Biography of Jairus Collins JAIRUS COLLINS is a resident and business man of Bram- well, Mercer County. His interests have been centered in this section for nearly thirty years. He came here with a widely diversified experience in the coal and iron industry, and for many years he has been one of the prominent coal operators and is treasurer and active director of the Poca- hontas Operators Association, chosen on account of his efficiency in handling all matters affecting the operators in this field. Mr. Collins was born in Clayton, Alabama, December 14, 1859, son of Hartwell and Louisa (Williams) Collins, na- tives of Alabama and of English ancestry. The maternal grandfather was Buckner Williams. Hartwell Collins al- ways regarded Alabama as his home state, but before the Civil war he was in the wholesale hardware business in New York City. When Alabama seceded he sold out and returned and joined the Confederate army, and was all through the war as quartermaster of the Twenty-ninth Alabama Regi- ment. He then returned to New York and resumed busi- ness, where he continued until the "Black Friday" of 1873 inaugurated the country-wide panic. He then re- turned to Alabama. He was a prominent Mason. Jairus Collins had his early education interfered with on account of the war and the financial panic noted above. He attended subscription and private schools at Clayton and Midway, Alabama, and began contributing to his own main- tenance at the age of twelve. Beginning at fifteen, he served three years as clerk in the office of the registrar in chancery. At eighteen he became bookkeeper for S. Waxel- baum and Brother at Macon, Georgia, being with that firm four years. Shortly after he reached his majority Mr. Collins became auditor for the Tennessee Coal & Iron Com- pany at Ensley, Alabama, and his work has been in that same general line now for forty years. After four years with the Tennessee company he was for five years auditor for the Ensley Coal, Iron & Railway Company at Sheffield, Alabama. In 1893 he came to the West Virginia coal fields, serving as auditor three years of the Collins Colliery Company of Glen Jean, and then removed his headquarters to Bramwell as general manager for the Greenbrier Coal & Coke Company of McDowell and the Louisville Coal & Coke Company of Goodwill. He is still an active official in these corporations, being treasurer, and is financially interested in other corporations. He was one of the organizers of the Pocahontas Operators Association, with headquarters at Bluefield, and has been the active representative of these operators in handling several strikes in the Pocahontas fields. Mr. Collins is a democrat, and at one time was candidate for the State Senate on that ticket. He is treasurer, vestry- man and junior warden of the Episcopal Church at Bram- well, is a life member of Bluefield Lodge No. 269, Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks, and a member of the Bluefield Country Club. In 1902, at Bramwell, he married Miss Blanch Dudley, daughter of Andrew J. Dudley. They have two children: Jairus, Jr., a student in Washington and Lee University at Lexington, Virginia; and Virginia C., attending the Knox School at Cooperstown, New York. From The History of West Virginia, Old and New, page 64 Submitted by Valerie F. Crook **************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. Files may be printed or copied for personal use only. ****************************************************************