Oscar Carleton McCulloch

Background

Oscar Carleton McCulloch was the son of Carleton B. and Harriet (Pettibone) McCulloch. He was born on July 2, 1843 at Fremont, Ohio.

Education

After a common-school education, he entered the occupation of his father, that of a drug-salesman. Soon he was covering most of the West for a Chicago firm at a high salary. In 1867, however, although twenty-four years old, he entered the Chicago Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in 1870.

Career

Ordained at Sheboygan, Wis. , on October 19, 1870, he was pastor of the Congregational church there until 1877. He was then called to Plymouth Church, Indianapolis, Ind. , with which he was connected for the remainder of his life. As a result his sermons were usually prepared on Saturday evening, or even Sunday morning, and were chiefly straightforward talks, reflecting wide reading, contact with diverse classes of people, and much knowledge of human character. In a few years he had succeeded in building a great institutional church, dedicated January 27, 1884. His genius for organization was exercised not only through his church, but also on behalf of the charitable needs of the city and state. Practically all the philanthropical enterprises in Indianapolis for a generation were his creations--the Charity Organization Society (1878 - 79), the Friendly Inn, with its woodyard (1880), Children's Aid Society (1881), Flower Mission Training School for Nurses (1882), Dime Savings and Loan Association (1885 - 87), free baths (1885), district nursing (1885), and the Summer Mission for Sick Children (1890). He was prominent in the National Conference of Charities and Correction and was its president at the Indianapolis meeting in 1891. His paper on the "Tribe of Ishmael" (Proceedings, 1888), read at the Buffalo meeting, July 1888, embodied more than eight years' investigation of six generations of a degenerate inheritance, involving 1, 692 individuals and 250 families with intensive studies of thirty. In cooperation with others, he drafted and, in 1889, secured the passage of a law creating the Board of State Charities, of which he was appointed a member; also a law providing for a Board of Children's Guardians for Center Township, Indianapolis (later extended to all counties of the state), to take charge of children of vicious or incompetent parents. He died of Hodgkin's disease after a lingering illness and was buried in Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis.

Achievements

• As one of its departments McCulloch established Plymouth Institute, in connection with which lecture courses were given; classes conducted in various subjects, including manual training, with work benches in the neighboring high school; and a saving and loan association operated. To aid in worship and services of song, he compiled Hymns of Faith and Hope (1884).

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Open Door: Sermons and Prayers (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from The Open Door: Sermons and Prayers At the u...)

Personality

McCulloch had unusual executive and business ability, and gave himself tirelessly to the work of organization. He discarded the confession of faith as a requirement for admission, and the membership became a group of "friends associated for Christian work and worship. " In 1892 his widow published The Open Door, containing some of his sermons and a biographical sketch.

Connections

McCulloch was married, first, September 8, 1870, to Agnes Buel of Chicago, by whom he had two sons; she died August 31, 1874, and May 8, 1878, he married Alice Barteau of Appleton, Wis. , by whom he had three daughters.

Father:

Carleton B. McCulloch

Mother:

Harriet (Pettibone) McCulloch

Wife:

Alice Barteau

Wife:

Agnes Buel

References

• Oscar Carleton McCulloch - 1843-91
• Oscar Carleton McCulloch : Preacher and Practitioner of Applied Christianity