is one of the younger sons of Clay county who have been identified with the best business interests of Louisville since they inaugurated their business careers, and he is one of the ablest  and most progressive of the younger class of business men. He was born in Clay county, March 13, 1879, and is the son of James C. and Mary (Long) McCollum. The father was also a native of Clay county, born there August 9, 1844, while the mother was born in Wayne county on May 5, 1853. James McCollum lived on his father’s farm and attended the village schools as a boy and until he had attained years of young manhood, when he came to Louisville and entered into the merchandise business, with which he has been successfully identified for years. He is a man of considerable wealth, which he accumulated as a result of his energy and thrift, and he is now living a retired life in Louisville. He is an ardent Democrat and has been one all his life. He has been a leader in the business life of Louisville for a great many years, and was connected with the most worthy and prominent industrial and financial institutions of the city. He was one of the organizers of the Farmers and Merchants Bank, and is now vice-president of that institution. His father was James McCollum, a native of Kentucky, who came to Illinois in about 1830. He became the owner of a tract of government land, which he improved, and on which he passed the remainder of his life. When he passed away he was looked upon as one of the wealthy farmers of his district. His father, Alex McCollum, the great-grandfather of the subject of this review, was one of the eight men killed at the battle of New Orleans. The maternal grandfather of Harvey McCollum, Darling Long, was a native of West Virginia. He came to Illinois in about 1853, settling in Clay county, where he passed the remainder of his life.

Harvey D. McCollum was reared in Louisville, and he passed through the schools of this city, after which he entered the University of Illinois at Champaign, being graduated from that institution in 1901, from the law department. In the following year Mr. McCollum was admitted to the bar, and he conducted his first law practice as the partner of Judge Albert M. Rose. This partnership existed with all satisfaction to both parties until the election of Mr. Rose to the circuit bench in 1906, at which time Mr. McCollum became the partner of John W. Thomason, another brilliant young attorney of Louisville. For the past two years Mr. McCollum has conducted a private practice and in that, as with his partners, he has been particularly fortunate and successful, his practice extending to all courts. In addition to his legal interests, Mr. McCollum gives some time to the management of the fine farm of which he is the owner, and which is an added source of prosperity to the already independent young attorney. He holds considerable stock in the Farmers and Merchants Bank, of which his honored father is vice-president, and is connected with certain other institutions of an industrial and financial character. He is an enthusiastic Democrat, as is his father, and is untiring in his labors for the good of the cause. Twice he has served terms as master in chancery, and in 1909 he was elected to the state legislature. He is local attorney for the Baltimore & Ohio and the Illinois Central Railroad Companies, and is justly regarded as being one of the leading legal men in the county. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of the Modern Woodmen, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Masons and the Knights of Pythias.