April, 2002 Colliers of Massachusetts Research Update April 11, 2002 INDEX : 1) General Progress Notes. 2) Database Numbers Update. 3) Dedication and Epigraphs. 4) Trott/Winslow Material. 5) Gershom Collier at Boston Tea Party - Added Information. 6) Some New Ohio and Michigan Information 7) Additional notes on James Madison Collier, Swanzey, New Hampshire 1) General Progress Notes - I have reached a significant milestone in the genealogy, and thought I would take the opportunity to send out a brief update letter...I HAVE FINISHED INCORPORATING THE COLLIER/LORINGS OF THE 1917 LORING GENEALOGY INTO "OUR" COLLIER WORK ! Although there is still some additional material to review, proofreading to continue, etc., the majority of those individuals are now in my database. My thanks go to Liz Burdick and Barbara Glover - their husbands both Loring descendants - for providing the last of the material I needed. As the numbers update will show, the Collier/Lorings are about 1/3 of the total known Collier descendants. As time permits, I have been working my way through the published Vital Records and other significant genealogical works on Hull, Hingham, Cohasset, Scituate and environs. This has revealed many "new" names of Collier descendants, and there will no doubt be many more added in this way before the genealogy is finalized. The lack of a central, complete work for Boston continues to be a problem, but I am slowly picking up additional information on the family members who "removed" from the South Shore to the big city. In the next two months or so I can see that my research and writing time will be limited, although I do plan to make one or two more trips to the NEHGS to try to locate some very specific items. I hope to be able to take my family in to visit Hingham, Hull and Cohasset sometime in the late spring or summer, but the next communication from me will likely be a draft of your particular section of the genealogy, asking for your corrections or comments. I hope to be at that stage in the June - August time frame. My thanks to those of you who have sent contributions for mailing and copying costs. I have invested in a better quality printer with some of the funds (all of them, in fact), and send along a sample page of pictures that I can generate with this better equipment. Thank you for your help. 2) Database Numbers Update - My database now has nearly 7,000 names, and nearly 1300 Family Groups. If each Family Group has one "Collier" and one "Non-Collier" parent (this is usually, but not-quite-always the case) , the number of Thomas and Susannah Collier descendants traced is presently about 5,700. Of the 2 main divisions at 2d Generation: Lt. Thomas (2) Collier - Jane Curtis - 6,500 + indiv.; 1217 Family Groups (94 % Total) Moses (2) Collier (2 marriages) - 433 indiv.; 66 Family Groups. (6 %) Of the main divisions in the Thomas (2) line: Lt. Gershom (3) Collier - Eliz. Poole - 3, 762 + indiv.; 763 Family Groups. Elder John Loring - Jane Baker (4) ("North Yarmouth, ME") - 2,302 + indiv.; 381 Family Groups. 2 Dea. Samuel Loring - Jane (4) Collier - 344 indiv.; 57 Family Groups. Dea. John Loring - Eliz. (4) Collier - 107 indiv.; 15 Family Groups. 3) Dedication, Epigraphs in the final work -- "This work is dedicated with much love to two of my Ohio kinsmen: my dear aunt, Elva Collier Cahill, and our cousin, Virgil Collier, who first encouraged me to explore a little further in the Collier family history." Two epigraphs from the 19th Century: "...The memory of some of the worthy and venerable names in this long list of departed ones, deserve to be embalmed by the respect of the surviving, and made a stimulant to nobler lives and more worthy attainments. So let it be, and these labors will find their desired reward." ---Rev. Amasa Loring, "Historical Sketch of the Loring Family...," 1882. "I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as much belongs to you." ---Walt Whitman, Song of Myself (Please let me know if I am getting too high on the pretentiousness meter.) 4) Trott / Winslow papers received - I mentioned in the February, 2002 research newsletter that I had been corresponding with John Lindberg of western Pennsylvania regarding some material on the later John Winslow/Mary Chilton descendants which was in his care. (In addition to the marriage of Thomas (4) Collier and Bridget Southworth, she a Winslow/Chilton descendant, there was another connection of the two families with the 1809 Boston marriage of John Winslow, Jr. (7th Gen. Winslow) and "Sally" Bray, a Collier/Spear family member.) I am proud to inform you that Mr. Lindberg and Dr. Charles Alcorn (the owner of the "Winslow" material) have seen fit to send several notebooks and other records to me for use in our work. The material originally consisted of at least 7 notebooks assembled in the 19th Century by James F. Trott, an eminent citizen of Niagara Falls, New York. Mr. Trott was born in Boston, his mother a Winslow of the 7th generation, and a sister of the John Winslow, Jr. mentioned above. After Mr. Trott's death in 1898, his trunk of genealogy material no doubt passed through many hands, some of it eventually reaching Dr. Alcorn. In the 3 notebooks and many loose sheets I have is quite a bit of data on the later Winslows of Boston, as well as several other families. I have been able to follow a few generations of the children of the Winslow/Bray marriage, and there is a lot of Winslow material of considerable interest, particularly on the period just before and during the Revolution. Much of this is not of direct "Collier" interest, but is something I want to look at more thoroughly at some time. When I have finished using the material, Dr. Alcorn asks that I donate it to the NEHGS, or another area library. 