Biographical Sketch of P. B. Collins, Johnson County, Missouri, Hazel Hill Township >From "History of Johnson County, Missouri," by Ewing Cockrell, Historical Publishing Company, Topeka, Cleveland, 1918. ********************************************************************** P. B. Collins, a successful and widely known farmer and stockman of Hazel Hill township, is a member of a prominent pioneer family of Johnson county. He is a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Dowell) Collins, the former, a native of South Carolina and the latter, of North Carol- ina. P. B. Collins was born May 25, 1849, in Lafayette, Missouri. Thomas Collins left his native state in early manhood and located in Lafayette county near Higginsville, coming to Missouri in the spring of 1833, having sold his property interests in South Carolina. In 1850, Mr. Collins entered one thousand fifty acres of land in Hazel Hill township and on that portion of the tract, which is now owned by his son, P. B., he built a cabin of three rooms and to this home the family moved from Lafayette, where they had been located. The father was engaged in the vocations of stock raising and grain growing and became very prosperous and influential in the new Western home, which he enjoyed but a few brief years, when his death occurred September 12, 1859. The mother, Elizabeth Collins, died February 18, 1886. Both parents were buried in the cemetery at Liberty, Missouri. Thomas and Elizabeth (Dowell) Collins were the parents of seven children: P. B., the subject of this review; Mrs. Sarah Russell, deceased; Mrs. Mary C. Elliott, now a widow, residing with her brother, P. B., on the home place; Golsia, deceased; Elizabeth, deceased; Emma, who resides with her brother, P. B., on the home place; and George, deceased. By a former marriage with Elizabeth Dyer, Thomas Collins was the father of seven children: William, Kansas City, Missouri; Joseph, deceased; John A., Sedalia, Missouri; Noah, Lafayette county, Missouri; Richard, de- ceased; Mrs. Katharine Matlox, deceased; and Mrs. Nancy Jane Buchanan. Thomas Collins richly deserves to be numbered with the brave, honored pioneers, who nobly did their part well in the upbuilding of the state and county. He and Mrs. Collins were splendid citizens of Johnson county, deeply interested in the welfare of the community and in all movements in behalf of progress and enterprise, genial, courteous and kind, a family of many friends. P. B. Collins and his two sisters, Mary C. and Emma, attended school held in the Coleman schoolhouse, which was located on the Collins homestead. Thomas Collins, the father, donated the land to the district for the purpose of erecting a school building thereon, and he assisted in the building of the log house. Miss Golsia Martin taught the first school and, later, Mr. Milspaugh and Mr. Windsor wielded the ferule of authority, in the years prior to the Civil War. After the war, Miss Mattie Dubaugh and Miss Mollie Martin were employed as teachers of the Coleman school. When Mr. Collins was a lad, his father would frequently bring home from a hunting expedition deer, wild turkeys, and prairie chickens. Fishing was considered an occupation more than a sport in the early days and it was not difficult to catch many good fish in the small streams scattered over the entire county. Among the settlers, who resided in Johnson county previous to the war of the sixties, whom P. B. Collins recalls, were: Mortgan Cockrell, Johnnie Atkinson, "Billie" Browning, Nimrod Frost, John Gillilan, Edmond Coleman, John Smith, Samuel Grim- stead and Will Roberts. Mrs. Wooten lived just across the county line in Lafayette county. January 4, 1913, the Collins home was burned and in the same year the present residence, a cozy, pleasant cottage of five rooms, was built. P. B. Collins has placed all the improvements now on the farm. He is engaged in general farming, stock raising, and poultry raising on a farm of one hundred thirty-seven acres. Mrs. Elliott has forty acres in Henry county. There are, at the time of this writing in 1917, eighty-four pure-bred Bronze turkeys and two hundred Rhode Island Red chickens on the Collins place. This farm is located fifteen miles northwest of Warrensburg and twelve miles from Odessa and one-fourth mile from Robbins, thus the situation is all that could be desired for conveniece in shipping stock and produce. Mr. Collins is unmarried. He and his two sisters reside at the old homestead in Hazel Hill township, a farm which has been in the poss- ession of the Collins family for nearly seventy years. He is an excellent citizen, a man of candid, straightforward manner and pleasant personality. Mr. Collins and his sisters are well known and esteemed in Johnson county. ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: <> Penny Harrell ====================================================================