PART FORTY-THREE

The Staffordshire Line to Kentucky and Michigan 1640 to 1870

This is the first of two sections of this family line

Updated November 2024

The version of this family line, posted on the website at the start of November 2024, contained for the first time, the continuous line from Ref. 43H1 [circa 1620] through to Derrick Collett (Ref. 43U3), the 5x great-grandson of Elizabeth Collett (Ref. 43N3) & Dillon Asher. This was made possible thanks to Derrick who provided the vital link in 2024, and now the line denoted by the dollar sign ($) after each name, which also runs concurrently with names underlined and in upper case.

The purpose of an earlier version of the file was to merge with the main body of the file the information previously contained within a now deleted appendix at the end of the file. This related to the family line of Barry Oliver Collett (Ref. 43S1) of Iowa – see earlier notes below, this line is now identified by the names in italic type

The new details added in August 2015 confirmed this as the family line of Jason Collett (Ref. 43U4) from Michigan, now of Tucson in Arizona, whose line is denoted by the names in upper case

Grateful thanks must go to John Bennett who kindly assisted with the compilation of the first generation of the file. It is also the line of Groff Collett (Ref. 43R98) of Wisconsin Rapids, who kindly provided a vast amount of information relating to his American branch of this family

Barry Collett of Iowa (above), who has been conducting a DNA Study of the Colletts, kindly provided additional information for the December 2008 update. The DNA details of Barry‘s actual line closely match the “single strand” DNA from Benjamin Collett (Ref. 43L13) which is identified by the underlined names, this being the family line of Bill Collett (Ref. 43R72). It was Bill’s two sisters, Sue (Ref. 43R93) and Sandra Collett (Ref. 43R95) in the USA, who kindly provided their family details for the August 2009 update

A new Appendix Two was added in May 2012 which included the ‘Collit’ family of Tamworth, starting with James Collit who was born during 1672 at Edingale, midway between Tamworth and Burton-on-Trent where the family line commences. However, thanks to Cathy Young in February 2016, that appendix has been removed and re-positioned in its rightful place at the start of Part 60 – The Cambridgeshire Line from Tamworth to Australia. Retained are Appendix One – an heritance notification, Appendix Two – Collett Bad Boys, Appendix Three – Another Burchell Collett of Kentucky, Appendix Four - The Colletts of Leslie County in Kentucky.

When first produced, this line started with Thomas Collett who was born in 1742. More recent information has since come to hand that confirms the details for two earlier generations. For the earlier generations the focal point seems to be the area to the immediate south and east of Rugeley, which includes the villages of Mavesyn Ridware, Armitage, Kings Bromley, and Longdon, all of which lie within about three miles of each other. Whilst this confirms the existence of Colletts in that part of Staffordshire in the seventeenth century, it may also be of interest to note that in the nineteenth century there were members of the Collett family at Colwich three miles north-west of Rugeley and adjacent to the villages of Little and Great Haywood.

It should be noted that some records spell the surname with just one t, while others used an i or an o in lieu of the e. However, in this file the more usual spelling is used throughout

43H1

UNKNOWN COLLETT ($) parents

43I1

William Collett

Born circa 1640

43I2

THOMAS COLLETT ($)

Born in 1646

43I1

William Collett was possibly born around 1640 and he later married Joyce possibly around 1660 and their only known son was born at Burton-on-Trent.

43J1

William Collett

Born in 1665

43I2

THOMAS COLLETT ($) was born at Mavesyn Ridware in 1646 and it was there that he married Maria in 1671. All of the couple’s known children were baptised at Mavesyn Ridware, although the parish register for the youngest child Marie did not specify her parents’ names, as it did for the others. Interestingly the baptism of another William (Guilielmus) Collett on 3^rd December 1682 at Mavesyn Ridware also did not give the name of his parents, so William and Marie may have been siblings of this or another Collett family.

43J2

Anthony Collett

Baptised on 20.06.1672 at Mavesyn Ridware

43J3

Thomas Collett

Born in 1673 at Mavesyn Ridware

43J4

Anna Collett

Born in 1676 at Mavesyn Ridware

43J5

George Collett

Born in 1680 at Mavesyn Ridware

43J6

WILLIAM COLLETT ($)

Born in 1682 at Mavesyn Ridware

43J7

John Collett

Born in 1685 at Mavesyn Ridware

43J8

Marie Collett

Born in 1690 at Mavesyn Ridware

43J1

William Collett was baptised on 18^th January 1666 at Burton-on-Trent and his parents were listed in the parish register as Guliem and Jocosae Collit (William and Joyce).

43J3

Thomas Collett was baptised at Mavesyn Ridware on 30^th December 1673, the son of William and Maria. It is believed that he later married Mary Garbett at St Mary’s Church in Brewood in Staffordshire on 14^th February 1696. After they were married it seems likely that that stayed within the Brewood area, since it was at nearby Codsall that their daughter Mary was baptised, following her birth on 15^th November 1700. The parents of all of the children listed below were confirmed as Thomas and Mary Collett, apart from the first child, when the surname was records as ‘Collits’. It would also appear that she did not survive, and it may have been her infant death that prompted the return to Mavesyn Ridware.

43J9

Mary Collett

Baptised on 01.12.1700 at Codsall

43J10

William Collett

Baptised on 16.12.1701 at Mavesyn Ridware

43J11

Thomas Collett

Baptised on 24.04.1703 at Mavesyn Ridware

43J12

Mary Collett

Baptised on 22.09.1705 at Mavesyn Ridware

43J13

Elena Collett

Baptised on 26.12.1708 at Mavesyn Ridware

43J4

Anna Collett was baptised at Mavesyn Ridware on 22^nd April 1676 and it is possible that she married Thomas King at nearby Lichfield Cathedral on 14^th February 1704.

43J5

George Collett was baptised at Mavesyn Ridware on 4^th December 1680. When he was almost twenty-one, he married Maria Goodwin at nearby Croxall just over the Staffordshire county boundary in Derbyshire. The wedding took place on 30^th June 1701 and George was recorded as Georgius Collet.

43J6

WILLIAM COLLETT ($) was baptised at Mavesyn Ridware on 16^th December 1682. He married (1) Ann Kendrick at Whittington near Lichfield on 6^th October 1695. The marriage appears to have produced five children who were all baptised at Whittington before the death of their mother, which possibly happened during the birth of the fourth child. He later married (2) Maria Jolley on 1^st March 1714 by whom he had a further four children, although it is curious that there were two named William with the older son eventually reaching adulthood. The baptism records at Mavesyn Ridware for the latter four children gave the parents’ names as Gulielmi and Mariae Collet.

43K1

William Collett

Baptised on 20.09.1696 at Whittington

43K2

John Collett

Baptised on 14.01.1698 at Whittington

43K3

Sarah Collett

Born in 1702 at Whittington

43K4

Lettes Collett

Born in 1703 at Whittington

43K5

Ann Collett

Baptised on 28.10.1711 at Whittington

The following are the children of William Collett and his second wife Maria:

43K6

William Collett

Born in 1714 at Mavesyn Ridware

43K7

THOMAS COLLETT ($)

Born in 1717 at Mavesyn Ridware

43K8

Anna Collett

Baptised on 07.03.1718 at Mavesyn Ridware

43K9

William Collett

Baptised on 27.02.1720 at Mavesyn Ridware

43J7

John Collett was very likely born in 1684 but was baptised Johanis Collett at Mavesyn Ridware on 16^th August 1685. He later married Elizabeth Stretton at Longdon in Staffordshire on 13^th May 1703, and seven years later the couple’s children were born and baptised at Mavesyn Ridware. There is no evidence to suggest that there were any other children born during the first seven years of the marriage and it is possible that John was with the army supporting John Churchill the First Duke of Marlborough in the many European battles that took place during that particular decade, including his victory at Blenheim. The baptism record for the majority of the couple’s children gave the parents’ names as Johannis and Elizabethae.

43K10

John Collett

Baptised on 10.04.1710 at Mavesyn Ridware

43K11

Anna Collett

Baptised on 25.07.1711 at Mavesyn Ridware

43K12

Thomas Collett

Baptised on 25.10.1712 at Mavesyn Ridware

43K13

Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1714 at Mavesyn Ridware

43K14

Maria Collett

Born in 1716 at Mavesyn Ridware

43K15

Anna Collett

Born in 1719 at Mavesyn Ridware

43K3

Sarah Collett was baptised at Whittington on 31^st May 1702, the daughter of Gulielmi and Maria Collet. At some time later in her life she was married to become Sarah Alsop.

43K4

Lettes Collett was baptised at Whittington on 14^th January 1704, the daughter of Gulielmi and Maria Collet. It is known that she later married John Deakin.

43K6

William Collett was baptised as Gulielmus Collett at Mavesyn Ridware on 4^th January 1715, the son of Gulielmi and Maria Collet. And it was as William Collett that he married Mary Bold at Stowe-by-Chartley in Staffordshire on 2^nd March 1735 at the age of twenty. It was also at Stowe where the couple lived and where all of their children were baptised with the name Collet, although it would appear that few of them survived to adulthood, hence the reason there is no reference to them in their father’s Will. Prior to his death William Collett, yeoman of Whittington, made his Will on 4^th February 1779 and a copy can be found in the William Salt Library & Archive in Stafford. Notes: Whittington lies midway between the towns of Lichfield and Tamworth, and William Salt was a London banker and keen genealogist. A summary statement about the Will (below) includes a reference to property at Longdon which is just a mile from Mavesyn Ridware.

“He has surrendered copyhold property of the Manor of Longdon to the uses of his Will and freehold property one-third to his brother-in-law John Deakin of Whittington, wheelwright, and two-thirds to his sister Sarah Alsop for life and then half of that to Edward Ward of Birmingham, pattern maker, and the other half to Thomas Woolley of Shenstone, cordwainer. Erasmus Darwin junior was one of the witnesses”. The aforementioned John Deakin was the husband of William’s sister Lettes Collett (above) who was born at Whittington, while Sarah Alsop was his older sister Sarah Collett who was also born there. It is also worth noting that a James Collett (#43k7) married Elizabeth Alsop on 23^rd April 1753 at Whittington, but who he was has yet to be determined.

43L1

Thomas Collett

Born in 1736 at Stowe-by-Chartley

43L2

William Collett

Baptised on 19.11.1738 at Stowe, Staffs.

43L3

Ellen Collett

Born in 1740 at Stowe-by-Chartley

43L4

Jno Collett

Born in 1742 at Stowe-by-Chartley

43L5

Mary Collett

Baptised on 22.07.1744 at Stowe, Staffs.

43L6

John Collett

Born in 1745 at Stowe-by-Chartley

43L7

Anne Collet

Born in 1746 at Stowe-by-Chartley

43L8

Ellen Collett

Born in 1748 at Stowe-by-Chartley

43L9

George Collett

Born in 1750 at Stowe-by-Chartley

43L10

Elizabeth Collett

Baptised on 08.03.1752 at Stowe, Staffs.

43L11

Hannah Collett

Born in 1753 at Stowe-by-Chartley

43K7

THOMAS COLLETT ($) was probably born around 1715 and was baptised at Mavesyn Ridware on 14^th April 1717. He later married Ellen Perkin at Rugeley in Staffordshire on 10^th February 1734. Thomas Collett made a statement in a boundary dispute for the Brereton and Longdon area of Staffordshire in 1796 in which he indicated that he came to live in Brereton at the age of ten years.

