USA > New York > Columbia County > Hillsdale > A history of Hillsdale, Columbia County, New York : a memorabilia of persons and things of interest, passed and passing > Part 10
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John, born July 15th, 1732. David, born February 18th, 1734. James, born 1736.
He continued in command of the ship for sixteen years. But in 1746, having sailed from Milford Haven for the West Indies, he, with the ship, was lost at sea. His fam- ily waited his return in painful suspense till time demon- strated that he never could return :
"The moon had twelve times change.l her form, From glowing orb to crescent wan,
Midst skies of calm and scowl of storm, Since from the port that ship had gone. But ocean keeps her secrets well, And now is known that all is o'er,
No eye hath seen, no tongue can tell His fate ; he ne'er was heard of more."
His papers and books, now preserved among his kin-
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dred, show that he was a good penman, and an accom- plished scholar. And they have erected to his memory a granite monument in the grounds of the Hillsdale Rural Cemetery Association.
JOHN COLLIN, son of John and Hannah Merwin Collin, was born in Milford, Conn., July 15th, 1732. Having lost his father in his infancy, his maternal grandfather, John Merwin, became his guardian, and taught him to pursue those moral, prudential and industrial habits by which he subsequently acquired wealth and distinction.
He married Sarah Arnold of Dutchess county, N. Y., September 16th, 1758, by whom he had three children :
Anthony, born February 24th, 1760. - Hannah, born June 7th, 1763.
John, born September 19th, 1772.
His wife, Sarah, having died December 29th, 1791, he married Deidama Morse Davidson, May 13th, 1792. He died in Hillsdale, August 21st, 1809.
In 1773 he received a captain's commission from Gov- ernor Tryon, the British colonial Governor, and in 1777 he received a captain's commission from George Clinton, the Governor of the State of New York.
He possessed great physical strength and mechanical ingenuity, and he was a prominent actor in the public en- terprises of the day.
He was baptized in the Congregational Church, in Mil- ford, May 16th, 1736, and was ever very steadfast in his religious opinions, and is said to have manifested much ability in their defence. He was also a member of the Masonic fraternity.
He was cotemporary with Alexander Hamilton, Wil- liam W. Van Ness, Elisha Williams and Jacob Rutsen Van Rensselaer, and his papers show that he was on 19+
1
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HILLSDALE HISTORY.
terms of friendly intimacy with them, rendering to and receiving from them reciprocal favors.
DAVID COLLIN, son of John and Hannah Merwin Collin, born in Milford, Conn., February 19th, 1734. Having lost his father in his infancy, he became the ward of John Merwin, his maternal grandfather, through whom he ac- quired the habits of industry and economy by which he obtained great wealth. He married Lucy Smith, of Dutchess county, N. Y., February 19th, 1764, by whom he had two children :
Hannah, born 1765. David, born February 22d, 1767.
His wife, Lucy, having died March 15th, 1767, he mar- ried Esther Gellett, January 19th, 1772, by whom he had three children :
Lucy, born February 28th, 1773. Sally, born 1775.
James, born April 5th, 1777.
He had been a lieutenant in the British army during the French war, and was present at an unsuccessful attack upon Fort Ticonderoga. During the war of the Ameri- can Revolution his house was plundered by a band of robbers, who treated his family with great rudeness, and tortured him nearly to the verge of life. He died Decem- ber 17th, 1818, and his wife, Esther, died May 8th, 1824. He had been baptized in the First Congregational Church of Milford, May 16th, 1736.
JAMES COLLIN, son of John and Hannah Merwin Collin, born in Milford, Conn., and baptized in the First Congre- gational Church of that town, October 30th, 1737, died in his infancy. His mother had become a member of the Congregational Church on the 16th of May, 1735.
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ANTHONY COLLIN, son of John and Sarah Arnold Collin, born in Dutchess county, N. Y., February 24th, 1760, was a soldier in the war of the American Revolution, and was made a prisoner by the army of Sir Henry Clinton, Oct. 16th, 1777, and died in captivity in December following.
