History of Isaac McCullough 1878 - 1838

Isaac McCullough

Preface: My paternal grandfather was Isaac McCullough, born in County Down, Ireland. 

Isaac McCullough

The exact date he was born is still in question. Two reliable documents in my possession, birth & census records show his birth in 1878, his death certificate shows his birth in 1882, and other records show 30 Jul 1877. Because it is unknown who actually provided the information on any of these documents it is currently impossible to know which date is correct. For the sake of this biography I've chosen to use the 1877 birth year.

Isaac McCullough was born in 1877 to William McCullough and Jan Porter. The McCullough family lived in a small stone home (somewhat similar to this picture) out in the country in Northern Ireland near Belfast. Household water came from a well and the bathroom was an outhouse. Isaac's relatives still live in this house today. My parents visited Ireland twice and after much searching throughout the Irish countryside, finally found the home where Isaac was born. Living in the house was my father's cousin and his son. Though some of the following is still being confirmed, documents and family conversations suggest that Isaac also had a sister and two older brothers. His sister, Ida, died in Ireland, age yet to be determined. Isaac and his two brothers made preparations to go to America. Whether the boy's parents were still alive at this time is not known.

The British Princess

If a recent discovery is the same Isaac McCullough, records show that he was a teenager when he and his brothers traveled to Liverpool, England, boarded the ship "British Princess" on 29 May 1894 and sailed to Philidelphia, USA. Because most relatives that would know Isaac's history have passed away or are unknown to me, Isaac's history from this time until adulthood is also a mystery. We do know from records and family conversation that Isaac learned carpentry and farming, and ended up living in Washington state. Isaac McCullough is listed in the 1910 United States Census as single, from Ireland, and living in Hanford, WA, a few miles north from the town of Richland. In an old handwritten note to me from Isaac's stepdaughter, Winifred Cronk, she said Isaac bought and lived on a ranch in Hanford. He would have been 32 at the time the 1910 census was taken.

Isaac's long time friend, Henry Homer Cronk, married Mabel Lauretta Noble at her parent's home in Nebraska on 15 Jun 1910. On Valentine's Day, 14 Feb 1912, their daughter, Winifred Lucille Cronk was born. When Homer died in an accident in Osawatomie, Kansas on 3 Jan 1918, he left behind Mabel and five year old Winifred. In May or June of 1919 (date is listed differently on two documents), Isaac (now 41) married Mabel Noble Cronk. Isaac, Mabel and Winifred lived in Hanford or Richland. Ten years later, in the 1920 United States Census, it now listed Isaac as married, 42 years old, Mabel at 35 years old, and Winifred at seven years old.

Isaac holding Emerald

On the 23rd of April, Mabel gave birth to my father, Emerald Eugene McCullough, in Richland, WA. In a letter from Mabel to her father announcing Emerald's birth, Mabel refers to Isaac as "Mac". A few months later Mabel became very ill. She died that same year of cancer of the liver on December 30th when little Emerald was 10 months old. When Emerald became an adult he too went by the nickname "Mac". Sometime during the next four years Isaac met and married Anna E. Pettit, who also had a daughter named Lena Calvin. In 1924 the McCullough family consisted of Isaac, Anna, Lena, Winifred, and Emerald.

Hood's Canal, WA

Shortly thereafter Anna gave birth to a baby boy, Robert McCullough. Around 1926 the family moved to the Pinole/Hercules area in northern California where Isaac worked for the next 8 years as a carpenter for the Hercules Powder Company. The company, originally Califonia Powder Works, relocated from San Francisco in 1881 to Hercules along the San Pablo Bay where it had easy access to the railroad. The Hercules Powder Company manufactured gun powder for the military for both World War I & II. Due to foreign competition it closed its doors in 1976. In January 1933 it was discovered that Isaac had contracted tuberculosis. Winifred would have been about 21, Emerald 13, and Robert 8. Isaac was sent to the Weimar Sanitorium in the foothills above Sacramento, a few miles east of Auburn. The Weimar center is still in operation today as a health retreat. Isaac remained at the sanitorium for 5 years, 1 month, and 26 days. Isaac McCullough passed away at age 60 from pulminary tuberculosis on 17 Sep 1938. For hundreds of years tuberculosis was a problem but doctors could not determine its cause. In the 1800s statistics showed that 1 out of 7 people died from TB. When it was finally discovered that TB targeted the lungs, treatment was usually just fresh air, rest, and a cleaner environment. Even though these changes only improved about 10% of TB patients, it was touted a success and TB Clinics and Sanitoriums started popping up all over Europe and America. In the 1880s it was finally discovered that TB was contagious. Because there was still no vaccine, in 1916 a person with TB only had a life expectancy of 5 years. The first vaccine was used on a human in 1921 but wasn't used or widely accepted until after 1945, too late for Isaac.

