William Wright Collins and Selina Hibbert, Immigrants
and some of their Descendants
Third Generation

CHARLES EVERETT3 COLLINS (Henry2, William1) was born at Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, on 22 September 1869 a son of Henry Collins and his wife Elizabeth Hollingworth. He died there on 8 March 1942. He married about 1891-2 FRANCES M. POLLETT. She was born at Lonsdale, Lincoln, Providence County, on 15 April 1871, and died on 30 October 1965.[1]

Charles Collins grew up in Pawtucket, the oldest of five children. He continued in the family business of manufcturing machinery for use in the textile business. According to Representative Men and Old Families of Rhode Island, published in 1908, Charles was, "associated with his father in business, and is also extensively engaged in the dairy business in South Attleboro, Mass."[2]

Charles Collins and Frances Pollett married about 1891-2. Their residence, based on the birthplaces of their children, was first in Pawtucket, then from before 1898 to after 1907 in Attleboro, Bristol Cointy, Massachusetts, and by 1910 back in Pawtucket. The sojourn in Attleboro may be related to his venture into the dairy business.

The 1900 Census reported the family on Mendon Road, Attleboro, consisting of Charles Collins, 30, machinist, Frances, 29, wife, and children Marguerite, 3, and Helen, 1. The record also indicated that Charles and Frances had been married eight years, and Frances had given birth to three children, two of whom were living.[3] Their first child had lived almost two years.

The following decade, 1900 to 1910, Charles and Frances Collins had four more children. The 1910 Census reported tham at 12 Manchester Street, Pawtucket:[4]

Line Name Related Sex Race Age MS B FB MB Occupation
4. Collins, Charles E. head M W 40 M1 RI England England foreman, machine shop
5. Collins, Frances M. wife F W 34 M1 RI RI RI none
6. Collins, Marguerite A. daughter F W 14 S RI RI RI none
7. Collins, Helen daughter F W 11 S MA RI RI none
8. Collins, Henry son M W 7 S MA RI RI none
9. Collins, Frances E. daughter F W 5 S MA RI RI none
10. Collins, Ester C. daughter F W 3 S MA RI RI none
11. Collins, Eleanor daughter F W 2/12 S RI RI RI none

The 1920 Census found the family closer to the rest of the Collins family, at 409 North Main Street, Pawtucket. The family consister of:[5]

Charles Collins appears to have taken over the Collins Machine Shop. If you are puzzled by some of the age differences between the 1910 and 1920 census, remember that they were taken on different dates, 15 April 1910 and 1 January 1920.

During the following decade, 1920-1930, son Henry married. Daughters Margaret and Helen may also have married, but as I do not have the name of a spouse, I cannot locate them. The 1930 Census reported the remainder of the family at 23 Maynard Street, Pawtucket:[6]

Line Name Related Sex Race Age MS B FB MB Occupation
39. Collins, Charles E. head M W 60 M RI England England president, machine shop
40. Collins, Frances M. wife F W 58 M RI RI RI none
41. Collins, Frances E. daughter F W 25 S MA RI RI saleslady, interior decorating
43. Collins, Esther C. daughter F W 22 S MA RI RI ledger clerk, public utilities
43. Collins, Eleanor H. daughter F W 20 S RI RI RI tracing clerk, machine shop
44. Collins, C. Everett son M W 17 S RI RI RI none

The record further indicated that the three youngest children were still attending school. Son Henry Collins, 27, and his wife Nellie, 23, lived at 93 Greene Street, Pawtucket. Henry worked as a machinist at a machine shop, Nellie as a stenographer for a cotton mill.[7]

In 1940, according to the census, Charles Collins lived at 72 Lyon Street, Pawtucket. Charles, age 70, had retired. Frances, his wife, 68, was the homemaker. One of their children remained with them, Frances, 35, who worked as a clerk in a real estate office, but had been out of work for 35 weeks. This census also reported each person's educational attainment. Charles had completed three of the four years of High School, his wife Frances had completed eighth grade; daughter Frances had completed all four years of High School.[8] Son Charles Collins, 27, and his wife Dorothy, 28, lived at 61 Cottage Street, Pawtucket, with their daughters Nina, 3, and Gail, eight months. According to this record Charles was a salesman for machinery and had completed five years of college; Dorothy, a homemaker, had completed four years of High School.[9] I have not found the other children in this census.

