Collins Family, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana
Submitted to the USGenWeb Archives by Sandra McLellan, Jan. 2005
Special thanks to Jim Perrin for donating it to the archives.

************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm
************************************************

COLLINS FAMILY HISTORY

(The following historical sketch of the Collins family, one of Ponchatoula's early
families, was submitted by Jim Perrin, local school principal and local historian)

BY JIM PERRIN

Simry Collins was born on Fourth of July, 1800, in Vermont. He married Emily Parmely, who 
was born about 1811-1814 in New York.

The couple was farming in South Bristol in Ontario County, New York, when the cenus was 
conducted in 1850.  Also living in the household in that year was an eight-year-old boy, Ezra 
Collins, who may have been their son.

Sometime later, and perhaps after the War Between the States, the Collins family moved to 
Louisiana. In February, 1870, Simry purchased 640 acres of land on the east bank of the 
Tangipahoa River from Spencer Tucker. This land, being Section 46 in Township Seven South, 
Range Eight East, included on acre of land that had been used as a family cemetery by the 
DeNell, Hoover, and Lavigne families for many years.  This cemetery came to be called the 
Collins Cemetery.

Simry operated a ferry across the Tangipahoa River from his land on the east bank to the 
west bank. Collins' Ferry was located about two miles south of the pre-existing Wells' Ferry. 
The Collins' Ferry site was more convenient to citizens living on the Lower Road (Weinberger 
Road) whereas the Wells' Ferry was located on the public road from Madisonville to 
Ponchatoula (the roadway was later moved north and was designated Hwy 122, now Louisiana 
Hwy. 22). 

It is uncertain how long the Collins' Ferry operated.  It is shown as S. Collins Ferry on a 1918 
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers map of this stretch of the river, but the years of operation of 
this ferry appear from circumstatioal evidence to be far fewer than the 1870-1918 time span.

When the 1870 census was conducted in the Ponchatoula area, Simry and Emily were listed 
along with their nephew, Herman Collins.  In April, 1872, Simry "being of advanced age" made 
his will.  In his will, he listed his residence as Collins' Landing on the Tangipahoa River.

According to his will, all of his possessions, including his bank and mining stocks, were 
bequeathed to his wife, Emily.  Simry died on Jan. 30, 1876, and was buried in the nearby 
Collins Cemetery.  Emily survived him and is believed to also be buried in the Collins Cemetery.

Although a resident of the Ponchatoula area for only a short time, Simry Collins had his name 
associated with Collins' Landing, Collins' Ferry and Collins' Cemetery, thereby leaving a lasting 
association with this community.

Herman C. Collins, the nephew of Simry and Emily Collins, was born in December, 1835, in New 
York.

Herman was living in the household of his uncle, Simry Collins, in 1870 on the east bank of the 
Tangipahoa River. About 1873, Herman married Elizabeth W. (?) (born Februaray, 1836, in 
England, came to America about 1840) and set up his own household.

Herman and Elizabeth, along with their two-year-old son, Charles H. Collins, were living along 
the banks of the Ponchatoula River near the public road from Ponchatoula to Springfield in 
1880.  Herman was listed as being an engineer on the 1880 census.

The Collins family established a school on their property for their child and neighborhood 
children.  This school, called the Collinswood School, and sometimes the Collins' School,
was a typical one room school house in which many primary grades were taught. 

The date of the school's creation is uncertian as the parish school board records do not list 
each school in the parish for each year. The Collinswood School, as a parish public school, does 
not appear on the 1878, 1879, or 1881 list of parish schools, but does appear on the 1897 
and subsequent lists.

The school was therefore in operation in 1897 with an opening date in the 1880s being 
probable.  In 1976, the old school building was transported into Ponchatoula and after 
renovations and repairs became the Collinswood School Museum.