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
Honoring a
Worthy Grandfather at Christmas
Highlights in the life of Francis Jasper "Bud" Collins
Christmas is a time for family,
a time to
delight in children and grandchildren, a time to honor parents and
grandparents.
I have many wonderful memories of my
grandfather, Francis Jasper “Bud” Collins (January 30, 1855-December
17, 1941),
although I was only a child when he passed away. Among
my pleasant recollections of childhood
are those times spent at my grandfather’s house where I always enjoyed
going to
his country store when someone came and rang the bell for service. Grandpa was always generous with the luscious
chocolate drops, orange slices and various stick candies he dispensed
in his
store. He may have inadvertently made me
the “chocoholic” I am with his gift of a chocolate drop each time we
went into
the store.
The day of his death is indelibly
printed in my memory. Already another
traumatic event, which we’d heard about on radio, had happened ten days
prior
to his death. That was the Japanese
bombing of
Then on the late afternoon of December
17, I looked out our kitchen window as I heard a car approaching on the
road
below our house. I recognized my cousin
Clyde Collins’ car. I knew instinctively
that he came as bearer of the news of Grandpa Collins’ death. I was right.
That was the sad message he brought to my mother, Azie Collins
Dyer. Here, so close to Christmas, when
we were practicing Christmas programs both for
It was not until later that I learned
something of the stature and importance of citizen F. J. Collins. He served as
I wish I had listened more to the
stories of his days in politics. He must
have gotten to
Francis Jasper Collins was primarily a
farmer. He lived on a 400 acre spread,
part of the land on which his grandfather, Thompson Colllins, Sr.
settled. Bud Collins owned the first
threshing machine
in the Choestoe community and pulled it from farm to farm with a team
of oxen
to thresh his neighbors’ grain. Later he
got a power-driven engine for the thresher.
He was also a merchant, a cattle trader, and a miller. He made sorghum syrup in the fall, sometimes
making in excess of 5,000 gallons. His
house was the first on Choestoe wired for electricity from the Delco
plant he
installed.
My first trip to
Bud Collins was said to be
mathematically inclined, figuring out intricate arithmetical problems
in his
head. Always with a keen business
acumen, he was able to acquire a good deal of money for his day. He often loaned money to his neighbors and
others, never taking a note for the loan.
He contended that a person’s word was his bond; otherwise, a
piece of
paper would not guarantee repayment of the loans. Following
his death, since there was no
record of loans, many, no doubt, went unpaid.
But others, who were honest, paid what was owed to the estate.
Francis Japer Collins and Georgianne
Hunter (April 5, 1855-October 3, 1924) were married on
(1)
Ida
Collins married Perry Hood.
(2)
Andrew
(Andy) Collins married
Sarah Alice
Davis.
(3)
Olza
A. Collins married Mary Nix.
(4)
Eda S.
Colllins died at age four.
(5)
India
Collins never married.
(6)
Esley
L. Collins, never married.
(7)
Lillie
Collins married Herschel
A. Dyer.
(8)
Sarah
Collins (Dec. 21-1891-Jan.
10, 1893)
(9)
Francis
(Frank) Collins died at
age
nineteen.
(10)Azie Collins married Jewel
Marion Dyer.
(11)William Harve Collins
married Northa
Maybelle Dyer.
(12)Avery Collins never married.
(13)Ethel Georgianne Collins
married John
Mervil Clement.
Bud Collins’ nephew, Joe G.
Collins, lawyer
in
At Christmastime we remember a good
legacy, and pleasant contacts with a dear grandparent.
It is as though hands and hearts from the
past reach over time to touch us and make us who we are today.
May yours be a blessed Christmas.
c2004 by
Ethelene Dyer
Jones; published December 23,
2004 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville,
GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
[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
Back To Union County, Georgia GenWeb Site