HANNAH COLLIN, daughter of John and Sarah Arnold Collin, born in Dutchess county, N. Y., June 7th 1763, and married Thomas Truesdell, October 8th, 1781 ; died in Hillsdale, June 26th, 1817. They had six children :
John W., born May 7th, 1783. Sarah, born June 17th, 1785. Harry, born March 1st, 1788. Beebe, born January 10th, 1794. Arnold, born September 16th 1796. Gove, born May 14th, 1802.
JOHN COLLIN, son of John and Sarah Arnold Collin, born in Dutchess county, N. Y., September 19th, 1772, and married Ruth Holman Johnson, October 23d, 1798 ; died in Hillsdale, December 28th, 1833. They had nine children :
James, born January 16th, 1800. John Francis, born April 30th, 1802. Sarah Amanda, born April 21st, 1804. Jane Miranda, born February 14th, 1807.
Hannah, born December 19th, 1809. Ruth Maria, born March 1st, 1813 ; died June, 1838. Henry Augustus, born January 6th, 1817.
William Quincy, born November 23d, 1819; died July 30th, 1822.
Clynthia A., born December 10th, 1822 ; died August 5th, 1828.
JAMES COLLIN, son of John and Ruth Holman Collin,
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HILLSDALE HISTORY.
born Jauary 16th, 1800, and married to Jane B. Hunt, of Lenox, Mass., May 5th, 1822, by whom he had three children :
James Hunt, born March 21st, 1823.
Jane Sophia, born November 27th, 1824.
John Francis, born February 15th, 1827 ; died same year.
His wife, Jane B., having died February 25th, 1827, he married Velona Hill, of Hillsdale, March 17th, 1828, by whom he had six children :
Ellen H., born February 20th, 1829.
Charles R., born March Ist, 1832.
Louis E., born August 10th, 1833.
John H., born February 25th, 1835.
Mary C., born March 15th, 1838. William M., born March 23d, 1842.
His wife, Velona, died August 11th, 1846, and he mar- ried Chastine Wolverton, of Albany, N. Y., September 7th, 1847, by whom he had six children :
Edwin W., born September 19th, 1849.
Mortimer and Monteath, twins, born December 9th, 1852.
George W., born December 13th, 1855.
Hattie May, born May 1st, 1856.
Lizzie A born March 12th, 1860.
Very early in years he commenced business as a mer- chant in North Egremont, Mass., but subsequently en- gaged in the furnace business at Lenox, Mass., in which he continued for many years and finally added to that business the manufacture of plate glass, at which he con- tinued till his death, which occurred December 16th,1861.
He was an accomplished business man and distin- guished for industry, intelligence and high moral and social characteristics.
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JOHN FRANCIS COLLIN, son of John and Ruth Holman Johnson Collin, born in Hillsdale, April 30th, 1802, and married Pamelia Jane Tullar, daughter of Charles and Rebecca Race Tullar, of Egremont, Mass., September 23d, 1827, by whom he had six children.
Jane Paulina, born 1828 ; died September 17th, 1830. Hannah Clynthia, born 1829; died March 14th, 1831. Pamelia Laurania, born 1831. John Frederick, born 1833.
Quincy Johnson, born 1836. Frances Amelia, born 1840.
His wife Pamelia having died June 8th, 1870, he mar- ried Jane Becker, daughter of Philip and Elizabeth De Groff Becker, of Hillsdale, January 16th, 1871.
