Andrew Madison Matthew Collins

Notes:

Shown as "Alexander/Andrew Madison/Matthew Collins" by Wynema McGrew.

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/K33D-FS1
name: Andrew Madison Collins
event: Death
event date: 29 Dec 1931
event place: Ranger, Eastland, Texas, United States
gender: Male
marital status: Widowed
birth date: 26 Jun 1858
birthplace: Robertson, Texas
father's name:
mother's name: Nannie Caley
certificate number: 60104
film number: 2135735
digital folder number: 005145170
image number: 03229
Collection: "Texas, Deaths (New Index, New Images), 1890-1976," Andrew Madison Collins, 1931

(Research):

Census Listings:

1880 Census
Texas, Robertson County, District 144
Enumerated 7 Jun 1880
Page 14 SD 4 ED 144
122-122
Collins, T. (Widow) and family
123-123
E. and Martha McGlaun and family
124-124
Collins, A. M. W M 22 Husband Laborer Tx --- Ala
Collins, Sarah A W F 30 Wf Keeping House Geo Geo Geo
Collins, Wiles W M 2/12 Apr Son Tx Geo Geo
125-125
W. M. and M. A McGlaun

Family/Spouse: Sarah "Sallie" A. McGlaun. Sarah was born on 13 Jun 1850 in Georgia; died on 17 Jun 1926 in Stephens County, Texas; was buried in Bullock Cemetery, Ranger, Bullock, Eastland County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Wiles Collins was born in Apr 1880 in Robertson County, Texas; and died.

Notes:

His FindAGrave memorial page includes an image of a 27 April 1861 Robertson County (Texas) tax receipt for cattle and property, added by Bob Matthews on 1/23/2014

(Research):

Census Listings:

1860 Census
Texas, Robertson County, Precinct 2
Enumerated 19 July 1860
Page 60
433-433
Nathaniel Collins 29 M Farmer 28 M 350 1873 Miss
Nancy Collins 28 F Housekeeper Fla
Margaret A Collins 3 F Tex
Orlando M 2 M Tx

Nathaniel married Nancy "Nan" Jeanette Coley on 30 May 1855 in Robertson County, Texas. Nancy (daughter of Wright Coley and Rebecca ???) was born on 9 Jan 1832 in Alabama; died on 20 Jul 1904 in Robertson County, Texas; was buried in Mt. Vernon Cemetery, Calvert, Robertson County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

At the time of the 1900 census, she was living with her daughter and son-in-law, Nettie and C. D. Drury in Calvert, Robertson County, Texas.

(Research):
Census Listings:

1870 Census
not located

1880 Census
Texas, Robertson County, Dist 144
Enumerated 7 Jun 1880
Page 14 SD 4 ED 144
122-122
Collins, J. W F 48 Widow Keeping House Ala --- ---
Collins, Alex M W 17 Son Farmer Tx --- Ala
Collins, N. J. W F 15 Dtr At Home Tx --- Ala
Collins, E. W. W M 11 Son Works on farm Tx --- Ala

Notes:

The son of Nathaniel M. Collins and Susan Burroughs.

After the death of their parents, the children of Elisha and Eliza Ann (McGrew) Collins can be found in Robertson Co, TX with and near the family of James Tate McGrew.

THE SOUTHERN McGREWS GREW says that they moved to Texas in late 1834 and they got 3 land grants (1 league in Sabine County on 15 November 1835, 160 acres in Hood County on 15 February 1837, and 320 acres in Sabine County on 15 December 1837) for services Elisha rendered from 12 November 1835 to 7 January 1836 in the Texas Army. He was captain of a company of volunteers in 1836 and was said to be a currier and tanner by trade. They were in Leon County, TX for the 1850 census and Eliza was head of household because he had died of dropsy on 9 January 1850---shortly before this census, in the home of their daughter Elizabeth.

Wynema McGrew's book cites these same facts, crediting Allye Moody as the source. The Patent number for the Hood County land was shown to be Patent 581, Vol. 15.

Ancestry.com shows that Eisha M. Collins was on the 1836 Texas Territory Census, in the District of Sabine. The Database they cite is "TX Tax List Index, 1830-1839." Elisha M. Collins is also shown on the Ancestry.com database of US Federal Census Mortality Schedules Index for Leon County, listed as Age 38, Male, Born in Kentucky, and dying in January of Dropsey. The ID # in MRT197_63297.

