My Passage Through Time: Discovery!!

Who was Peter Collins's Mother?

For years people have been researching Peter Collins and his father James. James was the subject of this blog earlier. Everyone thought that James had an earlier wife but could not find any proof or name. Researching on Ancestry.com you find many shares about the search.

Last week I received a comment on my gallery of information that broke this wide open! I was a bit concerned when I saw that I had a comment. I have received comments before and some of them have not been kind. Why people have to leave comments about your research that may or may not be correct and word it in a negative manner escapes me. The last comment I had received was by someone who described herself as someone who enjoyed helping others and was close to being nasty. For this reason I have begun to not post some of my "finds". (Rant over!)

So, with trepidation, I went to the comment...

A kind person posted that Priscilla Smart was Peter's mother. That her father had included him in his will. Her father was Peter Smart! At that point I went in search of Peter Smart's will and more information about him. It seems that Peter was listed in Granville County, Bute County and Chatham county records.

I found the will and did a happy dance!! Sure enough, it listed his grandson, Peter Collins. He left his lands in Franklin County to him.

Peter Smart's Will

Transcribed Will

From my search for information about Peter Smart I have discovered the following information

Born in Midlothian Scotland - Edinburgh around 1730
Married Sarah in 1752 in Chatham North Carolina
Had five children:
Selah
Lucy
Priscilla
Laban
Amos
Was in the Granville County militia in 1757

Priscilla married James Collins, but I have not found marriage documents

She died around the time of Peter's birth, possibly due to complications of the birth.

So, thanks to the kind soul that did not have a tree up on ancestry but chose to contact me, we now have broken through a brick wall!

When my daughter studied a semester in Delft, Holland, we visited Scotland. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Edinburgh. So glad to have an ancestor from Scotland!!