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
Mountain
families (as well as others) have the tradition of
passing down a family given name through the generations.
In my research on the Thompson and Celia Self
Collins family, I have noted that the name of this first Collins
settler in
This week we view the life and times
of one in the third generation, Thompson Smith Collins.
He was a grandson of the original settler and
a son of Francis (Frank) and Rutha Nix Collins.
Thompson Smith Collins was born
Thompson Smith Collins was called
“Thomp” to distinguish him from his uncle Thompson Collins (b. 1818)
who was
known as “Thompie,” long-time Justice of the Peace.
On
Thomp Collins’ main occupation was
farming. He was also a part time
blacksmith, cobbler and carpenter. He
often did smithy work for neighbors in the community fashioning or
honing small
tools for farm use. From leather he had
tanned, he mended or made shoes at his cobbler’s bench.
Many houses and other buildings in the
community were products of his building skills, a talent he passed on
to his
youngest son.
Both Charles Hill in his delightful
“Blood Mountain Covenant” (Ivy House Books, 2003) and the Honorable
Zell Miller
in his autobiography, “The Mountains Within Me” (Cherokee Publishers,
1985)
refer to an incident in the life of Thomp Collins that attests to his
unrelenting loyalty to friends, even at great cost to himself. Thomp Collins lived by strict principles,
practicing them in his daily life.
Sometime in the year 1875 two men came
to Thompson Collins’ house. They asked
him to use his mules to pull their loaded wagon to the top of Tesnatee
Gap. Evidently their own mules could
manage the wagon on the descent southward into
The three men and the loaded wagon
soon began the journey. About half way
up the mountain, the entourage was overtaken by Federal Revenue agents. Quickly the two men disappeared into the
forest, escaping. The wagon loaded with
a fresh run of mountain moonshine was an easy target for the agents. The agents offered to free Thomp Collins if
he would reveal the names of the two who escaped.
Thomp resolutely refused to reveal the
men’s names. He himself took the charge
of running contraband liquor. He was
sent to Federal Prison in
Then one day a travel-worn, more
mature Thomp Collins returned to his home.
He had walked the entire distance from
Thomp and Susie Collins had seven
children but only four of them grew to adulthood. It
is interesting to note, as the children
wed, how the marriages joined families of other early settlers in
(1)
James
Monroe “Roe” Collins (Jan.
16,
1871-June 30, 1954) married
Nancy Elmira Twiggs (Feb. 17,
1874-Dec. 26,
1953). She was a daughter of the Rev.
John Wesley and Sarah Elizabeth Hughes Twiggs.
“Roe” and “
(2)
William
Virgil Collins
(1874-1944) married
Lydia E. Jackson (1875-1956) on
(3)
Joseph
Gordon Collins
(1876-1958) married
Susan Mason Smith (1889-1966). Joe
studied law and graduated from the University of Virginia Law School. He passed the
Children (4) (5) and (6) of
Thomp and Susie
Collins died young. They were Avory
Cordelia Collins (1880-1886); Charles Luther Collins (1882-1900); and
Mary
Rebecca Collins (b/d 1886).
(7)
Francis
Thurman Collins known as
Bob
(1890-1969) married first, Mary Viola Collins (1893-1937) on January 3, 1913, daughter of James
Johnson and Margaret A. Nix Collins;
and second, Pearl Fortenberry (1906-?) on February 2, 1939, daughter of LaFayette and Laura Fortenberry.
Bob was a farmer and a carpenter. He
built a house beside his mother and father
and looked after his mother in her declining years.
Bob and Viola had six children, all of whom
had outstanding careers: Cecil, Hazel,
James Thompson, Robert Neal, Mary Catherine and Betty Jane.
No
one held Thompson Smith Collins’ stint in Federal Prison against him. Upon his return to Choestoe, his life could
have been that described by the poet. He
“lived in his house by the side of the road/and became a friend to man.”
At the mill one day, a man with a
hungry family came by. Thomp Collins
gave the man his last turn of meal and went out to buy a bushel of corn
to have
ground for his own family. One day a
neighbor came to borrow Thomp’s mule. He
asked the man to let him plow the row to the end before unhitching the
mule for
his neighbor’s use.
On his tombstone in
[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.]
Updated September 8, 2008
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