John William Clegg Culpepper
 Traveling Medicine Man
1855-1927

John W. C. Culpepper was born in Arkansas in 1855. He became a traveling medicine man and sold an "elixir" of bitters, alcohol and cayenne pepper out of a wagon. This cost him about 8 cents and sold for $1.00 per bottle. His horses were so wild and kicked so much, they wore the hair off of their legs. Part of his sales technique was to let boys in the crowd grab his long black hair and then swing them to show how strong his medicine was. He apparently traveled throughout Arkansas and Texas and, while in Texas, the house of the family he was staying with burned down and John was badly burned in an unsuccessful attempt to save them. He returned to Arkansas and died at the home of his sister, Mrs. A. B. (Sallie Culpepper) Williams.

Source: W. Harold Broughton, The Cleggs of Old Chatham: The Ancestry - Family - Descendants of Thomas A. Clegg & Bridget Polk Their Kin & Events of Interest, p. 228)

Obituary from Pine Bluff Commercial, 2 May 1927, p. 6:

JOHN W. C. CULPEPPER
Funeral services for John W. C. Culpepper, aged 71, who died Sunday afternoon at 4:45 o'clock at the home of his sister, Mrs. A. B. Williams, 1002 Ohio Street, will be conducted Tuesday morning at 10:30 o'clock from the chapel of H. I. Holderness. The services will be conducted by Rev. J. T. Thompson, pastor of the Carr Memorial Methodist church. Mr. Culpepper had been in declining health for the past several months but his death was unexpected as his condition appeared to be much improved in the last month. Mr. Culpepper was born and reared near Pine Bluff and spent most of his early life is this city. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. E. D. Culpepper, one of the pioneer families of Pine Bluff. He is survived by four brothers, M. L. Culpepper of Pine Bluff; J. B. Culpepper of Palm Beach, Fla.; Frank Culpepper of Grant county, and G. B. Culpepper of Jacksonville, Fla. He is also survived by three sisters, Mrs. S. E. Williams of Pine Bluff, Mrs. Emma Young of Tulsa, OK, and Mrs. G. C. Hall of Epps, La. Pallbearers will be John Young, J. H. Hays, I. B. Winchester, D. M. Niven, Dr. T. W. Woodul, W. Bower, H. D. McClusky, and Percy Brooks. Funeral arrangements will be in charge of H. I. Holderness company. John never married.