PART
FORTY-THREE
Other Colletts of
Kentucky
This
is the third of three sections of this family line
Issued
January 2025
This extra part of the Kentucky Story came
about when Part 43 – The Staffordshire Line to Kentucky & Michigan
received a major overhaul during the winter months of 2024/2025. During the work, a staggering number of
“unrelated” members of the family were discovered but, not wanting to disregard
them or discard them, they have been placed in this extra file, very much like
a large appendix to the main body of work in Sections One and Section Two. By doing so, there is every chance that links
may be found to bring the “Strays” into the main fold of the Collett family
originating in Staffordshire, England.
There are cross-references to the individuals
mentioned in this third section where they lived nearby to known members of the
family in the first two sections of this work.
During the research one unusual christian name has been given to three
male members of the Collett family, with two of them confirmed in the second
section of Part 43, but with no obvious connection to the family for the third one.
Birchell
(Burchell) Collett of Leslie County, who lived from 1906 to 1959, has his
details recorded under Ref. 43R130, with the other being his cousin Burchell
Collett of Clay County, who lived from 1915 to 1980, and has his details
recorded under Ref. 43R158.
The, so far unknown, Burchell Collett was born in 1907 and was 20 years old when he
married Pauline Gilbert who was 19. In
the 1930 Census the young couple was living at Precinct 35, Hazard City in
Perry County, Kentucky, from where Burchell was employed as a mechanic with the
railroad company. That day he was
described as a home owner at the age of 23, whose home was valued at $500. His Pauline Collett was 21 and their two
children were George W Collett who
was seventeen months old, and Ada M
Collett who was four months old. More
children were added to the family which, by 1940, was living at Cincinnati in Hamilton
County, Ohio. That year Burchell was 33
and a welder with a machine company, Pauline was 31, George was 11, Ada was 10,
Wanda Lee Collett was eight, Joewinna
Collett was six, Stanley Collett was four, and Thelma Collett
was one year old. Ten years later the completed
family was residing at Visalia in Kenton County, Kentucky, where Burchell was
43 and a welder of tanks. Pauline was
42, when the three daughters and one son living with them were Wanda Lee aged
18, Joe Winna aged 16, Stanley aged 14, and Thelma was 11.
George Winford Collett was born on 19th
June 1928 at Hazard, Perry County, when his mother was Pauline Gilbert. His date of birth was also confirmed when he
died at Goshen, Clermont County in Ohio on 3rd December 1993 aged
65, just after his brother Stanley and married sister Wanda. He was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in
Glendale, Hamilton County, Ohio. In the
Cincinnati census of 1950, he was a married man living at Hutchins Avenue, the
home of his wife’s parents. George
Collett from Kentucky, son-in-law, was 21 and a greaser working in a garage,
(1) Edna Collett of Ohio was 18 and the daughter of Eugene and Mary
Abbott. Much later in his life, George W
Collett was 49 and had returned to Kenton County just south of Cincinnati and
immediately west of Campbell County, Kentucky where he married (2) Jaunita M
Collett on 17th April 1986
Ada Marie Collett was born on 12th
November 1929 at Hazard, Perry County, the eldest daughter of Burchell Collett
and Pauline Gilbert. She was another
member of the family who later return to Kenton County, and was living there at
Independence when she died on 10th October 2023. Her date of birth was confirmed as above, and
was buried at Floral Hills Memorial Gardens in Taylor Mill as Ada Marie Collett
Bush.
In addition to this, the Social Program records
tell us that:
(a) Wanda Lee Collett was born on 5th
August 1931 at Hazard in Perry County prior to the family moving to Ohio, the
second daughter of Burchell Collett and Pauline Gilbert. Two applications were made on behalf of
Wanda, the first in May 1950 using her full maiden-name, the second when she
was Wanda Lee Bunch during April 1955.
It was as Wanda Lee Bunch that she died six months after her brother
Stanley, on 17th September 1993.
(b) Stanley Collett was born on 10th
February 1936 after the family had settled in Cincinnati, the son of Burchell
Collett and Pauline Gilbert. An
application was made in his name during March 1952, and he later died on 15th
April 1993.
(c) Thelma Jean Collett was born on 30th
September 1938, another daughter of Burchell Collett and Pauline Gilbert. On 7th January 1976 she was named
as Thelma Jean Collett Gurley, and was Thelma J Gurley when she died on 25th
October 2007 aged 69.
