My Genealogy Hound

G. W. Collins was born in Onondaga County, N. Y., in the year 1832, and is the son of Thurman and Hannah (Robinson) Collins, natives of Vermont and New York, respectively, and both of English descent. The parents were married in Onondaga County, N. Y., and resided in an adjoining county about fourteen or fifteen years, where the father followed agricultural pursuits. In 1843 they moved to Illinois, and settled in Paw Paw, Lee County, where he remained until his death, with the exception of ten or twelve years in La Salle County. He was originally an old line Whig, but after the death of that party he was always a Republican. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was a kind husband and an affectionate father. He died in November, 1886. His wife was sixty-seven years of age at the time of her death. Our subject is the eldest son of his father’s family. At the age of nineteen he began working for himself, but, not succeeding in what he first undertook, he began working at the carpenter’s trade, without previously studying as an apprentice. As he possessed considerable natural ability for this kind of work he succeeded quite well, and continued at this business for several years. At the age of twenty-three, in 1855, he wedded Miss Euphema Hinman, a daughter of Robert and M. A. Hinman, natives of Vermont, both of whom are now residing in Bureau County, Ill., where they have lived for over half a century. Mr. Hinman is eighty-three years of age, and his wife is seventy-eight. After marriage our subject moved to La Salle County, Ill., where he cultivated the soil for a number of years. He then sold his fine farm, and, crossing the Mississippi River, settled in Clark County, Washington Township, where he lived for over thirty years. To his marriage were born three children, viz.: Loren E. (wedded to Miss Lista Brown), Charles H. (who is at home with his parents) and Mindwell Ann Collins who is also at home. Our subject is a successful farmer, and owns a good farm of 245 acres, all well improved. He is a Republican in politics, and an excellent citizen.