From Proud Heritage, Vol. 1 by DCPA, not currently in print.
Rev. Marcus Hiram Cullum and his family endured the horrors of the Civil War in Western Tennessee and the Reconstruction Era which followed. Then a railroad was built to a town called Dallas in far off Texas, and new land was opened to settlement there. Early in 1873 Rev. Cullum moved his entire family from Tipton County to Memphis, New Orleans, Galveston, Houston and on to Dallas.
Rev. Cullum born 1822, died 1885 and his wife Elizabeth Jane Davis brought with them son Jacob D. Cullum and his wife Lou Harper and their daughters Willie and Daisey; son Will H. Cullum and wife Icy Harper and daughter Viola; daughter Cal and her husband James I. Jones; daughters Emma, Fannie and Llora Cullum; and young sons Ashley and Marvin Cullum. Thus sixteen people made the trek by stagecoach, boat and train from Tennessee to Texas.
Rev. Cullum bought ten acres on Cedar Springs Road at Turtle Creek in a rustic area two miles north of Dallas. In 1874 he became the founding minister of Oak Lawn Methodist Church, a small one-room school house-church around which the Oak Lawn community grew. Today this great block-long church stands as a monument to Rev. Cullum and his family and neighbors who created it. Two hundred and fifty Cullum Family members gathered to honor them at the 1985 Cullum Reunion in Dallas.
One hundred and ten years earlier this family was well-represented in the 1875 Dallas County Pioneer Association, which held its later meetings at Oak Lawn (now Lee) Park which was once part of Rev. Cullum’s ten acre homeplace. Charles B. Gillespie, whose family came to Dallas ahead of the Cullums, married Emma Cullum and served as a Dallas County Pioneer Association (DCPA) officer for many years. Today at least a dozen family members from six of the eight major Cullum branches are active in the revived DCPA, and Earl Owen Cullum served as a recent DCPA president.
Jacob D. Cullum raised eight children, and served as a Dallas County commissioner and was in the real estate business for many years. Later generations of both this and other major family branches have been active in the Oak Lawn Methodist Church, and its records are studded with names of Cullum descendants who have held Leadership positions there.
Will H. Cullum farmed and served as a Dallas County Deputy Sheriff, and he and his wife Icy raised twelve children. Among their descendants were outstanding public officials, military officers, Cullum Construction Company and other business, civic and religious leaders. David Cullum operates an advertising business and is prominent in family genealogical work. Ronald Walker was chairman of both the 1984 Republican National Convention at Dallas and the 1985 Presidential Inauguration at Washington. Cal and Jim Jones raised six children, and the Jones-Warlick branch also produced prominent Dallas business and religious leaders. Emma and CharLes Gillespie raised four children, and both parents were outstanding in the growth and development of Oak Lawn Methodist Church. Their grandson Joe B. Rucker is a widely-known World Fair planner, and granddaughter Jeanne Deis operates a prominent portrait studio in Dallas.
Fannie and Will Coe raised four children, but moved from Dallas to South Texas to live. Uora Cullum married Rev. J. Foster Pierce and raised three children. Again we find prominent Dallas leaders among them. John Allen Pierce a well-known Dallas architect, reminds us that when the Cullums first arrived in Dallas, they stayed at the Crutchfield Hotel, operated by other Pierce ancestors already here.
Ashley W. Cullum raised eight children, and founded a small wholesale grocery business. His sons later developed this into today’s Cullum Companies and Tom Thumb and Page Drug stores. Robert B. Cullum was a Texas State Fair official, and his brother Charles G. Cullum is a former Dallas City Councilman and civic and religious leader. Charles’ daughter, Lee Cullum, is associated with D Magazine. His sister, Mary Cullum Nash, ts well known for her ladies apparel business and wrote the book Damn Proud People, the story of the Cullum family. Another sister, Eloise Cullum, operates a block of businesses at Rockwall, Texas. Jim Cullum’s “Happy Jazz Band” of San Antonio is widely known throughout the nation.
T. Marvin Cullum and his wife raised five children, and he served as a Dallas city official and founded the Cullum &: Boren Sportings Good Company. Thompson branch members are prominent in the insurance business and in the 500-member Rotary Club of Dallas. Six Cullum family members, including T. M. Cullum in 1920, have served as president of Dallas Rotary.
Fifty grandchildren of Rev. M. H. Cullum grew to maturity. Many descendants have remained in the Dallas area, but others are scattered far and wide. They return from California, Virginia, New York and even from England to attend the family reunions. Whatever their names, they still call them selves Cullums, and are happy to be part of the family’s heritage which has been so prominent in Dallas history.
By Earl C. Cullum, Dallas