The
following details could be collected under one banner, that of Unrelated
Collett Neighbours of the Known Kentucky Collett Families. These are therefore the details extracted
from the various Kentucky census forms up to and including 1950.
In 1910 residing at #64 Bad Creek, Leslie
County, was Wiley Collett (Ref. 43Q15) while next-door at #65 Bad Creek
was Will Collett aged 43, married for fifteen years, who was a
farmer with his own account. His wife
was Emily Collett who was 37 and she had given birth to eight children, all
still living, seven of whom were living with their parents that census
day. Absent may have been their eldest
child, with the others being Fred Collett who was 14, Dacia Collett
13, Polly Ann Collett 11, Rebecca Collett was eight, Virgil
Collett was six, Boyd Collett was three, and Eviret Collett
who was one year and eleven months. Daughter
Rebecca later married Willie Sizemore and their daughter Bernice Sizemore
married Ballard Collett (Ref. 43R42) in 1946 when she was 18.
At #69 Bad Creek in 1910 was another Collett
family, that of George and Elizabeth, a general farming family with their own
account. George Collett was 36
and was married at the age of 20, Elizabeth Collett was 38 and was 22 when she
married George. Elizabeth had given
birth to eight children, six of whom were still alive and living with the
couple that day. They were Emily
Collett 15, Bertha Collett 13, Shelby Collett 11, Sarah J
Collett who was six, Birchell Collett who was four, and Reuben
Collett who was thirteen months old.
In 1910 Manford Collett
(Ref. 43Q73) was living at Bad Creek Precinct when his next-door neighbour was James Collette senior and his
family. James was 44 and another
farmer. His (second) wife Nancy was 24
and the only child from his previous marriage still living with him, was Chester Collette who was 13. The two youngest children of James, by second
wife Nancy, were Floyd Collette who
was two, and Thomas Collette who was
one month old. The census return
confirmed that James and Nancy had only been married for eighteen months.
In 1920 at Bad Creek in Lesley
County was George William Collett (Ref. 43Q69) a farmer and land owner. He had living nearby a tenant farmer James Collett who was 40, his wife
Sinthly (?) was also 40, and their daughter Martha Collett was four months old.
Also, at #38 Bad Creek in 1920, and still a
neighbour of Wiley Collett (Ref. 43Q15) at #36, was the family of
general farmer with his own account Will Collett who was 52 (43 in 1910)
and Ella Collett 46 (Emily 37 in 1910) who were renting their home. Their five children were Virgil Collett aged
15, Bard Collett aged 14 (Boyd in 1910), Evert Collett aged 12, and
daughters Nana Collett and Wina Collett who were four and three
respectively
In 1920 on Straight Creek Road, Straight, Bell
County and six dwellings away from Thomas Joel Collett (Ref. 43P39) and
side-by-side with each other, were two other Collett families. They were coal miner Robert Collett
34, his wife Maude Collett who was 20, and their son Robert Collett
junior who was ten months old. Their
next-door-neighbour was Martha Collett 59, and her unmarried son Lee Collett
who was 36 and a labourer at the coal mine, Martha perhaps being the mother of
Robert.
In 1930 Manford Collett (Ref. 43Q73) had a different
Collett neighbour at Bad Creek, and that was farmer Charlie Collett who was 22, his wife Laura Collett who was 19, and
their son Fred Collett who was
eleven months old. Charlie had married
Laura when he was 20 and she was 17.
In 1930 and living
immediately adjacent to Herman Collett (Ref. 43R149) at Gifford Precinct
in Magoffin County was the farming family of Frank Collett who was 48
with his wife Rosa. Their seven children
were Walter Collett who was 18 and helping on the farm, Mary Collett
aged 16, Albert Collett aged 14, Billie Collett aged 12, Lennard
Collett who was ten, Sam Collett who was eight, and Ella Collett
who was six years of age.
Next door to Wiley Collett (Ref. 43Q15)
in 1930, at #25 Jacks Creek Road in Bad Creek was the large family of Robert
Collett and his wife Millie. They
were both nineteen years old when they were married, with Robert being a farmer
with his own account and the owner of his farm.
