JOSEPH WRIGHT2 COLLINS ( William1) was born at Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, England, on 24 March 1856 a son of William Wright Collins and his wife Selina Hibbert. He died at Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, on 1 September 1919. He married first at Pawtucket on 14 August 1873 ANN SMITH. She was born at Ireland about 1850-1, a daughter of Hugh and Martha Smith. He married second at Pawtucket on 17 October 1883 EVA ELIZABETH BUFFAM. She was born at Millbury, Worcester County, Massachusetts, on 13 November 1864, a daughter of Benjamin and Ella Buffam. She died at Pawtucket on 2 March 1957.[1]
Joseph Wright Collins, the fifth of five children, came to America with his family when he was three-years-old. He grew up in Pawtucket, attended the public schools there, and at the age of thirteen left school to work in his father's machine shop.[2] That shop was the center of his work life, where he eventually became co-owner with his brother Henry.
The biography of Joseph Collins in Representative Men and Old Families of Rhode Island, published in 1908, provides a summary of his life:[3]
Joseph Wright Collins, treasurer and half-owner of the Collins Brothers Machine Company, of Pawtucket, was born March 24, 1856 at Ashton-under-Lyne, England, son of William Wright and Selina (Hibbert) Collins. He was but a child when his parents came to America and located at Pawtucket, R. i., where his educational training was received. Inheriting the mechanical skill which has been characteristic of his forefathers for generations, it was quite natural for him to take up that line of work in preference to a professional career. After leaving school he entered his father's employ in order to perfect himself in the trade of machinist. This marked the beginning of a successful business career, in which Mr. Collins' activity is unabated. After some years in the employ of his father, he became a member of the firm of Collins Brothers, which came into existence in 1884, and comprised Henry and Joseph W. Collins. The firm name remained unchanged until 1907, when the business was incorporated as the Collins Brothers Machine Company. For nearly a quarter of a century Joseph W. Collins has had a most prominent identification with the management, and likewise the success and progress of the concern, contributing not only his energies and industry, but his inventive genius and closest application. A thoroughly practical man in his line, a fine judge of workmen and their skill, Mr. Collins justly shares the credit for the high standing of the Collins Brothers Machine Company and the excellency of their product. As a citizen Mr. Collins has always taken a deep interest in the advancement of his city, and while not a man seeking political honors his interest in public affairs is keen and continuous. In politics he is a staunch Republican and fraternally both a Mason and an Odd Fellow, being a member of Jenks Lodge, No. 2, A. F. & A. M., of Central Falls; Pawtucket Chapter, No. 4, R. A. M.; Holy Sepulchre Commandery, No. 8, K. T.; and Good Samaritan Lodge, No. 8, I. O. O. F., of Pawtucket. He is a member of Pleasant View Baptist Church, and has held official positions therein.
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In 1873 Joseph Collins married Ann Smith at Church of the Good Shepherd, an Episcopal Church in Pawtucket.[4] I have no further information on this marriage or on Ann Smith. The 1880 Census reported Joseph Collins living with his widowed father, and his sister Louisa and her family, next door to his brother Henry. The census taker lister Joseph as single.[5]
In 1883, Joseph Collins, 27, married Eva Buffam, 19, at Pleasant View Baptist Church,[6] where they remained active members throughout their lives. In the next five years their three children were born.
The 1900 Census reported this family at 889 North Main Street, Pawtucket, next to the family of his brother Henry:[7]
| Line | Name | Related | Race | Sex | Born | MS | B | FB | MB | Occupation |
| 5. | Collins, Joseph W. | head | W | M | Mar 1856 | M | England | England | England | proprietor, machine shop |
| 6. | Collins, Eva E. | wife | W | F | Nov 1864 | M | MA | MA | ME | |
| 7. | Collins, Harry W. | son | W | M | Jul 1884 | S | RI | England | MA | at school |
| 8. | Collins, Benjamin F. | son | W | M | Feb 1886 | S | RI | England | MA | at school |
| 9. | Collins, Elizabeth S. | daughter | W | F | Sep 1888 | S | RI | England | MA | at school |
Both sons of Joseph and Eva received further education. Harry graduated from Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, in 1907, preparing himself to be a German teacher. Benjamin graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in May 1906, and then went to work for Collins Brothers.[8] Benjamin married about 1908-9.
