Born in Illinois, William Renshaw studied medicine and established his practice in Sparta, Tennessee. His wife Sarah had received from the Mexican government a land grant in Texas, where her father Samuel Worthington lost his life in a colonization attempt in 1828. In 1853, Renshaw traveled to Texas to locate this headright, which encompassed many acres of Wise County north of this site. He returned to Sparta and served two terms in the Tennessee Legislature before moving his family to Texas in 1859. As the first doctor to settle permanently in Wise County, he often spent long periods away from home, with a medical practice extending from Denton to Jacksboro. The Renshaws organized one of the county's earliest schools for their own and neighboring children, taught by J. D. White. After the Civil War, the family moved to Decatur, where Renshaw and his son Lute opened a drugstore. Devout Baptists, they supported Decatur Baptist College. Renshaw died in 1887 and was buried at Oak Lawn Cemetery in Decatur. As his 10 children married, each received a portion of the Worthington survey, and two family members still own part of the property. A number of descendants became doctors.