Biography - John Corlew
John CORLEW was born in Rockcastle County, Ky., in January, 1813, son of Philip and Anna (KINCAID) CORLEW, he, a native of North Carolina, came to Kentucky when a lad; followed farming during his life he and his wife died a few years previous to the breaking-out of the late war, aged respectively eighty and sixty-eight years; they were the parents of nine children, only four of whom are living, viz.: John, David, W. M. and Jane (now Mrs. Israel FOGLEMAN). The subject of this sketch removed to Missouri with his parents in the spring of 1817, who, after a short sojourn in St. Louis, moved to St. Charles, and remained in Missouri until 1819, when they moved to Madison County, Ill.; here his father took a lease in timber land on Mississippi River bottoms, cleared the place and raised four small crops; in the winter of 1822-23, moved to Montgomery County with his wife and family of seven children, and located in what is now Hillsboro Township on the place now occupied by C. H. MISSIMORE, entering eighty acres on the edge of the timber. John's first teacher was Peter LONG, who is still living in Bond County; the school which he attended was about one and a half miles from his home, the schoolhouse being a spit-log building, 14 x 14, with skick chimney, puncheon seats and floor, a long crack in the wall covered with greased paper serving the purpose of a window. After attending one term at this school, he went to the Clear Spring Baptist Church School, two miles distant from his home. He enlisted in Capt. Hiram ROUNTREE's company and went out in the campaign of 1832, serving in the Black Hawk war. About the year 1835, he, with his brother Lindsey, who died soon afterward, made his first entry of 160 acres of land where he now resides; he worked on his farm till the opening of the Mexican war, when he enlisted in Company C, Third Illinois Infantry, under Capt. McADAMS, and participated in the battles of Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo; was promoted to the rank of Second Lieutenant, and returned home in 1847 and resumed farming. In 1850, he was elected Sheriff of Montgomery County; served two years, and after an interim of two years, was re-elected, and again served a two-years' term. He has steadily acquired property until he now owns about two thousand acres in Montgomery County, one third of which is under cultivation; he has bought and sold largely in real estate. In 1856, he married Mrs. Eliza J. JETT, widow of Wesley JETT; from this union five children were born, still living, viz.; Alice, wife of Douglass SIMPSON; John Martin, who lives near San Francisco, Cal.; Lucy J., wife of Charles BARRY; E. R. and Rosanna, at home. Mr. CORLEW is a Democrat, was elected Sheriff by that party; he has held several positions of trust in his township.
Extracted 19 Nov 2016 by Norma Hass from 1882 History of Bond and Montgomery Counties, Illinois, Part 2 Biographical Department, pages 136-137.