The 1910 Census reported most of the family at 889 North Main Street: Joseph Collins, 54. machinist at his own shop, Eva, wife, 45, Harry, 25, a high school teacher, and Elizabeth, 21.[9] Not far away, at 899 North Main Street lived Benjamin 24, machinist at a machine shop, and his wife Mary, 23.[10]
Joseph Wright died in 1919, at the age of sixty-three. His widow, Eva, lived another thirty-seven years. She was reported in the 1920 Census at 889 North Main Street, age 55, with her son Harry, 35, school teacher, and her daughter Elizabeth, 30.[11] Benjamin lived at 899 North Main Street. He was 33, foreman at a machine shop. With him were his wife Mary Ellen, 33, and children Benjamin, seven, and Barbara, nine months.[12]
Not much changed in the following decade. The 1930 Census reported Eva E. Collins, 65, at 889 North Main Street, with her son Harry, 45, school teacher, and her daughter Elizabeth, 41.[13] Nearby, at 899 Main Street, lived her son, Benjamin Collins, 44, machinist at his own shop, Benjamin's wife, Lillie (her middle name), 43, son Benjamin, Jr., shipping clerk for a cotton sales shop, and daughter Barbara, 11.[14]
Henry Wright Collins died in 1934, at the age of forty-nine. The death record listed his ailments as "acute cholecystis and cholelithiasis; Operation: Cholecystectomy & Appendectomy Acute Hepatitis Myocarditis Toxemia."[15]
The 1940 Census reported Eva E. Collins, 75, at 889 Roosevelt Avenue, with her daughter Elizabeth, 51.[16] [It would appear that Main Street had been renamed Roosevelt Avenue]. Son Benjamin Collins, 54, lived at 899 Roosevelt Avenue, with his wife Mary, 53, and daughter Barbara, 21, although Barbara was absent at the time of the census, attending college. Benjamin was proprietor and treasurer of a machine shop.[17] Benjamin and Mary's son, Benjamin Collins, Jr., 27, lived at 17 ½ Clark Avenue, Pawtucket. He was time clerk at a machine shop. With him were his wife Althea, 25, and their daughter Nancy, 3.[18]
Benjamin's wife, Mary, died in 1943. Widow Eva (Buffam) Collins died in 1957 at the age of ninety-two. Her daughter Elizabeth, who never married, died in 1969 at the age of eighty-two,
Joseph Collins and his second wife Eva Buffam had the following children:
1Oak Grove Cemetery, Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, Find a Grave, (findagrave.com : database 11 July 2020), Joseph Wright Collins; Created by: Jo-Ann Croft; Eva Elizabeth Collins; Created by: Jo-Ann Croft. Robert Grieve, An Illustrated History of Pawtucket, Central Falls and Vacinity: A Narrative of the Growth and Evolution of the Community (Pawtucket, Rhode Island: Pawtucket Gazette and Chronicle, 1897), p. 274. Rhode Island Town Clerks, "Rhode Island, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1630-1945," digital images, Family Search (familysearch.org : accessed 21 January 2021), Pawtucket Deaths 1919 , Joseph W. Collins; Pawtucket Marriages 1873 , Collins-Smith; Pawtucket Marriages 1883 , Collins-Buffam.
2Grieve, An Illustrated History of Pawtucket, Central Falls and Vacinity, p. 274.
3Representative Men and Old Families of Rhode Island: genealogical records and historical sketches of prominent and representative citizens and of many of the old families (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1908), v. 1B, p. 844.
4"Rhode Island, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1630-1945," Pawtucket Marriages 1873 , Collins-Smith.
