William Cullom (June 4, 1810 – December 6, 1896) was an American politician and a member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

Biography

Cullom was born on June 4, 1810, near

Monticello, Kentucky Monticello is city in Wayne County, Kentucky, in the United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 6,188 at the time of the 2010 U.S. census. Monticello claims to be "The Houseboat Capital of the World" as there are numerous ...

, in Wayne County. He attended the public schools and studied law in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

. He was admitted to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

, and he practiced in the courts of Kentucky and

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. He moved to

Carthage, Tennessee Carthage is a town in and the county seat of Smith County, Tennessee, United States; it is part of the Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,306 at the 2010 census. It is located on the Cumberland River, which was important ...

and served as a member of the

Tennessee State Senate The Tennessee Senate is the upper house of the U.S. state of Tennessee , Tennessee's state legislature, which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly. The Tennessee Senate has the power to pass resolutions concerning essentially any ...

from 1843 to 1847.

Career

Elected as a Whig to the

Thirty-second Congress The 32nd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1851, ...

Tennessee's 8th congressional district The 8th congressional district of Tennessee is a congressional district in West Tennessee. It has been represented by Republican David Kustoff since January 2017. Current boundaries The district is located in West Tennessee. It borders Kentuck ...

, and to the

Thirty-third Congress The 33rd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1853, ...

Tennessee's 4th congressional district The 4th congressional district of Tennessee is a congressional district in southern Tennessee. It has been represented by Republican Scott DesJarlais since January 2011. Current boundaries The district lies mostly in the southern part of Middle ...

, he served from March 4, 1851, to March 3, 1855. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1854 to the

Thirty-fourth Congress The 34th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from March 4, 1855, ...

. Cullom was appointed the

Clerk of the United States House of Representatives The Clerk of the United States House of Representatives is an officer of the United States House of Representatives, whose primary duty is to act as the chief record-keeper for the House. Along with the other House officers, the Clerk is elec ...

in the Thirty-fourth Congress, and he served from February 4, 1856, to December 6, 1857. During the debate on secession, Cullom stumped Tennessee in favor of remaining in the Union but when Tennessee finally seceded, he grudgingly supported the decision but retired to his home at Carthage and did not take a prominent role supporting either side. Both sides viewed his actions with much distrust thinking he was supporting the other. After the war, he was divorced from his first wife, Virginia Ingram Cullom, and remarried to Mary Griffin. Appointed Attorney General for the 16th Judicial Circuit in 1873, Cullom also served as a judge in Clinton for several years He resumed the practice of law and was the

attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

for the sixteenth district from 1873 to 1878.

Death

Cullom died in

Clinton, Tennessee Clinton is a city in and the county seat of Anderson County, Tennessee, United States. Clinton is included in the Knoxville metropolitan area. Its population was 10,056 at the 2020 census. History Prehistoric Native American habitation was no ...

on December 6, 1896 (age 86 years, 185 days). He was

interred Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

at McAdoo Cemetery in Clinton, Tennessee, and later reinterred at Mount Olivet Cemetery at

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cullom, William Clerks of the United States House of Representatives Tennessee state senators 1810 births 1896 deaths Kentucky Whigs Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee 19th-century American politicians People from Wayne County, Kentucky People from Carthage, Tennessee People from Clinton, Tennessee