(Research):


Census Listings:

1850 Census
Texas, Leon County, Leon Division
Enumerated 17 Sept 1850
106-106
Eliza A Collins 35 F $800 Miss
Alexander Collins 20 M Farmer Miss
Sarah A Collins 15 F Miss
Andora Collins 10 F Tx
Ecalona Collins 8 F Tx
Elnora Collins 6 F Tx
Buckner M Collins 3 M Tx
Udora Collins 1 F Tx

Elisha married Eliza Ann McGrew on 6 Apr 1831 in Marion County, Mississippi. Eliza (daughter of Alexander McGrew and Elizabeth Blackburn) was born on 20 Mar 1816 in Marion County, Mississippi; died after 1850 in Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Married:
Per Wynema McGrew, their marriage was recorded in Bk. B, p. 147, Robert Burton, clerk

Notes:

Will Johnson shows him as born in 1788 in Columbus County, NC.

http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=wjhonson&id=I63568

A Wright Coley was in Major Lillington's Detachment, North Carolina Militia, serving as a Private during the War of 1812 (Roll Box 43, M602). Direct Data Capture, comp. U.S., War of 1812 Service Records, 1812-1815 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999.

Original data: National Archives and Records Administration. Index to the Compiled Military Service Records for the Volunteer Soldiers Who Served During the War of 1812. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. M602, 234 rolls.

There are also Alabama land records for a Wright Coley, as follows

Name Wright Coley
Land Office SPARTA
Document Number 54
Total Acres 78.08
Signature Yes
Canceled Document No
Issue Date 2 Jul 1826
Mineral Rights Reserved No
Metes and Bounds No
Statutory Reference: 3 Stat. 566
Multiple Warantee Names No
Act or Treaty April 24, 1820
Multiple Patentee Names No
Entry Classification: Sale-Cash Entries
Land Description 1, E?SW, ST STEPHENS, No 1N, 10E, 12

The age and location are a good fit, but it is not certain the records above are for the Wright Coley who moved to Texas ca 1835. Further research should be done.

Ancestry.com also lists numerous Texas Land Title Abstracts relating to Wright Coley, though based on the dates they were likely related to his son, or some other Wright Coley.

(Research):

Census Listings:

1850 Census
Texas, Roberston County, Pr. 1
Enumerated 4 Nov 1850
116-116
Wright Coley 63 M Farmer $--- NC
Rebecca Coley 49 F NC
William R. Coley 26 M Farmer Ala
John G. Coley 24 M Ala
Mary A Coley 21 F Ala
Nancy Coley 18 F Ala
Wright P Coley 15 M Tx
Rebecca Coley 11 F Tx
Elizabeth Coley 9 F Tx

Wright married Rebecca ???. Rebecca was born about 1801 in North Carolina; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

According to both THE SOUTHERN McGREWS GREW and the notes of Robert Lee McGrew of Pearland, TX, Alexander was probably born around 1778 in South Carolina. Wynema McGrew instead shows he was born in Louisiana/Mississippi Territory, sometime prior to 1783.

He obtained a passport in St. Stephens on September 24, 1797 to go to Georgia. His father had obtained a passport to go to Georgia earlier that same year. A land record indicates that Alexander inhabited and cultivated land near the Tombigbee River around 1797. In the early 1800's he put up a $700 bond as postmaster of Woodstown, AL. In 1801 he bought some land and in 1802, he and his mother sold land in Mississippi. He signed a memorial to Congress in 1803, and in 1806 he sold, along with other heirs of James McGrew, additional land. Alexander married Elizabeth Blackburn on October 16, 1808. Since she was under 18 years old, her father had to first grant his permission. Alexander was a veteren of the War of 1812. (Nixon's Company, Mississippi Militia), serving for the entire three years of the war. On 3 February 1817, he, a brother, and brother-in-law John Johns were charged with assault and battery. Alexander was the only one who paid a fine. In October 1818, he, John Johns, and brothers (this time William, James, and John) once again were fined for assault and battery. On July 11, 1819 he registered his brand "MC."

In 1843, he was involved in a lawsuit over the ownership of a slave named Elvy he was alleged to have stolen.

Alexander and Elizabeth (Blackburn) McGrew moved to Sabine County in the mid-1840's. They may have moved to join Elizabeth's father, Gabriel Blackburn, who had received a large land grant in Sabine County in 1836. The 1845 tax roll of Sabine County listed A. McGrew as owning 5 slaves. His eldest son, James, paid tax on a horse and a wagon at the same time. Alexander operated a gristmill on the banks of the Palo Guacho Bayou. The Texas Mortality schedule for 1850 showed "Alexander McGrew, age 58, sick 10 days, died 1849 in Sabine County." Alexander's widow, Elizabeth, can be found on the 1850 Sabine County census, along with her children John, Lorenzo, Margaret, and Adaline. She later moved back to Mississippi (Perry County) with her eldest son, James McGrew.

