Notes from Collins descendant Richard Nix (born 1935; died Sept. 1, 2004), who lived in Cartersville, GA: The following narrative was printed in the Cartersville Courant Thursday, July 2, 1885. The publishers of the Courant were Doctor and Mrs. W. H. Felton. Mrs. Felton (Rebecca Latimer) was the first woman to be a United States Senator. She is probably the one who wrote this narrative.
A NOTED FAMILY
A few days ago, the writer had a pleasant call from Wm. J. Collins, the excellent superintendent of our Bartow county pauper farm, and in the course of conversation he gave us the following facts: In the year 1841, his father, James Collins, moved to this county from Cleveland County, N.C. Fifty-one persons came together in company, and of that number all were related by consanguinity except one young man by the name of Logan. They reached Pickens County (then called Gilmer) a short time before the Presidential election of 1844. The political excitement was exceedingly high, and all along the route these emigrants were saluted and questioned as to politics. Mr. James Collins was a staunch democrat and he decorated his wagon-covers with pokeberry juice in broad stripes. In the front and rear huge poke-stalks were planted, and above all towered a hickory pole, in memory of "Old Hickory" Jackson. Our friend, Wm. J., was only eight years old, but he recollects they passed a farm house where they were engaged in digging sweet potatoes. Seeing the red poke stripes on the white wagon-cover, the farmer insisted on sharing his potatoes with his Democratic friend most liberally. These staunch Democrats were not allowed to vote, however, by the Whig managers at election time. The wagons halted in old Gilmer and the new settlers proceeded to build houses. They got all the corn they wanted at fifteen cents a bushel and a sufficiency of meat at two and a half cents a pound. James Collins settled near "Skeerd Corn" church and camp ground (which the writer remembers very well from a visit made to it in the year 1879.) There was only one grave when the Collinses settled there; now there are between two and three hundred. The mother and two brothers were laid to rest at this spot before the family scattered. The father lies on the hill above the Baptist Church in Cartersville.
7 comments:
I have no idea what a "pauper farm" is, unless it is the same thing as a "poor house". Whatever it is, Wm. J. was apparently very good at superintending it.
Richard Nix’s Identifications:
Wm. J. Collins - son of William James Collins
The mother and two brothers buried at Scare Corn Camp Ground Cemetery at Hinton, Pickens County, GA. wife and two sons of William James Collins.
The father buried on the hill above the Baptist church in Cartersville, is William James Collins. There is a marker for him at Oak Hill Cemetery in Cartersville, GA, but I don't think he was ever moved.
This account refers to the branch of our family descending from William Collins, brother of "our" Jacob Archibald Collins who settled in the Salacoa Valley, and son of "our" Jacob and Mary Martin Collins of Lincoln (now Cleveland) County, NC.
My records indicate that in 1846, after "two bad
years of little rain and parched crops," our Jacob and Jane Collins joined the exodus of families leaving NC and relocated their clan to the Salacoa Valley. Thus, they apparently came down a few years after William's group, but there isn't a lot of documentation for the 1846 date. It is possible they all came down together.
At this url (http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/felton/felton.html) is an online copy of Country Life in Georgia in the Days of My Youth, by Rebecca Latimer Felton (1835-1930). I have not read all of it, but there are fascinating accounts of daily activities and events around our area of Georgia during the mid-to-late 1800's. It is not hard to imagine that our own ancestors lived similarly and experienced some of the same scenarios she describes. Interesting reading!
Here is a good definition of a poor house or poor (pauper) farm: http://www.answers.com/pauper%20farm.
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