Robert and Mollie were both 42, and their nine children were Gracie
Collett aged 19, John Collett aged 18, Mossie Collett aged
14, Carl Collett aged 12, Nancy Collett aged 10, Wiley Collett
who was eight, son Bige Collett who was six, George Collett who
was four, and Lee Collett who was twelve months old.
In 1940 at Long Branch in Salyersville,
Magoffin County, four Collett families were
recorded #167, #168, #169, and #170. At
#167 was James Farmer (Asher) Collett (Ref. 43Q75), at
#169 was Herman Collett (Ref. 43R149) eldest son of James Farmer Collett,
and at #170 was Willie M Collett (Ref. 43Q83) younger brother of James Farmer
Collett. Between father and son at #168
was Willie Collett who was 19 and a labourer working on a road project
with the W P A [Works Progress Administration], together with his wife Cellie
Collett who was 21, and their son Marshall Collett who was two years of
age.
The Essie, Leslie County census in
1950 included three Collett families living in close
proximity to each other. One of
them was the family of Reuben Collett (Ref. 43R131), another being widower Robert
Collett aged 64 and a stone worker in the manufacture of stone, with his
daughter Hazel Collett who was 22, and son Lea Collett who was
21. The other one was Fred Collett,
a farmer at 21, whose wife was Pauline, and their daughter Janice Collett
who was one year old.
By 1920 the family of
James Collett had moved to Mill Creek Road, Kettle Island, Bell County where
James was 38 and a general farmer with his own account, and his wife Maggie was
35. During the intervening ten years,
Maggie had presented James with a further three children, with all six children
still living at the family home. They
were Ethel Collett who was 18, Lucy Collett who was 16, Roy
Collett who was 10, Charlie Collett who was seven, Rosa Collett
who was nearly five, and Woodford Collett who was almost two years of
age. After another ten years only the
four youngest children were living with their parents at Mill Creek Road in
1930, when farmer James was 49 and Maggie was 41 (sic). Roy was 20 and working on the family’s farm,
Charley was 16, Rosa was 15, and Woodford was 12.
Following the marriage
of son Roy, it was only Rosa 25, and Woodford 22 and a labourer, who were still
living with Jim 54 and Maggie 55 in 1940, when their rented home was the first
property on Mill Creek Road, with the second property owned and occupied by
married son Roy. He was 31 and a teacher
at a public school, his wife Mildred was 24, and their son Donald L Collett
was five years of age. Roy Collett was
born in Bell County on 10th May 1909, died there on 6th
March 1980, and was buried at Lee Hoskins Cemetery in Kettle Island.
Another Chester Collett, who was born around
the same time as Chester Collett (Ref. 43R29), was 21 in 1920 and he was the
son of John Collett and his wife Martha.
In 1910 John and Martha were living on the Straight Creek Mining Camp in
Bell County, when the family comprised John Collett who was 48 and a
timberman at the coal mine, Martha who was 49, Frank Collett who was 19
and a labourer on the railroad, Julie Collett who was 17, Rosie
Collett who was 13, and Chester Collett who was eight years of
age. Just over two years after the next
census day, Chester Collett married Nancy Creech, aged 19, at Poor Fork in
Harlan County on 2nd October 1922.
Nancy was the daughter of Billie and Cynthia Creech.
It may be of interest that the wife of Bradley
Collett (Ref. 43Q18) of Big Creek from 1919 was Mary Ellen Revis. Nine years earlier, in the Big Creek census
of 1910, 36-year-old Gordon Collett was a labourer living and working
with general farmer George Revis 28 and his wife Mallie 23, whose daughter was
one-year old Nettie Revis. They lived
not far from the young family of Johnnie Collett aged 24 another general
farmer married to Ella for five years.
She had given birth to three children, two of whom were still living,
and they were Henry Collett aged four, and daughter Mallie Collett who
was one year old – see below.
Living at Lothair in Perry County in 1920 was
the family of Chester Collett (Ref. 43R29) who had living one property away the
family of John Collett (Johnnie 24 in 1910) who was 35 and his
wife Ellen (Ella in 1910) who was 35.
