THE COLLIERS OF MASSACHUSETTS, descended from Thomas and Susannah, who came to Hingham, Massachusetts in 1635. AN OVERVIEW (Rev. Nov., 2002) With the help of many Collier family members, I am preparing a genealogy of the Thomas and Susannah ____ Collier family. To my knowledge, there has been no full scale study of our family. (The first 3 generations in Hingham and Hull, Massachusetts (and several related families, as well) have been briefly covered in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vols. 142 and 143. To date, my files contain the names of over 8,000 descendants and spouses, with about 430 of these being of the Collier/Collyer surname. I have a substantial file on related families as well, especially those of the early period in Plymouth Colony, Boston, and the South Shore of Massachusetts Bay. I continue my research on a daily basis, and I am steadily adding individuals to our database. I anticipate having the genealogy ready for publication within a year. Although I am satisfied that I have a good understanding of the overall dispersion patterns of the various lines, some research and re-checking of facts remains to be done. Particularly in Boston for the period 1760 - 1850, the printed material is very sparse, so research will have to be done using Probate Records and microfilm. Even in smaller towns, I need to visit or re-visit libraries, cemeteries and Historical Societies. A few more trips to the library at the New England Historic Genealogical Society and other repositories will be needed to obtain material from published genealogies and town records. I invite comments, corrections, and particularly contributions from those who may recognize they are part of the family. Wade Collier "Colliers of Massachusetts" Project http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/c/o/l/Wade-Collier-MA/ wade_collier@hotmail.com ________________________________ Generation 1 -- Thomas (1) (ca. 1576 ?? - April 6, 1647) and Susannah____ (ca. 1591 ?? - Dec. 10, 1667) came from England to Hingham, Mass., not later than September, 1635. They remained in Hingham until their deaths. A family record suggests their English origin was Plymouth, Devon, but this has not been confirmed. Generation 2 -- Son Lt. Thomas (2) (ca. 1622 - 1691) moved to neighboring Hull. His descendants are traced in comments for Generations 3 and 4, below. Son Moses (2) (ca. 1625 - 1684) lived variously in Hingham and Boston. He married (1) Elizabeth Curtis, step daughter of Robert Jones, of Hingham, who died after the birth of one son, Benoni. Moses married (2) Elizabeth Bullard, of Dedham and Charlestown, and they had 7 or 8 children. Moses, Elizabeth, and most of the children moved to Middlesex County, New Jersey about 1680-1683. Some individuals remained in that general area until at least the early 20th century, while records and movements of many are lost. The later generations changed the spelling of the surname to "Collyer" in many instances. One descendant, Tim Kelley, has contributed information on his line, and several researchers are working on related families. The information on this branch is woefully incomplete, and no published general study has been found, but we have names of about 80 individuals of the Collier/Collyer surname and about 440 total descendants and spouses. (Throughout the rest of this document, in giving numbers in the various segments of the family, the number of "descendants" will include spouses.) Thomas and Susannah had a daughter, Susannah/Susanna (2) (dates unknown), who was alive in April, 1647, at the time of her father's death in Hingham. Nothing further known. Generation 2 (Continued) - Page 2 There was possibly a son named John, as well. A John Collier had land in Hull in 1642, but no certain information is known after that date. There are records of a John Collier in Hull in 1673/74 and 1678, but these almost certainly refer to the son of Thomas (2). (See below.) Generation 3 - Thomas (2) and wife Jane Curtis (sister of Elizabeth, first wife of Moses Collier) had 7 children, 5 reaching adulthood (Elizabeth, b. ca. 1648, and James, b. ca. 1651, have no later record, are not mentioned in the father's will, and are thought to have died before 1691). Thomas had the title "Lieutenant," as did his son Gershom. Thomas (3) (ca. 1654 - d. 1719, Hull) may not have married, and presumably had no heirs at his death, leaving "all to brother Gresham." John (3) (bef. Aug. 1662 - d. 1713, Hull) married Mary/Marcy/Mercy _____. This couple had three daughters, all of whom married into the Loring family, another early Hingham/Hull family. Through town Vital Records and the Loring Genealogy, I have traced two of these daughters and their descendants down to about 1850 on the South Shore. Experience (3) (bef. Aug. 1662 - d. 1695, Hull) married Nicholas Baker, of another family which came to Hingham in 1635. Both daughters of this couple also married Lorings, so tracing the various Loring-Collier connections gets tricky. The descendants of Jane (4) Baker (ca. 1686/87 - 