Cull, Samuel J.

Samuel J. Cull, born in Washington County, Kentucky, on October 17, 1873, was an honored pioneer rancher who spent forty-five years in California. He migrated to the state as an infant with his parents, Hugh and Jennie Taylor Cull, moving from Alameda County to Fresno County in 1884. He attended school in the Herndon district and learned the basics of grain farming at the early age of ten by driving teams in the fields. Following his father’s death in 1887, he briefly returned to Alameda County to work on ranches before returning to Fresno County upon reaching his majority. His early partnership with S. T. Cull in a large-scale grain operation faced severe setbacks, including a dry year that resulted in a total financial loss on 2,500 seeded acres.

Undaunted by these losses, Samuel expanded his farming efforts through several large leases, successfully raising grain near his current home, on the Williams ranch, and at Round Mountain until 1916. In 1905, he purchased a forty-acre ranch in the Empire District from A. R. Briggs, eventually improving the property with a twenty-acre vineyard, a three-acre orchard, and alfalfa fields. He married Ella Beatty in 1900, and together they raised three children named Hugh, James, and Raleigh. Beyond his ranching activities, he joined the Foresters of America, the Woodmen of the World, and became an original member of both the California Associated Raisin Company and the California Peach Growers, Inc. His industrious career and well-cultivated land established him as a highly progressive figure in the historical development of Fresno County.