With them were their four children, Dewey Collett (Henry four
in 1910) who was 13, Mallie Collett (one in 1910) who was 10,
Nora Collett who was seven, and Edwin P M Collett who was three
months old
By 1930 the family of John and Ella Collett was
living at Lothair Precinct, Hazard in Perry County, in a property they
owned. John Collett was 44 and a ‘Boss’
at the nearby coal mine, and had married Ella when he was 19 and she was
21. Ella Collett was 46, when their two
remaining sons were Edwin P Collett who was 10, and Junior Collett who was
seven years of age. According to the
next census for Lothar conducted on 26th April 1940 the family was
made up of John Collett aged 54 with no stated job of work, Ella Collett was
54, John Junior Collett was 17, married son Edward (?) Collett was 19, and his
wife Frances Collett, daughter-in-law was 18.
Completed the new family were grandson Mack Collett aged two
years, and granddaughter Mollie Collett who was nine months old.
Two years after that census day, John Collett
completed the WW2 Draft Registration Card at Hazard in Perry County on 26th
April 1942. As a resident of Lothair he
was 56 and unemployed, born on 18th January 1886 in Leslie County,
whose wife Ella Collett was at the same address. Less than three years later the death of John
Collett was recorded in Kentucky on 21st January 1945 and was buried
at Englewood Cemetery in Hazard, Perry County, just three days after his 59th
birthday.
The
following are other random findings
Sadie Roark was born on 19th
January 1918 at Leslie County, the daughter of Jonathan Roark and Bertha Collett. Sadie married Jesse Roark and died on 17th
April 2010
Rose (Rosie) Asher was born on 29th
January 1922 at Ashers Branch in Hyden, Leslie County. She was the daughter of Richard Asher and
Lucy Hensley, and she married Frank
Collett. And it was as Rose Asher
Collett that she died on 31st December 2009 at Leslie County and was
buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery in Essie, Leslie County
Grant Collett was born on 3rd December 1923, the
son of John Collett and Elizabeth
Cox. He married Nancy Jane Baker and
died on 10th December 2009 at Williamsburg in Kentucky
Hailey Collett was born on 26th June 1924 at Red
Bird, Bell County in Kentucky, the daughter of Silas Collett and Catherine Asher.
She married Silas (Babe) Brock and died on 25th November 2009
at Pineville in Bell County, when she was buried at Pinelawn Cemetery in
Pineville. Silas Collett, who had been
born in Kentucky and was seven years old in 1910, was the youngest child on the
day of the census living at Left Fork in Bell County with his parents Thomas Collett, aged 50 and from
Kentucky, and Ellen Collet, aged 44 and from Virginia. The other children were Robert Collett who was 15, George
Collett who was 13, and Finley
Collett who was 11, all born in Kentucky.
It is now known that Thomas Collett and Ellen Collett were married on 29th
July 1904 at Slusher in Bell County, with their wedding day registered at Bell
County
The Reverend Joe Charles Collett was born on 7th December 1925 at
Harlan County in Kentucky, the son of Wiley
J Collett and Delia Lyttle. He
married Hosea Lewis and died on 7th September 2009 at Dayton in
Ohio. Wiley Collett was eight years old
in the census of 1910, one of four children on that day living at Left Fork
in Bell County, Kentucky with his parents Joe Collett aged 34, and Catherine Collett aged 29, who had been
married for 15 years during which they had given birth to five children, one of
which had died by then. All members of
the family were born in Kentucky and the three siblings of Wiley were his
sisters Ollie Collett who was 13,
and Nancy Collett who was four, and
his brother Shelby Collett who was
10 years of age
Clyde Collett was born on 12th March 1936, the
son of Dewey Collett and his wife
Ruth. He died on 21st August
2006 at South Point in Ohio and was buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery in Essie,
Kentucky. Dewey Collett was an unmarried
man of 24 in the census of 1930 when he was living in Bell County with his
family. He was the son of Hiram Collett, aged 53, and his wife
Polly who was 53, both from Kentucky, as were Dewey’s siblings Edward Collett who was 18, and Lawrence Collett who was 16. Twenty years earlier, according to the census
in 1910, Hiram Collett aged 28, was living at Left Fork in Bell County
with his wife Pollie Collett who was 25, and their four eldest children. They were daughter Cordie Collett who was eight, son Dewey Collett who was seven, and
daughters Haly Collett who was
three, and Bertha Collett who was
one year and two months old
Tommy Collett was born on 24th January 1940, the
son of Edward Collett and Oka Lee
Shepherd. He married a lady with the
surname of Arce and he died on 13th January 2002 at Fayette County
Oakie Shepherd was born on 6th
April 1941, the daughter of Roy Shepherd and Rose Collett. She later
married David Collett and died on 5th
January 2010
Helen Collett was born at Leslie County on 3rd
February 1942, the daughter of Fred H
Collett and Lucy Roark. She married Farmer Collett and died on 10th
November 2009 at Somerset in Kentucky
Wayne Collett was born on 14th May 1943, he
married Mildred Gilbert, and he died on 4th June 2010 at Atlanta
Lana Rue Hacker was born at Laurel
County in Kentucky on 24th February 1946, the daughter of James
Harvey Hacker and Laura Collett. She married Samuel Ernest Begley and died 14th
January 2010
Wilma Collett was born in Leslie County on 28th
April 1947, the daughter of Elizabeth
Sizemore Collett and Charlie Hoskins.
