke of oxen. Afterward Mr. Cullom taught school in order to obtain money to pay his expenses at a seminary which he attended for two years and which he left in 1852. He was not able to take a collegiate course, or even to study at any technical or professional institution.
When he left his father's home, in 1853, to prepare for the active work of life, he went to Springfield, Illinois, and studied law with the well-known firm of Stuart and Edwards. To this course he was advised by Abraham Lincoln with whom he had become acquainted
