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File contributed to the McLean County ILGenWeb Project
Copyright 2005 to present, all rights reserved.

These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format 
without the written consent of the author, ilmcleanvcc@gmail.com.

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Source:
Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of McLean County
Munsell Publishing Co. 1908, page 971

Transcribed by: Marc Doty, mdcdoty@indy.rr.com, on August 1, 2005

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WILLIAM COLAW Biography


    COLAW, William. - This old settler of McLean County, a wealthy and retired farmer who, for some years has been an honored citizen of Leroy, 
is connected, both by blood and by marriage, with very early and substantial life of the pioneer period.  Both families migrated from their homes 
in Pennsylvania to Virginia, and thence to this county, his wife’s father, Squire Jones, being a settler in Bloomington of 1836, and the widow of 
the latter, a venerable lady of ninety years, passed away at Mr. Colaw’s residence, August 11, 1907.

     The paternal grandparents of William Colaw, George and Sarah (Wymer) Colaw, were both natives of the Keystone State, but passed their last years 
in the active cultivation and care of a Virginia farm.  They were both members of the United Brethren Church, and had a family of seven sons and two 
daughters, of whom three of the former survive.  Adam and Susan (Lance) Gum, the grandparents on the Maternal side, were also born in Pennsylvania, and 
migrated to the Old Dominion, where they continued to labor in the ranks of the yeomanry until they died.  The grandfather was a soldier of the War of 1812, 
and both he and his wife were life-long members of the M. E. Church.

     William, the son of George Colaw, was born in Virginia in 1813, and his wife, Sabina Gum, the daughter of Adam, was also born there in 1815, and of 
the eleven children who came of their marriage, three are living.  The father was educated in the subscription schools of Virginia, and was noted for his 
fine penmanship.  His son, William, also received much of his education through this channel, being fifteen years of age when the family migrated to Downs 
Township, McLean County, Ill., and settled on a farm of 220 acres of land, which the father had purchased for $3,600.  By business-like management and 
judicious purchase he added to his original investment until he had amassed landed property to the amount of 900 acres, much of which was thoroughly 
improved and very valuable.  William Colaw, the elder, became one of the largest and most successful farmers and stockraisers in the county, his death 
occurring February 19, 1894.  His first wife died in January, 1859, and his second marriage was to Phoebe Woods, who passed away in 1868, the mother of 
three children, of whom one is still living.  The maiden name of the third wife, the surviving widow, was Sarah Wilson.

     William Colaw was born in West Virginia July 10, 1839, reared on a farm, and educated in the subscription and common schools of his native State and 
McLean County.  When fifteen years of age he settled with his parents in Downs Township, and until he had entered his twenty-fourth year, continued in the 
even tenor of his agricultural way.  Then, in the second year of the Civil War (August 26, 1862), he enlisted in Company F, Ninety-fourth Regiment, 
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served therein until he was honorably discharged in July, 1865.  For brave and meritorious service he was promoted to be 
corporal of his company, during this period participating in the battles and sieges of Vicksburg, Yazoo City, Brownsville, Fort Morgan, Spanish Fort and Galveston.

     After the war Mr. Colaw returned to the usual peaceful labors of his life.  Mr. Colaw owns about 320 acres of land in Downs Township, McLean County, 
and in Shelby County.  In 1894, he retired from farming and moved to Leroy, Ill., where he has since resided.  He first moved into a house, which he owned 
at that time, but in 1901, sold that place and purchased his present pleasant residence, No. 311 Chestnut Street.  On August 19, 1866, Mr. Colaw entered 
another important epoch by his marriage to Mary Jones.  She is a native of Downs Township, this county, born July 8, 1845, and is a daughter of Squire and 
Rachael (Barnett) Jones, both Kentuckians, her father born October 27, 1808, and her mother, December 17, 1817.  Her paternal grandparents, John and 
Nancy (Eaststep) Jones, were also natives of that state, of which they were lifelong residents.  Mrs. Colaw’s mother, who before marriage was Rachael Barnett, 
is the daughter of John and Nancy (Howard) Barnett.  Her father died in Kentucky, after which the widow and her four daughters came to McLean County and 
located on a farm in Old Town Township, upon which her mother spent her last days.  One of the daughters, Elizabeth Springfield [sic Stringfield] Barnett, 
went to California with the tide of 1849, and settled at Santa Barbara, where she died.

     Squire Jones, the father of Mrs. Colaw, came to McLean County from Kentucky, with $1.50 in his pocket, but with high skill as a carpenter and grim 
determination as a man.  The year was 1836, and as the first log court-house was then being built, he was glad to assist in its erection.  Soon, however, 
he commenced to acquire land as the most feasible step toward independence, and eventually became a full-fledged farmer, and the owner of 300 acres of land.  
His death ocurred in Downs Township February 4, 1889, and as stated, his widow survived him until the advanced age of ninety, a venerable and honored mother 
among the early pioneers of McLean County.  Their family consisted of three daughters and one son, of whom all survive except the latter.  Squire Jones was 
first a Whig, then a Democrat, and throughout their entire lives, he and his wife were members of the Methodist Church.

     Mr. and Mrs. William Colaw have one child - Della I., born February 18, 1871, educated at Downs, McLean County, and now wife of O. L. Scott, a well 
known farmer.  Mr. and Mrs. Scott have five children:  Edna, Alta, Imo, Hazel and Inez.