THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
With our nation celebrating
Thanksgiving and our family members together for the traditional turkey
feast and all its trimmings, this is a happy time.
One of the items on my gratitude list is the marvelous heritage
we enjoy, thanks to the sacrifices and hardships our ancestors endured. May we never take for granted the price they
paid that we might enjoy freedom, plenty, and security.
We can still learn much from their example.
I hope we will never forget, ever be grateful.
We began in last week’s column to chronicle Thompson Collins
(ca. 1785-ca. 1858) and his wife Celia Self Collins (ca. 1787-Sept. 3,
1880). He had large land holdings along
the French Broad and Mills Rivers and McDowell’s Creek in Buncombe
County, North Carolina. In 1822, a general
migration of people from that area moved to Habersham County, Georgia. A paper on the migration given at “a lawn
party” at the home of Henry Williams in Nacoochee Valley in 1822 lists
sixty-two different families who made the migration and settled on
lands they secured either by lottery or by purchasing from the Indians
prior to their removal to western lands. Thompson
and Celia Collins were not in this migration of 62 families originating
mainly in Burke and Rutherford Counties, NC.
Two years later, in 1824, Thompson Collins purchased 250 acres
of land in Habersham (now White) County, District Four, Land Lot 27. He paid $300 for the land to Daniel L.
Richardson of Hancock County, Georgia. The
latter probably received it in a land lottery, did not plan to move to
the mountains, and sold it instead. Thompson
and Celia lived on this land which is now where Loudsville Church is
located in White County.
He added 250
acres to his holdings on December 1, 1827 when he purchased from R. M.
Richardson of Walton County, GA in Land Lot 28, 4th District
for $20.00.
Gold fever
struck when nuggets were found at Duke’s Creek in 1828.
Whether Thompson Collins ever dug for gold is uncertain. However records in the Habersham County Court
house show that he sold fifty of the above-listed acres to Charles P.
Gordon of Putnam County, Georgia from Lot # 27 “next to Collins Field”
for gold mining. The price he received for
the sale was $200.
Thompson
Collins’ next land transaction was a purchase of 250 acres in Lot # 75,
4th District, from Averette Bonner of Putnam County for $100.
On February 9,
1831, three prospectors, Elijah Reid, James P. Heath and Michael Brown
made a mortgage to Thompson Collins for $200 on parts of Land Lots 27
and 28, District 4, for the purpose of mining.
Another 250
acres was purchased May 18, 1831 from Thomas J. Rush in District 4, Lot
# 71 for $150.00.
Collins sold to
the said Reid, Heath and Brown for $400 in land lots 27 and 28, 250
acres, “except for 50 acres sold to Charles P. Gordon.”
Collins received from Lewis Clark to secure a debt of $846.30
which Clark owed him the following, delivered to him in person: Negro slaves: a
woman named Betsy about 25 years old; Lucy, a girl about 16 years old;
Henry, a boy about 8 years old; Patience, a girl about 6; Bill, a boy
about 4. The slaves were delivered April
2, 1833 and the transaction was recorded in Habersham County records on
August 15, 1833.
Thompson Collins and Henry Turner sold to Francis Logan parts of
lots 45, 46 and 51 in District Four (Habersham) and lot 51 in Lumpkin
County for $900. Jesse Souther and Olaf
Collins were witnesses to the legal transaction. On
part of this land, Francis Logan built the Logan Turnpike, a toll road
that led from the Choestoe Valley in Union County across Tesnatee Gap
and down into present-day White County. This
toll road operated until Neal Gap Highway (Hwy 129) was opened in 1925.
The move across the mountain to Choestoe District occurred in
the early 1830’s, possibly by the time Union County was formed in 1832.
Thompson and Celia Collins were in the 1834
(first)
The Thompson Collins family made their home on land along
Choestoe Creek. Six of their ten children
were born in Buncombe County, NC before they moved to Habersham County,
Georgia. The remaining four were born in
Georgia. Children and their spouses were: Archibald Collins (1811) married Mary “Polly”
Nix (1818); Sarah “Sallie” Collins (1812)
married Jarrett Turner (1806); Elizabeth “Betsy” Collins (1814-1856)
married James Nix (1812); Francis (Frank) Collins (1816-1846) married
Rutha Nix (1822-1893); Thompson “Thompie” Collins (1818) married Sarah
“Sallie” Ingram (1817); Ruth Collins (1820) married Jacob “Jake” Butt
(1808); Celia Collins (1826) married James West (1812); Nancy Collins
(1829-1888) married John Combs Hayes Souther (1827-1891); Olive Collins
(1831-1853) married Robert “Bob” McCoy (1826); and
Ivan Kimsey Collins (1835-1901) married Martha J. Hunter (1840-1920).
In 1834 the first extant minutes of Choestoe Baptist Church list
Thompson and Celia Collins as members. They
were interred in the Old Choestoe Church Cemetery where descendants
erected a monument in recent years on which the names of the couple’s
children are listed.
[Ethelene
Dyer Jones is a retired educator, freelance writer, poet, and
historian. She may be reached at e-mail edj0513@windstream.net; phone
478-453-8751; or mail 1708 Cedarwood Road, Milledgeville, GA
31061-2411.]
Back To Union County, Georgia GenWeb Site