Charles E. Collins had his first cerebral hemorrhage in 1935, his last on 27 February 1942, and died on 8 March of that year from arteriosclerosis.[10] His widow, Frances, lived another twenty-three years.

Responsibility for the Collins Machine Shop eventually passed to Henry Nelson5 Collins (Henry4, Charles Everett3, Henry2, William1), whose life is described in his obituary:[11]

Henry Nelson Collins
April 30, 1932 - September 10, 2013 

Collins,Henry, Nelson 81, of Pinecrest Drive, Pawtucket died Tuesday, September 10th at the Philip Hulitar Center in Providence. He was the husband of Elizabeth (Truesdale) Collins for 58 years. Nelson was born in Pawtucket to the late Henry and Nellie (Roberts) Collins.

Nelson graduated from URI in1955 with a Bachelor's degree in Business. While he was there he joined the ROTC. Upon graduation he began serving his country as a 2nd Lieutenant in an Army Infantry Unit stationed at Fort Benning, GA. Afterwards he served 8 years in the active reserve and the RI National Guard, 103rd Artillery Unit as a 1st Lieutenant. He was the 5th generation of the Collins family to operate Collins Brother Machine Company manufacturing textile machines.

Mr. Collins had a full life, from being a lifetime member of the [Episcopal] Church of the Good Shepherd on Broadway in Pawtucket serving on the vestry and Project Outreach, to the Board of Trustees for the Boys and Girls Club of Pawtucket, Board of Trustees for Slater Mill's RAS Corporate Museum, member of the board of the Pawtucket Lions Memorial Foundation for gift giving, a member of the Pawtucket Lions Club and a recipient of its prestigious Melvin Jones Award. He was also a member of the Rehoboth Antiquarian Society and the Carpenter's Museum.

Nelson was a lifelong sailor, participating in many long distance races and sailing his homebuilt sailboat on Narragansett Bay. No matter how much he served his community, he always found the time to be a loving and devoted family man.

Besides his wife Betty, Nelson is survived by his children, Wayne N. Collins and his wife Melissa of Stafford, Virginia and Pamela J. Hall and her husband Peter of Seekonk, Massachusetts. He also leaves his grandchildren, Christine Collins, John Collins, Lauren Hall-MacLean and her husband Jonathon, Emily Hall, and his great grandson Jackson MacLean. Nelson also leaves his sisters, Joyce Rodriques of Bristol and Roberta Cook of Cumberland. . . .

Charles Collins and his wife Frances Pollett had the following children:

  1. MARION FRANCES4 COLLINS b. at Pawtucket on 30 September 1893; d. there on 2 September 1895.[12]
  2. MARGARET ALICE4 COLLINS b. at Pawtucket on 31 December 1895.[13]
  3. HELEN4 COLLINS b. at Attleboro on 1 August 1898.[14]
  4. HENRY4 COLLINS[15] b. at Attleboro on 3 December 1902; d. on 18 February 1990, last residence Bristol, Bristol County, Rhode Island; m. about 1927-8 NELLIE ROBERTS, b. at Rhode Island about 1904-5. Children of Henry and Nellie:
    1. Henry Nelson Collins b. at Pawtucket on 30 April 1932, d. at Providence, Providence County, on 10 September 2013; m. Elizabeth Truesdale. Children of Nelson and Elizabeth:
      1. Wayne N. Collins m. Melissa ______
      2. Pamela J. Collins m. Peter Hall
    2. Joyce Collins m. ________ Rodriques
    3. Roberta Collins m. ________ Cook
  5. FRANCES ELIZABETH4 COLLINS b. at Attleboro on 9 November 1904; d. on 7 January 1989, last Residence Providence.[16
  6. ESTHER C.4 COLLINS b. at Massachusetts about 1907.[17]
  7. ELEANOR H.4 COLLINS b. at Rhode Island between January and February 1910.[18]
  8. CHARLES EVERETT4 COLLINS[19] b. at Rhode Island sbout 1913; m. Dorothy ________. Children of Charles and Dorothy:
    1. Nina Collins b. at Massachusetts about 1936-7.
    2. Gail Collins b. at Rhode Island about 1939.

