Summary
Michael Cull was a Beaver Island commercial fisherman, born there on July 4, 1885, who owned and skippered the fishing tugs Betty C and LaFond. The September 1964 obituary says he died on September 11, 1964, after a working life that spanned the peak and decline of Lake Michigan fishing.1
Evidence and limits
This is a source-qualified record based chiefly on a 1964 obituary, with local 1960 and 1963 notices providing context for Cull’s harbor-master role and marriage. The sources do not provide a registry, home port, crew history, or civil-record identifiers for Cull or either tug. The May 1955 notice naming a “Mike Cull” on the Emerald Isle delivery trip remains a separate, episode-qualified record; this article does not assume that identity bridge.
Open questions
- Can civil, census, church, probate, or cemetery records establish Cull’s full family and burial details?
- What registry or local records document the Betty C and LaFond?
- Is the “Mike Cull” named in the 1955 Emerald Isle delivery report this same person?
See also
- Death of Michael Cull (1964)
- Betty C (Michael Cull fishing tug)
- LaFond (Michael Cull fishing tug)
- Mike Cull (1955 Emerald Isle delivery passenger)
- Commercial fishing
Footnotes
-
Beaver Beacon, September 1964, “Mike Cull Passes Away.” ↩
Sources
- Beaver Beacon, September 1964, “Mike Cull Passes Away.”States that Michael Cull was born on Beaver Island on July 4, 1885, died September 11, 1964, worked as a commercial fisherman, owned and skippered the tugs Betty C and LaFond, and married Mabel Connaghan in 1913.
- Beaver Beacon, June 1960, harbor-master notice.Places Mike Cull as harbor master at the municipal dock and reports the completion of an ice machine there.
- Beaver Beacon, September 1963, golden-wedding-anniversary notice.Reports that Mike and Mabel Cull celebrated their golden wedding anniversary, corroborating the obituary's marriage context.