McCullough, H. W.

H. W. McCullough was born near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1866, to farmer and coal miner Isaac McCullough and Sarah McGuire. After his father died when he was nine, he remained with his mother until age eighteen and then engaged in coal mining for fourteen years. He was married in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, on October 1, 1889, to Della Lewis, the daughter of James Lewis and Christiana Longwell.

In 1911, Mr. McCullough quit coal mining and traveled across California for three years before choosing Fresno County as his permanent home. He purchased twenty acres of raw land in the Barstow Colony in 1914, successfully developing it into a muscat vineyard, alfalfa fields, and a small dairy. Together with his wife, he raised five children—Dale, Joseph, Gladys, Lois, and Kermit—and remained an active Republican voter, member of the California Associated Raisin Company, and participant in the Woodmen of the World.