My Genealogy Hound

John Nelson Collins. In tracing the ancestry of Mr. Collins, a prominent citizen and partner of Judge Bell in an extensive milling business near Nashville, it is seen that three brothers, Timothy, William and Eli, who were of Scotch-Irish descent, immigrated to America, settling in Sussex County, Del., in the colonial days. At the declaration of war between the colonies and Great Britain (they were all in that war) Timothy immediately espoused the cause of the former, marched to the field of battle, and from that day was lost to home and kindred. William soon moved to the Territory of Missouri, where he became the founder of a long line of prosperous descendants. Eli, the great-grandfather of John Nelson, was born March 26, 1759, in Sussex County, Del., but did not state the time of his removal from that State to North Carolina, where in Martin and Orange Counties he was residing during the War of the Revolution, from which latter county he removed in 1804, to Wilkes County, Ga., then, in 1818, he went to Limestone County, and Madison County, Ala. In 1836 his son, with whom he had lived for many years, finally settled in Hempstead County, Ark., whom he accompanied to that place. When he applied, in December, 1832, for his pension, he was residing in Madison County, Ala. In June, 1776, he volunteered in Martin County, N. C, for three months, under Capt. Micajah Lyttle, in the regiment commanded by Col. Dozier, joined the army at Wilmington, N. C, under Gens. Arke and Moore, and was on duty there, at Fort Johnson and Brunswick (meaning, no doubt, Brunswick County, which joins the county Wilmington is in), during his term. He volunteered early in June, 1780, in Orange County, N.C, where then living, under Capt. Farmer, in the command of Col. Stephen Moore, for three months, marched with Gen. John Butler to Cross Creek on Cape Fear River, where he joined the troops under Gen. Richard Caswell; from thence he marched to the Cheraw Hills, S. C, and afterward joined the army under Gen. Gates. He was in the battle at Camden, S. C. (August 16, 1780), when Gates was defeated, and as the troops were generally depressed, he returned home about six days before the expiration of the term of his enlistment. Late in September, 1780, he enlisted in Orange County, N. C., for three months under Capt. Wood, in the command of Col. William Collier, joined the troops under Gen. John Butler, marched to, and was stationed at Salisbury, Rowan County, N. C., during his whole term. He was discharged about the time Gen. Green came to North Carolina to succeed Gen. Gates in command of the army (which he assumed December 3, 1780). He enlisted in Orange County, S. C, in September, 1781, for three months with Capt. James Kell, in the command of Col. William Collier, and joined the troops under Gen. John Butler. (The Tories under Col. Fannin made a raid into Hillsboro, captured Gov. Burke and other Whigs, September 13, 1781, which prisoners he was conveying to Wilmington, then occupied by the British). Gen. Butler started with his forces to intercept the enemy, who were overtaken at Lindley's Mills on Cane Creek, where Mr. Collins participated in a severe fight in which Col. Fannin was wounded, but he continued on his way with his prisoners, and after another fight with his prisoners before reaching Wilmington, he escaped into that place. Mr. Collins alleged in a general way, without specifying dates or places, that he was on several occasions in short tours of duty, guarding ammunition, Tory and British prisoners, and on alarms patrolling the country, which in 1780-81 was much infested with the hostile Tories, and very active during the presence of Lord Cornwallis with his forces in his attempt to invade Virginia. To Eli and Mary Collins were born four sons: Peter and Eli (died long ago), Timothy (died at West Point, Ga., in 1857, many of his descendants living in that vicinity today), William Ragland (was born at West Point, November 13, 179_ , came to Arkansas with his parents in 1834, was married to Miss Nancy Paterson, November 14, 1811, and died at Anderson, Grimes County, Tex., August, 1870, leaving ten children: Jane, John Patterson, Tillman, William Walter Gambal, Elizabeth, Joseph, Isaiah, Henry, James McFirrim, Nancy Gill). Eli Vance, the father of our subject, was born March 15, 1821; married Miss Matilda Nelson, daughter of Charles Nelson, March 7, 1841. Mrs. Collins died July 18, 1848, leaving four children: The eldest, our subject, John Nelson, Mary Elizabeth (who married Norman D. Crawford at Washington, Ark., in 1858, and died October, 1878, leaving three children: Jasper Alancen, May Adams and Ray Thompson), Fanny Ann (who in November, 1870, married James T. Trigg). J. T. lived at or near Rondo, Ark., until 1873, when he moved to Texarkana; he died April 15, 1884, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and of the Masonic fraternity. His widow, Mrs. Fannie Ann, has in her possession a Bible published in 1783, given her by her grandfather, William Ragland Collins. She has seven children: Thomas, Vance, Nina, Lucia, Laura, James, John and Binoni. Eli Vance was married, the second time, to Miss Mariah Cavatt, of Collinsburg, La., and of this union were born six children: James Vance, Lora Octavia, Nancy Louise, Katie, Sallie Ophelia, William Alexander. William Alexander, born September 23, 1864, married Miss Fannie Wartham, of Paris, Tex., in 1888, and is now one of the firm of Vainer, Collins & Dulaney, hard ware and machine merchants. Lora Octavia married Robert J. Witkinson. James Vance married Miss Fannie Richmond, who died August, 1881, and he married Miss Bunim Hiarm, of Little Rock, in October, 1882; he died at Nashville, where he was buried by the side of his great-grand father, Eli Collins; he was a good business man and the founder of the flourishing business of Harvy & Skillern, hardware men, Nashville. John Nelson was born in Hempstead County, January 22, 1842, where he attended school. In the spring of 1859 he went with an uncle to Texas, where he remained until October, 1860. July 14, 1861, he enlisted in Company G, Arkansas Infantry, under Col. Mclntosh; was in the battles of Oak Hill and Pea Ridge. During the summer of 1862 he was transferred east of the Mississippi River and attached to the commissary department of McNair's brigade; was in all the campaigns of the Army of the Tennessee; was with Johnson, and surrendered at Jonesboro, N. C, April 26, 1865. After the war he returned to Nashville and engaged in farming. In 1867 he married Miss Emma J. Ware, a daughter of James Ware, of Hempstead County. In 1872 Mr. Collins formed a partnership with John H. Bell, starting a steam-mill at Nashville, a partnership that still exists and has been exceedingly successful in every way. Mr. and Mrs. Collins have one child, Fannie (who is now the wife of S. R. Bryant, and their babe, a girl, is Fucia Dahlia Bryant). They are all members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and our subject is a member of the F. & A. M., Pleasant Valley Lodge No. 30.