His birth occurred about eighteen years after the close of the American Revolutionary war. In his boyhood he had listened to the historic incidents of that war from those who had acted in or been sufferers by it. He had listened to those relations from the lips of his maternal grandmother, and but few possessed so interesting collo- quial powers as she. She told of her brother James im- porting arms and munitions of war from France, and of his sagacity in avoiding British cruisers which thronged the coasts of Massachusetts. She told of the painful in- terest felt by herself and family while listening to the bat- tle of Bunker Hill, in which her brothers James, Bartlet and Watson were engaged. She told of the parting scene with her brother Abner, the packing of his clothes in his knapsack by maternal hands, and the last embrace, as he, only sixteen years of age, went forth with Capt. Jacob Allen's Bridgwater company to aid in opposing the army of Gen. Burgoyne. She described the scene in the family when the letter from her brother James brought the in- formation that Abner had fallen in battle.
The death of Anthony Collin, too, had excited a deep 20
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interest. Only sixteen years of age, he had been made prisoner by the army of Sir Henry Clinton, and suffered and died in captivity, and his mother went to her grave with a broken heart.
Under these circumstances it is not strange that John F. Collin, in his boyhood, imbibed a hatred to the Brit- ish name, and that the incidents in the war of 1812 should have given him strong democratic proclivities.
Being physically strong and healthy in his youth, while his older brother was the reverse, his father resolved to bring him up to be his successor on the farm. To that end he employed him during summer on the farm, and during winter in procuring an education. The effect of his early agricultural training has produced the fruits of a successful agricultural life. And that his time was not wasted as a student, may be inferred from the following penegyric of his old preceptor :
Dear Sir-It becomes my duty at the close of the term, to write you a few lines on the subject of your son Francis. He has distinguished him- self the past term by his manly and correct deportment as a gentleman, and by his application and success as a scholar. He seems to have laid the foundation for a correct knowledge of the Latin language, and to have opened his mind to the reception of those liberal sciences in which he seems destined to be distinguished. While he is one of the brightest ornaments of our academy, he is dear to our school and village.
Sincerely and respectfully yours,
LEVI GLEASON.
To MR. JOHN COLLIN.
The term thus alluded to by Mr. Gleason, proved to be the last of his life as a student. His father's feeble health made his services indispensable at home, and though in his minority, his father devolved upon him all his out- business, which extended over much of the State, and in- volved much litigation. He also employed him in the settlement of the mercantile business of his elder brother, which had become very much embarrassed. During the years devoted to this latter object, he made the acquaint-
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ance and married Miss Pamelia Jane Tullar, whose head to advise and hand to assist and heart to cheer, has con- tributed very much to his success in life.
He had given much attention to the political history of his country, and became enthusiastically attached to its institutions. He considered the religious influence of the clergy, one of the strongest pillars of the State, so long as that influence wasreflex rather than direct. But a political clergy, while corrupting the church, he believed to be not only dangerous to liberty, but mischievious to all civil institutions, of which the Jesuits were an example. Po- litical clergymen had expartraced both his paternal and maternal ancestors from their native countries, and com- pelled them to make this their country by adoption. He saw with regret and alarm, legislation introduced initia- tory to that great evil, in the Rev. Joshua Leavitt's recommended Christian party in politics.
Influenced by these considerations, on the 13th of Feb- ruary, 1830, he addressed a meeting at the Baptist Church in Hillsdale Center, at which the Hon. Henry Loop pre- sided, and David G. Wooden acted as secretary. That address was published and attracted some attention, and a venerable politition tendered him his mantle. Another from an exceeding high mountain showed him the king- doms of the earth and the glory of them.
But ties of friendship, nor the allurements of ambition, could divest him of the prejudices of youth and the con- victions of maturer years, and he cast his lot with the democracy of the country.
In 1833 he received the Democratic nomination to the State Legislature, and was elected by 800 majority in the county, having received 207 majority in his native town. In that year his father died, having, by his will, imposed upon him the settlement of his estate and the execution of many trusts.
He was soon after apointed a commissioner to settle
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controversies between the Hudson and Berkshire railroad company and certain individuals over whose premises the road was required to run. In 1837, and for seven suc- cessive years, he was elected supervisor in the town of Hillsdale.