5Tenth Census of the United States: 1880, population, Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, enumeration district (ED) 128, roll 1215, p. 30C, household 254, William Collins family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 19 February 2018); NARA microfilm publication T9; Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
6"Rhode Island, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1630-1945," Pawtucket Marriages 1883 , Collins-Buffam.
7Twelth Census of the United States: 1900, population, Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, enumeration district (ED) 142, p. 10, household 200, Joseph W. Collins family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 9 March 2018); NARA microfilm group T623; Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
8Representative Men and Old Families of Rhode Island, v. 1B, p. 844.
9Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910, population, Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, enumeration district (ED) 118, roll 1440, p. 4A, household 80, Joseph Collins family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 11 March 2018); NARA group T624, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
101910 Census, Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, ED 118, roll 1440, p. 16A, household 101, Benjamin Collins family.
11Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920, population, Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, enumeration district (ED) 131, roll 1674, p. 15A, household 351, [Mrs.] Joseph Collins family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 14 March 2018); NARA microfilm record group T625, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
121920 Census, Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, ED 131, roll 1674, p. 15A, household 348, Benjamin Collins family.
13Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930, population, Pawticket, Providence County, Rhode Island, enumeration district (ED) 240, p. 21A, household 483, Eva E. Collins family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 19 March 2018); NARA microfilm record group T626; Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
141930 Census, Pawticket, Providence County, Rhode Island, ED 240, p. 21A, household 480, Benjamin F. Collins family.
15"Rhode Island, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1630-1945," Pawtucket Deaths 1934 , Harry Collins.
16Sixteenth Census of the United States: 1940, population, Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, enumeration district (ED) 4-175, roll 3767, p. 6B, household 138, Eva Collins family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 28 January 2021); NARA microfilm group T627.
171940 Census, Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, ED 4-175, roll 3767, p. 6B, household 134, Benjamin Collins family.
181940 Census, Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, ED 4-174, roll 3767, p. 1B, household 20, Benjamin Collins Jr., family.
19"Rhode Island, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1630-1945," Pawtucket Births 1884 , Harry Collins; Pawtucket Deaths 1934 , Harry Collins.
20Information on the family of Benjamin Collins is found at: "Rhode Island, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1630-1945," Pawtucket Births 1886 , Benjamin Collins. Social Security Administration, "U.S. Social Security Death Index," database, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 8 February 2021), Benjamin Collins, 038-10-4314; Benjamin Collins Jr., 036-01-5382. 1910 Census, Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, ED 118, roll 1440, p. 16A, household 101, Benjamin Collins family. 1920 Census, Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, ED 131, roll 1674, p. 15A, household 348, Benjamin Collins family. Moshassuck Cemetery, Central Falls, Providence County, Rhode Island, Find a Grave, digital images (findagrave.com : accessed 3 February 2021), Benjamin-Mary Collins; Created by: Lasting Memories. 1940 Census, Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, ED 4-174, roll 3767, p. 1B, household 20, Benjamin Collins Jr., family.
21"Rhode Island, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1630-1945," Pawtucket Births 1888 , Elizabeth Collins. "U.S. Social Security Death Index", Elizabeth Collins, 035-30-1725.
Grieve, Robert. An Illustrated History of Pawtucket, Central Falls and Vacinity: A Narrative of the Growth and Evolution of the Community. Pawtucket, Rhode Island: Pawtucket Gazette and Chronicle, 1897.
Moshassuck Cemetery, Central Falls, Providence County, Rhode Island. Find a Grave. Digital images. findagrave.com : 2021.
Oak Grove Cemetery, Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island. Find a Grave. Digital images. findagrave.com : 2020.
Rhode Island Town Clerks. "Rhode Island, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1630-1945." Digital Images. Family Search. familysearch.org : 2021.
United States Department of the Census. Tenth Census of the United States: 1880, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2018.
________. Twelth Census of the United States: 1900, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2018.
________. Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2018.
________. Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2018.
________. Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2018.
________. Sixteenth Census of the United States: 1940, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2021.
United States Social Security Administration. "U.S. Social Security Death Index." Database. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2021.