43L12

RICHARD COLLETT ($)

Born in 1735 at Colwich

43L13

Benjamin Collett

Born circa 1740 or 1744

43L14

Thomas Collett

Born in 1742 at Armitage

43K13

Elizabeth Collett was baptised at Mavesyn Ridware on 17^th July 1714. She later married either John Arnold at Tamworth on 10^th June 1739 or more likely, Samuel Philips at Mavesyn Ridware on 13^th June 1745.

43K14

Maria Collett was baptised at Mavesyn Ridware on 20^th October 1716. It is possible that she was later married as Mary Collett at Lichfield Cathedral to William Bentley on 3^rd December 1736.

43K15

Anna Collett was baptised at Mavesyn Ridware on 7^th April 1719, the youngest child of John Collett and Elizabeth Stretton. It was at nearby Rugeley that, as Anne Collett she married William Bolton on 22^nd December 1743.

43L1

Thomas Collett was baptised at Stowe-by-Chartley on 20^th February 1736, the eldest son of William Collett and Mary Bold. It was also at Stowe that he married Margaret Potts on 18^th July 1762, and where their three known children were baptised.

43M1

Margaret Collett

Born in 1777 at Stowe-by-Chartley

43M2

Sarah Collett

Baptised on 08.11.1778 at Stowe-by-Chartley

43M3

Benjamin Collett

Born in 1782 at Stowe-by-Chartley

43L3

Ellen Collett was baptised at Stowe-by-Chartley on 25^th December 1740 the daughter of William and Mary Collett. It was exactly five months later that she died at Stowe on 25^th May 1741.

43L4

Jno Collett was baptised at Stowe-by-Chartley on 4^th April 1742, the son of William and Mary Collett. Sadly, he died at Stowe eight months later on 10^th December 1742.

43L6

John Collett was baptised at Stowe-by-Chartley on 23^rd January 1745, the son of William and Mary Collett. Tragically he also died that same day.

43L7

Anne Collett was baptised at Stowe-by-Chartley on 25^th January 1746, the daughter of William and Mary Collett, who died on 17^th April 1754.

43L8

Ellen Collett was baptised at Stowe-by-Chartley on 15^th January 1748, the daughter of William Collett and Mary Bold. It seems likely that it was this Ellen Collett who married William Thebard at Stowe on 28^th December 1787, even though she was nearly forty years old by then. Seven years later the Stowe parish records also recorded the marriage of John Collett and Ann Winfield, which took place on 10^th November 1794. Who he was is yet to be discovered, since Ellen’s two brothers named John, both died during the 1740s.

43L9

George Collett was baptised at Stowe-by-Chartley on 1^st July 1750, the youngest son of William and Mary Collett. He survived longer than some of his sibling, and was it was nearly sixteen months later that died. died on 27^th October 1751.

43L11

Hannah Collett was baptised at Stowe-by-Chartley on 2^nd December 1753 but died four months later on 17^th April 1754, the last child born to William Collett and Mary Bold.

43L12

RICHARD COLLETT ($) was born towards the end of 1735, his parents having been married at Rugeley in January that year. According to the IGI, it was at Colwich that he was baptised on 15^th December 1735, the son of Thomas and Ellen Collett. It would appear from the baptism records for his children that he was married to Mary and that they had settled in the village of Hints near Tamworth. It seems highly likely, although not proved, that Richard and his family left England for North America where there is a record of a Richard Collett who was listed as a royalist in the American Revolutionary War of 1770-1782.

Prior to the discovery of this new information, Richard’s son William was included in an appendix, now removed, where it was noted that his DNA matched closely with that of Benjamin Collett (below) and his subsequent descendants. However, the new information now places William’s father Richard as the brother of Benjamin, hence providing the opportunity to remove the appendix and place Richard and his sons William (and sibling Richard) within the main family line.

In addition to the three children listed below, there was an Elizabeth Collett (#43m5), the daughter of Richard Collett (#43l13) and his wife Elizabeth, who was baptised at Hints on 21^st June 1768. Whether the parish record contains an error is not known, but it is possibly that this was the same Richard whose wife was actually Mary.

43M4

WILLIAM COLLETT ($)

Born in 1765 at Hints, near Tamworth

43M5

Eleanor Collett

Baptised on 03.10.1770 at Hints, Staffs.

43M6

Richard Collett

Born in 1772 at Hints, near Tamworth

43L13

Benjamin Collett was possibly born at Colwich or Mavesyn Ridware sometime immediately before or shortly after 1742. This has been deduced simply by working back from the date that he was married. He married Sarah Malpas at Kings Bromley in Staffordshire on 1^st March 1764, Kings Bromley being just over two miles from where Benjamin’s brother Thomas (below) was baptised. Sarah Malpas was baptised at Kings Bromley on 5^th November 1744. After they were married the couple may have initially settled in the village of Kinfare [Kinver] where their first two children were baptised. However, by 1770 Benjamin Collett of Kings Bromley was working as an iron slitter when he was listed in the Staffordshire County Quarter Sessions relating to the conviction of Edward Godwin, husbandman of Abbots Bromley, for not having his name and place of abode clearly painted on his carts. It was also while the family was living at Kings Bromley that their daughter Elizabeth was baptised.

43M7

John Collett

Born in 1764 in Staffordshire

43M8

Esther Collett

Baptised on 28.11.1767 at Kinfare, Staffs.

43M9

Elizabeth Collett

Baptised on 29.09.1771 at Kings Bromley

43L14

Thomas Collett was very likely born around 1742. The IGI includes the baptism of a Thomas Collett at Armitage on 13^th June 1742 who was the son of Thomas Collett. Thomas later married Mary Yeates on 27^th February 1759 at Rugeley parish church, where all of their children were later baptised. It seems likely that he died on 26^th August 1814 as there is a headstone to that effect in the ruined chancel of Rugeley’s old church, opposite the current parish church of St Augustines. The inscription reads “In Memory of Thomas Collett of Brereton and Mary his wife”. Thomas was aged 72 while Mary, who died on 19^th July 1821, was aged 79. The burial record taken from the Bishop’s Transcript for Rugeley stated “Thomas Collett of Brereton buried 30^th August 1814”.

43M10

Thomas Collett

Baptised on 15.06.1766 at Rugeley

43M11

William Collyer Collett

Born in 1768 at Rugeley, Staffs.

43M12

John Collett

Baptised on 24.02.1771 at Rugeley

43M13

George Collett

Born in 1772 at Rugeley, Staffs.

43M14

unnamed Collett son

Baptised on 16.04.1775 at Rugeley

43M15

Mary Collett

Baptised on 22.03.1778 at Rugeley

43M16

Edward Collett

Baptised on 27.10.1779 at Rugeley

43M17

Hannah Collett

Born in 1781 at Rugeley, Staffs.

43M18

Joseph Collett

Born in 1784 at Rugeley, Staffs.

43M19

Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1789 at Rugeley, Staffs.

43M20

Henry Collett

Born in 1791 at Rugeley, Staffs.

43M1

Margaret Collett was baptised at Stowe-by-Chartley on 19^th May 1777, the daughter of Thomas Collett and Margaret Potts, and it was there also that she married Richard Fenton on 4^th January 1809.

43M3

Benjamin Collett was baptised at Stowe-by-Chartley on 18^th November 1782, the son of Thomas Collett and Margaret Potts, and was married there on 17^th February 1812 to Mary Betson.

43M4

WILLIAM COLLETT ($) was possibly born around 1762 and was baptised at the village of Hints near Tamworth on 21^st August 1765, the son of Richard and Mary Collett. While he was still very young it is understood his parents sailed from England to America where they settled. It was in America that he became a married man when he married Susannah Bellew before the end of the century, and it was in Kentucky that his son and his daughters were born. At the time of his death around 1821 William was living at Clay County in Kentucky. The 207-page book entitled ‘The William Collett (1762-1821) Family of South-Eastern Kentucky’ by Monte Hendrickson includes the descendants of his three children Samuel, Sarah, and Elizabeth Collett listed below.

Another source in 2014 states that William Collett fought with the North Carolina Regulars in the America Revolution. That same source also believes that it was in North Carolina that he was born, even though he was baptised in England of English parents. The writer continues “The land given to my ancestor as pension for his involvement in the war brought him to eastern Kentucky where my family has lived and died for over two hundred years and where his descendants, beginning with his grandson Pleasant Lee Collett [Ref. 43O4], began a tradition of family that continues today. America was built by the axe and plough of stubborn, determined folk like these, and though a few still call these seemingly impassable mountain passes as home, we must never forget those who left their homes in the East and blazed the unbeaten path into the untamed wilds in wagons and on the backs of oxen and mules.”

It seems very likely that in addition to the three known children listed below, William also had a son of the same name and that he in turn probably had a son by the name of William Collett. It was around the middle of the 1820s that more than one William Collett was born in Kentucky, but so far none of them have been positively identified as belonging to this family line, although it is hoped that that situation can be resolved at some time in the future. New information received during 2014 also indicates that William Collett of Clay County had a son Olliver Collett who was gaoled for six years at Knox County Court in Kentucky during 1815 for the manslaughter of John Haynes. For further details, go to Case 2 in Appendix Two at the end of this family line. In 1810 Olliver Collett chain carrier for John Gilbert in Clay County; a chain carrier was often a family member who had not reach full adult age. See also below.

The two sworn chain carriers for Dillion Asher (born in Tennessee during 1777) in Clay County during 1809 were William Stewart, who was married to Dillion's sister Jane, and William Collett, his future father-in-law, despite the great age difference between Dillion and William’s eldest daughter Sarah Collett. Just prior to that, from 1802 to 1807, William Collett lived on Yellow Creek in what was Knox County, later to become Harlan County in 1819, where Dillion Asher's father-in-law, Richard Davis, was one of William Collett's closest neighbours, according to the tax lists.

43N0

Olliver Collett – go to Case 2

Date of birth unknown

43N1

SAMUEL COLLETT

Born circa 1800 in Kentucky

43N2

Sarah Collett

Born circa 1802 in Kentucky

43N3

Elizabeth Collett ($)

Born circa 1810 in Kentucky

43M6

Richard Collett was baptised at Hints on 14^th August 1772, the son of Richard and Mary Collett, whose family emigrated to America not long after he was born.

43M7

John Collett was born in Staffordshire on 10^th November 1764, the son of Benjamin Collett and Sarah Malpas who was baptised at Kinfare 4^th January 1766. Today Kinfare is known Kinver, near Stourbridge. It is established that John married Ann Winfield on 10^th November 1794 in Staffordshire and that she presented him with eight known children who were all born at Colwich in Staffordshire.

It would also appear that John was either a farmer or a farm labourer, as his eldest son John was born at Snead Farm in Staffordshire, which may have been in Colwich. The only other known facts about John Collett senior are that he died in 1828 and that he was buried in the churchyard at St Michael’s and All Angels Church in Colwich at the age of sixty-four. John’s wife Ann Winfield was born in 1772 and she died on 13^th February 1846 and was buried with her husband. The shared headstone at Colwich gave her age as seventy-four.

The same headstone also included the name of their daughter Sarah Collett who died at the age of twelve on 14^th February 1826. It would appear that Sarah may have been the second child in the family with this name, since an earlier Sarah was born to John and Ann in 1798 who, it must be assumed, also died while still very young; both girls being named after John’s mother.

43N4

John Collett

Born in 1796 at Colwich, Staffs.

43N5

Sarah Collett

Born in 1798 at Colwich, Staffs.

43N6

Robert Collett twin

Born in 1801 at Colwich

43N7

Ann Collett twin

Baptised on 18.07.1801 at Colwich

43N8

Mary Collett

Born in 1807 at Colwich, Staffs.