Isaac is buried on a wooded hillside covered by hundreds of grave markers every few feet. When I visited the Weimar's Christian-based Center of Health & Education, I told the receptionist my grandfather had been a patient in the 1930s and was supposed to be buried there. She handed me a thick registration book containing pages of former patients. I found an entry for Isaac McCullough, which also listed his grave marker number. I was directed to drive around the side and back of their property, about a 1/2 mile of winding road, where it ends at the cemetary. The day was sunny but cool. Not knowing what I would find, if anything, I sat in the car when I got to the end of the road, taking in the serenity of the place. Finally exiting the car I stepped into the shade of the heavily wooded hillside and there, immediately before me, were dozens of tiny wooden stakes with round metal medallians attached to them.

Grave Marker

On each medallian was a stamped number. I don't recall now what Isaac's number was, but it was something like 735. The markers at my feet me were only in the 100s. I began walking up and down the slopes through thick overhanging branches of old oak trees with heavy branches laden with leaves. I found sections of grave markers in the 200s, 300s, 400s, 500s, 600s, 900s, but couldn't find his marker. Wondering where his marker might be, not knowing where else to look, I hesitantly began making my way slowly back to the car. At first I felt disappointed, but as I continued ducking under branches and stepping over the hundreds of markers in this sacred place, I realized that I had indeed found where my grandfather was buried, just not a number. Feeling grateful for this re-connection to a man I never met, I knelt at an unknown marker and said a silent prayer of gratitude to at least have found the cemetery.

Marker 773

Update 2013 - My wife and I once again visited the cemetery, only this time posted on the cemetery gate was a website address http://www.findagrave.com where we were able to look up my grandfather's name. We did so using our smartphone and just like magic, it listed marker #773 for Isaac McCullough. We also clicked on a cemetery map and immediately saw where we had to walk to find #773. We walked a few minutes north, another minute west down a hill and quickly found where Isaac McCullough was buried on Sep 17, 1938. The location was near the edge of drop-off to a ravine, with the actual marker upended a few feet away from where it should have been. We carefully reburied the marker in it's designated place. A dedicatory prayer was said to dedicate and protect the resting place for Isaac McCullough. 

Update 2014 - A new granite headstone was made in Salt Lake City. With headstone, cement and tools to install it, we traveled back to Weimar, California. After several trips up and down the hillside from car to gravesite, the old wooden marker was removed, a deeper hole was dug, cement poured, and the new granite marker was in place. This is not the first granite marker in the area, but most are still the original wooden stakes. This new headstone is beautiful and permanent, no longer to be ravaged by time and the elements.

If you ever find yourself driving along Interstate 80 near Auburn, you just might want to make time to stop at Weimar, drive about a mile around the curving road behind the center to see an obscure part of American history, then stroll through a rustic wooded hillside sacred to many families, including mine.

History of Emerald Eugene McCullough 1920-1986

My father, "Mac" McCullough, was born in Richland, WA, on 23 Apr 1920,

to Isaac McCullough of Ireland and Mabel Lauretta Noble of Nebraska. The family, consisting of Isaac, Mabel, Winifred (from Mabel's

previous marriage) and now Emerald, lived on a ranch purchased by Isaac in Hanford, a few miles north of Richland.

Mabel holding Emerald

After Emerald's birth, Mabel wrote the following letter to her father, Walter S. Noble, in Nebraska.  "Dear Daddie, here's just a line to tell you, you possess another addition to your Noble assets in the form of a new son. Little Winifred is pleased to have someone to love...and I too felt that I once more had a protector. I think I owe you a letter but have been too busy with strawberries, hay, cherries and what-not to write to anyone. Even just had to steal today, just to get tied up and then right back home again and to work. I shall have to begin tomorrow by canning cherries. Here's hoping you are all well. From just plain Mac and Mabel." Within a few months Mabel became very ill, was hospitalized at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Yakima where she was diagnosed with cancer of the liver. She suffered another five months until her death at 12:25PM on 30 Dec 1920 at the home of Mrs. Dee Smith of Yakima. 

Mabel Lauretta Noble

Mable was only 38 years old. Her funeral was held the following day, Dec 31, in the Presbytarian church. Her obituary included the following, "Mrs. McCullough has been a time consistant Christian and was a kind & loving wife and mother." Mabel Lauretta Noble Cronk McCullough was buried in Bethel Cemetary in Steptoe, WA, next to her former husband, Homer Cronk, who was killed in an accident 3 years earlier in Kansas. Mabel is survived by her husband of one year, Isaac (age 38), Winifred Cronk (age 8), and Emerald (10 months), her father, brothers and sisters to mourn her departure.

