BIO: Howard A. COLLINS, M. D., Clearfield County, PA
 
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From Twentieth Century History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania,
and Representative Citizens, by Roland D. Swoope, Jr.,
Chicago: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, 1911, pages 971 & 972.
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  HOWARD A. COLLINS, M. D.,* of Winburne, Cooper township, Clearfield county, 
Pa., and a practicing physician in this county for the past sixteen years, was 
born in Lycoming county, Pa., February 6, 1871, and is a son of William and Mary 
(Winner) Collins.
  The Collins family is an old one in Pennsylvania.  William and Margaret 
(Brewster) Collins, great-grandparents of Dr. Collins, were born in Berks 
county, Pa., and moved from there as pioneers into Lycoming county, and at the 
same time several of the Collins brothers settled in New York.  The first house 
erected by William Collins was so strongly built that it still stands not far 
from the present city of Williamsport.  At that time Philadelphia was the 
nearest supply station and each fall the long distance had to be covered by 
wagon in order to provide necessities for the family for the winter.
  Isaac Collins, son of William and Margaret Collins, was the paternal 
grandfather of Dr. Collins, and he was born in Lycoming county, as was his wife, 
Margaret Dommy.  The maternal grandparents of Dr. Collins were Jacob and 
Elizabeth (Tohlman) Winner.  The Winners and Tohlmans, who were Quakers, settled 
in Hebron and Eldred townships, in Lycoming county.  The maternal great-
grandfather was Abraham Winner, who moved to Lycoming county from Philadelphia.  
The parents of Dr. Collins were both born and reared in Lycoming county and the 
father was a farmer in Alsop township, where his death occurred in 1909, when he 
was aged eighty-three years.  He had survived his wife for eight years, her 
death occurring in September, 1901, at the age of seventy-six years.  Of their 
twelve children, ten grew to maturity and six still survive, namely:  Howard A.; 
Jennie, who is the wife of George Castleberry, of Williamsport; Irene, who is 
the wife of Oliver P. Stahl, of Williamsport; Cyrus M. and Annie M., both of 
whom live at Williamsport; and William S., who is a resident of Buffalo, N. Y.  
Those deceased were:  Albert, who died in 1877 - was a graduate of Dickinson 
Seminary; Herman M., whose death in 1881 was the result of typhoid fever; 
Jeffrey A., who died in 1896, from an attack of appendicitis; Sadie L., who was 
the wife of Ambrose Hyman, of Williamsport; and two who died in infancy.
  Howard A. Collins attended the public schools of Williamsport and the 
Williamsport Commercial College, leaving his studies at the age of nineteen 
years in order to take up work as a bookkeeper and stenographer.  In the 
meanwhile he had done his preparatory medical reading and in the fall of 1892 
entered Jefferson Medical College and was graduated in the class of 1896.  His 
first field of practice was at Wallaceton, where he remained one year and then 
came to Winburne.  He is known professionally in many parts of the county, his 
success as a practitioner having gained for him a large measure of public 
confidence.
  In 1892 Dr. Collins was married to Miss Delia M. Wise, a daughter of James T. 
Wise, of Lycoming County, and they have four children:  Roy R., Charles, 
Chalmers Da Costa, and Vivian M.  Dr. and Mrs. Collins are members of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, with which he has been united for thirty years.  He 
is an independent in politics but is an interested citizen and has served on the 
school board of Morris Township.  He has been president of the Clearfield County 
Medical Society and fraternally is identified with the U. A. M., the Knights of 
Pythias, the Elks, the Eagles and the P. O. S. of A.