43N9

Sarah Collett

Born in 1814 at Colwich, Staffs.

43N10

William Collett

Born in 1820 at Colwich, Staffs.

43N11

Benjamin Collett

Born in 1822 at Colwich, Staffs.

43M11

William Collyer Collett was born in the parish of Brereton and Rugeley in the diocese of Lichfield in Staffordshire. He was baptised as William Collett at Rugeley parish church on 11^th September 1768, the son of Thomas and Mary Collett, whereas the IGI recorded the event under the name of William Collier Collitt. At the time of the 1841 Census for Brereton in the Lichfield, Penkridge and Stafford registration district his ‘rounded age’ was recorded as 70 and his place of birth was stated as being Rugeley. Again, he was simply William Collett in the census and was living at Glovers Hill in Brereton where he was listed as being of ‘independent means’. Just over two years after the census, he died on 22^nd August 1843 aged 75 as detailed on his headstone of his grave on the south side of St Michael’s Church in Brereton, which also gave his name as William Collyer Collett.

43M13

George Collett was baptised on 6^th December 1772 at Rugeley, the son of Thomas Collett and Mary Yeates. Rugeley lies within in the parish of Brereton in the diocese of Lichfield in Staffordshire. He was reputedly a wealthy man and was referred to as gent of Brereton. In 1844 George sold his house to the Church Commissioners for the sum of £1,770 for them to use as a vicarage for what was then the recently created Parish of Brereton. The house was later demolished in 1963 to make way for the present vicarage. George is also believed to have owned some properties in Hospital Street in Birmingham and in 1819 was understood to be living in the Pimlico area of London, although both still need to be formally verified.

George was around forty years old when he took up a relationship with the much younger Elizabeth Harris around 1813, for which there is no evidence that they ever married. This begs the question - did George already have a wife that prevented his marriage to Elizabeth Harris? Certainly, Pallott’s Marriage Index and the IGI, include the marriage of a Geo Collett to an Arabella Lawman at St Mary’s Church on St Marylebone Road in London on 21^st May 1803, but he may have been the son of Henry Collett and his wife Sarah, who was baptised at St Bartholomew’s Church in London on 2^nd February 1783. Further details of this family can be found in Appendix Two.

Either way, by 1841 George and Elizabeth were living at Glovers Hill in Brereton. The census that year indicated that Elizabeth had been born at Newmarket in Suffolk, and it was there that she was baptised on 17^th July 1793. According to the 1841 Census, George’s ‘rounded age’ was written as 65 when it would have been 68 and Elizabeth’s ‘rounded age’ was 50 instead of 47. The children listed as living with them in 1841 were Georgiana Collett aged 22, Augustus Collett aged 17, and ‘Rubria Collett who was 16’ who must have been a reference to Rebecca.

There is a possibility that Elizabeth’s son William, who was born in London, was born before George and Elizabeth became a couple and that George may not have been the father. In George’s Will, William Harris Collett was referred to as “my reputed son”. There is a possibility as well, judging by the dates of birth of their other children, that George and Elizabeth did not marry until 1815 or even later. What may be significant is that on the baptism of his daughter Amelia, George was described as ‘George Collett, gentleman of Pimlico’, providing some indication of a link to London.

George made two Wills, the first on 17^th January 1846 at Brereton and the second also at Brereton on 23^rd March that same year. That Will was proved on 12^th October 1846 in London following his death on 21^st April 1846 at the age of 73. Three days later he was buried on the south side of St Michael’s Church in Brereton. Within his Will, George referred to his wife as Elizabeth Harris Collett ‘my reputed wife’, whereas in her Will she was referred to as ‘Elizabeth Harris, the reputed widow of George Collett late of Brereton’.

Elizabeth was recorded in all the census returns from 1841 to 1871. As a widow, she was still living at Glovers Hill in 1851 but sometime shortly after she moved to 3 Upper Brook Street West in Rugeley where she was living in both 1861 and 1871. It was as Elizabeth Harris that she died on 8^th June 1875 and was buried at Brereton using that name but not with George Collett. In her Will dated 10^th August 1871 she left all her estate to Hannah Elizabeth Gilbert the daughter of her neighbour and sole executor. Hannah would have been aged twenty at that time. It is worthy of speculation why she chose not to leave anything to her children by George Collett or even their grandchildren. All the couple’s children, with the exception of Elizabeth’s first two children, were born within the parish of Brereton and Rugeley and were baptised at parish church in Rugeley. Eldest daughter Amelia was born at Newmarket.

43N12

William George Harris Collett

Born in 1813 at London

43N13

Amelia Harris Collett

Born in 1816 at Newmarket, Suffolk

43N14

Georgiana Collett

Born in 1818 at Rugeley, Staffs.

43N15

Frederick Collett

Born in 1821 at Brereton, Staffs.

43N16

Augustus Collett

Born in 1823 at Brereton, Staffs.

43N17

Rebecca Collett

Born in 1825 at Brereton, Staffs.

43M17

Hannah Collett was born at Rugeley in 1781, where she was baptised on 27^th January 1782. It would appear that she never married and in 1841 her ‘rounded age’ was 60. Hannah died during the month of July in 1854 and was buried on the south side of St Michael’s Church in Brereton where she shared a headstone with her younger sister Elizabeth Collett (below).

43M18

Joseph Collett was born at Rugeley and was baptised there on 4^th July 1784. He married Elizabeth Joice (Joyce) with whom he had a daughter who was born at Birmingham and who was 20 in 1841. At the time of the birth of his daughter Joseph was employed as a tailor and was living at Jamaica Row. In 1861 Elizabeth Collett born at Rugeley was still living there when she was 65, placing her date of birth around 1795 so an assumption perhaps can be made that she was Joseph’s wife and the mother of Elizabeth.

43N18

Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1818 at Birmingham

43M19

Elizabeth Collett was born at Rugeley where she was baptised on 27^th September 1789. She never married and died on 27^th December 1857 aged 68 and was buried on 1^st January 1858 close to her older sister Hannah who had died three years earlier. The sisters shared a headstone on the south side of St Michael’s Church in Brereton.

43M20

Henry Collett was born at Rugeley around 1796 but so far, no baptism record has been found so therefore no proof has yet been found to confirm him as the son of Thomas and Mary Collett. What is known is that he married Mariah Higgott at Rugeley on 23^rd March 1818 and that, when they died, they were buried very near the graves of siblings William, George, Hannah, and Elizabeth Collett (all above). His wife Mariah was born at Rugeley between 1785 and 1789 and at the time of her marriage she was living at Market Street (or Place) in Rugeley where she was working as a linen and woollen draper and tailor. During the year following their wedding Mariah presented Henry with a daughter. By the time of the 1841 Census ‘Enery’ said he was 49, while Maria was 51 and they were still living at Rugeley with their daughter.

Mariah died on 6^th January 1848 aged 63, leaving Henry as a widower for the next three years. According to the 1851 he was living at Brook End in Longdon in the Lichfield & Yoxall registration district and was aged 63. Six months later Henry died on 11^th October aged 64 and was buried with his wife in the churchyard of St Michael’s in Brereton and adjacent to the graves of his likely siblings William, George, Hannah and Elizabeth. A large flat marble tombstone placed over the shared grave has the following inscription “In affectionate memory of Henry Collett formerly of Longdon who died 11^th October 1851 aged 64 and Mariah his wife who died 6^th January 1848 aged 63”. This is followed by a further inscription that reads “Also of William Eagles husband of their only child Harriett of Stourton Villa, Leamington. Born 1^st August 1819. Died 6^th January 1885 and Harriett his wife who died 19^th August 1892 aged 73 years”.

43N19

Harriett Collett

Born in 1819 at Rugeley

43N1

SAMUEL COLLETT was born in Kentucky around 1800, the son of William Collett from England. It was previously believed that he had three sons who were born while he was living at Harlan County in Kentucky and it was at Bell County in Kentucky that Samuel died between 1874 and 1880. Census records exist for a Samuel Collett at Wayne County in 1830 and at Clay County in 1840 and, by 1860, he was 58 and was residing at Harlan County. Whether these sightings were this Samuel Collett has yet to been determined, nor has it been determined that the three named sons Henry, William, and Samuel, previously listed below, were indeed the sons of Samuel Collett. In fact, they may have been the children of his sisters Sarah and Elizabeth (below) by Dillion Asher to whom they were never married and whose offspring took the Collett name. In 2024, DNA proof received from Derrick Collett of the Bowens Creek line of this Collett family confirmed that certainly Samuel Collett was the son of Dillion Asher and Elizabeth Collett. No such confirmation has been received to suggest that Henry and William were also her Asher sons, so they remain here for the time being.

43O1

Henry Collett

Born in 1824 at Harlan County, Kentucky

43O2

William Collett

Born in 1825 at Harlan County, Kentucky

43N2

Sarah Collett was born in Kentucky during 1802, the daughter of William Collett from Staffordshire in England. When she was in her early twenties Sarah and her sister Elizabeth (below) formed a relationship with the much older Dillion Asher. He was born on 15^th October 1777 in Washington County in North Carolina, now in Tennessee, and later moved to Kentucky where he had several ‘wives’ but did not marry all of them. It was also in Kentucky, at Red Bird in Clay County that he died on 8^th May 1844. All of Sarah’s children were given the Collett surname perhaps indicating that she was one of Dillion’s ‘wives’ to whom he was not married.

Within the census of 1850, Sally Collett (aka Sarah) aged 48 who said she was born in Tennessee was living at Clay County with her eldest child Pleasant Collett who was a farmer of 24, and her two daughters Mary A Collett from Tennessee who was 15, and Lucinda Collett who was 13 and from Kentucky. In addition to those three children, it seems highly likely that Sarah also gave birth to at least two more children in the years in between the two oldest children. One of those, her son Joel, had living with him Sarah’s sister Elizabeth (below) in 1870. The names of Joel and John were also used by the later generations of this family line. Sometime later, members of this family line adopted the Collette spelling of the surname which led to descendants of Sarah Collett mistakenly believing that Sarah was a servant girl from France.

According to the census in 1860, Sarah’s daughter Lucinda Collett was 22 and a labourer employed on the Flat Creek farm in Clay County of Sally Collett aged 35 and a farmer, the second wife of Sarah’s older brother William (Billy) Collett (above). Living next door to Sally Collett and her young family was the family of farmer Samuel Collett aged 31, who was Lucinda’s cousin and the son of her mother’s younger sister Elizabeth (below). What happened to Sarah Collett, one of the wives of Dillion Asher, is not known at this time.

In 2020, Trish Frierson in Kentucky wrote regarding her family line which, she believes started with Sarah Collett and Dillion Asher, as the online Asher family includes some of her descendants. Trish’s father was Michael Gene Collett, born at Covington in Kentucky during 1958. His father was James Collett and he was born at Harlan County in Kentucky during 1928. Next in line, was his father Tolman Collett born at Harlan County in 1901, and he was the son of Preston Collett who was born in Clay County during 1879. When Preston died at Brightshade, Clay County on 19^th January 1929, he was confirmed as the son of Amberson Collett and Bettie Asher, the cause of death being an appendicitis. Preston’s sister, Golden Collett, had passed away at Brightshade four years earlier on 25^th March 1924. Preston had been married to Mary Asher and their daughter Myrtle Collett was just four months old when she died on 8^th October 1925 at Roarke in Clay County. Myrtle was the couple’s last child, their previous children being Addie Collett (1902), Willie Collett (1906), Norma Collett (1908), Jim Collett (1912), Pearl Collett (1916) and Malvie Collett (1922). On 2^nd August 1926, Preston Collett married Mollie Asher in Clay County.

