Martin Corley, deceased, was a native of the Parish Ashgraw, County Conard, Ireland, where his parents, Daniel and Mary Moulton, died.
Martin Corley came to America when quite young and became a captain of a boat on the Genesee River. He was married in Rochester, New York to Sarah Biglow, born November 26, 1815, near the Canada line in Berkshire Township, Vermont. She is the daughter of Stephen and Phebe (Wing) Biglow, the former a native of Rhode Island and of Welsh extraction, and the latter of Connecticut and of English and Irish descent. Her father commanded on of the vessels under Gen. Wolfe at the taking of Quebec, and participated in the battle on the Plains of Abraham, receiving as reward a large tract of land in the Canadas from the British Government. Her grandfather was an officer and fell at the battle of Bunker Hill.
Mr. Martin Corley lived three years in Rochester, New York, and then, in 1841, came to LaSalle County, Illinois, and in December, the same year, bought 120 acres of Daniel Roth in Westfield Township, Bureau County, in Section 10, where he died July 18, 1873, aged sixty-seven years.
He was a good farmer and owned 480 acres when he died. He was respected by all who came in contact with him for his many good qualities. Mrs. Corley yet survives and is the mother of ten children, viz.: Mrs. Mary McDonald, Daniel, John, Stephen, Mrs. Phebe A. Bartlett (deceased), Martin, Mrs. Meriam Loehr, Frank, Mrs. Emma Grimes and Agnes Corley.
Frank Corley and his mother now own the homestead consisting of 120 acres.
Source: History of Bureau County, Illinois, H. C. Bradsby, Editor. World Publishing Company Chicago 1885