William B. Carlock was a prominent Bloomington attorney, member of the Free Masons and member of the McLean County Historical Society. He was born on March 15, 1842 in White Oak Grove, Woodford County. His father was Abraham W. Carlock of Virginia and mother was Mary Goodpasture Carlock, originally of Tennessee.
At the age of 23 he left home and attended Lombard University, at Galesburg, Illinois where he graduated with honors in 1867. He then entered law school at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and graduated in 1869. After law school he came to Bloomington and worked in the office of Williams and Burr. He was admitted to the bar in December 1869 and opened a law office soon after. He also held a patent on a wire device that improved the acoustics of public halls.
He married Miss Missouri McCart, daughter of Robert McCart Sr, on October 6, 1870. They had two sons, Leslie B. and William C. and one daughter, Madeline Linton.
W.B. Carlock was a fluent speaker of German and the only German speaking attorney in Bloomington at that time. Many of his cases involved the representation of members of Bloomington’s German population.
As an historian, Mr. Carlock wrote many biographical sketches of prominent McLean county citizens and pioneers. Many of which are found in this collection.
The collection contains biographical and historical sketches written by W.B. Carlock. In addition, it contains a personal scrapbook with newspaper clippings related to court cases, notable citizens and events related to the Freemasons.