He was a delegate to the Congressional Convention which gave Robert McClellan his first nomination to Con- gress, and when the tariff act of 1842 was under consider- ation, Mr. McClellan sent him a draft of the bill and wished his opinion on it ; and he signified to Mr. McClel- lan his unqualified disapprobation of it, for it interfered with the reserved rights of States. It interfered with the industrial interests of persons within States, giving some persons great privileges at the expense of others. It gave to certain States privileges at the expense of others. It disturbed the natural laws of trade. It sought to circumvent the edicts of the Almighty by enabling, by special legislation, a privileged class of citizens to earn their bread by the sweat of other's brows. It was deceptive in its provisions. Its minimums and certain other of its provisions were misnomers. To deceive the public, it fixed fictitious, extravagantly advanced valua- tions upon certain imports, and upon those advanced val- uations imposed advalorem duties, and under the pretense of protection to the home manufacturer it imposed decep- tive duties upon articles of most general use at home, and such as the manufacturers themselves were then suc- cessfully competing in markets with the manufacturers of other countries. In fine, he considered that tariff a dan- gerous precedent and a great moral wrong. But notwith- standing all these objections it became a law.
In 1844 he was elected to Congress himself. His strong convictions of the impolicy of the tariff of 1842, led him to make great exertions for its repeal, and it was re- pealed. And the committee of ways and means allowed him to dictate many of the provisions in the act of 1846.
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It was one of his principles of political economy, that wealth obtained by industry and prudence is a source of national greatness, strength and happiness ; but when ob- tained by other means was a source of national weakness, corruption and misery.
Even a desire to obtain wealth by other means than in- dustry and prudence has in it the root of all evil.
It was under the influence of such principles that the tariff act of 1846 was conceived, and the ten years suc- ceeding its passage may be claimed to have been the hal- cyon age of the republic.
That tariff produced an ample revenue for an economi- cal government.
Its burthens were imposed equally upon all, and left each and all to the full enjoyment of their own industry and economy.
The wicked and odious laws which had bestowed boun- ties upon Boston rum and other New England commodi- ties, were beginning to be erased from our statute books.
The sovereignty of States over all their internal and municipal interests was fully recognized.
Not a fort had been erected upon the territory of a State without having first obtained the consent of such State for its erection, the State reserving to itself sover- eignty over such fort, except for the sole purpose of de- fence against external aggression.
Not a federal bayonet was allowed to interfere within the limits of a State, even in case of insurrection, till in- vited by the authority of the State itself. Nor had the federal courts a right to adjudicate where the issues were entirely between citizens of the same State.
The whole prerogative of the general government was confined to the external interests of States, and to their defence, and to their intercourse with each other and with foreign States. And like the sun reflecting its be- neficence upon its satellites, and by its attraction keeping 20*
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them within their orbits, and while independent of each other, preventing collisions.
During the eventful ten years succeeding 1846, all that was great and good in this nation flourished ; the people were peaceful, prosperous and happy, and the nation raised from a state of mediocrity to be one of the might- iest of the world. Even Europe profited by our example of State sovereignty, and Portugal, Holland, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland and Greece, with popula- tions no larger than our individual States, were recog- nized as competent for self-government, and were sover- eign over their own interests. And the greater sover- eignties of Europe protected them in that sovereignty.
But the influences which conceived such laws as the tariff act of 1842, had produced the imputed cause which formed the excuse for provoking our late civil war. Un- der the excitement of that war, amendments have been made to the federal constitution, in each of which are in- sidious provisions, revolutionary, depriving not only the States but the federal courts of their prerogatives, and vesting them in the discretion of Congress.
The consequence of all this is, that crime pervades our land. And corruption, instead of being exceptional, is the rule among all in official positions. Even the ermine of our highest courts has become soiled. The legal ten- der decision must impair our credit, and leave an unfavor- able impression in respect to us among all enlightened nations.
A subsidized press and pensioned editors are lavishing their sophistry upon the people, and to effect their pur- poses they show alike their editorial and pictorial buffoon- ry upon the good and the bad, the knave and the patriot.
