More on the Children of James and Temperance Collins

Henry Collins

HENRY was born 18 Dec 1795. Henry served in the 30^th Regiment (Johnson’s) East Tennessee Militia during the war of 1812 and reached the rank of Sergeant.

 While he was in Georgia he met and married Frances Martin from Oglethorpe County, Georgia. They must have married around 1820. Henry and Frances settled in Marshall County, Tennessee. They had three children. (Mary Magdalean, James, and Willis) Frances passed away 26 Dec 1841.

 In 1843 Henry married Nancy Elvira Cunningham Sheppard. Nancy had been married to O.P. Sheppard and had a son Lawrence. O.P. seemed to have disappeared. Nancy is listed as head of household in 1840 and believed to be a widow. After she married Henry, Oliver P. Sheppard returns to find her married to Henry. Circuit and Chancery Court records indicate that her marriage was dissolved to Oliver. Oliver took their son and went off to Mississippi where he remarried, had two more children, and died on a River boat. Henry and Nancy had a son Henry L. Henry passed away 17 Sep 1860 in Marshall County, Tennessee. 

The following information is from:  Goodspeed Biographical Appendix- Marshall County 

The Goodspeed History of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford, Marshall Counties of Tennessee. The Goodspeeds History of Tennessee, 1886.

HENRY COLLINS, one of the prosperous farmers of Marshall County, Tenn., was born September 28, 1845.  His early education was wholly neglected, but he has overcome this deficiency by study during his leisure moments, and now has a fair general education.  In 1863 he volunteered in Forrest’s command Eleventh Tennessee Cavalry and after serving two years and receiving a slight wound he returned home and resumed farming.  In 1866 he wedded Fannie Collins, by whom he had ten children, eight of whom are living.  He is a Democrat and owns a 330-acre farm, one of the best in the county.  He takes great pride in raising fine Holstien cattle, and some of his animals are the best in the county.  His parents, Henry and Nancy E. (Cunningham) Collins, had both been married previous to their union.  The father was married to Fannie Martin, by whom he had nine children, and the mother’s first husband was O. P. Sheppard, by whom she had one child.  Our subject, Henry Collins, is the only child born to their union.  The father was a native of North Carolina, and moved from there to Georgia, thence to Tennessee in 1826.  He was a Democrat and farmer and died in 1861, followed by his widow a year later.

HENRY L. - SON OF HENRY

MARY - DAUGHTER OF HENRY
BIRTH: 11 SEP 1821
DEATH: 6 MAR 1860
CHRISTIAN COUNTY
MISSOURI, USA

JAMES son of Henry

Birth: 27 Dec 1825

Death: 23 Jul 1844

Memphis, Pickett County, Alabama

WILLIS son of Henry

Birth : 26 Jan 1828

Death: 9 Jan 1847

Returning from Monterrey Mexico, Willis died in Iago Texas

Next post is on Jones Collins.

Thanks for stopping by!

Pattie