43O3

Pleasant Lee Collett

Born in 1827 in Kentucky

43O4

Joel Dyer Collett

Born in 1831 in Kentucky

43O5

John Robinson Collett

Born in 1833 in Kentucky

43O6

Mary A Collett

Born in 1835 in Tennessee

43O7

Lucinda Collett

Born in 1837 in Kentucky

43N3

Elizabeth Collett ($) was born in Kentucky around 1810, another daughter of William Collett from England. It is understood that like her sister Sarah (above) Elizabeth was also one of the several ‘wives of Dillion Asher’ with whom she had issue. By the time of the census in 1870, Elizabeth Collette from Kentucky was 60 years old and was living with the Kentucky family of Joel Dire (Dyer) Collett, one of the sons of her older sister Sarah. While she appears to have been one of wives of Dillion Asher not to be married to him, living at the same address were Gus Asher who was eight and Drucilla Asher who was six who may have been her grandchildren.

In October 2024 Derrick Collett of the Bowens Creek line of this Collett family from Dillion Asher and Elizabeth Collett, provided DNA proof that Samuel Collett was their son, and therefore the half-brother of Pleasant Lee Collett the son of Dillion Asher and Sarah Collett (above). Prior to this, it had been wrongly assumed that Samuel was the son of Elizabeth’s brother of the same name (above).

43O8

Samuel Collett ($)

Born in 1828 at Harlan County, Kentucky

43N4

John Collett was born on 25^th October 1796 while his parents John Collett and Ann Winfield were living at Snead Farm in Staffordshire. It was later that same year that he was baptised at nearby Colwich when again his parents were confirmed as John and Ann Collett. He was married by licence in Wolverhampton to Mary Elizabeth Barrow on 25^th June 1828 who was the daughter of Thomas and Hannah Barrow. Mary was born on 2^nd June 1804 in Wolverhampton where she was later baptised on 9^th March 1806 at St Peters Church. All of John’s and Mary’s children were born at Great Haywood, just one mile north of Colwich.

It seems that John spent his whole life in Great Haywood where he was reputed to be a gentleman farmer and a brewer. It is understood that he drank to excess and that he was thrown from his horse-drawn gig and dislocated his neck. As a result of his injury he died six weeks later, on 10^th October 1840 aged 44. The cause of death was noted as a fracture of the spine, and a report in the Staffordshire Advertiser read as follows: “October 10^th much respected and deeply lamented by his family and friends Mr John Collett, Great Haywood. His death was caused by a spinal fracture in consequence of being thrown out of his gig on the 7th September. He has left a wife and six children to mourn their bereavement.”

His wife Mary died nearly forty years later from a heart attack, when she passed away on 30^th September 1879 at the age of 75 and was buried with her husband in the churchyard of St Michael’s and All Angels Church in Colwich. During the years in between, the widow Mary Collett was living within the Wombourne area of Wolverhampton with some of her children. In April 1861 she was 56 years old and living with her at that time was Mary A Collett aged 32, Elizabeth Collett aged 23, and James Collett who was 21. Mary’s two sons Robert and John were absence from the family home in the census return for 1861 simply because both were married with families of their own by that time.

43O9

Mary Ann Collett

Born in 1829 at Great Haywood

43O10

Robert Collett

Born in 1831 at Great Haywood

43O11

John Collett

Born in 1832 at Great Haywood

43O12

William Collett

Born in 1835 at Great Haywood

43O13

Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1838 at Great Haywood

43O14

James Collett

Born in 1839 at Great Haywood

43N6

Robert Collett, who was one half of a set of twins born in 1801 to John Collett and Ann Winfield, was baptised at Colwich church on 18^th July 1801 is a joint ceremony with his twin sister Ann. He was twenty-two years old when he died in 1823.

43N8

Mary Collett was born at Colwich in 1807 and she, like her brother Robert (above) died in 1823, perhaps even from the same cause or illness. She was 16 years of age at the time of her death.

43N10

William Collett was born at Colwich in 1820, the son of John Collett and Ann Winfield. He was sixteen years old when he died in 1836.

43N12

William George Harris Collett was born in London around 1813, but was baptised William George Harris at St Mary’s Church in Newmarket on 8^th August 1814, the base-born son of unmarried Elizabeth Harris of Newmarket. He may or may not have been the child of George Collett of Rugeley, with whom Elizabeth lived thereafter and had further children together. As William Harris Collett he married Mary Whittingham at St Mary’s Church in Stafford on 28^th December 1837. Mary was born at Market Drayton in Shropshire in 1811 and, rather oddly, the marriage certificate referred to Mary as a minor and a spinster, while her father was Joseph Whittingham, a gardener. They were still living in Stafford nearly a year later, when their first child was born, but over the next couple of years the family moved back to Rugeley.

Twenty-nine months later on 6^th June 1841 the first national census revealed that William’s ‘rounded age’ was 25 and that he was a carpenter living at Sheep Fair in Rugeley and ‘not born in the county of Staffordshire’. Living with him was his wife Mary also aged 25 (rounded age) and the couple’s first-born child Georgiana. Within the next ten years William progressed from being a carpenter to a cabinet maker. The 1851 Census listed William Collett as aged 38 and born in London, who was living at Sheep Fair in Rugeley with his family, where he was working as a journeyman cabinet maker. His wife Mary Collett of Market Drayton was aged 40 and living with the couple were their children Georgiana Collett who was 12, Alfred Collett who was nine, Fanny Collett who was four, and Harriet Collett who was one year old. That may not have been a true reflection on the situation that day, since their daughter Georgiana aged 12 was staying nearby with William’s widowed mother Elizabeth Collett.

Sometime over the following years the family moved again, that time to Cannock and, at the time of the census of 1861, they were lodging at the home of the Richards family. William was aged 46, a cabinet maker born in London, while his wife Mary was aged 50. Only their son Alfred aged 18 and born at Rugeley was with them at the time, probably because he was working with his father. The younger of the couple’s two surviving daughters Fanny was listed in the census as still living in Rugeley at the age of 13, while their eldest daughter Georgiana aged 22 had moved north and was living in the Greengate area of Salford in Manchester with her very young baby and base-born son Alfred.

It appears that William, with or without his wife, later returned to Rugeley where he died while living at Brook Street in Rugeley on 9^th September 1869 aged 55. The cause of death was phthisis, a form of tuberculosis, and the person registering his death was Ann Hollins of the same address. Whether William and Mary were still together at the time of his death or hard separated prior to that is not known. However, eighteen months after his death and at the time of the 1871 Census, Mary aged 60 was living at 12 Corporation Square in Salford with daughter Fanny aged 23. Also with them was Fanny’s base-born son Alfred who was three. Sadly, fourteen months later Mary Collett nee Whittingham died at Salford aged 61.

43O15

Georgiana Collett

Born in 1838 at Stafford

43O16

Alfred Collett

Born in 1841 at Rugeley

43O17

Fanny Collett

Born in 1847 at Rugeley

43O18

Harriet Collett

Born in 1850 at Rugeley; infant death

43N13

Amelia Harris Collett was born on 24^th November 1816 at Newmarket in Suffolk as simply Amelia Harris. In the IGI her mother’s name was Elizabeth but her father’s name was omitted. However, a similar IGI entry listed Amelia Collett born on the same day and place to parents George Collett and Elizabeth. She was baptised nearly three years later on 30^th September 1819 at St Philip’s in Birmingham and the Bishop’s Transcript included the note that she was born in 1816, the daughter of George Collett gentleman of Pimlico in London and Elizabeth. Tragically, Amelia failed to reach her fifteenth birthday when she died on 21^st May 1831. Her name appears on a horizontal headstone in the churchyard of St Augustine’s in Rugeley together with that of her brother Frederick (below) who had died almost exactly one year earlier.

43N14

Georgiana Collett was born at Rugeley around 1818 and was baptised there on 2^nd August 1820, another daughter of George Collett and Elizabeth Harris. She was still living at Rugeley with her family on 6^th June 1841 when she was aged 22. Almost exactly two years after that census day Georgiana married George Tunnicliffe at Rugeley by licence on 20^th June 1843. The witnesses were Rebecca Collett, Georgiana’s sister, and Robert Tunnicliffe who, in all likelihood, was George’s father or possibly his brother. The event was recorded at Lichfield (Ref. xvii 127) during the second quarter of 1843.

The marriage was a short one, lasting for around two and a half years before the untimely death of Georgiana at the end of 1845. However, during those thirty months Georgiana had presented her husband with two daughters and it was very likely that it was during the birth of the second child that she lost her life. Her death was mentioned in the 1846 Will of George Collett her father, as were her two daughters who were named as beneficiaries. Sadly though, at the time of his passing, his youngest grand daughter had already died just three or four months after her mother had died.

Her eldest daughter Alice Tunnicliffe was baptised on 18^th September 1844. The infant Louisa Tunnicliffe, who had been baptised on 4^th January 1846, died near the end of March 1846, and was buried at Rugeley on 23^rd March 1846. From what is known, it seems that Georgiana’s husband never remarried and in 1881 he was living at 45 Victoria Street in Wolstanton near Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire. George was 60 and born at Birmingham and was working as a potter’s fireman at that time.

43N15

Frederick Collett was baptised on 28^th March 1821. Sadly, he died on 7^th May 1830 just as he was approaching his ninth birthday, and was buried for days after on 11^th May 1830. The flat headstone in the graveyard of St Augustine’s Church in Rugeley which shares with his sister Amelia (above) reads “Sacred to the Memory of Frederic son of George and Elizabeth Collett died May 7^th 1830 aged 9 years. Also of Amelia their daughter died May 21^st 1831 aged 16 years”.

43N16

Augustus Collett was born at Brereton but baptised at St Augustine’s Church in Rugeley on 12^th September 1823, another son of George Collett and Elizabeth Harris. On the day of the Rugeley census in 1841, Augustus Collett was 17 years of age when he was living there with his parents and two other siblings, Georgiana (above) and Rebecca (below). Ten years later, and following the death of his father in 1846, Augustus aged 28 and simply described as “at home” under occupation, was the only child still living with his widowed mother Elizabeth at Rugeley. Also staying with the two of them that day was 12-year-old Georgiana Collett, the eldest daughter of Augustus’ eldest brother William Collett (above). It was less than three months later that Augustus died, still aged 28, and was buried at St Michael’s Church in Brereton on 19^th June 1851. The death of Augustus Collett was recorded at Lichfield register office (Ref. xvii 8).

43N17

Rebecca Collett was born at Brereton and baptised there on 16^th September 1825, the last child of George Collett and Elizabeth Harris who are understood never to have been married. She is believed to have run away from home with the family’s gardener after her father attempted to stop the couple getting married. The gardener was in fact threatened with a gun by Rebecca’s brothers. That course of action on the part of Rebecca resulted in her being disowned by her family. However less than two months after the death of her father, Rebecca married James Clare by licence on 8^th June 1846 at Rugeley parish church and not the family’s local church in Brereton.

No member of Rebecca’s immediate family was present to witness the wedding ceremony. James gave his profession as labourer in censuses but for the marriage register, he stated he was a miller. The entry for Rebecca simply stated that she was ‘of full age’ even though she had not yet reached her twenty-first birthday. The marriage produced eight children for the couple, one of which was Alice Clare who later married Benjamin Price of Hednesford in Staffordshire, and it was their son Benjamin Price who supplied the story of the disownment of his grandmother Rebecca. He recalled how he had visited his grandparents in Brereton, in order to hear the story first-hand. Although Rebecca’s father George was fairly wealthy, and did in fact leave her one of his houses for her to live in, she and her husband James lived a fairly simply life.