3 5) Gershom Collier at Boston Tea Party - Added Information Among the Chesterfield, Mass. Colliers was Gerschom (sic) C. Damon (1822-1893), grandson of Gershom Collier (ca. 1771 - 1819), "of Boston and Chesterfield." Gerschom is worth a closer look, not only for the unusual spelling of his first name (so carved on his tombstone in the Bofat Cemetery, Chesterfield), and for the mystery of his middle name (we might guess the "C." stands for "Collier," but I haven't found a record that confirms this), but also for a short note about him to be found in a history of Goshen, Mass., Chesterfield's northern neighbor: "A Bicentennial History Goshen, Massachusetts 1781-1981," Anne Sabo Warner, Goshen Historical Commission, 1980, pages 164-165, has some information on Gershom Damon. Although born in Chesterfield, in 1840, he built a house on Chesterfield Road, Goshen, which is the last house before the Chesterfield border. A "large tract" of land in Chesterfield was part of this property, which was sold to Benjamin C. Davis after the Civil War. The Damon family was living on East Street, Chesterfield, not later than 1873. (All records of Mr. Damon, save his tombstone, give his first name as "Gershom.") Of particular interest on page 164 of the Goshen book is this statement about Gershom Damon: "...He was a descendant of one of the participants of the Boston Tea Party..." We have known for some time that there was a Gershom Collier at the Tea Party, almost certainly "Gershom of Northport (1738 -1822)," but I believe Gershom Damon was a great-grandnephew of that individual, not a direct descendant. Nevertheless, this is the only early reference I have seen that indicates it was one of "our" Colliers at the Boston Tea Party. Of the other closest direct ancestors of Gerschom Damon - of the Bosworth, Damon, Haden, House, Kittle and Souther surnames - there are none among the two listings of Tea Party participants in my files (there is no "official" list). If we assume that the ancestor of Gershom Damon at the Boston Tea Party was indeed "Gershom of Northport" - it would be nice to have a firm record of that, but we don't - we have another piece of indirect evidence that Gerschom Damon, his mother, Jane Collier Damon, and his grandfather Gershom Collier were of the South Shore family. That being given, I see two possibilities: 1) If Gerschom Damon was literally a descendant of the Tea Party participant, then Gershom "of Boston and Chesterfield" was a son of that individual. Recall that we don't have a birth record from Boston, nor a family record that identifies his father, nor do we have much information on "Gershom of Northport" prior to his marriage to Abigail Nash of Scituate in 1783, when he was 45 years old. He could well have been married previously. 2) The statement about the Boston Tea Party could be confused, and originally said merely that a "family member" had been at the Party. Until such time as we find a family record about this, we will have to leave the question open. 6) Some New Ohio and Michigan Information Cousin Mike Collier, the "Census Guru," has been able to provide some new information about family members who went from Ohio to Michigan in the mid 19th Century. Among the siblings of my Great Grandfather Christopher C. Collier, Mike has found that Madison Collier (1830 - 1900) in 1860 was living in Batavia, Branch County, Michigan. The census indicates that Madison had been born in New York State - a stop on the route from Vermont to Ohio that we weren't aware of. His wife is called "Ancelia," also born in New York about 1836. They had a daughter, Mattie, born about 1856. By 1870, Madison and "Ancelia" had moved 30 + miles northeast to Springport, Jackson County, and had two more children: George D., born about 1862, and Ellsworth, born 1869. This Ellsworth is probably the "E. Collier" who had children in the Albion, Michigan area. There were at least two daughters, Ethel and Georgia, who were living in the 1910 - 1912 period. We hope to locate more on these Michigan cousins, particularly since the 1930 Census has just been released. Mike hasn't found anything in the earlier censuses for the daughters. 4 Mike has also found a little more on Lyman Collier (1823, Vermont - 1907, Michigan). Lyman was the oldest of the children of John (7) Collier and Mary Samson, who married in Chesterfield and moved to Ohio by 1833, via Vermont and New York. We have had family records on Lyman and his wife, Julia Melinda/Malinda Giles, with names of two sons, but Mike's census research gives us a total of 3 children by 1870, when they were living in Gratiot County, Michigan. The children, all born in Ohio, were: Chloe ("Cloey"), born about 1857, Charley, born about 1860, and John, born about 1867. Perhaps we can trace these individuals further at some point. Marcy and I will be back in Ohio in late May, and I hope to find a little time to pursue some of these individuals of my own line. 7) Additional notes on James Madison Collier, Swanzey, New Hampshire James Madison (7) Collier (1809 - after 1862) was born in Chesterfield, the last child of "Gershom of Boston and Chesterfield" and Mary Kittell. He moved north instead of west, eventually living in Swanzey, Cheshire County, southern New Hampshire. Tammy Stevens and Terry McLellan are descendants. James (sometimes called Madison) was married twice, all of his children being by his first wife, Dorinda Drury (perhaps Drewry) of Montague, Franklin County, Mass. She died between, say, 1855 and 1862, probably in Swanzey. James married 2d the widow of Elijah Bullard, about whom I have recently learned a little more, from town histories of Richmond and Swanzey, NH. The maiden name of the widow Bullard was Mehita B. Bullock, born in Richmond, January 28, 1817. Although there are some errors in the Swanzey history, she seems to have married Mr. Bullard on April 7, 1856 (the same date is mistakenly given for her marriage to James M. Collier), and he died December 11, 1862. The marriage to James Collier was therefore after that date. The Swanzey book gives nothing further on the couple, although there is some information on children of James and Dorinda through the 1870s and 1880s. Looks like a field trip to Swanzey is in order. It's nice up that way in the summer or fall. .............. Over and out for now. I hope to send some sections of the draft genealogy the next time I send out a general update. Wade Collier Trumbull County, Ohio and Lunenburg, Massachusetts "Colliers of Massachusetts" Project April 11, 2002