1724) and her husband, Elder John Loring, have been very well recorded down to the present day. They number well over 2,300 individuals. Several of the 4th generation moved to North Yarmouth, Maine, and later generations spread across the country. Many were prominent in their professions, including several sea captains. [The Lorings are a large and well known family on the South Shore, and in Boston, down to the present day. The standard work on the New England Lorings is The Loring Genealogy, Charles Henry Pope, 1917, and I have also corresponded with several family members who have supplemented that work. Segments of the family are also covered in histories of North Yarmouth and other Maine towns.] Benjamin (3) (ca. 1665 - d. 1730, Hull) probably had no children. His father's will describes him as "weak in intellect." Lt. Gershom (3) (ca. 1674 - d. 1753, Hull) married Elizabeth Poole, in Hull, January 25, 1697, had a large family, and it is from this couple that the majority of the "Colliers" we have traced descend. The number of known descendants is well over 4,000. The first name "Gershom" was common among them until about 1850, including 6 later Gershom Colliers, and several individuals with other surnames. (I have not found the name "Gershom Collier" in any other American Collier family, and that uniqueness was very helpful in my early family research.) Generations 4 and later - Descendants of Lt. Gershom and Elizabeth Poole Collier (I will be as brief as possible from this point on, just giving the main dispersions we have traced. I am constantly updating my files from library research and correspondence, and I anticipate more information will be located on many individuals and lines before the family history is finalized.) Children of Lt. Gershom and Elizabeth Collier, all born in Hull, Mass.: Judith (4) (1697 - d. probably after 1749, in Hull) married Cromwell Lobdell. Had 3 children in Hull, but I have no certain later records. Generation 4 (Cont.) Page 3 Susannah (4) (1700 - d. after 1749) married twice -- (1) Samuel Jones, in 1719, who died 1721; (2) Thomas Copeland, after 1721. She had one son, Samuel, by Jones and 9 children by Thomas Copeland. The Copeland family was from Braintree, and the children of Thomas and Susannah were born there. I have not located a record of the death of the couple. There are at least two published "Copeland Genealogies:" one by Charles Finley Copeland, 1913, and a later one by Warren Turner Copeland, published by Tuttle Publishing Company, Rutland, Vermont, in 1937. The latter, at least, has good coverage of the Thomas - Susannah Copeland line. I have corresponded with two members of this family. About 450 descendants are known. Mary (4) (1703 - d. probably after 1749) had 8 children by her first husband, Joseph Spear, who died of smallpox in 1737. Some sources state that she married (2) Richard Stubbs in Maine, but this seems unlikely and unproved to me. The children scattered quite a bit, and I see deaths recorded in Boston, where some were merchants or mariners of some note, and several other towns in coastal and inland Mass. There are two main genealogies on the Spear Family: The Speare Family, Charles Leon Speare, The Tuttle Publishing Company, Inc., 1938; and The Descendants of George Spear 1642-1988, Verne Raymond Spear, West Hawley, MA, 1988. The latter is by far the more reliable and complete. Some sections of the family are treated in other genealogies, as well. Descendants number over 600, and I continue to add to this line. Sally Foster, a great-granddaughter of Joseph and Mary Spear, married Harrison Gray Otis of Boston, and among their many distinguished descendants was the Harvard historian Samuel Eliot Morison. Thomas (4) (1706 - d. 1784, Chesterfield, Hampshire County, Mass.) married Bridget Southworth, in Hull, 1734, and lived afterward in Scituate for over 20 years before returning to Hull not later than 1762. (Bridget also died in Chesterfield, 1798.) Chesterfield was originally called "New Hingham," and about half of the original settlers - ca. 1762 - were from Scituate. I have located no family tradition or record that the Thomas and Bridget of Chesterfield were identical to our couple of Hull - Scituate, but there is no record of their deaths in any of the South Shore towns and several members of the family were certainly in Chesterfield. This is "my" branch. I have done more investigation on this line than on most of the others, and several of the living family members I have corresponded with are also of this line. I have a great amount of documentation collected, although a few points are known only by indirect evidence. The number of descendants of Thomas and Bridget is now 2,572. Bridget Southworth counted among her ancestors Mary Chilton (of the Mayflower), Mary's husband, John Winslow (brother of Governor Edward), William Collier (a leader of Plymouth Colony), William's daughter, Elizabeth, who married Constant Southworth, step-son of Governor William Bradford, and other early Plymouth figures. Of the 8 children