The Brereton census in 1851, recorded the family as James Clare aged 27, Rebecca Clare aged 25, with their first two children George Clare, three years, and Barbara Clare who was one year old. Three more children were born at Brereton, Thomas Clare (1852), Ann Clare (1855), and James Clare (1857), before the family moved to Alrewas, where Albert Clare was born 1860. At the time of the 1881 Census, Rebecca Clare from Brereton was 55, while husband James Clare from Lichfield was 58 and was employed as a coal pit banks man. They and just three of their eight children were living at Redbrook Lane in Rugeley. They were James Clare aged 23 and born at Brereton, who was working as a boiler minder, Albert Clare aged 21 born at Alrewas who was a fireman, and Alice Clare who was 18 and born at Burton-on-Trent.

Five years later Alice Clare, who was baptised at Burton on 2^nd September 1863, married Benjamin Price at the Congregational Church in Rugeley on 10^th May 1886, and later died at Hednesford in 1922. Upon being widowed, later on, Rebecca Clare lived with the Price family of her youngest child at Cannock where, she was recorded in the census of 1911. On that occasion, Rebecca Clare was 85, a widow, and an old age pensioner, and a boarder with Benjamin and Alice Price, together with their four unmarried adult children, the eldest being son Benjamin Price. It was just over a year after that day when Rebecca Clare nee Collett, died at Burton-on-Trent at the age of 87, her death recorded there during the fourth quarter of 1912 (Ref. 6b 127). Several of her children spent their working lives in brewery related jobs. Rebecca was the great-great-grandmother of John Bennett who kindly provided the basic family details that has enabled this family line to be constructed.

43N18

Elizabeth Collett was born on 8^th June 1818. The baptism was recorded at Birmingham as Elizabeth daughter of Joseph Collett tailor of Jamaica Row and his wife Elizabeth.

43N19

Harriett Collett was born at Rugeley in 1819 and was aged 20 in the 1841 Census. She was an only child and during the next ten years both of her parents passed away. She married William Eagles who was born at Walsall on 1^st August 1819 and the couple moved from Staffordshire to live in Warwickshire. According to the 1881 Census they were living at 46 Stourton Villa in Leamington Priors where William aged 61 was a retired brush manufacturer. Harriett’s age was 62 and her place of birth was stated as having been Rugeley. The couple were supported by two servants, indicating a degree of affluence. They were Annie Sanders aged 23 of Rugeley who was the cook and Alice Cope aged 25 of Longdon who was their housemaid.

Less than four years later William Eagles died on 6^th January 1885. Harriett lived the next seven years as a widow and during that time she funded a memorial window in her home town church of St Michael’s for her late husband who was also buried there with her parents. Harriett was confirmed as being aged 72 in the 1891 Census of Leamington but, just over fifteen months later, she died on 19h August 1892. She too was buried at St Michael’s Church in Brereton and the marble tombstone over the plot shared with her husband and her parents carried a fitting epitaph. See Henry and Mariah Collett (Ref. 43M20).

43O1

Henry Collett was born in Harlan County in Kentucky in 1824, the son of Samuel Collett. He was around twenty-one years of age when he married Susan Smith and their first five children were born at Clay County in Kentucky. The Clay County census in 1850 recorded the family name as Collet, the same as it was written in all the following census returns. That year Henry was living next door to his brother William (below), who lived next door to their cousin Pleasant Lee Collett (below). In 1850, Henry Collett was 26, his wife Susan was 23, and their two sons were William who was three, and Henry who was one year old. Henry was 35 in 1860 but, two years later, he moved his family to Tennessee where two more children were added to the family, and two years after that to Iowa, where a further child was born. It was also at Iowa where the family was living in 1870. That year the family comprised Henry Collett aged 46, Susan Collett aged 36 (sic), Henry Collett who was 22, James Collett who was 17, Kizzie Collett who was 16, Mary Collett who was 14, Martha Collett who was seven, Thomas Collett who was six, and Ella Collett who was four years of age.

After a further ten years, only the couple’s two youngest children were still living with Henry and Susan at Clear Creek in Keokuk County, Iowa. The 1880 Census confirmed that Henry was 56 and a farmer from Kentucky, when his wife Susan also from Kentucky was 48. Their two children were recorded as Thomas Collett who was 15 and from Illinois, rather than from Tennessee as previously stated in 1870, and Ella Collett who was 12 and from Iowa. A double tragedy hit the family during the following year, when first Susan Collett nee Smith passed away, and then Henry Collett died at Clear Creek, Keokuk County in Iowa on 23^rd February 1881. He was buried at Sand Ridge in Iowa on the very next day when he was described as a widower and his age was given in error as 59.

On the occasion of the death of their married second son in 1912, he was named as John H Collett, the son of Henry Collett of Kentucky and his wife Susan Smith.

43P1

William Collett

Born in 1847 at Clay County, Kentucky

43P2

John Henry Collett

Born in 1849 at Clay County, Kentucky

43P3

James Collett

Born in 1852 at Clay County, Kentucky

43P4

Catherine (Kizzie) Collett

Born in 1854 at Clay County, Kentucky

43P5

Mary J Collett

Born in 1858 at Clay County, Kentucky

43P6

Martha Collett

Born in 1862 at Tennessee

43P7

Thomas Collett

Born in 1864 at Illinois

43P8

Ella Collett

Born in 1866 at Iowa

43O2

William Collett was born at Harlan County in Kentucky during 1825, another son of Samuel Collett. He was known as Billy Collett and shortly before 1850 he married (2) Elizabeth Jane Hall who was born around 1833. In the Clay County census of 1850, William Collett was a farmer at the age of 24, when living there with him was his wife Elizabeth Collett who was 17 and expecting their first child, who was born later that same year. Three older children born in Kentucky were also recorded at the same property and they were Willie Collett who was seven, Martha Collett who was three and Mary J Collett who was only three months old. In the next census of 1860 those three children were being cared for by (1) Sally Collett who was 35, who was mostly likely William’s first wife as they were both 35 years of age in 1860.

Back in 1850 the two adjacent properties to farmer William Collett were occupied by other members of the Collett family. On one side was the family of William’s cousin Pleasant Lee Collett (below) with his mother and two sisters, and on the other side was William’s brother Henry Collett (above) with his wife Susan and their two young sons William and Henry.

By 1860 the various children of William Collett by two wives or partners, were living at separate homes in Flat Creek in Clay County. Firstly, William Collett aged 35 and a farm labourer had living with him his wife (2) Betsy Collett from Harlan County who was 25, and with them six children. They were Nancy Collett who was 12, Nathan Collett who was eight, Betsy Collett who was six, John Collett who was four, Hiram Collett who was three, and William Collett who was one year old. Living at the next property was William’s cousin Pleasant Lee Collett (below) with his wife Polly and their young family, while interestingly, William’s other next-door neighbour was James Roark and his wife Mary. At least three of the children of William Collett (Virginia, John, and Lucinda) later went on to married a member of that same Roark family.

Also, in the census of 1860 was William’s wife (1) Sally Collett aged 35 and a farmer at Flat Creek in Clay County. The children with her that day were Wila Collett who was 15 and a farm labourer, Sally Collett who was 13, Martha Collett who was 12, Jane Collett who was nine, John Collett who was eight, and Lucinda Collett who was three, and all of them born at Clay County. Another Lucinda Collett living with the family that day was 22 years old and a labourer living and working on the farm managed by (1) Sally Collett. Living next door was the family of Samuel Collett (above), Lucinda’s cousin and the son of her mother Sarah’s (Sally) brother Samuel.

At the time of the next census in 1870 part of the family was recorded in District 6, Pine Ville, at ‘Josh’ Bell County in Kentucky, where farmer William Collett was 45, and keeping house was Elizabeth J Collett who was 35. The children living with them were Nancy Collett who was 20, Nathaniel Collett who was 17 and a farmer, John Collett who was 13 and at home, as were brothers Hiram Collett 12, and William Collett who was nine, Gennetta C Collett who was seven, and Martha J Collett who was five. Three other persons were living with the Collett family, and they were Margaret North who was two, Sarah Feraill aged 22 and her son Thomas Feraill who was two years of age. Apart from Sarah Feraill who was born in Tennessee, everyone one of the other members of the household had been born in Kentucky. and living with her at Precinct 7, Clay County in Kentucky were just three of William’s children, Ginney Collett who was 19 and described as ‘at home’, John Collett who was 18 working on the farm, and Lucinda Collett who was 13 and also ‘at home’. Living next door was her married son Wili (Willie) Collett, a farmer of 25 years, and his wife Mary.

Tragically, not long after the census in 1870 William (Billy) Collett died, following which he was buried at the Collett Cemetery in Roark, Leslie County in Kentucky. More recent Collett family members associated with Leslie County can be found in Appendix Four until such time as they can be correctly positioned within the family line.

It may be significant that there could have been more than one William Collett born in Kentucky around 1825, one of which was still alive and living at Otter Creek in Clay County at the time of the census in 1881. The additional details for that individual have been retained for use later if the need arises.

The following children of William (Billy) Collett by his second wife Elizabeth (Betsy) Jane Hall were:

43P9

Nancy Collett

Born in 1848 in Kentucky

43P10

Nathan Collett

Born in 1852 in Kentucky

43P11

Betsy Collett

Born in 1854 in Kentucky

43P12

John William Collett

Born in 1856 in Kentucky

43P13

Hiram Collett

Born in 1857 in Kentucky

43P14

William Collett

Born in 1859 in Kentucky

Other likely children fathered by William (Billy) Collett with his first wife Sally were:

43P15

William Collett

Born in 1844 in Kentucky

43P16

Sally Collett

Born in 1846 in Kentucky

43P17

Martha Collett

Born in 1848 in Kentucky

43P18

Mary Jane Collett

Born in 1850 in Kentucky

43P19

John Collett

Born in 1852 in Kentucky

43P20

Lucinda A Collett

Born in 1857 in Kentucky

43O3

Pleasant Lee Collett was born in Kentucky during 1826, the son of Sarah Collett who was one of the many wives Dillion Asher to whom, it would appear, she was never married. As simply Pleasant Collett aged 24 and a farmer from Kentucky, he was living at Clay County in 1850 when living with him were other members of the Collett family including his mother who was listed as Sally Collett from Tennessee who was 48, together with his sisters Mary A Collett aged 15 from Tennessee, and Lucinda Collett who was 13 and from Kentucky.

Living in the adjacent properties were two cousins of Pleasant Collett. The first of them was farmer William Collett (above) who was 24, Elizabeth Collett who was 18, Willie Collett who was seven, Martha Collett who was three, and Mary J Collett who was only three months old. Next door to that family was William’s older brother Henry Collett (above) another farmer, aged 26, with his wife Susan Collett who was 23, and their sons William who was three, and Henry who was one year old.

Pleasant Lee Collett married Polly Ann Hall just after 1850 and they had fourteen children over the following years. Polly was born on 25^th November 1838 and died on 1^st January 1907. According to the census in 1860, the Clay County family living at Flat Creek comprised farm labourer Pleasant Collett who was 34, Polly Collett who was 25, Mary Collett who was eight, Martha Collett who was six, Catherine Collett who was three, Lucy Collett who was two, and Ellender Collett who was one year old. Once again, living next door, was the family of Willie Collett (35) and Betsy Collett (25), and their daughter Nancy Collett (12)

By the time of the census in 1870 the family living at Flat Creek in Clay County, Kentucky, was recorded as Pleasant Collett who was 43 and a farmer, and Polly Ann Collett who was 34, while their children were Mary aged 18, Martha aged 16, Kitty aged 15, Lucy aged 13, Ellen who was 10, Jane who was eight, Ingrim who was six, Dire who was five, John who was three years of age, and Elizabeth who was six months old. Living right next door were two other Collett families; that of Elizabeth Collett with three children Ginny, John and Lucinda, and farmer Wili Collett and his wife Mary.

