My Genealogy Hound

JOSEPH C. CULP, M. D. As one of the successful physicians and surgeons of Pettis County, the name of Dr. Culp is well and favorably known among the residents of this portion of the state. His office is in Ionia City, Washington Township, and his practice extends throughout the surrounding country, where he enjoys an enviable reputation as a skillful physician and an honorable man. Commencing the practice of his profession in this village in 1882, he removed two years later to Clifton, Cooper County, Mo., but in 1893 returned to Ionia City, and has since been a resident of this place.

The family of which Dr. Culp is a member has long been associated with the history of America, and the historic town of Culpeper, Va., was named in their honor. The first representative in this country was his great-grandfather, John Kolb, a native of Germany. Next in the line of descent was John Culp, a planter of the Old Dominion, and following him was William Culp, our subject’s father, who was born on the Potomac River, in Hampshire County, Va., and followed the occupation of a farmer. During the Civil War his sympathies were strongly on the side of the South, and though he did not enter the army, he hired a substitute to take his place. Becoming interested in oil speculations, he found this a source of large revenue.

In 1865 William Culp removed to Missouri and settled in Randolph County, where he purchased land. He assisted in laying out the city of Moberly, and made Culp’s Addition to the town. Where stood his old homestead may now be found many of the most desirable residences of the city. He became a man of prominence in his community and was frequently elected to offices of trust. He is still living and resides in Collins, St. Clair County, Mo. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary Holland, passed away in 1870.

The subject of this sketch was born in West Virginia, October 23, 1855, and is the eldest of the three children of his father’s first marriage. The others are Amos H., a physician of Otterville, Mo., and Minnie, Mrs. Walter McCormick, who lives near Sedalia. In boyhood our subject attended the schools of Moberly, and between the years of fifteen and twenty-one was with his father upon a farm. While still very young he evinced a decided predilection for the medical science, but his father discouraged him in his efforts to study the profession, promising to aid him in a start in any occupation beside that which he had chosen.

At the age of twenty-one, our subject entered the Kirksville Normal School, where he spent the greater part of two years. He then taught in the country schools of Randolph County, devoting his spare hours to the study of medicine. In the winter of 1879-80 he took a course of lectures in the Missouri Medical College of St. Louis, and afterward formed a partnership with his former preceptor in Randolph County. Later he took a partial course of lectures at Keokuk, Iowa, and completed his medical education at Marion Sim’s Medical College, St. Louis, in 1892.

In the spring of 1882 Dr. Culp came to Ionia City, and here in the following year he married Miss Lucy Wright, who was born and reared in Randolph County, Mo. In 1884 he moved to Clifton, Mo., where he built up a large practice, having, in fact, far more than he could attend to with justice to himself so that finally his health was impaired by overwork. He is a good financier, an exceptionally keen business man, exact, honorable and discriminating, and through his judicious investments he has gained valuable properties. He and his life have four children, namely: May, who was born in Ionia City in 1884; Gertrude, whose birth occurred in Clifton in 1885; and Annie and Stella, both of whom were born in Clifton, the former in 1887, and the latter in 1892.

The first Presidential ballot of Dr. Culp was cast for Samuel Tilden, and he has since advocated Democratic principles. His paternal relatives, with the exception of one uncle, have all been stanch Democrats. While not an office-seeker, he is interested in everything pertaining to the party, and is one of its best local workers. Socially he is identified with the Pettis County, the Missouri Central, and the State Medical Societies. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and his wife belongs to the Baptist Church. Personally he is genial, companionable and popular with all classes, decided in his opinions, yet conceding to others that freedom of thought which he claims for himself.