of Thomas and Bridget, all but one born in Scituate, and 7 surviving to adulthood, we have fairly complete information on: Gershom Collier (5) (1738 - d. 1822, Northport, Maine) who was almost certainly the individual of that name at the Boston Tea Party. There are no doubt still individuals of this line in Maine, but many of the later generations known are individuals who moved to Montana and California in the mid-to-late 19th century. Several descendants have contributed family records. Gershom may be the "Southworth" Collier who was living in Hull in 1771with his father and siblings, and who married Hannah Morton in Boston, April 13, 1774, but I cannot confirm that identification. The only certain marriage of Gershom is to Abigail Nash in Scituate, November 2, 1783. He was then 45 years old. Known descendants of Gershom and Abigail number 200. Bridget Collier (5) (1740 - d. 1795, Cohasset, Mass.) married Aaron Pratt in 1758. This couple had 16 children, several of whose descendants still live in the Cohasset area. This family has been well recorded in publications on Cohasset history. Later generations down to the present day have been contributed by Joel Generation 4 (Cont.) Page 4 Pratt , Vic Hillard and others. The "pedigree" on this line is unbroken all the way back to Thomas (1) of Hingham, as well as to the Chiltons and Southworths, and is given in publications by the Society of Mayflower Descendants and the DAR. Nearly 1,200 descendants are known., among them many distinguished citizens of Cohasset and vicinity, and Admiral William Veazie Pratt, 5th Chief of Naval Operations, U. S. Navy. Jane Collier (5) (1744 - d. 1820, in Chesterfield) married Lt. John House, of Hanover, and moved from Hanover to Chesterfield sometime between 1781 and 1785. I suspect that Thomas and Bridget, Jane's parents, went with them at this time, but have no proof. Some of the House descendants are listed in Chesterfield records as late as the early 20th century. Others moved to northeastern Ohio. Descendants number about 150 at present. Ephraim Bosworth Collier (5) (1748 - d. before January, 1788, Boston), called "Bosworth," married Ann House, sister of John. They had at least 2 daughters - Anna (6) and Rebecca (6) - who after the death of Bosworth were sent from Boston to Chesterfield to live with a cousin, Susanna Collier, and her husband, Thomas James, originally from Cohasset. Bosworth was a "housewright," as was "my" ancestor, another Gershom Collier (6) (ca. 1771 - 1819), who moved from Boston to Chesterfield about 1805. I think it likely that this Gershom was Bosworth's son, but it is possible that his father was one of Bosworth's siblings, possibly the Gershom/"Southworth" discussed above. Boston Vital Records are very sparse for the period, but I keep searching for definitive proof of the connection. 4 or more sets of family records (including that of my own Ohio branch), added to a Chesterfield history and genealogy, continue the history of the descendants of "Gershom of Boston and Chesterfield" down to the present, although several individuals are unaccounted for. At least two lines went to western New York or Ohio ca. 1823 - 1840, another went to northern New York about 1850 - 1860, while others stayed in western Massachusetts. Assuming "Bosworth" to be the founder of this line, descendants number 966 at present. To return to the children of Lt. Gershom and Elizabeth Poole, all born in Hull -- Gershom Collier (4) (1708 - died young - no further record). The 5th child. No doubt died before 1713. Jane Collier (4) (1710 - d. 1800 in Boston) married 3 times: (1) Paul Baxter, 1730, in Hull. Paul died within a few months, but Jane had one son by him, also Paul; (2) John Doane, Esq., 1732 in Hull, lived in Boston. John died about 1755, having had 5 children by Jane, the last when he was 80 (!! This is given in several standard sources). Jane married (3) Captain Atherton Haugh/Hough, sometime after 1755. At the time of the Great Fire of March 20, 1760, the homes of Capt. Atherton Haugh and John Doane [Jr.], and "Paul Baxter's shop," all in Mackrel Lane - near the current Quincy Market - were lost. John Doane, Jr. (5) was variously described as a goldsmith and a clockmaker, and living in Boston, Scituate, and Cohasset. John Doane and Jane Collier's last child, Ann Doane (5) (1744 - 1795 ??) married a cousin, Colonel Elisha Doane, of Eastham and Boston, who, with Thomas Boylston, was considered one of the two wealthiest men in Massachusetts. All 3 of Jane's husbands were from early Plymouth or Mass. Bay families. The most useful published source is The Doane Family, Alfred Alder Doane, Boston, 1902, and I have supplemented this with several other sources. Only 88 descendants are known to date. Gershom Collier (4) (1713 - d. probably before 1749) enrolled in the Harvard College class of 1734, but was expelled in disgrace during his second year. He seems to have died before 1749, perhaps lost at sea, as were many among the early generations of our family. John Collier (4) (1716 - after January, 