Blanche also indicated that the McGrew family was closely connected to the Methodist Ministers of that time. Son Lorenzo Dow McGrew was apparently named after the "eccentric Methodist Lorenzo Dow. In fact he covered virtually all of the territory of the United States in his peripatetic life, from New England to the Louisiana territory, but his journeys through the Old Southwest left an especially indeliable impression..On September 3, 1804, he married an equally peculiar woman, Peggy, and then the very next morning left her for an eight month trip through the Mississippi Territory." From the book, "A Way through the Wilderness: The Natchez Trace and the Civilization of the Southern Frontier" by William C. Davis (Harper Collins, 1995). According to Robert McGrew of Pearland, the McGrew's were in fact neighbors of preacher Lorenzo Dow in St. Stephens (Alabama) in the Mississippi Territory.

There is a military marker for Alexander McGrew in the Old Milam Cemetery in Sabine County. It is inscribed with a cross and "Alexander McGrew, Pvt Capt Motts Co, 15 Miss Militia, War of 1812. [Died] 2 Oct 1849. "

The Sabine County Reporter
October 22, 2014
Pages 1 and 2

"Milam Cemetery receives marker"

The Texas Historic Cemetery Dedication Ceremony for Milam Cemetery took place on Saturday, October 11, following the annual Nethery reunion...local historian Weldon McDaniel....gave a presentation outlining some of the significant historical events that took place in Milam and the importance of preserving the history of Milam Cemetery. He said as many as 85 percent of all early settlers coming into Texas put their boots in red dirt. Although San Augustine and Nacogdoches counties have a friendly battle over which is older, Milam is just as old as either of them....

Dorothy Nethery Spain had the honor of reading the script engraved on the marker:

"Milam, the first County Seat of Sabine County, has a history of travelers and visitors stretching back centuries. Native Americans and Spanish exploreres, soldiers and missionaries passed through and often camped on Las Boregas Creek. Texian settlers encountering the natural abundance echoed the words of Stephen F. Austin, who recorded in his diary entry of July 16, 1821: "We then suddenly came to an open rolling country thinly timbered soil about the color of Spanish browne, and in some places redder. This Red Land is very productive and is covered with the most luxuriant growth of grass I ever beheld in any country." The settlment first called Red Mound (Red Mount) was the seat of Government for the Sabine District since 1822, and was surveyed as a town site in 1828.

Milam Cemetery is on a high hill overlooking the historic community. The exact dated of the first burial will never be known Spanish Explorers were passing through present-day Milam as early as 1539 and camped on Las Boregas Creek a few hundred yards west of the cemetery. Local hisorians believed Anglo burials occurred here probably as early as 1775, since travelers used the campsite down the hill on the Las Boregas. The land on which the cemetery is located was granted to JOHN SMITH on Feb. 26, 1835. The first marked burial is dated 1864, although more than 100 unmarked graves are suspected. The numerous military Veterans dating back to the Creek War are interred here, as well as prominent early citizens from the CAUSEY, WEATHERRED. McGREW, and NETHERY families. Milam Cemetery may be the oldest organized cemetery in Sabine County, and cherished chronicle of generations of visitors and residents."

Alexander married Elizabeth Blackburn on 14 Oct 1808 in Wilkinson County, Mississippi. Elizabeth (daughter of Gabriel Blackburn and Frances Tyner) was born between 1794 and 1796 in Feliciana Parish, Louisiana; died after 1860 in Perry County, Mississippi. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

(Medical):The child of a direct female descendant of Elizabeth Blackburn (Nina Fuller, the daughter of Viola Fullen and granddaughter of Jane Allen) had their mtDNA analyzed, and it was predicted as H, with only one difference from the Cambridge Reference Sequence, 16519C, which is a fast moving marker. Mitochondrial haplogroup H is a predominantly European haplogroup that participated in a population expansion beginning approximately 20,000 years ago. Today, about 30% of all mitochondrial lineages in Europe are classified as haplogroup H. It is rather uniformly distributed throughout Europe suggesting a major role in the peopling of Europe, and descendant lineages of the original haplogroup H appear in the Near East as a result of migration. Future work will better resolve the distribution and historical characteristics of this haplogroup.