Under these influences and wicked legislation the wealth of this nation is rapidly becoming concentrated in the hands of knavish individuals or soulless corporations, and the people are imperceptibly gliding into a state of
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slavery. And instead of being, as in times past, the pride of nations and the hope of the world, civilization is look- ing upon us with pity and contempt.
Notwithstanding seven years of peace, the mailed hand of the conquerer has still got by the throat the people of many of our States, and is feeling its way to those of others, and Federal bayonets have already gleamed to overawe our northern elections, the most important of our franchise.
The only hope to the friends of freedom is in that God whose ways are so far above human comprehension. He may be chastising us for our good, for-
He moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform, He plants his footsteps on the sea, And rides upon the storm. ,
SARAH AMANDA COLLIN, daughter of John and Ruth Holman Johnson Collin, born in Hillsdale, April 21st, 1804, and married to Rodney Hill, son of Jonathan and Christine E. Wilcox Hill, of Hillsdale, Feb. 20, 1825; died in Great Barrington, 1867. They have had two children :
John Henry, born May 16th, 1826.
Ruth Maria, born January 23d, 1829.
JANE MIRANDA COLLIN, daughter of John and Ruth Hol- man Collin, born in Hillsdale, February 14th, 1807, and married to Rev. Hiram H. White, of Canton, Conn., June 2d, 1830. Died August 1879.
HANNAH COLLIN, daughter of John and Ruth Holman Johnson Collin, born in Hillsdale, December 19th, 1809, and married Lewis Wright, of Xenia, Ohio, April 16th, 1833, by whom she had one daughter :
Melinda TY, born in Wilmington, Ohio, March 27th 1834.
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HILLSDALE HISTORY.
RUTH MARIA COLLIN, daughter of John and Ruth Hol- man Johnson Collin. born in Hillsdale, March 1st, 1813 ; died June, 1838.
HENRY AUGUSTUS COLLIN, son of John and Ruth Hol- man Johnson Collin, born in Hillsdale, January 6th, 1817, and married Sarah Ann White, of Sharon, Conn., October 29th, 1836, by whom he has had three children :
Henry Alonzo, born August 14th, 1837. Sarah Adaline, born January 3d, 1840. Edwin, born August 31st, 1842.
He was five times elected supervisor of the town of Hillsdale, and was highly respected for intelligence and integrity. In 1856 he moved to Mount Vernon, Linn county, Iowa.
WILLIAM QUINCY COLLIN, son of John and Ruth Holman Johnson Collin, born in Hillsdale, November 23d, 1819 ; died July 30th, 1822.
CLYNTHIA A. COLLIN, daughter of John and Ruth Hol- man Johnson Collin, born December 10th, 1822 ; died August 5th, 1828.
JAMES H. COLLIN, son of James and Jane B. Hunt Col- lin, born at Egremont, Massachusetts, March 21st, 1823, and married to Mary Elizabeth Wright, daughter of Lewis and Hannah Springer Wright, of Xenia, July 12th, 1843, by whom he has had five children. He died in 1882.
Frances M., born August 3d, 1844. Sarah M., born November, 5th, 1847. Emma S., born March 26th, 1850. Henry Clay, born November 27th, 1851. Jennie L., born September 11th, 1859.
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JANE S. COLLIN, daughter of James and Jane B. Hunt Collin, born at Egremont, November 27th, 1824, and mar- ried to George Robbins, of Lenox, Mass., October 28th, 1847, by whom she has had two children :
Mary E., born in Ohio. James, born in New Marlborough, Mass.
ELLEN H. COLLIN, daughter of James and Velona Hill Collin, born in Lee, Mass., July 20th, 1829, and married to Roswell Derbyshire, of Lenox, Mass., May 9th, 1849, and upon his decease she married H. Hills, May, 1854, by whom she had two sons and one daughter, and is now liv- ing in Janesville, Rock county, Wisconsin.