1758). He lived in Boston, but little else known. Generation 4 (Cont.) Page 5 Jonathan Collier (4) (1719 - before Feb. 15, 1779, possibly Groton, Mass.) married 3 times: (1) Judith Gould, m. 1742, had 3 children with Jonathan, died 1761; (2) Ruth Briggs, m. 1761, one child with Jonathan, died 1763; (3) Tabitha Pratt Porter, m. 1764, had 4 children with Jonathan, died after 1790, possibly in Groton, Mass. One child of the 3d marriage, Ruth (5), married into the Lawrence family of Groton, and I have traced another 2 generations. A son, another Gershom Collier, (5) (1765 - d. 1830, Avon, Maine), moved to the area of Farmington and Avon, Maine in 1790, was married 3 times and had 8 children. Records of his descendants in the Avon area down to about 1900 have been provided by several researchers. (Partial information on this Gershom, and his Porter half-siblings, is in Genealogy of the Descendants of Richard Porter who settled at Weymouth, Massachusetts, 1635, and allied families: also some account of the descendants of John Porter, who settled at Hingham, Massachusetts, 1635, and Salem, Massachusetts, 1644, by Joseph W. Porter, of Burlington, Maine, 1878.) Jonathan Collier is called both "Deacon" and "Dr." in some records of the various towns he lived in. He may have been a coroner in Suffolk County (Boston) at one time. His descendants number 291at present, and there are no doubt many more yet to be located. William Collier (4) (1721 - d. 1794, in Scituate) married Judith Briggs of Scituate in 1749, had 5 children. Her family was an early arrival in Scituate, and the Briggs-Collier home was still owned by a Collier as late as the early 20th century. This line had many individuals who moved to Cohasset. (It also had at least one member, Susanna Briggs (6) (1781 - 1822), who married Charles Cudworth, of Scituate, and moved to Chesterfield about 1802.) Several were noted mariners and sea captains in the early and mid-19th century, and from the late 19th century to the present there have been several authors in the family: Edmund Pomeroy Collier, Sargent F. Collier, Edmund Collier, and currently the brothers James Lincoln and Christopher Collier. Later generations married Lincolns, Sewalls, and Osgoods, among other well known South Shore families. Like the family of Aaron Pratt and Bridget Collier (above), this branch has a firm and unbroken record from the present day back to Thomas (1) Collier. (A recent letter from James L. Collier indicates that, through the Osgoods, recent generations can also trace their ancestry to William Collier, of Plymouth Colony. I do not yet have that complete lineage.) Several family members have contributed information for the genealogy, and the family is mentioned in several Cohasset histories, as well as Genealogy of the Collier Family of Cohasset, Mass., Gilbert S. Tower, 1949. This "Colliers of Cohasset" line numbers over 400. Isaac Collier (4) (1726 - before 1749). No record after his birth. Moses Collier (4) (1729 - d. before December 1, 1761, in Boston) married Susannah Foster, in Hull, 1752, lived in Boston. Moses and Susannah had 5 children in Boston between 1753 and 1760, including a Susanna Collier (1758 - 1820) whom I suspect was the individual in Chesterfield who became the guardian of Anna and Rebecca Collier, children of "Bosworth." (See above.) I have records on descendants of the "Chesterfield" Susanna Collier James until about 1915, but nothing on the other 4 children. (Records of the New North Church, page 28, and Vol. 24, Reports of the Boston Record Commissioners, 1894, for the births of the children.) Sources- Partial: In addition to the family genealogies I cite above, I have made particular use of the following: New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 142, pages 356 - 359, Oct. 1988. Collier section of the article "Seventeenth Century Hull, Massachusetts and Her People," and other segments of the article covering related families. Written by Ethel Farrington Smith, of Hull, and published in sections in Vols. 142 and 143. South Shore area Vital Records through 1850 -- Hingham, Hull, Scituate, Cohasset, Weymouth, etc. Page 6 Old Scituate, Chief Justice Cushing Chapter, DAR, 1921 (section on Briggs-Collier House, by Edmund Pomeroy Collier). History and Genealogy of the Families of Chesterfield, Massachusetts 1762 - 1962, Town of Chesterfield, 1962. The Genealogies of the Families of Cohasset, Mass..., Davenport and Davenport, 1909, including article on "Cohasset's Deep Sea Captains," by E. Pomeroy Collier. And, Family Records contributed by Elva Collier Cahill, Virgil Collier, Carolyn Collier Ellis, Linda Ayukawa, Paul Watson, Linda Peacock, Mike Collier, Christopher Collier, James Lincoln Collier, Tim Kelley, Joel Pratt, Vic Hillard, Alice Williams, Frances Maroni, Tom Paine, Robert Forrest, John Vinton, Holly Willman Irwin, Lee Taylor, Brenda Beehler, Gary Bates, Joy Kielbasa, Pat Haddock, Betsey Howes, Ibrook Tower -- and especially Tammy Stevens, who first showed me the Chesterfield-Ohio link. wrc Rev. Nov. 13, 2002