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
W. R. McLaren, physician and surgeon, was born in Woodland
township, August 9, 1849, receiving his preliminary education in the
district school of Woodland tp.; in 1867 he proceeded to Lewistown
where he entered a graded school; he next wended his way in search of
knowledge to Knox county, where he took a scientific course, remaining
2 years; he then became a student with Drs. Taylor and McCurdy, of
Vermont, with whom he remained 2 years. In 1875 he entered the College
of Physicians and Surgeons, Keokuk, Iowa, graduating in 1877; he then
located at Bluff City, where he secures a very fair practice; in 1877
he was united in marriage to Miss Lydia Odell, of Rushville.