Emerald and Aunt Maudie

Since his work as a  farmer and carpenter required Isaac to be away from home frequently, Emerald was cared for at various times over the next few years by several family members and friends, including Winifred's Aunt Maudie in Portland and a Doctor Wilson of Port Orchard, WA.

Emerald

Emerald became such a part of Dr. Wilson's home that Dr. Wilson wanted to adopt him. By the time Emerald was four years old Isaac met and married Anna E. Petett, who also had an older daughter by the name of Lena Calvin. About 1925 Anna gave birth to a little baby brother, Robert. The McCulloughs moved to Pinole, CA, then to a home on Baccus Ave in Hercules. Emerald attended elementary school in Pinole/Hercules and the John Swett Grammer school in the 6th grade. In early 1933, when Emerald was only 12, and while his father worked at the Hercules Powder Company, it was discovered that his father had contracted tuberculosis. Isaac was sent to the Weimar Sanitorium near Auburn, CA for treatment, never to return home. This was the Depression era, so life for Anna and the children was not easy. Emerald remembers rarely having any candy and had many paper-routes to help with expenses.

Senior Year Richmond High - 1939

He continued through school, loved photography and served as President of the Richmond High School Photography Club. Emerald graduated from Richmond High School in 1939. After high school, "Mac" went to work for the CCCs (California Conservation Corps) and worked in the Forest Hill area near Auburn, CA. From April 1942 - Jan 1943 he worked in Seattle, WA for Siems-Drake Puget Sound Construction Company. A year after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, at 22 years old, on 4 Dec 1942, Mac enlisted in the Navy and reported to San Francisco, CA. Due to his working background with the CCCs and Siems-Drake, he was assigned to the 89th Navel Construction

Navy friend & Mac

Battalion, US Navy Maintenence unit #511, later known throughout the military as "the Seabees". During the next two years he spent time in the New Hebridies Islands in the South Pacific on the island of Guam. In the two years of military service he continued developing his photography skills, was promoted to Yoeman 1st Class, and received the following medals: the American Area Campaign Medal, the Asiatic Pacific Area Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal. In order to be released from the Navy, Mac had to provide a home address and list someone who would sponsor him. He listed his sister Winifred, now Mrs. Al Bagley of Seattle, so Mac was discharged on 14 Dec 1945 at the Navy yard in Bremerton, WA. Mac originally intended to go to Alaska in hopes of joining the US Forest Service there but he first had to meet the lady he'd been writing to in Colorado. The following story, told by my mother, is how Mac & Doris  met:  Doris worked at a cafe in La Junta, CO. La Junta was a major town along the Santa Fe Railroad route and troup trains carrying soldiers going off to war frequently stopped there. Doris was working in the cafe when a sailor struck up a conversation and he eventually got her address. When this soldier was bragging how many names and addresses he had collected, Emerald asked if he could have one so he could have someone to write to. Mac introduced himself to Doris by letter and they corresponded for the next two years. When Mac was dishcarged from the Navy he went to La Junta and asked Doris to marry him. They married in La Junta one month later on 27 Jan, 1946. Mac & Doris settled in Nevada City, CA, where he began working for the US Forest Service in Forest Hil.

Patrick & Michael

Michael - Newborn

Almost a year to the day later, on 26 Jan 1947, Michael Eugene McCullough was born. While Mac enjoyed working in the outdoors, he longed to do something with his love for photography. He heard of an opportunity to attend a photoengraving school in Texas, so the following year they moved to Bandera, TX. After learning the photoengraving trade, and while waiting for a job opportunity in that field, Mac opened up his own photography studio and began taking pictures for the local dude ranch. A year later, Patrick Noble McCullough was born at the Florence Nightingale Hospital in Dallas, TX on 25 Mar 1949. One year later a photoengraving job became available at the San Francisco Photoengraving Company, so the family picked up and moved to an apartment (2A) at 460 South 11th St, Richmond, CA. On 30 Oct 1951, on Doris's 26th birthday, Daniel Reed McCullough became the

