Hon. J L R McCollum, son of Asa and Hadassap (Kingsbury) McCollum, was born in the town of Leicester, Worcester Co., Mass., Jan. 4, 1842. He was but six years old when his parents emigrated to Wisconsin, and nine years old when they came to Richland county. Soon after their arrival here he went to Wiota, La Fayette county, to live with a brother-in-law, who was engaged in mercantile trade; in a short time he went with him to Elkader, Iowa. In both of these places he attended the public schools and assisted his brother-in-law in the store, and later attended Bryant & Stratton's Business College in Chicago, from which institution he graduated and received a diploma. This instruction was afterwards supplemented by a course of study in the Sextonville High School, of which he was among the first graduates. When twenty-one years old he engaged in the mercantile trade in company with A H Krouskop near the mill in the town of Ithaca. In 1865 he went to Lone Rock, following the same business, and dealing in live stock quite extensively. In 1877 he settled on his present farm, located in the Pine river valley, on section 12, town 9, range 1 east, now included in the town of Ithaca. This is one of the model farms of the county; is under a high state of cultivation, and has upon it excellent improvements. He is engaged in raising grain and stock and in dealing in live stock and railroad ties. He was married in 1864 to Eliza, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (McCloud) Krouskop. Three children have blessed this union --- Charles L, Dock C and Elmer E. Mr. McCollum is a prominent man among the best class of Richland county citizens, and was elected to the Assembly in 1875 and 1876, serving the people faithfully. He has the confidence and esteem of his fellow men, and would be a desirable acquisition to any community.

His father, Asa McCollom, was the first doctor at Sextonville. He was born in that part of the northeastern territory, now the town of Windsor, Morgan Co., Ohio. His father, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Scotland and brought to America by his parents when five years old, and settled in North Carolina, where he grew to manhood. He was a stirring patriot of that day and enlisted during the War for Independence in the American army. Was taken prisoner by the English forces and sent to Nova Scotia, where he remained for some time. After he was liberated he was married to Lucy Fordyce, a native of Massachusetts. Her parents were loyal to the Crown, and during the war had emigrated to Nova Scotia. After his marriage he returned to the States and immediately started for the northwestern territory. At that time there was considerable trouble with the Indians and they consequently stopped at Redstone, now Brownsville, east of the Alleghanies, three or four years or until the Indian difficulties were in a measure settled, and they were for a time more peaceable, when they moved on and settled in the northwestern territory as before stated. Asa, the father of the subject of our sketch, made his home with his parents until eleven years old, when his father proposed to give him his time summers, and he could attend school winters, to which he agreed. He remained in that section of the county until eighteen years old, then joined an older brother in Illinois, and engaged with him surveying and farming three years, when his brother built a tavern in Vandalia. He continued to live with him one year longer and then returned to Ohio and engaged with another brother in a cabinet manufactory. They carried on that business there three years, when he sold out and went to Massachusetts. He there located in Worcester county, and commenced to work as carpenter and joiner, and later as contractor and builder. Here his health failed, and going to Boston, he entered an infirmary, and was there during the cholera epidemic. As soon as he was able, he was employed as an assistant, and here he commenced the study of medicine, not theoretically, under an MD, but practically amid actual surroundings, which gave him an experience very valuable and superior to any school. Soon after his return to Leicester, a child in the neighborhood was stricken with that dreadful disease, cholera, and he was called upon to prescribe. This was his first case, and in it he was successful. He soon afterward erected a large building, opened an infirmary, and there continued the practice of medicine until 1848, when he came to Wisconsin and located at Fayette, in La Fayette county, practicing medicine there until 1851, when he came to Richland county and purchased land adjoining the village plat of Sextonville, and immediately commenced the practice of his chosen profession. In 1858 he purchased a drug store and has since followed that business, and at the present time is the oldest druggist in the State. He was married in 1828 to Hadassap Kingsbury, who was born in that part of Oxford, now known as Webster, Worcester Co., Mass., Sept. 10, 1802. They have six children --- Lucy, now the wife of Spencer Ellsworth, now living in Lacon, Ill.; Lauraine, now the wife of Charles Schellenger; Van Buren, Curtis, Julien Lee Roy and Lewis Cass. As an MD he belongs to the reformed botanical school. Politically he adheres to the democracy as it was, but has not voted for a President since Buchanan, and is not in sympathy with that organization as it at present exists.