On her Clan Helena website, Amelia Reimer writes that, "Whether just by chance or by the guiding hand of natural selection we do not know, but Helena's clan has grown to become the most widespread and successful of the Seven Daughters of Eve. Her children have reached every shore, settled every forest and crossed every mountain range. Helena's descendants can be found from the Alps in the South to the Scottish Highlands and the Norwegian fjords in the North, and as far east as the Urals and the Russian steppes. Helena was born about 20,000 years ago on the strip of land that joins France and Spain, near what is now Perpignan. She belonged to a family of hunters, who harvested the rich oyster beds in the lagoons of the Carmargue to supplement their diet of meat. Helena's clan arrived in Europe from the Middle East, pushing their way along the Mediterranean, constrained to the narrow strip of land that was still habitable. Not long after she was born, the glaciers that covered the Pyrenees, which Helena could see on a clear day only thirty miles from her camp, began to draw back as, little by little, the summers grew warmer. Some of her clan moved south of the mountains, up the valley of the Ebro to the West to reach the lands of the Basque, where they remain to this day. The most adventurous of her children took advantage of the climatic improvements and journeyed ever northwards to join the great movement of hunters across the plains of France. We know that they reached England around 12,000 years ago because DNA recovered from a young male skeleton found in Gough's Cave in Somerset shows that he too belonged to the clan of Helena. [Same cave as Cheddar Man, but 3,000 years older.] "

Notes:

Married:
Wilkinson County Courthouse--Woodville, Mississippi Circuit Clerks Office Marriage Book A ---- page 293

Know all men by these presents that we, ALEXANDER MCGRAW and Ezekial Petty, both of the county of Wilkinson, Mississippi Territory, are held and firmly bound unto the Governor of the Mississippi Territory and his successors in office, in the sum of $200 which payment well and truly be made, we bind ourselves and each our executors, administrators, and severally firmly by these presences sealed with our seals and dated the 12 of October 1808.

The condition of the above obligation is such that whearas the above bound Alexander McGraw hath this day prayed and obtained the license to be joined in marriage to ELIZABETH BLACKBURN of the County aforesaid, Now if there is no lawful cause to obstruct this marriage for which the license was granted, then the above obligation to be void, otherwise to remain in full force and virtue. Signed, Alexander McGrew and Ezekial Petty (his mark)


Marriage Book A --- page 305 This is to certify that I, G.B. am willing to the marriage of my daughter to Mr. Alexander McGraw. Given under my hand this 13th day of October 1808. Signed, Gabriel Blackburn

Marriage Book A --- page 135 (315?) On the 16th day of October 1808, I joined in Matrimony Mr. Alexander McGraw and Miss Elizabeth Blackburn. Signed, Josias Gray, J.P.

Per a Family Group Sheet prepared by Mary Frances SMITH Fisher of Jackson, Mississippi, Alexander McGrew and his wife Elizabeth Blackburn were the parents of nine known children, and three additional children, a daughter born ca. 1810-1815 per the 1820 and 1830 Marion County, Mississippi census, a daughter born ca. 1820-1825, per the 1830 and 1840 census, and a son born ca. 1830-1835, per the 1840 census. Bettye Bragg Wagstaff of Sabine County, Texas indicated that some researchers indicate 10 children were born.

Mary Fisher used the following information in her research: 1816 MISS Marion County census 7th page 1820 MISS Marion County census page 85 1 male under 10, 1 male 10-16, 1 male 26-45 3 females under 10, 1 female 16-26 1830 MISS Marion County census page 117 5 sons, 4 daughters plus he and Elizabeth 1840 MISS Marion County census page 117 1850 TEX Sabine County census- Elizabeth McGrew. He was listed on the Mortality Schedule. 1860 MISS Perry County census page 12, Family # 88/81 Elizabeth McGrew

Her family group sheet lists the following children:
**James Alexander McGrew b. ca 1810 m. to Elizabeth Lott
Harriet McGrew b. ca 1813 m. to John C. Partin
**William McGrew b. ca 1815 m. to Dorinda Lott
**Eliza Ann McGrew b. ca 1816 m. to Elisha M. Collins
**John Gabriel McGrew b. ca 1821 d. ca 1857 in Sabine County
**Ferdinand L. McGrew b. ca 1825 died 24 Aug 1846 in the Mexican War
**Lorenzo Dow McGrew b. circa 1828 m. to Mary Margaret Neeley
**Margaret McGrew b. circa 1835
**Adaline McGrew b. circa 1838

**Matches the LDS Family Group Sheet from Ancestral File Ver 4.15. The LDS sheet did not include Harriet McGrew, and additionally showed the following three children, apparently in error:
Thomas McGrew b. ca 1824
Samantha McGrewb. ca 1826
-male McGrew b. prior to 1830, m. 1838 to Serena ? and died 1842

Thomas and Samantha are actually the children of Alexander's brother, James Tate McGrew. They are listed in his will.