David McCulloch (January 25, 1832 – September 17, 1907)
/ref> was an

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

and

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

Biography

David McCulloch was born on January 25, 1832, in Big Spring, Pennsylvania. He was educated in a log schoolhouse, before attending Marshall College in

Mercersburg, Pennsylvania Mercersburg is a borough in Franklin County, located near the southern border of Pennsylvania, United States. The borough is southwest of Harrisburg, the state capital. Due to its location in a rural area, it had a relatively large percentage ...

, 1848-1852. In 1852, McCulloch moved to

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and the largest city on the Illinois River. As of the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, the city had a population of 113,150. It is the principal city of the Peoria ...

and opened a classical school in the basement of First

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

Church. In 1854, he

read law Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under the ...

at the partnership of Manning & Merriam. In fall 1855, he was elected as a school commissioner for Peoria County, Illinois, a post he would hold for six years. McCulloch was admitted to the bar on September 2, 1858. In 1865, he was appointed to fill a vacancy as a

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...

. Building on his prominence as a prosecutor, McCulloch ran successfully for circuit judge, and was re-elected in 1879. Shortly after he was re-elected, he was appointed to the Illinois Appellate Court, a post he held for six years. In 1880, he served as the second president of the Illinois State Bar Association. In 1883, he ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the

Supreme Court of Illinois The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court, the highest court of the State of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the five ap ...

, losing to

Alfred M. Craig Alfred Marion Craig (January 15, 1832 – September 6, 1911) was an American judge from Illinois. Born and raised in the state, he was first elected as Knox County judge before he was named to the Illinois Supreme Court in 1873. Craig served thre ...

. McCulloch retired from the bench in 1895 and resumed the

practice of law In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiations and court proceedings such as lawsuits, and is applied to the professi ...

. In 1895, Judge Peter Stenger Grosscup of the

United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (in case citations, N.D. Ill.) is the federal trial-level court with jurisdiction over the northern counties of Illinois. Appeals from the Northern District of Illinois ar ...

appointed McCulloch

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for Peoria, Tazewell,

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, Marshall, Stark, and Putnam counties. He was re-appointed in 1900 by Judge

Christian Cecil Kohlsaat Christian Cecil Kohlsaat (January 8, 1844 – May 11, 1918) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and of the United States Circuit Courts for the Seventh Circuit and previously was a Unit ...

, and held this position until his death. He was a devout member of Second

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

Church in Peoria until his death. He also took an active interest in the activities of the

Illinois State Historical Society The Illinois State Historical Society (ISHS) is a private sector organization, organized as a nonprofit, that edits and disseminates public knowledge of history throughout the U.S. state of Illinois. It was founded in 1899. History and functions T ...

References

Eliot Callender, "Memorial to Judge David McCulloch," ''Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society for the Year 1908''

David McCulloch, ''Early Days of Peoria and Chicago'' (1904)
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCulloch, David 1832 births 1907 deaths American prosecutors Franklin & Marshall College alumni Illinois state court judges Judges of the Illinois Appellate Court School board members in Illinois People from Cumberland County, Pennsylvania Lawyers from Peoria, Illinois American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law 19th-century American judges