According to the next census in 1880 a further four children had been added to the family which, by then, was residing at District 3, Marrowbone, in Leslie County. Pleasant Collett was 53 and his wife Pollie A Collett was 42, when just eight of their children were still living there with them. They were Ingrim aged 15, Dire aged 13, and John aged 12, all three working on the family’s farm, Elizabeth who was nine, Alice who was seven, Pleasant L Collett who was six, and sisters Mattie R Collett who was four, and Laura Collett who was one year old. Pleasant Lee Collett died in Kentucky during 1907, the same year his wife also passed away.

43P21

Mary Collett

Born in 1852 in Kentucky

43P22

Martha Collett

Born in 1854 in Kentucky

43P23

Catherine Collett

Born in 1855 in Kentucky

43P24

Lucy Collett

Born in 1857 in Kentucky

43P25

Ellender Collett

Born in 1860 in Kentucky

43P26

Jane Collett

Born in 1862 in Kentucky

43P27

Ingram Collett

Born in 1864 in Kentucky

43P28

Dyer Collett (male)

Born in 1865 in Kentucky

43P29

John Robinson Collett

Born in 1867 in Kentucky

43P30

Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1870 in Kentucky

43P31

Alice Collett

Born in 1873 in Kentucky

43P32

Pleasant Lee Collett

Born in 1874 in Kentucky

43P33

Mattie R Collett (female)

Born in 1877 in Kentucky

43P34

Laura Collett

Born in 1879 at Leslie, Kentucky

43O4

Joel Dyer Collett was born in Kentucky during 1831 the likely son of Sarah Collett by Dillion Asher to whom she was probably not married, but was one of his many wives. It seems likely that at some time he fought on the Union side during the Civil War and served with 7^th Regiment of the Kentucky Infantry which he entered as a private and left as a corporal. His military record incorrectly gave his name as Dive Collett, whereas he was later named as Dyer Collett aged 23, in the Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers.

It was after the end of the Civil War that he married Emily Jane Sizemore and over the remainder of that decade they had two children. By the time of the census in 1870 the family had adopted the Collette spelling of the surname when they were still living in Kentucky, at Precinct 7 in Clay County. Dire Collette was 29 and a farmer, Jane Collette was 28 and his housekeeper, and their two sons were Beverly Collette who was four and Letcher Collette who was two. Curiously living with the family were two children bearing the name of Asher. They were Gus Asher, who was eight, and Drucilla Asher who was six. Also living with the family was 60-year-old Elizabeth Collette (Ref. 43N3), the younger sister of Joel’s mother Sarah Collett. Therefore, it is possible that the two Asher children were her grandchildren.

Four more children were added to the family during the 1870s which was living at Otter Creek in Clay County, Kentucky when the census was carried out in 1880. The census returned revealed the family on that day as Joel D Collett aged 40, Emily J Collett aged 38, Beverly Collett aged 13, Letcher Collett aged 11, Farmer Collett who was seven (sic), Dillion Collett who was six, Thomas Collett who was four, and Louisa Collett who was two years old.

On 23^rd February 1880 the name of Joel D Collett was amongst those infantry men who received a Civil War Pension. When the 1890 Census of Union Veterans of the Civil War was conducted it included Dyer Collett whose recorded residence was at Laurel in Kentucky.

43P35

Beverly W Collett

Born in 1866 in Kentucky

43P36

Letcher Collett

Born in 1868 in Kentucky

43P37

Farmer Collett

Born in 1871 in Kentucky

43P38

Dillion Collett

Born in 1874 in Kentucky

43P39

Thomas Joel Collett

Born in 1876 in Kentucky

43P40

Louisa Collett

Born in 1878 in Kentucky

43O5

John Robinson Collett was born in Kentucky during 1833, another possible son of Sarah Collett by Dillion Asher. It would appear from the census in 1870 that John was married twice. His first wife was (1) Rachel Roberts, with whom he had a son and a daughter. Rachel would have been a similar age to John, but sadly she suffered a premature death either during or after the birth of her second child. Sometime after being widowed, and with two young children to look after, John then married (2) Elizabeth who was many years younger. The census of 1870 described the family as John R Collette who was 37, his wife Elizabeth Collette who was 23, his son ‘Theador’ Collette who was 12, and his three daughters who were Joanna Collette who was 11, Ellen Collette who was three years of age, and Susan Collette who was just ten months old.

43P41

Theophilus Garrard Collette

Born in 1857 in Kentucky

43P42

Joanna Collette

Born in 1859 in Kentucky

The following are the children of John R Collett by his second wife Elizabeth:

43P43

Ellen Collette

Born in 1867 in Kentucky

43P44

Susan Collette

Born in 1869 in Kentucky

43O7

Lucinda Collett was born at Clay County in Kentucky in 1837 and may have been the daughter of Sarah Collett and Dillion Asher, although this is not confirmed. In the Clay County census of 1850 Lucinda Collett from Kentucky was 13 when she was living with Sally Collett (aka Sarah) aged 48 from Tennessee. Other members of the household that day were Pleasant Collett who was a farmer of 24, and Mary A Collett from Tennessee who was 15. It has therefore been assumed that they were the three children of Sarah (Sally) Collett by Dillion Asher. Ten years later Lucinda was 22 and a labourer living and working on the farm managed by Sally Collett aged 35, at Flat Creek in Clay County. The remainder of the household comprised Sally’s child with Billy Collett, and they were Wila Collett who was 15 and a farm labourer, Sally Collett who was 13, Martha Collett who was 12, Jane Collett who was nine, John Collett who was eight, and Lucinda Collett who was three, and all born at Clay County. Sally was the first wife of William Collett who, on that census day, was living nearby in Flat Creek with his much younger second wife Betsy (Elizabeth Jane Hall). Living next door to Sally Collett in 1860 was the family of Samuel Collett (below), Lucinda’s cousin and half-brother, the son of her mother’s younger sister Elizabeth Collett and Dillion Asher.

43O8

Samuel Collett ($) was born on 12^th December 1828 at Bluehole in Clay County, Kentucky, the known son of Dillion Asher and Elizabeth Collett, one of his many ‘wives’. He was initially thought to be one of the three sons of Samuel Collett, but it is now known not to be true. After he was born his Asher family, including Elizabeth’s sister Sarah Collett and her children by Dillion Asher, continued to live in Clay County. Samuel Collett was 29 years old when he married Elizabeth Whitehead who was much younger, having been born in Clay County around 1838, when their union was the subject of a special legal document. This was headed “Know All Men By These Presents” and continued

“That we, Samuel Collett and G W Price are held and firmly bound unto the Commonwealth of Kentucky in the just and full sum of 100 Dollars to which payment well and truly to be made, we bind ourselves, our heirs etc, jointly and severally by these presents. Sealed and dated this 31^st Day of March 1856. The condition of the above obligation is such that whereas there is a Marriage shortly intended to be solemnized between the above bound Samuel Collett and Elizabeth Whitehead of Clay County. Now if there be no lawful cause to obstruct the same, then the above obligation to be void, else to remain in full force and virtue.” Samuel Collett signed the document with the mark of a cross by his name, while G W Price signed in his own hand.

Their wedding day was conducted at Clay County shortly thereafter, by which time Elizabeth had already presented Samuel with his first child. It was also in Clay County that most of their children born and it was there with the Flat Creek Post Office that the family was residing at the time of the Kentucky census of 1860. The census that year on 1^st June, recorded the family as Samuel Collett who was 31 and a farmer, his wife Elizabeth Collett who was 20, and their three children, John Collett who was six, William Collett who was two years of age, and Polly Collett who was just two months old, that is, born in early April 1860. On the occasion of her much later death, her date of birth was recorded in error as 25^th April 1861. The census in 1860 also placed a value of $50 on Samuel’s owned real estate, $50 on his personal estate.

Living next door to the young family was Sally Collett, a farmer of 35 who was born in Clay County, as were all her six children, from William a 15-year-old farm labourer, down to three-year-old Lucinda. Sally was one of the two living wives of Samuel’s cousin William (Billy) Collett (above) who, that day, was also living in Clay County with his younger second wife Elizabeth. Living with that family and working on Sally’s farm was Samuel’s cousin and half-sister Lucinda Collett (above) who was 22 and the daughter of Sarah Collett and Dillion Asher, the sister of Samuel’s mother Elizabeth Collett.

Tragically, the second child of Samuel and Elizabeth, William Collett, died just after the census day in 1860, with the result that the very next son born to the couple later than same year was also named William. In all, five more children were added to the family during the following decade which was still living in Kentucky in 1870 at District 32, Precinct 7 in Clay County. By the time of the census that year, Samuel Collett was 42, Elizabeth Collett was 28, John Collett was 16 and Polly Collett was 13, with the five new children recorded as William Collett who was 10, Jane Collett who was seven, James P Collett who was six, Dillion Collett who was four, and Nancy Collett who was one year old, with every member of the household having been born in Kentucky. Just three more children were born into the family within the next six years.

According to the next census in 1880, the two eldest sons John and William were no longer living with the family which, by then, was recorded at District 3, Marrowbone in Leslie County, Kentucky. Head of the household Samuel was 52 and a farmer, with his wife Elizabeth from Tennessee who was 42 and keeping house. The children living there on the farm with the couple that day were their seven youngest children. They were Pollie Collett aged 19, James Collett aged 14, and Dill Collett aged 13 who were both working on the farm, Nancy Collett aged 11, Joshua Collett who was nine, Jourdan Collett who was six, and Jackson Collett who was five years old. While the census return in 1880 confirmed Samuel’s place of birth as Kentucky, the birth place of his parents were incorrect, when it stated his father (Dillion Asher) was born at Virginia, and his mother at South Carolina, when it was his father who was born in North Carolina.

Their family visitation number was 191 in 1880, while at number 188 was the couple’s married son John W Collett and his wife Rebecca J Collett nee Whitehead, with two Whitehead families residing at numbers 189 and 190. Also in District 3 was the couple’s absent daughter Jane Collett who was 17 and a servant living with and working for the Hall family, while thirteen years later, on 8^th April 1893 Samuel and Elizabeth’s son Dillion, as Dillon Collett, entered military service at Loudoun in Kentucky, by which time he was twenty-five and a married man. His wife Emily Collett was named as the beneficiary of his military pension.

The later death of Samuel Collett was recorded at Leslie County in Kentucky on 11^th January 1901, at the age of 73. On the death of his eldest daughter, Polly Collett Asher at Essie in Leslie County on 28^th April 1952, her parents were confirmed as Samuel Collett and Elizabeth Whitehead. Her Death Certificate confirmed other details; date of birth 25^th April 1861 at Roark in Leslie County, a widow, occupation housewife, and the informant of her passing Martha Ann Asher, presumably her daughter. It also stated she was buried at Asher Graveyard on 30^th April 1952.