Danny - 3 months

last of three McCullough boys. In 1953 the family of five moved into a new home in Concord, CA, in what once was a pear orchard. Every house had at least one pear tree and the pear processing facility was still across the street behind a brown wooden fence. Each of the boys walked 1/2 mile to Clayton Valley Elementary School, each attended El Dorado Intermediate and Clayton Valley High School. These were wonderful years for the McCullough family. Mac worked day shift and then swing shift in Oakland. Sometimes the family would pack up the car when Mac got home from work at midnight, and they'd drive all night to La Junta to spend time with Doris's parents. Mac continued his love of photography, learned to oil paint, and loved cars. For a few years he even commuted to work on an old English police motorcycle. As the boys grew older the house at 1385 Canterbury Drive was remodeled to enlarge the kitchen and add a back bedroom for Mike with his own entrance. The family spent many weekends each year camping, often with close friends from the First Christian Church in Concord. Camping included places like Mt Diablo State Park, Yosemite, Death Valley, Fort Bragg, and in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The family was very involved with the Church, where all the boys were baptized, Doris taught Sunday School, and Mac & Doris were Chi Rho Youth Group leaders. During the summers, when the boys were in Jr High and High School, they attended church camp near Mosquito Ridge where Mac once worked for the Forest Service.


Pat - Danny - Mike, June 1966

In 1964 the family moved to a newly built home at 3701 Sheridan Ct.

In 1965, after graduating from high school, Michael joined the Army National Guard. In January 1966 he decided to join the Army. After successfully completing "jump school" at Fort Benning, Georgia, Mike was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion Airborne (Screaming Eagles), 327th Infantry. In June he was sent to Viet Nam. The most life-changing event for the McCullough family up to this time was when, just five months after arriving in Viet Nam, at age 19, Private 1st Class Michael Eugene McCullough was killed in action north of Tuy Hoa near the Cambodian border, Nov 7, 1966. At the time of his death, Mac was 46, Doris was 41, Pat was 17 and a Senior in high school, and Danny was 15 and a Sophomore.

At the Oakland Army Terminal, Mac & Doris were presented with two medals for Mike's bravery: the Silver Star and the Purple Heart. The First Christian Church named their Youth Center after Michael and the church camp in the Sierra's named one of the cabins in his honor. Perhaps the only good that that came of this tragedy was the McCullough's used the proceeds from Mike's life insurance to purchase a cabin in Felton in the Santa Cruz mountains. This cabin became a wonderful home-away-from-home for the McCulloughs and friends for the next 20 years.

Last family picture - Christmas 1973

Michael's death was never far from the family's thoughts, so the next nine years had many stresses. As the boys began to leave home, Pat in the Navy and then PG&E, and Danny to college and then into retail management, Mac & Doris tried to learn how to enjoy life with just the two of them. At one time they even considered moving from Concord to a condo on the water in Emoryville in an attempt to start a new life and be closer to their jobs, but they didn't. In addition to working at the Oakland Tribune, Mac was very busy selling AMWAY, while Doris was getting more involved with the Christian Church on a regional level. In early 1975 Mac & Doris decided to divorce and put the house up for sale. Once sold, Doris bought a condo in Alameda and Mac kept the family cabin. In Nov 1975, Mac married Dorothy, a lady he had known from the neighborhood. Mac bought a BMW motorcycle and he and Dorothy moved to the cabin and opened a health food store in Scotts Valley. Their marriage only lasted a few years. Mac kept the cabin but moved to Oakland, a block from Lake Merritt where he met and married Wendy, a very traditional Chinese lady from Hong Kong. That marriage also only lasted a few years. Retiring as a photoengraver, Mac moved back to the cabin. In 1981, when Mac was 61 he was diagnosed with cancer.

Mac's home in SF

He tried to fight the disease eating health food that was supposed to target cancer. He eventually moved to San Francisco and lived with his close friend Joan McKenzie on 3rd Avenue near the Presideo. In 1984, doctors opened him up only to find Mac had waited too long and the cancer was no longer operable and was given six months to live. He and Joan made quite an interesting couple. She was big and busty and 15 years younger. He was hanging onto life with a smile and positive attitude, while trying to make peace with himself and his past. The two of them enjoyed going for walks, to the movies, out to dinner, and gardening in their backyard. They even bought a Collie dog which they would take for long walks into the Presideo forest. Mac took the dog to obedience classes, and on one of my visits to their home he said the obedience classes were not only teaching him how to work with their dog, it also taught him how he could have been a better father; how rewards and positive reinforcement was much more effective than disciplining with fear. He wished he had learned those skills when us kids were younger. Knowing death wasn't too far into the future, Mac and Joan married in Santa Cruz on 29 Jun 1985.

18 months later, at age 66, after two weeks of heavy doses of morphine in the Marshall Hale Hospital, Emerald Eugene McCullough died 29 Dec 1986 at 11:40PM of prostate cancer. As a former Navy serviceman, he was buried with honors on 5 Jan 1987 next to his son Michael in the Golden Gate National Cemetary in San Bruno.