She later married Howard P J Holland and died in Leslie County on 3rd
September 2009, following which she was buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery in
Essie, Kentucky. It may be of interest
that: (a) Joel Dyer Collett (Ref. 43O4) married Emily Jane Sizemore in 1865;
(b) their son Thomas Joel Collett (Ref. 43P39) married Mary Sizemore in 1889;
and (c) Chester
Lee Sizemore, who was born in Kentucky during 1910,
was living with the family of Pleasant Lee Collett (Ref. 43P32) and his
wife Lottie Collett and their son Dewey Collett who was 20 at Clay County in
Kentucky on the occasion of the census in 1920.
In addition to these, Manford Collett (Ref. 43Q73) married Nancy
Sizemore in 1898
Darrell Allen Collett was born in Bell County, Kentucky
on 1st July 1955, the son of William
(Willie) Collett and his wife Loshia (Lucia). He married Jessie Chloe Collett and died at Pineville, Bell County on 19th
December 2009. He was then buried at
Collett Cemetery in Essie, Kentucky
Linda Ruth Collett was born in Leslie County on 9th
January 1957, the daughter of Carl
Collett and Hazel Barrett. She first
married (1) Charlie B Brown, and later married Wilburn Partin. It was at Leslie County that she died on 20th
February 2010
Essielene Epperson was born on 31st
October 1931 and was the wife of Matthew
(Matt) Collett. She died at London
in Kentucky on 19th September 2009
Della Rosa Barrett was born in
Leslie County on 11th March 1964, the daughter of Elmer Barrett and Fern Collett. She married Clarence Dewayne (Wayne) Simpson
and died on 2nd June 2010 in Leslie County
Special Notice: The Second Memorial Service at the Little
Creek Cemetery in Red Bird, Beverly, Kentucky, took place on Sunday 8th
October 2006 at 11 a.m. The event was
organised by Mitchell and Elaine Asher during 2005. Close to 100 people were in attendance and it
was a most moving ceremony with the Reverend
Ted Collett presiding over the service.
Elias Collett performed
beautifully on the fiddle. The Reverend
Ted Collett, the son of Hazel Collett nee Roark, also presided at the Sixth
Memorial Service honouring deceased descendants
APPENDIX ONE
COLLETT BAD BOYS – Case 2
Go to Part 43 –
The Staffordshire Line to Kentucky for Case 1
and Go to Appendix
Two in Part 60 for Cases 3 to 7
The second of
the seven cases is that of Oliver
Collett which took place at Knox County Circuit
Court in Barbourville, Kentucky in October 1815. Who Olliver or Oliver was is still not known
for sure, except that he may have been the eldest son of William Collett (Ref.
43M4) who was named in the tax lists for Clay County and, who was a chain
carrier for John Gilbert in Clay County during 1810. It was on a murder charge that Oliver was up
before the Judge. In the end the jury
found him to be not guilty of the murder of John Haynes, but that he was
guilty, without malice aforethought, of manslaughter, and was sentenced to six
years confinement in the Jail and Penitentiary Home of the State in Frankfort
Another school of thought
suggests that Oliver Collett may have been Olliver Sizemore, a surname that
appears many times within this family line.
Apparently, some people in Eastern Kentucky attempted to avoid being called
upon to serve with the military, some of whom took the name Collett. In those days, Kentucky did not strictly or
accurately record the dates of births and deaths, so it was easy for them to
change name and subsequently vanish, their original identity gone or changed
forever. As a result, there is a lot of
confusion among people who are, or are not, from the Collett family line in
Eastern Kentucky, and Oliver may well be one of them.