CHARLES R. COLLIN, son of James and Velona Hill Collin, born at Lee, Mass., March Ist, 1832, and married Hannah Wilcox, of Elgin, Illinois, 1854, by whom he has four boys, and he is now a merchant in the State of Iowa.
LOUIS E. COLLIN, son of James and Velona Hill Collin, born at Lee, Mass., August 10th, 1833, and married Mary A. Macy, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, by whom he has one son. He now resides in Chicago, Illinois.
JOHN H. COLLIN, son of James and Velona Hill Collin, born at Lee, Mass., February 25th, 1835, and is now liv- ing in the State of Iowa.
MARY C. COLLIN, daughter of James and Velona Hill Collin, born at Lenox, Mass., March 15th, 1838, and mar- ried Lorenzo L. Crowns, December 27th, 1859, by whom she has two sons and is now residing in Washington, in the District of Columbia.
WILLIAM M. COLLIN, son of James and Velona Hill Col- lin, born at Lenox, Mass., March 23d, 1842, and married Clara Rogers, daughter of the Hon. Charles Rogers, of 21
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HILLSDALE HISTORY.
Washington county, N. Y., 1869. At one time he was cashier of the First National Bank of Sandy Hill, N. Y. He died in 1879.
EDWIN W. COLLIN, son of James and Chastine E. Wol- verton Collin, born at Lenox, September 19th, 1849, died at Pittsfield, Mass., 1871.
MORTIMER and MONTEATH COLLIN, twins, born Decem- ber 9th, 1852.
GEORGE W. COLLIN, born December 13th, 1855.
HATTIE MAY COLLIN, born May 1st, 1858.
LIZZIE A. COLLIN, born March 12th, 1860.
All children of James and Chastine Wolverton Collin, and all in their infancy, are residing with their mother in Pittsfield, Mass.
FRANCES M. COLLIN, born August 3d, 1844. SARAH M. COLLIN, born November 5th, 1847. EMMA S. COLLIN, born March 26th, 1850. HENRY CLAY COLLIN, born November 27th, 1851. JENNIE L. COLLIN, born September 11th, 1859.
All children of James H. and Mary Elizabeth Wright Collin, are residing with their parents in Pittsfield, Mass.
JOHN FRANCIS COLLIN, son of James and Jane B. Hunt Collin, born in Egremont, Mass., February 15th, 1827 ; died April 9th, 1827.
PAMELIA LAURANIA COLLIN, daughter of John Francis and Pamelia Jane Tullar Collin, born in Hillsdale, Decem- ber 12th, 1831, and married to the Rev. John Braden, of Xenia, Ohio, October 16th, 1856, by whom she has had three children :
Mary Eliza, born August 11th, 1858.
Francis Collin, born August 11th, 1860 ; died July 20th, 1861.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Fannie, born June 23d, 1866; died September 18th, 1866.
She now resides in Nashville, in the State of Tennessee.
JOHN FREDERICK COLLIN, son of John Francis and Pa- melia J. Tullar Collin, born in Hillsdale, September 24th, 1833, and married Jennett Van Dusen, daughter of Sey- mour and Caroline McArthur Van Dusen, December 15th, 1857, by whom he has had four children :
John Jay, born December 12th, 1858; died July 2d, 1861.
Ruth Anna, born February 4th, 1863 ; died October 16th, 1870.
Frances Pamelia, born August 13th, 1866. John Quincy, born December 11th, 1873.
QUINCY JOHNSON COLLIN, son of John Francis and Pame- lia Jane Tullar Collin, born in Hillsdale, August 20th, 1836, graduated at the Wesleyan University in Middle- town, Conn., 1856, and married Martha Collin, daughter of Solomon Bingham and Julia Ann Bushnell Collin, March 28th, 1860, by whom he has had three children :
Carrie Louise, born January 14th, 1862.
May Amelia, born May 15th, 1865 ; died March 18th, 1869.
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