John Griffith McCullough (September 16, 1835 – May 29, 1915) was an American state legislator, businessperson and attorney. He served as Attorney General of California during the Civil War, and the 49th governor of Vermont from 1902 to 1904.
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Early life
John G. McCullough was born on September 16, 1835, in Newark, Delaware, to Albert and Rebecca (Griffith) McCullough. His father was Scotch-Irish, and his mother Welsh. An ancestor on his mother's side had fought in Oliver Cromwell's army.
His father died when he was three years old, and his mother four years later. Relatives and family friends took him in, and provided him with a private school education.
He attended Delaware College, and graduated first in his class with an AB degree after just two years of schooling. He clerked in the law firm of St. George Tucker Campbell in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, while attending the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and graduated with an LL.B. in 1858, and was admitted to the bar of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. After a heart attack he was advised to seek a warmer climate. He sailed to California, where he took up the practice of law in Mariposa, California. He was admitted to the bar of the California Supreme Court.