43P45

John W Collett ($)

Born in 1854 at Clay County, Kentucky

43P46

William Collett

Born in 1858 at Clay County, Kentucky

43P47

Polly Collett

Born in 1859 at Clay County, Kentucky

43P48

WILLIAM COLLETT

Born in 1860 at Clay County, Kentucky

43P49

Jane Collett

Born in 1862 in Kentucky

43P50

James P Collett

Born in 1864 in Kentucky

43P51

Dillion Collett

Born in 1866 in Kentucky

43P52

Nancy Collett

Born in 1869 in Kentucky

43P53

Joshua Collett

Born in 1871 in Kentucky

43P54

Jourdan Collett

Born in 1874 in Kentucky

43P55

Jackson Collett (aka Jack)

Born in 1877 in Kentucky

43O9

Mary Ann Collett was born at Great Haywood on 31^st March 1829. Some records give the place of birth as being Essington (and Essington Snead) which is near Wolverhampton where her mother was born. This was further complicated by Mary herself, who gave her place of birth as being Bloxwich near Essington in all of the later census records. It is established from the subsequent census returns that Mary Ann never married, although her whereabouts in three of the first four census records has not been discovered so far.

Following the death of her father, Mary’s mother moved to Wombourne to the west of Wolverhampton accompanied by some of her children. In 1861 Mary A Collett was 32 and was recorded in the census that year with her mother and her sister Elizabeth and youngest brother James (both below).

By April 1881 Mary A Collett was the unmarried head of the house at the age of 52, at which time in her life she was living on the ‘income from Railway Dividends under Trustees’. Curiously her place of birth on this occasion was stated as being Bloxwich in Staffordshire which is not far from Wombourne or Essington where other members of this family line were born. At that time in 1881 Mary was residing at a house in Moreton Road in Colwich and living with her was her younger widowed sister Elizabeth Hopkins nee Collett (below) of Great Haywood and her daughter Mary E Hopkins.

The house was supported by domestic servant Sarah Willetts aged 16 who came from Armitage in Staffordshire. Mary Ann Collett of Colwich was listed as being 62 in April 1891, and was 72 by the time of the census of 1901. Once again she gave her place of birth as Bloxwich, while she was still living at Colwich where she was ‘living on her own means’. On both occasions, Mary Elizabeth Hopkins was living with Mary after her mother died in 1896.

Ten years later in April 1911, Mary Ann Collett was 82 and by then was living at Bishton, Wolseley Bridge in Staffordshire and still living with her was her niece Mary Hopkins. Mary Ann Collett passed away later that same year on 9^th December 1911 and was buried in the churchyard at Colwich. Probate was proved in London on 22^nd February 1912 when the estate of Mary Ann Collett, spinster of Bishton, was granted to Mary Elizabeth Hopkins spinster, and John Hollis solicitor’s clerk, in the sum of £1,959 12 Shillings and 7 Pence.

43O10

Robert Collett was born in 1831 at Great Haywood in Staffordshire, and was the son of John Collett and Mary Elizabeth Barrow. Robert’s father sadly died in Staffordshire when he was only nine years old and only a year after the birth of his and Mary’s youngest child. During his life Robert was a soldier, a farmer, and a railroad man. On 6^th October 1860 Robert married Elizabeth Martha Simons who was born in 1835 at Essington midway between Cannock and Wolverhampton, where the couple’s first two children were born. For some reason, as yet unknown, the wedding of Robert and Elizabeth took place at Marston Trussell in Northamptonshire.

Some records indicate that their children were born at Essington Snead, this being a reference to Essington Woods and Snead Common. Curiously no record has been found of Robert and Elizabeth being together at the time of the census in 1861. Instead, Robert Collett aged thirty was staying with his married brother William Collett (below) and his family at Ashby-de-la-Zouch. Where Elizabeth was at this time is unresolved.

However, it is well-known that later in that decade and during April in 1867, Robert and Elizabeth left England when they emigrated to America. The crossing of the Atlantic Ocean took place on board the ship ‘City of Baltimore’ which sailed out of Liverpool and arrived in New York on 24^th April 1867. The ship’s passenger list included the names of Robert Collett aged thirty-eight, his wife Mrs E Collett who was thirty-five, and their two children. They were Arthur Collett aged seven and Mary Collett who was one year old. The listing of Robert’s wife provides an indication that she was Elizabeth Collett.

In addition to Robert Collett and his family, also travelling on the same crossing was Robert’s sister-in-law Mary E Collett aged 36, the wife of Robert’s brother John Collett (below). She was Mary Elizabeth Heuston and she was accompanied by just two of her children, William who was eight, and Eliza who was six. It is therefore possible that John Collett had taken an earlier sailing across the Atlantic, taking with him his two oldest children Dorothy and Elizabeth, since all three of them are known to have been living in America later in their lives.

Once there, the two families completed a one-thousand-mile overland trek to Missouri where they initially settled in Moberley. It was also in Missouri where the couple’s last known three children were born, the last of which was known to have been born after the family had moved to Millard in Missouri.

This photograph of Elizabeth and Robert was taken around 1872 and would appear to be perhaps a celebration picture for the birth of their son John Robert Thomas Collett. The older child sitting on her father’s lap is his oldest daughter Mary who would have been around six years old. Why the couple’s other two children, Arthur and Katherine, are not included in the picture remains a mystery.

It was while the family was living at Millard that Robert died on 7^th May 1880 at the age of forty-nine. Following his death, it would appear that Elizabeth took her family to live three miles away at Pettis in Adair County in Missouri where they were recorded as living in the 1880 Census. The census return confirmed that Elizabeth was a widow aged 36 from England. Listed with her were her six children, Arthur 16, Minnie 14, Katie 11, Robert who was eight, Nellie, who was five, and Willie who was two years old. Of her children Arthur and Minnie were born in England, while Katie, Robert, Nellie, and Willie were born after the family had settled in Missouri.

Later that same year Elizabeth, together with children Katie 12 and Robert 8, was boarding at the home of her brother-in-law John Collett (below) at Atchison in Kansas, and again both children were confirmed as having been born in Missouri. Where her other children were at this time has not been determined. A memorial card or death notice produced eight years after Robert’s death for his wife read included the words “In Loving Memory of E Collett died June 13 1888 aged 48 years”.

It would appear that in 1894 Robert’s in-laws back at Leicester in England, set up a trust that would benefit the couple’s six children later in their lives. With the children eventually going their own separate ways, it became difficult to trace their whereabouts, and it was not until 1925 that the inheritance was realised. The newspaper article that announced the inheritance was published in 1925 and is reproduced in Appendix One. This indicated that Robert’s wife Mrs Elizabeth M Collett had died ‘several years ago at Moberly in Missouri’.

43P56

Arthur Collett

Born in 1864 in Staffordshire

43P57

Mary Elizabeth (Minnie) Collett

Born in 1866 in Staffordshire

43P58

Katherine Louise (Katie) Collett

Born in 1868 in Missouri, USA

43P59

John Robert Thomas Collett

Born in 1871 in Missouri, USA

43P60

Helen Maude (Nellie) Collett

Born in 1874 in Missouri, USA

43P61

William Francis (Willie) Collett

Born in 1877 in Missouri, USA

43O11

John Collett was born at Great Haywood in Staffordshire on 9^th December 1832. He was later baptised on 11^th May 1834 at nearby Colwich and his parents confirmed as John and Mary. At some time in his young life, he lived and worked in Liverpool where he was employed as a merchant, a broker, and commercial traveller. It was around 1857 that John married Mary Elizabeth Heuston who was born on 19^th November 1837. Mary was the daughter of Robert Heuston of Tipperary and his wife Elizabeth Tydd of England. It is established that the marriage of John and Mary produced four children for the couple and all of them were born within a few miles of the River Mersey in the Liverpool area of England, prior to the family emigrating to America.

It would appear that John first sailed to America before or around 1865, taking with him his first two children, since all three of them were missing from the ship’s passenger list when his wife and the two youngest children crossed the Atlantic. That second crossing of the ocean took place on board the ship ‘City of Baltimore’ which sailed from Liverpool to New York, where it arrived on 24^th April 1867. The passenger list included the names of Mary E Collett aged 36, and her two children William who was eight, and Eliza who was six. The family did not travel alone, but was accompanied on the journey by an Irish nursemaid and by John Collett’s older brother Robert (above) and his family.

Once in America the two families embarked on a difficult one thousand miles journey across six states to Missouri where Robert Collett and his family settled, with John Collett and his family establishing themselves at Kirkwood in Missouri. While he was living there, John became a station agent and Mary managed the station hotel. Later in his life John worked as a commercial traveller in meat and dairy products. John had encountered Mary while visiting Tipperary and it was Mary’s father Robert Heuston who ran a dairy farm from which meal and dairy products were exported to America for John to sell.

By the time of the US Census of 1880 the family had moved across the state boundary into Kansas and was living at 915 North 5^th Street in Atchison, about one hundred and fifty miles west of Millard in Missouri where John’s brother Robert had died around that same time. The census return recorded the family as John Collett 47 of England who was a travelling salesman, his wife Mary 42 from Ireland who was keeping house, and their three children Dorothy 22, Elizabeth 21, and William 20, all of whom had been born in England. Their daughter Eliza, who would have been 18 was absent, and may not have survived the arduous journey from England to Kansas in 1867. Living with the family on that occasion, and listed as boarders, was John’s sister-in-law Elizabeth Collett from England, and her two children Katie 12, and Robert who was eight. It is likely her other children were at Millard with their father Robert Collett immediately prior to his passing. In 1886 John sold the house at 915 North 5^th Street (in Atchison) to his son William Barrow Collett.

John Collett died at Richland Township in Vernon County in Missouri on 17^th November 1911 and was buried at White Cemetery near Richards, Missouri on 18^th November 1911. The cause of death was a clot in his coronary artery. He was followed sixteen years later by his wife Mary who died at Kansas City on 15^th December 1927. Just five years prior to his passing it is know that John was living at Bide-a-Wee Cottage in Woodbine, Kansas during the summer of 1906, where he was working as a property speculator and broker. During that time, his wife Mary was living at Edgewood Farm near Richards, Missouri, where their daughter Elizabeth was also living. However, a few years later John was reunited with Mary and by 1910 the couple were both living with their daughter Elizabeth at her home in Richland Township in Missouri.

43P62

Dorothy Louise Collett

Born in 1858 at Ormskirk

43P63

Elizabeth Copeland Collett

Born in 1859 at Eastham, Liverpool

43P64

Robert William Barrow Collett

Born in 1860 at Liverpool

43P65

Eliza Collett

Born in 1862 at Liverpool

43O12

William Collett was born at Great Haywood near Colwich in Staffordshire on 11^th February 1835. One month later he was baptised at St Michael’s and All Angels Church in Colwich on 15^th March 1835 when his parents were confirmed as John and Mary Collett. He married Ellen Miller on 17^th April 1860 with whom he had 13 children who were all born at Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire. Ellen was born in 1838 at Uttoxeter in Staffordshire, the daughter of James Miller. Almost one year after they were married, William and Ellen were living in Ashby-de-la-Zouch with their first child. According to the census in April 1861 William Collett was 26, his wife Ellen was 23, and their daughter Mary E Collett was still under one year old. Just over four years later, at the time of the birth of their daughter Alice in October 1865, the registration of her birth reveals that the family was residing at a property on Ivanhoe Road in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, from where William was working as a master tallow chandler.

Sometime after 1865 William took over the running of The Castle Inn at Ashby-de-la-Zouch which he managed until 1881 when the family moved to Burton-on-Trent. To take over a new hotel there. The photograph on the right shows The Castle Inn during that period in their life, with what are believed to be William and Ellen standing in the archway entrance. Perhaps the photograph was taken to mark the couple finally leaving the inn. The building was still there in 2002, although it was no longer an inn, but was being used by the Coop for their Travel Agency.

