Early Life and Family
Hull was born in Olympus, Pickett County, Tennessee, third of the five sons of William Paschal Hull (1840–1923) and Elizabeth (Riley) Hull (1841–1903).
His brothers were named Orestes (1868), Sanadius (1870), Wyoming (1875), and Roy (1881).
His mother Mary Elizabeth Riley Hull was a descendant of Isaac Riley who was granted 200 acres (0.81 km2) in Pickett County near Byrdstown for Revolutionary War service (this land is still in the family), as well as Samuel Wood who immigrated from Leicestershire, England on the ship Hopewell and fought in the Virginia Militia. Hull's mother's family (Riley - Wood) holds the DAR distinction of the most documented ancestors to have fought in the Revolutionary War. Hull devoted a section in his memoirs "Cabin on the Hill" to dispelling an old rumor that his mother was part Cherokee Indian, and subsequent documented family history has confirmed his ancestry.
Hull attended college from 1889 until 1890. At the age of 19, Hull became the elected chairman of the Clay County Democratic Party. In 1891, he graduated from Cumberland School of Law at Cumberland University and was admitted to the bar. He served in the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1893 to 1897.
During the Spanish-American War, Hull served in Cuba as a captain in the Fourth Regiment of the Tennessee Volunteer Infantry.
Hull married Rose Frances (Witz) Whitney (1875–1954) in 1917; the couple had no children.
Read more about this topic: Cordell Hull
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