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 448, Astoria Township
R. F. McLaren, Justice of the Peace, was born in Woodland
township, this county, in 1835. His father, Peter McLaren, who resides
in Woodland tp., has lived in Fulton county upwards of half a century.
He holds a leading position as a farmer and is well known throughout
this section. Robert, whose name heads this sketch, passed his boyhood
in Woodland, and in his eighteenth year was apprenticed to learn the
wagon and carriage-making trade, and for a number of years worked as a
journeyman in Astoria. He has served as Town Clerk, School Director and
a member of the Town Board, and in 1869 was elected J. P. In 1857 he
was married to Miss Amanda Lane, daughter of Isaac Lane, of Ky. They
have 2 children.
submitted by Carla Finley
Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County, Illinois: containing
full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and
representative citizens of the county: together with portraits and
biographies of all the presidents of the United States, and governors
of the state; Biographical Pub. Co., Chicago, IL; 1890; page 408-409;
Transcribed by Margaret Rose Whitehurst
Robert F. McLaren. Among those to whom this county owes a
debt of gratitude for their share in the development of her great
agricultural resources, and in the various affairs through which the
interests of society are advanced, the name of Robert McLaren should
not be passed unnoted. He was born in Woodland Township, October 9,
1835, and his early recollections are of a country much more primitive
in appearance than that upon which his eyes now rest when he looks
about him. The pioneer school which he attended during his boyhood was
held in a log house with puncheon floor, slab benches, a writing desk
made by boring holes in the wall, inserting wooden pins and laying a
plank upon them, and heated by a fireplace which occupied nearly the
whole end of the building. The chimney, which was built of earth and
sticks, was upon the outside.
Mr. McLaren began to assist in the cultivation of the farm as
soon as he was large enough, remaining with his parents until 1854,
when he removed to Astoria to begin an apprenticeship at the trade of a
wagonmaker. Completing his trade within two years, he took up the work
of a journeyman, following it twelve years, after which he turned his
attention to house painting. In this occupation he has been engaged to
some extent to the present time. His record as a local official extends
over a period of considerably more than a quarter of a century, and his
reputation as a conscientious and efficient public servant in the
various positions to which he has been called is undeniable. He served
as Township Clerk ten years, as Village Clerk two years, as School
Director six years, and has been Justice of the Peace twenty-eight
years. He has always been a Democrat, his first vote having been cast
for James Buchanan. He is a member of Astoria Lodge, No. 100, F. &
A. M.
The agricultural labors in which Mr. McLaren has borne an
important part are indicated in the surroundings of his early life, as
noted in the facts regarding his parents. His grandparents, Robert and
Mary (Gorry) McLaren, were natives of Scotland, who left the land of
their birth in 1822, to make a home for themselves and children in
America. They sailed from Bruntellen, Scotland, and after a voyage of
seven weeks landed at Philadelphia, whence they journeyed to Pittsburg
with teams, from there on a flatboat down the Ohio river to Evansville,
Ind., whence they were conveyed to Gibson County by wagons. Mr. McLaren
was in the employ of a wealthy Scotchman, a large landowner, until his
death, which occurred the year after their arrival in this country. His
widow, a woman of remarkable energy and good judgment, remained in
Gibson County until 1827, keeping her little family together, and
emigrating with them to Illinois, making a settlement in this county.
She purchased a tract of timber land in what is now Woodland Township,
making it her home for some years, but dying at the residence of a
daughter in Astoria. Her family included the following children: Jane,
Peter, Mary, Robert, John and William.
The second member of this family was born in Perthshire,
Scotland, was reared to agricultural pursuits, and early in life took
up his share of the labor in which his father was engaged. He was
sixteen years old when the family removed to America, and after their
settlement in Indiana he remained there until 1824. He then came to
Fulton County, Ill., and although not yet of age, entered heart and
soul into the pioneer labor which has resulted in making of this
section one of the garden spots of the Mississippi Valley. He soon
bought a tract of timber land three miles northeast of the present site
of Astoria, where at that time there was not a building. The boundary
of the county was practically unlimited, including the territory from
here to Lake Michigan, and from the Illinois to the Mississippi River.
The section in which he located was sparsely settled, game was
abundant, and, although too industrious to spend much time hunting, he
was fond of the sport, and kept his table well supplied with venison
and other meats.
A log cabin was built by Peter McLaren, which after a few years
was replaced by a frame structure, the lumber for which was sawed by
hand, or whip-sawed. This was done by building a scaffold upon which a
squared log was placed, and one man standing on the scaffold and one
underneath operated a saw. Mr. McLaren was a resident of the farm, with
the exception of a few years in town, until his death, January 31,
1888, at the ripe age of eighty years. For many years he was aided in
his labors to advance his fortunes and properly rear his family by a
worthy woman who was known in her maidenhood as Miss Lucinda Saffer.
She was a native of the Hoosier State, daughter of John W. Saffer, who
became a resident of this county about 1830. Her father was numbered
among the pioneers of Woodland Township, where he purchased a tract of
land upon which a small clearing had been made and a log cabin built,
which property he made his home until his death. He was drowned in the
Ohio river while on his way to visit his native State. Our subject is
one in a family of thirteen children, of whom those reared to maturity
are himself, Mary E., John W., Edward O., Charles A., Sarah J., Fanny
E., Ellen and Pittinger.
The wife of our subject bore the maiden name of Amanda Lane, and
became Mrs. McLaren April 16, 1857. She is a daughter of Isaac and Mary
(Jones) Lane, pioneers of Schuyler County, to which they came from
Kentucky, where the daughter was born. She is a member of the Christian
Church, and while making the care of her home and family her first
object, yet finds time for many neighborly deeds of kindness and the
pleasures of social life. She has borne her husband three children, of
whom one, Walter, died in infancy. The two remaining are Clement L. and
Harry E.
