BIOGRAPHY: Joseph COLLINS, Mifflin County, PA

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The Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley, Comprising 
the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, and Perry, Pennsylvania.
Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. Runk & Co., 1897, Volume I, pages 479-480.

  JOSEPH COLLINS, Sheriff, Lewistown, Mifflin county, Pa., was born in Fulton 
county, Pa., March 3, 1846, son of James Thornhill and Maria (Reeder) Collins.  
James Collins, his grandfather, came to America as a drummer boy with the 
British troops during the Revolution;  at the close of the war, he remained in 
this country, and became an American citizen.  It is said that he made his way 
to the part of Pennsylvania now included in Franklin and Fulton counties, where 
his occupation was that of butcher and drover.  He married and had a family of 
children, one of whom was James Thornhill Collins.  The father dying in the 
prime of manhood, James T. was left an orphan while he was but a boy;  he was, 
however, of a very manly, exemplary character, faithful to duty, industrious, 
kind and generous.  He was always ready to share his earnings with others in 
need, and as he grew up he became the support of his widowed mother, and 
continued to be so until her second marriage.  He received a common school 
education, and learned the art of working in iron, following this calling in 
different counties of Pennsylvania;  his later years were spent at Burnham, 
Mifflin county.  He was a consistent and earnest member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church.  James T. Collins was first married to Maria, daughter of 
Michael and Sarah (Fowler) Reeder.  Their family consisted of the following 
children:  William, who died in childhood;  Robert, married Jane Ross, had nine 
children, Maria, Mary Ellen, Margaret, Rebecca Jane, Laura, Alice, Ida, James, 
and Dolly;  John, married Mary Trembath, has five children, Maria, Edward, 
Frank, Charles and Walter;  Sarah Elizabeth, died aged about sixteen;  Samuel, 
died of typhoid fever while serving in the United States army, August 31, 1862;  
and Joseph.  The mother of these children dying, James T. Collins was married 
again, in Huntingdon county, to Sarah Grady, widow of Jonathan Grady.  Their 
children are four in number:  Martha (Mrs. Matthew Cramer), has ten children;  
Mary Catherine (Mrs. Dallas McFalls); and two who died in early life.
  Five sons of James Thornhill Collins enlisted under the "star-spangled 
banner," for the defense of the Union.  Robert Collins enlisted in Company M, 
Nineteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry;  John in Company H, Two Hundred and Tenth 
Pennsylvania Volunteers, and Thomas in Company C, Two Hundred and Second 
Pennsylvania Volunteers, each for one year's service.  Samuel enlisted in 
Company I, Seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, for the three months' service, and 
re-enlisted in Company E, Forty-ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers, his brave and 
patriotic career ending, as we have seen, with his life.  Joseph Collins also 
enlisted twice;  first for the three months' service, in Company H, Thirty-sixth 
Pennsylvania Volunteers, and again in Company E, Twentieth Pennsylvania Cavalry, 
which was later consolidated with the Second Pennsylvania Cavalry.  The war 
having closed, Mr. Collins was discharged at Philadelphia, and mustered out at 
Cloud's Mills, Va.
  After his mother's death, which occurred while he was very young, Joseph 
Collins went with his father to Huntingdon county, and when he was ten years 
old, to Mifflin county.  There the boy attended the common schools.  His father 
taught him his own trade of working in iron, and later, Joseph Collins took up 
also the business of engineering, which he has been engaged in at intervals ever 
since.  He has always taken a lively interest in political affairs, especially 
those of his own locality.  He is a Republican, and influential in his party by 
reason of his sound judgment, his conservatism, and practical sense.  He was 
unanimously made their nominee for the shrievalty of Mifflin county, and elected 
by a substantial majority.  Mr. Collins is a member in good standing of Lodge 
No. 156, K. G. E., and of Colonel Hulings Post, No. 176, G. A. R., both at 
Lewistown.
  Joseph Collins was married in 1869 to Mary, daughter of Isaac C. and Rebecca 
(Gillan) Gorsuch.  Their children are:  James Franklin;  and Richard Cramer.  
The family attend the Methodist Episcopal church.
  Both sons, James Franklin and Richard Cramer Collins, have been appointed by 
their father to the position of deputy sheriff.  In 1885, Mr. Collins took 
Beulah Belle Kerr, then three months old, as a foster child, with the kind 
intention of rearing her to womanhood.