History of Little Valley, (Cattaraugus County) New York United States of America

Our database does not include an historic photo for Little Valley, (Cattaraugus County) New York, do you have one you would like to contribute? Contact Us!

Helen Culver, philanthropist, was born in Little Valley, Cattaraugus county, N.Y., March 23, 1832; daughter of Lyman and Emiliza (Hull) Culver; and granddaughter of Noah and Sallie (Fenn) Culver, and of Robert and Sarah (Slocum) Hull. The Culvers came from Wallingford, England, and settled in and named Wallingford, Conn. Noah Culver removed thence to Wallingford, Vt., and thence, in 1817, to Little Valley, Cattaraugus county, N.Y. The Hulls were English settlers in Rhode Island. Helen Culver was graduated from the Randolph (N,Y.) ladies' seminary, afterward Chamberlain institute, in 1853, and in the fall of the same year established a private school at Sycamore, Ill. In the following spring she went to Chicago as principal of a primary school, and later taught in the grammar and high schools of Chicago until 1861. In 1863 she was appointed matron of the Officers' hospital at Murfreesboro, Tenn., by the U.S. sanitary commission, just after the battle of Stone's River. She soon resigned and entered the general hospital at the same place. In 1868 she went into the real estate business in the office of Charles J. Hull, in Chicago, operating in Chicago, Ill., Baltimore, Md., Savannah, Ga., Houston, Texas, Lincoln, Neb., and Boulder, Col. In December, 1895, she gave $1,000,000 to the University of Chicago as a memorial of Charles Jerold Hull, the endowment to be devoted to "the increase of knowledge within the field of the biological sciences," From this fund were built the four Hull biological laboratories of anatomy, physiology, zoo1ogy and botany, which were dedicated July 2, 1897. In 1896 she became a member of the Civic federation of Chicago. On the organization of Hull House, April 15, 1895, named in honor of Charles J. Hull, she became a supporter of the institution and a member of its board of trustees.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Little Valley, (Cattaraugus County) New York

Biographies: