David Collins
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: 20 Apr 1715 - Eastham, Massachusetts 1
Baptism:
Death:
Burial:
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: John Collins (1674-1765) 2 3
Mother: Hannah Doane (1669-1765) 4
Deborah Collins
Sex: F
AKA: Deborah Arey
Deborah Atwood
Deborah Collings 5
Individual Information
Birth: 10 Jun 1726 - Truro, Massachusetts 5
Baptism: 17 Jul 1726 - Truro, Massachusetts 6
Death:
Burial:
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: Jonathan Collins (1682-1765) 7 8
Mother: Susannah Walker (1694- )
Spouses and Children
1. *Benjamin Hamblen (2 Jul 1721 - 15 Jun 1784)
Marriage: 7 Nov 1770 - Wellfleet, Massachusetts 9
Status:
2. James Atwood (31 Aug 1715 - 30 Sep 1765) 10 11 12 13 14
Marriage: 29 Nov 1759 - Truro, Massachusetts 10
Status:
Children:
1. Deborah Atwood (1765-Cir 1767) 10
2. Phebe Young Atwood (1772-1843)
3. Stowers Arey (Abt 1723 - Bef Nov 1759) 10
Marriage: 27 Jun 1751 - Truro, Massachusetts 15
Status:
Children:
1. James Arey (1753-1833)
Deborah Collins
Sex: F
AKA: Deborah Collings
Individual Information
Birth:
Baptism: 30 Sep 1781 - Truro, Massachusetts 16
Death: 16 Mar 1814 - Truro, Massachusetts
Burial: in Old North Cemetery, Truro 17
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: Joseph Collins (1746- )
Mother: Deborah Newcomb (Est 1749- )
Spouses and Children
1. *John Kenney (6 Feb 1779 - 2 Jan 1857)
Marriage: 22 Dec 1803 - Truro, Massachusetts 18
Status:
Children:
1. John Kenney (1805-1868) 19
2. Keturah Dyer Kenney (1807- ) 20
3. Thomas Hopkins Kenney (1809-1876) 21 22
Delia Collins
Sex: F
Individual Information
Birth: Est 1840
Baptism:
Death:
Burial:
Cause of Death:
Spouses and Children
1. *Jeremiah Collins (Est 1840 - )
Marriage:
Status:
Children:
1. Annie Collins (1872-1906) 23
Deliverance Collins
Sex: F
AKA: Deliverance Collings
Individual Information
Birth: 10 Sep 1752 - Truro, Massachusetts 24
Baptism: 11 Feb 1753 - Truro, Massachusetts 25
Death: 28 Nov 1836 - Provincetown, Massachusetts 26
Burial:
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: Jonathan Collins (1715-1798)
Mother: Deliverance Rich (1720-1754) 27
Spouses and Children
1. *Elijah Dyer (8 Sep 1752 - 26 Feb 1796)
Marriage: 9 Sep 1779 - Truro, Massachusetts 29
Status:
Children:
1. Eunice Dyer (1780- )
2. Deliverance Dyer (1781-1856) 30
3. Jane Dyer (1783-After 1850) 30
4. Joshua Dyer (1785-1822) 30
5. Sylvanus Collins Dyer (1786-1870)
6. Elijah Dyer (1789-1848) 31
7. Ruth Dyer (1792-1873) 31 32
Deliverance Rich Collins
Sex: F
Individual Information
Birth: 26 Jul 1778 - Truro, Massachusetts 33
Baptism: 6 Sep 1778 - Truro, Massachusetts 34
Death: 20 Jul 1812 - Truro, Massachusetts
Burial: in Truro Congregational cemetery
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: John Collins (1749-1839)
Mother: Hannah Harding (1754- )
Spouses and Children
1. *Ephraim Paine (18 Apr 1779 - 21 Dec 1856) 21 35
Marriage: 21 Sep 1809 - Truro, Massachusetts 36
Status:
Doane Collins
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: 1781 - (Eastham, Massachusetts)
Baptism:
Death: 19 Aug 1842 - Eastham, Massachusetts
Burial: in Evergreen Cemetery, Eastham
Cause of Death:
Spouses and Children
1. *Ruth Clark (1779 - 1 Nov 1810)
Marriage: Mar 1808 - Eastham, Massachusetts 37
Status:
2. Eunice Rich (4 Sep 1777 - 14 May 1850) 28
Marriage: 26 Jan 1813 - Truro, Massachusetts 38
Status:
Dorcas Collins
Sex: F
Individual Information
Birth:
Baptism: 4 Nov 1787 - Truro, Massachusetts 16
Death: Nov 1822 - Truro, Massachusetts 39
Burial:
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: Joseph Collins (1728-1788)
Mother: Elizabeth Newcomb (1739- )
Spouses and Children
1. *John Laha (13 Nov 1786 - 29 May 1830)
Marriage: 14 Mar 1818 - Truro, Massachusetts 40
Status:
Children:
1. Jemima Collins Laha (1819- )
2. Dorcas Collins Laha (1822-1863) 41
2. Richard Rich Snow (18 May 1783 - 13 Jan 1809)
Marriage: 23 Nov 1807 - Truro, Massachusetts 42
Status:
Children:
1. Betsy Rich Snow (1809-Cir 1858) 43
Notes
General:
m1 Richard Snow
Dorcas L Collins
Sex: F
Individual Information
Birth: Apr 1825
Baptism:
Death: 7 Sep 1827 - Truro, Massachusetts 44
Burial: in Truro Congregational cemetery
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: Jonathan Collins (1793-1865)
Mother: Emma Coan (1799-1887)
Dorcas Lombard Collins
Sex: F
Individual Information
Birth: 5 Sep 1827 - Truro, Massachusetts 46
Baptism:
Death: 16 Sep 1904 - Wellfleet, Massachusetts 47
Burial: in Oak Dale Cemetery, Wellfleet
Cause of Death: valvular disease of heart 47
Parents
Father: Jonathan Collins (1793-1865)
Mother: Emma Coan (1799-1887)
Spouses and Children
1. *Clement Meserve Higgins (17 Sep 1825 - 17 Sep 1887) 45 48
Marriage: 1850 - Truro, Massachusetts
Status:
Children:
1. Emma C Higgins (1852-1914) 45
2. Higgins (1858- )
3. Benjamin Eben Higgins (1861-1863) 45 49
4. Lillian F Higgins (1870-1938) 45 50
Notes
Medical:
age 77-0-11Marriage Notes (Clement Meserve Higgins)
1880 census, Wellfleet MA:
Clement M Higgins, head, 54, house carpenter;
Dorcus L Higgins, wife, 52, keeping house;
Lillian F Higgins, dau, 9, at school; all b MA, parents b MA.
p 128A
51
Dorothy Collins
Sex: F
AKA: Dorothy Collings
Dorathy Collins
Dorothy Collins
Individual Information
Birth: 19 Sep 1739 - Eastham, Massachusetts 52
Baptism:
Death: 1822 - Hampden, Maine
Burial:
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: Prince Collins (Est 1710- )
Mother: Abiel Doane (Est 1715- ) 53
Spouses and Children
1. *Shebnah Swett (1741 - 1817)
Marriage: 12 Nov 1761 - Eastham, Massachusetts 54
Status:
Children:
1. Abigail Swett (1764- ) 55
2. Betty Swett (1766-1848) 55
3. Abial Swett (1770- ) 55
4. Ruth Swett (1774-1850) 55 56
5. Bethiah Swett (1776- ) 55
6. Rachel Swett (1779- ) 55
Dorothy Collins
Sex: F
Individual Information
Birth: 1781 - Eastham, Massachusetts
Baptism:
Death: 11 May 1843 - Eastham, Massachusetts
Burial: in Evergreen Cemetery, Eastham 28
Cause of Death:
Spouses and Children
1. *Henry Mayo (11 Mar 1774 - 16 Dec 1847) 57
Marriage: 9 Mar 1798 - Eastham, Massachusetts 57 58
Status:
Children:
1. Bethiah Collins Mayo (1816-1849)
Ebenezer Collins
Sex: M
AKA: Ebenezar Collings 5
Individual Information
Birth: 2 Sep 1752 - Truro, Massachusetts 5
Baptism: 12 Nov 1752 - Truro, Massachusetts 59
Death: 17 Oct 1776 - Mt. Independence
Burial: in Old North Cemetery, Truro 60
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: Gamaliel Collins (1709-1775)
Mother: Sarah Dyer (1723-1795)
Notes
General:
stone:
In Memory of
Mr GAMABIEL COLLINGS
who Died April 27th 1775
in the 67th Year of his Age
Also his Son
Mr EBENEZER COLLINGS
who Died on Mount
Independence Oct'r 17th 1776
in the 25th Year of his Age 61
Ebenezer Collins
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: 21 Mar 1777 - Truro, Massachusetts 62
Baptism: 4 May 1777 - Truro, Massachusetts 25
Death: Feb 1794 - Grand Banks 63
Burial:
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: Treat Collins (1749- )
Mother: Sarah Jane Cobb (1752- )
Ebenezer Collins
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: 28 Jun 1778 - Truro, Massachusetts 64
Baptism: 31 Oct 1779 - Truro, Massachusetts 65
Death: 19 Mar 1800 - At Sea 66
Burial: in Old North Cemetery, Truro
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: Jonathan Collins (1746-1827)
Mother: Mercy Rich (1754-1798)
Notes
Medical:
died at Lat 12 North
Ebenezer Collins
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: 2 Mar 1777 - Hardwick, Massachusetts 67 68
Baptism:
Death: 1813 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 69
Burial:
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: Captain Gamaliel Collins (1742-1786) 67
Mother: Rachel Rich (1744- )
Ebenezer Collins
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth:
Baptism: 19 Jul 1795 - Truro, Massachusetts 25
Death:
Burial:
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: Treat Collins (1749- )
Mother: Sarah Jane Cobb (1752- )
Edmund Burke Collins
Sex: M
AKA: Edwin Collins 71
Individual Information
Birth: 6 Aug 1847 - Truro, Massachusetts
Baptism:
Death: 24 Jul 1873 - Wellfleet, Massachusetts 72
Burial: in Oak Dale Cemetery, Wellfleet
Cause of Death: haemoptysis
Parents
Father: Solomon Snow Collins (1814-1867)
Mother: Juliana Kemp Pike (1813-1876)
Spouses and Children
1. *Sarah Doane Swett (11 Apr 1847 - 9 Nov 1927) 70 73
Marriage: 22 Jun 1867 - Wellfleet, Massachusetts
Status:
Children:
1. Charles Augustus Collins (1867-1897) 70 73
2. Nellie Collins (Est 1872- ) 73
3. Elizabeth Swett Collins (1869-1946) 74
Notes
General:
1867 clerk, Wellfleet
1869 merchant, Wellfleet
Edward Knight Collins
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: 5 Aug 1802 - Truro, Massachusetts 75
Baptism:
Death: 22 Jan 1878 - New York City, New York
Burial:
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: Captain Israel Gross Collins (1776- )
Mother: Mary Ann Knight (1780-1803)
Notes
General:
Collins, Edward Knight (5 Aug. 1802-22 Jan. 1878), merchant and shipping operator, was born in Truro, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the son of Israel Gross Collins, a sea captain, merchant trader, and ship owner, and Mary Ann Knight, an Englishwoman who died soon after Edward's birth. After his mother's death, his father moved to New York City, leaving Edward to be raised by the Collins family. Edward's uncle (and later business associate), John Collins, was an important influence.
At age thirteen Edward left Truro for a brief period of schooling in New Jersey before going to New York City, where his father arranged for him to work as apprentice clerk in the mercantile counting house of McCrea and Slidell. Within a few years Edward moved to a well-established mercantile firm, Delaplaine & Co., located on South Street near the East River docks of New York Port and next door to Israel Collins's trading and general commission business. In 1821 Edward joined his father's company, which by this time had shifted from European trade to the Gulf Coast and Caribbean waters.
Edward made a few voyages for his father's firm, but he soon took over managing the business from the New York office. Early in January 1824 he became partner of I. G. Collins & Son, which three years later started the first regularly scheduled packet service between New York and Veracruz, Mexico. In 1826 Edward Collins had married Mary Ann Woodruff, daughter of the wealthy and politically active New York City building contractor, Thomas T. Woodruff. After his father's death in 1831, Edward shifted his business to the booming coastal cotton trade between New Orleans and New York. He was appointed manager of a line of large, well-appointed sailing vessels that soon dominated the Gulf Coast-New York trade. Edward owned shares in several of the vessels and also operated as a wholesale merchant.
Rapidly increasing his fortune and his reputation as a maritime entrepreneur, Collins then challenged the well-established transatlantic sailing packet lines between New York and Liverpool, England. Late in 1836 he initiated a liner service to Liverpool that was a remarkable success from the outset. Collins's "Dramatic Line" of unusually large and swift sailing ships was highly profitable and was remarkably well publicized, especially by James Gordon Bennett's New York Herald. Collins and his sailing ships became synonymous with quality, luxury, elegance, speed, daring, and style during America's "Go Ahead" age.
By the 1840s Collins's fortune was estimated as even larger than his father-in-law's; and Collins, a conservative Democrat like Thomas Woodruff, became generally recognized as one of the prominent gentlemen of New York City. He had a large estate, "Larchmont," outside of New York City, membership in the New York Yacht Club, and selective involvement in local charities and benefits.
With the surprisingly successful crossing of the Atlantic in April 1838 by the British steamships Sirius and Great Western, Collins was among those Americans who saw that U.S. domination of the transatlantic sealanes by sailing packets was soon to end. Within a few years premium passenger and cargo transportation across the Atlantic Ocean was largely controlled by the British-owned and operated Cunard Line, which had begun regularly scheduled service in 1840 with heavy financial support from both private investors and the British government. Such public support of private enterprise was justified at the time by the extraordinary expense of building and operating steamships. Use of such steam-powered vessels as naval auxiliaries in wartime, or even possibly as warships, resulted in private steamship companies receiving contracts that produced large subsidy payments for carrying the mails overseas.
Faced with the British domination of transatlantic mail service and looking to create greater American naval capability without having to build and maintain more steam warships, the U.S. Congress in 1845 sought to encourage private American shipping operators to venture into the risky and largely untried business of ocean steam transportation. Edward Collins was among the first of those to propose a transatlantic liner service; unlike others, he sought to compete directly with Cunard for the most lucrative and heavily traveled route: Liverpool to the United States.
With a large federal government contract in hand and with major financial backing from the internationally powerful banking firm of the Brown Brothers, Collins supervised the construction in New York City of four essentially identical wooden-hulled, sidewheel steamships that would be the largest, fastest, and most luxurious in the world. The challenge of building machinery of unprecedented size and weight, along with numerous naval requirements adding to the difficulties of design and construction, created frequent delays. Expenses mounted far beyond expectation, but late in April 1850 the first Collins Line steamer, Atlantic, departed New York on its maiden voyage to Liverpool. By the end of the year the Baltic, Pacific, and Arctic were in service; and soon the New York and Liverpool United States Mail Steamship Company, or "Collins Line," was making serious inroads on the Cunard Line's transatlantic trade while continually setting transatlantic speed records.
In an attempt to stabilize and control the transatlantic steam transportation of premium cargoes and first-class passengers, the Cunard Line and Collins Line, with the direct involvement of the Brown Brothers firm, entered into a secret agreement to fix freight rates and also to pool and then apportion their earnings from this trade. This contract continued in force for several years, but even with all the advantages from this cartel--and a doubling of its annual government subsidy to $858,000 in 1852--the Collins Line failed to make a profit or pay any dividends on the corporation's stock. The loss of the Collins liner Arctic in a September 1854 collision off Newfoundland was a serious blow to the firm and a personal tragedy for Edward Collins, whose wife and two of their three children were drowned. Collins hoped to restore his company's fortunes with the addition of an even larger and swifter steamship, the Adriatic (designed by George Steers), but well before that long-delayed vessel went into service in late 1857 another Collins liner, the Pacific, was lost with all hands early in 1856.
Unable to maintain scheduled sailings satisfactorily, the Collins Line suffered from increasingly hostile treatment by Congress, so that when the subsidy was cut back late in 1857 at a time when a severe financial panic already had disrupted business, the Collins Line was unable to continue operations. By early 1858 the firm declared bankruptcy, the three remaining steamships were sold, and Collins ended his maritime career.
Moving to his summer home, "Collinwood," near Wellsville, Ohio, Collins tried to restore his fortune through iron manufacturing, coal mining, and drilling for oil, but all his efforts soon failed. Collins remarried, to Mrs. Sarah Browne, and by 1862 moved back to the New York City area, where he lived in declining comfort and increasing obscurity. After several decades of remarkable success as a maritime entrepreneur, his business failure with the collapse of the heavily subsidized Collins Line would tarnish his reputation, as well as the principle of government subsidy, for many years afterwards. Collins died in New York City.
Bibliography
Warren Armstrong, The Collins Story (1957), is a highly fictionalized effort to write a historical romance about Collins's life. Most authoritative accounts are limited to the steamship phase of Collins's career, especially the pertinent chapters in David B. Tyler, Steam Conquers the Atlantic (1939); John Malcolm Brinnin, The Sway of the Grand Saloon (1971); and Cedric Ridgely-Nevitt, American Steamships on the Atlantic (1981). Brief accounts of Collins's maritime career are in Ralph Whitney, "The Unlucky Collins Line," American Heritage 8 (1957): 48-53, 100-102; Edward Sloan, "Edward Knight Collins: Maritime Entrepreneur and Impresario," The Log of Mystic Seaport 40 (1988): 3-17; and Sloan, "Private Enterprise and Mixed Enterprise: The Changing Fortunes of Edward Knight Collins, American Maritime Entrepreneur," in Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, 1990, ed. Neil Churchill et al. (1991): 603-17. More specialized accounts of Collins by Sloan include "The Roots of a Maritime Career: E. K. Collins and the New York-Gulf Coast Trade, 1821-1848," Gulf Coast Historical Review 5 (1990): 104-13; "The Nightingale and the Steamship: Jenny Lind and the Collins Liner Atlantic," American Neptune 51 (1991): 149-55; "Collins versus Cunard: The Realities of a North Atlantic Steamship Rivalry, 1850-1858," International Journal of Maritime History 4 (June 1992): 83-100; and "The Baltic Goes to Washington: Lobbying for a Congressional Steamship Subsidy, 1852," Northern Mariner/Le Marin du Nord 5 (1995): 19-32. An obituary is in the New York Herald, 23 Jan. 1878.
Edward W. Sloan
76
Eleazer Lewis Collins
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: 22 Sep 1843 - Wellfleet, Massachusetts 77 78
Baptism:
Death:
Burial:
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: Eleazer Lewis Collins (1806-1893) 79
Mother: Sarah Cole Newcomb (1809-1894) 79