CHRISTIAN M. COLLEY.
The farm on which Mr. Colley resides, and which he cultivates, three
and one-half miles east of Abingdon, was first settled by his maternal
grandfather, Jacob M. Morell, who came here from Shenandoah county,
Virginia, more than one hundred years ago. His daughter Mary
married Shadrach Colley, who was a son of Thomas Colley, the latter
coming to this country from France, and fighting for the Independence
of America under Washington. The subject of this sketch is the son of
Shadrach and Mary (Morell) Colley, and was born November 12, 1813,
on the farm where he still resides.
Near Abingdon, at the residence of the bride's father he married,
April 7, 1835, Mary, daughter of William McDaniel, born in 1811 on
the place where they were married. Her father came to the county
from Maryland, where he was born. Seven children were born to Mr.
and Mrs. Colley. Letitia, Thomas W., Wm. Lewis, Mary Jane, Elizabeth
Catharine, Lierann, Sarah Susan. The first and last named of
these are now deceased. Thomas and Wm. Lewis were soldiers of
Company D, 1st Virginia Cavalry, C. S. A. Thomas was disabled by
the loss of a foot, in 1863; Lewis served till the close of the war. The
father served nine months with Gen. Floyd as wagon-master in Northwest
Virginia, but his age incapacitated him for field service.
