FLEMING McCULLAH is one of the prosperous farmers of Greene County, Mo., and has made his property by hard work and industry. He was born September 15, 1845, at Osceola, in St. Clair County, Mo. His master was William McCullah, a wealthy farmer, who died about 1858. Our subject was treated kindly but had no chance to get an education, beginning to work on the farm whet about ten years of age. After remaining on the farm and assisting for two years, he was hired out to a farmer, James Anderson, of St. Clair County, and afterward to John Smith, of Vernon County, with whom he remained until 1859. During the war he remained in Missouri, except going to Arkansas in 1862 and returning the same year. In April, 1865, when twenty years of age, he was set free, and his grandmother, mother and brothers were dependent upon him. In November, 1865, he moved to Springfield and worked for C. W. Crawford on his farm for one half of the crop. He saved some money and in 1868 bought forty acres of land in Taylor Township, Section 16, Greene County. This was partly improved and he added to the original tract by industry and good management until he owned sixty-two acres. He then, in 1882, traded for 120 acres of land north of Springfield, and this is now within the corporation line. This land was all in timber, and after a great deal of hard work Mr. McCullah succeeded in clearing and improving it. He now owns 115 acres cleared and five acres in orchard. His farm is well cultivated, and is worth at least $100 per acre. He has it well stocked and everything about his place indicates that he is a man of energy and determination. Both Mr. and Mrs. McCullah are members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church of Springfield, and assisted to build the church, in which the former is class leader and trustee. In politics he is a Republican. Mr. McCullah selected his wife in the person of Miss Jennie Ayers, who was born February 27, 1845, and their nuptials were celebrated on the 10th of December, 1867. Seven children have been born to this union: Evla M., born January 20, 1869; Emma M., born March 17, 1870, and died August 5, 1886, Edna M., born October 25, 1872; Ethel V., born August 3, 1874; James E., born January 23, 1876; David P., born July 31, 1880, and Lewis B., born March 4, 1886. Mr. McCullah has taken a deep interest in educational matters, and sends his children to the Lincoln School in Springfield, for which he pays $32 per year tuition. He served three years as school director, and is an honorable, industrious man. He began life as a slave, without any means and without an education. Everything was against him, but by diligence and perseverance he surmounted all difficulties and is a worthy example of what the colored man can accomplish by industry. Mr. McCullah and wife are intelligent, religious people and good citizens. Mr. McCullah educated his brother, James W., now a miner of Cripple Creek, Colo., and supported his grandmother and mother to the close of their lives. He learned to read and write after he was set free and after his twenty-second birthday, mostly at Sunday school. Mrs. McCullah learned to read and write during the War, being taught by a niece of her mistress. She belonged to the Danforth family, and her father was sold South before the War. He was one-half white. Mr. McCullah is also one-half white.
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