NOTES

1Rhode Island Town Clerks, "Rhode Island, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1630-1945," digital images, Family Search (familysearch.org : accessed 4 February 2021), Pawtucket Births 1869, p. 51, e. 9; Charles Collins; Pawtucket Deaths 1942, p. 152; Charles Collins. Twelth Census of the United States: 1900, population, Attleboro, Bristol County, Massachusetts, enumeration district (ED) 96, p. 6, household 110, Charles Collins family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 9 March 2018); NARA microfilm group T623; Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. Moshassuck Cemetery, Central Falls, Providence County, Rhode Island, Find a Grave, digital images (findagrave.com : accessed 3 February 2021), Charles-Frances Collins; Created by: (Gail) StorybehindtheStones.
2Representative 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. 843.
31900 Census, Attleboro, Bristol County, Massachusetts, ED 96, p. 6, household 110, Charles Collins family.
4Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910, population, Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, enumeration district (ED) 142, roll 1440, p. 2A, household 27, Charles E. Collins family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 11 March 2018); NARA group T624, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
5Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920, population, Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, enumeration district (ED) 131, roll 1674, p. 14B, household 345, Charles E. Collins family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 13 March 2018); NARA microfilm record group T625, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
6Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930, population, Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, enumeration district (ED) 244, p. 17A, household 422, Charles E. Collins family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 17 March 2018); NARA microfilm record group T626; Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
71930 Census, Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, ED 245, p. 8A, household 189, Henry Collins family.
8Sixteenth Census of the United States: 1940, population, Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, enumeration district (ED) 4-194, roll 3768, p. 10B, housegold 234, Charles Collins family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 28 January 2021); NARA microfilm group T627.
91940 Census, Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, ED 4-195, roll 3768, p. 4A, housegold 77, Charles E. Collins family.
10"Rhode Island, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1630-1945," Pawtucket Deaths 1942, p. 152; Charles Collins.
11National Obituary Registry, ObitTree (obittree.com : accessed 25 February 2021), Obituaries: Henry Nelson Collins (1932-2013)
12"Rhode Island, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1630-1945," Pawtucket Births 1893; Marion Frances Collins; Pawtucket Deaths 1895; Marion Frances Collins.
13"Rhode Island, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1630-1945," Pawtucket Births 1895; Margaret Alice Collins.
14"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," v. 475, p. 146, e. 145; Attleboro Births 1898; Helen Collins.
15Information on the family of Henry Collins is from: Massachusetts Archives, "Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," digital images, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 4 February 2021), v. 520, p. 156, e. 231; Attleboro Births 1902; Henry Collins. Social Security Administration, "U.S. Social Security Death Index," database, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 15 April 2017), Henry Collins, 036-01-5385. 1930 Census, Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, ED 245, p. 8A, household 189, Henry Collins family. Obituaries: Henry Nelson Collins (1932-2013).
16"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," v. 542, p. 146, e. 255; Attleboro Births 1904; Frances Elizabeth Collins. "U.S. Social Security Death Index", Frances E. Collins, 035-05-6323.
171920 Census, Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, ED 131, roll 1674, p. 14B, household 345, Charles E. Collins family.
181910 Census, Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, ED 142, roll 1440, p. 2A, household 27, Charles E. Collins family.
19Information on the Charles Collins, Jr., family is from: 1920 Census, Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, ED 131, roll 1674, p. 14B, household 345, Charles E. Collins family. 1940 Census, Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, ED 4-195, roll 3768, p. 4A, housegold 77, Charles E. Collins family.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Massachusetts Archives. "Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910." Digital images. American Ancestors. americanancestors.org : 2021.

Moshassuck Cemetery, Central Falls, Providence County, Rhode Island. Find a Grave. Digital images. findagrave.com : 2021.

National Obituary Registry. ObitTree. obittree.com : 2021.

Representative 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.

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. 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 : 2017.

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