Lapeer County MI Archives Biographies.....Collins, John 1816 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/mifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com April 29, 2007, 9:33 pm Author: Chapman Bros. (1892) JOHN COLLINS. This gentleman was born in Hampshire County, Mass., September 27, 1816, and came with his parents, Jonah S. and Frances (Simmons) Collins, to the Wolverine State at an early day. The father was born on Cape Cod in 1769, and was one of a family of eight children. He was the eldest of the family and devoted himself to the sea, being a captain on the oceans of the world, and following that calling throughout his early life. The second is Rachel; then Priscilla and Aquilla, Mercy, Gamalia, James and Ebenezer. The Collins family is of English origin, and the the [sic] parental family consisted of the following children: Ebenezer, James, Jonah S., William S., Jane, Samuel, he of whom we write and George T. James resides in Flint, this State; Jonah followed the life of a sailor; William S. lived and died in New. York; George T. is now a resident of Linden, Genesee County; our subject came to. Lapeer County in 1847, and bought the farm where he now resides. John Collins was first married in 1844, to Philinda E. Fitch. She died, however, in a few months and in 1847 our subject married Louisa Parker. Two sons were the result of this union-George N. and Irvin J. Mrs. Louisa Collins died in 1854, and our subject afterward married Caroline M., daughter of Timothy Wheeler. Two children were born of this union-Willard J. and James W. The elder is still living. Timothy Wheeler is a native of Vermont, and was born in 1791. His wife, Susan Walton, was born in the same year and in the same town-Brattleboro. While a resident, of Peru, N. Y., where he resided for four years, he worked in the manufacture of iron and was a skilled mechanic. He brought his family, which comprised a wife and five children, to Lapeer County, in the fall of 1835, and settled on section 1, in the wilderness. He worked at his trade, which was that of a blacksmith, and also did much toward clearing his farm. Mrs. Collins' father died in September, 1872. He and his wife reared a family of five children, they being Shepherd, Mrs. Collins, Susan A., Harriet A. and Daniel W. Susan became the wife of Dennis Greggs; Harriet became the wife of Manley T. Tower. Timothy Wheeler was a son of Daniel Wheeler. He was called out in the War of 1812 and was a participant in the battle of Plattsburg, on Lake Champlain. Our subject is a member of the Baptist Church. He is a Republican in the truest sense of the word, believing in the platform and policy of the party without modification. He is the owner of a beautiful farm of one hundred acres, which bears good buildings. His residence is a thing of beauty and an ideal rural home. The barns and outhouses are capacious and filled to overflowing with the products of the place. Additional Comments: Extracted from: Portrait and Biographical Record of Genesee, Lapeer and Tuscola Counties, Michigan, Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, Together with Biographies of all the Governors of the State, and of the Presidents of the United States Chicago: Chapman Bros. 1892 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/lapeer/bios/collins706gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/mifiles/ File size: 3.6 Kb