McLaren, Peter bio

History of Fulton County, Illinois; together with Sketches of its Cities, Villages and Townships, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons and Biographies of Representative Citizens. Chas. C. Chapman & Co., Peoria, Illinois, 1879, page 956, Woodland Township
Peter McLaren is a native of Perth, Scotland, where he was born in 1807; Robert McLaren, his father, came to America in 1822; settled in Woodland township in 1827; Peter, the eldest brother of John and Robert McLaren, who reside in Astoria township, first settled on Congress land, the farm now owned by Stephen Merrill; in 1830 he sold this and purchased a farm of 160 acres where he now resides; in 1835 Mr. McLaren married Lucinda Saffern, by whom he had 11 children; 5 are living. Mrs. McLaren died Nov. 14, 1857; the following year Mr. McL. married Irilla Berry, of Ohio, by whom he has two children, - Ellen and Sherman. Mr. McLaren has participated in the development of this country from its native wildness to its present high culture.