The census of 1871 for Ashby-de-la-Zouch confirmed that William was 35 and his wife Ellen was 32, and that they were living at The Castle Inn with their young family. By that time the couple had had eight children, although only five of them were listed as being with their parents on that occasion. The five children were Mary Ellen Collett, who was 10, Annie Collett, who was nine, Agnes Collett, who was three, William H Collett, who was two, and Frederick Collett who was under one year old. However, it is not known why daughters Charlotte, Alice and Lottie were all missing on that occasion, although it is now known that Charlotte Collett who was eight years old and from Ashby was described as being a niece when she was living with the Geddes family at Burton-on-Trent. Richard Geddes was 30, while his wife Margaret was 45. It is possible the Margaret Geddes was the older sister of Charlotte’s mother Ellen.

Ten years later, according to the census of 1881, William was still the inn keeper at The Castle Inn at 70 Market Street in Ashby-de-la-Zouch. He was 43 and from Great Haywood, while his wife Ellen was 41 and from Uttoxeter. Their eldest daughter Mary was 20 and was a draper’s assistant, Annie was 19, Charlotte was 17, Alice was 15, and Agnes was 13. Next came their sons who were William aged 11, Frederick aged 10, and Robert who was nine, followed by Kate, who was six, John, who was four, Robert, who was two, and last was baby Walter who was not yet one year old. Once again daughter Lottie was absent and it must be assumed she had died as a child.

The family’s move from Ashby-de-la-Zouch to Burton-on-Trent happened later that same year, when William became the first licensee and tenant of the Albion Hotel, and that was where they were living at the time of the census of 1891. The census returns listed William as 56 and Ellen as 53. The children still living with them were Annie 28, Charlotte 26, William H Collett 21, Frederick C Collett 20, Robert 17, John B Collett 14, Richard E Collett 12, and Walter who was aged ten years. William was still the proprietor of The Albion Hotel on Shobnall Road at Burton on Trent in March 1901 when he was 65. Still living with him was his wife Ellen who was 63 and born at Uttoxeter and five of their children.

By April 1911, William’s occupation was still that of the hotel proprietor at The Albion Hotel in Burton and, on that occasion, he confirmed his place of birth was Great Haywood. Still living with him at Shobnall Road was his wife Ellen Collett aged 74, and their unmarried daughters Charlotte Collett who was 47, Agnes Collett who was 43, and Kate Elizabeth Collett who was 36, and their unmarried son Richard Edward Collett who was 33. All of them were assisting their parents in the running of the hotel. Two grandchildren were also living with the family at The Albion Hotel in April 1911, and they were recorded in error as Ivy Ellinor Collett who was nine, and John Edwin Collett who was six years old, both of whom had been born in Burton-on-Trent. Thanks to David Blant (see Ref. 43P69) we now know that they were the two children of William’s son John Collett whose wife had died during the birth of the younger child, the older child’s name confirmed as Ivy Eileen Collett.

It was just less than four years after that when William Collett died at The Albion Hotel in Burton on 11^th February 1915, the same day that he reached eighty years of age. During his life William and his family are reputed to have been brewers and produced a brew called Burton Beer, although that was not mentioned in a tribute to him in the Burton newspaper following his death. That read as follows, under the headline “Well-known Burtonian’s death - Licensee of the Albion Hotel for 34 Years”

“This morning, on his 80^th Birthday, Mr William Collett, licensee of the Albion Hotel died of heart failure after a short illness. The deceased was the third son of the late Mr John Collett of Great Haywood, Staffordshire and early in life removed to Ashby where, for many years, he kept a farm and livery stables. He came to Burton some 34 years ago as the first tenant of the Albion Hotel where he has since remained. In 1860 he married a daughter of Mr & Mrs James Miller of Uttoxeter and they celebrated their Golden Wedding in 1910. There were 13 children of the marriage and nine survive – six daughters and three sons. The late Mr Collett had always been fond of horses and lived a quiet life devoting his attention solely to his business. He was in the Leicestershire Yeomanry for over 20 years.”

43P66

Mary Ellen Collett

Born in 1860 at Ashby-de-la-Zouch

43P67

Annie Collett

Born in 1862 at Ashby-de-la-Zouch

43P68

Charlotte Collett

Born in 1863 at Ashby-de-la-Zouch

43P69

Alice Collett

Born in 1865 at Ashby-de-la-Zouch

43P70

Lottie Collett

Born in 1866 at Ashby-de-la-Zouch

43P71

Agnes Collett

Born in 1867 at Ashby-de-la-Zouch

43P72

William Henry Collett

Born in 1869 at Ashby-de-la-Zouch

43P73

Frederick Charles Collett

Born in 1870 at Ashby-de-la-Zouch

43P74

Robert Collett

Born in 1871 at Ashby-de-la-Zouch

43P75

Kate Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1875 at Ashby-de-la-Zouch

43P76

John Barrow Collett

Born in 1877 at Ashby-de-la-Zouch

43P77

Richard Edward Collett

Born in 1878 at Ashby-de-la-Zouch

43P78

Walter Collett

Born in 1880 at Ashby-de-la-Zouch

43O13

Elizabeth Collett was born at Great Haywood in Staffordshire on 31^st January 1838. She was just two years old when her father died. Sometime following this tragic loss to the young family, Elizabeth’s mother moved to living in the Wombourne district of Wolverhampton. That was confirmed by the census of 1861 when Elizabeth was 23 and living there with her mother, her older sister Mary Ann (above), and her younger brother James (below). Towards the end of the next decade Elizabeth married Mr Hopkins with whom she certainly had at least one child. The wedding ceremony took place at Penn in Wolverhampton on 6^th January 1870 and their daughter was born later that same year.

By the time of the census in 1881, Elizabeth Hopkins of Great Haywood was 43 and, although she was recorded as being married, it is likely that her husband had died, perhaps while working on the railways. The census return recorded that she was surviving on an ‘income from Railway Dividends under Trustees’ which was very likely a pension from her late husband, and she and her ten years old daughter Mary E Hopkins were living with Elizabeth’s older sister Mary Ann Collett (above) at her home in Moreton Road in Colwich.

Ten years later in 1891 Elizabeth and her daughter were still living in Colwich at the home of Mary Ann Collett. Elizabeth was 52 and daughter Mary E Hopkins was 20. Elizabeth Hopkins nee Collett died at Colwich in 1896 and five years later her daughter was still living with her aunt Mary Ann Collett at the age of 30. Her place of birth was confirmed again as Newport in Monmouthshire and following the death of her mother she was living on her own means. The census conducted in April 1911 again confirmed that Mary Elizabeth Hopkins of Newport was living with Mary Ann Collett at Wolseley Bridge in Bishton, Staffordshire at the age of 39. With the death of Mary Ann Collett later that same year, it is not known what became of Mary Hopkins except that it is known that she never married.

43P79

Mary Elizabeth Hopkins

Born in 1870 at Newport in Wales

43O14

James Collett was born at Great Haywood in Staffordshire on 30^th March 1839 and during the following year his father died. Twenty years later he was still living with his mother who had moved to the Wombourne area of Wolverhampton where James was recorded as being 21. Many years after, when he was nearly thirty, he married Sarah Georgia Hopkins from Newport in Wales who was born there in 1848, making Sarah only twenty years of age when they were wed. Over the next ten years the couple were blessed with six children, the first born at Wolverhampton and the remainder in Birmingham, the last two when the family was living in the Erdington district of the city and the last at Olton. It was Sarah Hopkins’ brother Frank Hopkins who married James’ sister Elizabeth Collett (above).

According to the census of 1881 the family was living at Canterbury Villa, in the Warwick Road in Solihull from where James was working as a commercial traveller. His place of birth was listed as being Heywood in Staffordshire. The family listed with him was made up of his wife Sarah G Collett 32 of Newport in Monmouthshire, and their five children. They were James H Collett aged 11, Frederick J Collett who was nine, Mary G Collett who was eight, Rosa P Collett who was six, and Nelly M Collett who was three years of age. James must have been a man of some status in 1881 since he employed a domestic servant Annie J Andrews who was 18 and from Warmington in Shropshire. Curiously six months later the couple’s last child was in the Olton district of Birmingham even though the family was still living at Warwick Road in Solihull ten years later in 1891.

James Collett from Little Haywood was 51 and was still a commercial traveller and his wife Sarah G Collett was 42 and from Newport. Their eldest son James H Collett from Wolverhampton was 21 and a brass founder, Frederick J Collett was 19 and a merchant’s apprentice, their daughter Mary G Collett was 18 with no occupation, Rosa P Collett was 15 and still at school, as was Nellie M Collett who was 13, and their younger sister Hilda A Collett who was nine years of age. The three middle children were all confirmed as having been born in Birmingham, while Nellie’s birthplace was Erdington and Hilda’s was Olton. Supporting the family was general domestic servant Lucy Kendall who was 24.

Sadly, just before the end of the century Sarah died in 1899 leaving James a widower. Following the death of his wife, James took his three youngest unmarried daughters with him to Newport, perhaps where their mother was buried, where James was living in 1901 and 1911 within the parish of St John Maindee.

According to the census return for 1901 widower James was 61 and a traveller in hardware. He gave his place of birth as Little Haywood in Staffordshire when he was residing at a property called The Iris in Carey Road. Living there with him was Rosie Pollie Collett aged 25, Nellie Mabel Collett aged 23, and Hilda Ann Collett who was 21, all of them born at Birmingham but with no stated occupation. By April 1911 James Collett was 71 and was living alone at Newport, his daughters all presumably married by that time. And it was six years later at the age of 77 that he died on 10^th October 1917. It is believed from other records that have been that, in addition to working as a commercial traveller, James was also a salesman, a brass founder, and that he and his brother William (above) had a cheese and a candle factory. It is also known that he suffered with paralysis from around the age of 60.

43P80

James Henry Collett

Born in 1868 at Wolverhampton

43P81

Frederick John Collett

Born in 1870 at Birmingham

43P82

Mary Georgia Collett

Born in 1872 at Birmingham

43P83

Rosa Polly Collett

Born in 1874 at Birmingham

43P84

Nellie Mabel Collett

Born in 1877 at Erdington, Birmingham

43P85

Hilda Ann Collett

Born in 1881 at Olton, Birmingham

43O15

Georgiana Collett was born in the town of Stafford on 3^rd November 1838, where her birth was recorded (Ref. xvii 42). She was also baptised there at St Mary’s Church on 5^th December 1838 although, curiously, the IGI lists the latter event as taking place on 22^nd November 1838. By June 1841 she had moved with her parents to Rugeley and, ten years later, when Georgiana was 12, the family was residing at Sheep Fair in Rugeley. However, on that census day in 1851, Georgiana aged 12 was recorded living with her family AND close by, with her grandmother Elizabeth Collett. Her family then moved again, on that occasion five miles east of Rugeley, to the village of Yoxall.

On leaving school, and when given permission by her parents, Georgiana made the big move north to Manchester and by 1861 she was 22 and was living in the Greengate district of Salford. The census also confirmed that her place of birth was Stafford and revealed that with her was her base-born son Alfred Collett who was under one year old, whose record of his birth stated that his name was Alfred Shawcross Collett. Furthermore, when he was baptised three years later, his parents were named as John and Georgiana Collett.

It is very likely that Alfred was illegitimate son of John Shawcross and unmarried Georgiana Collett, who appear to have three more children, although none carried the Shawcross name, nor has a marriage for the couple been found. There is certainly a mystery surrounding this lady and the origins of the four children, since only two of whom were recorded as living with her in 1881 Census (see below). However before then, at the time of the birth of her youngest daughter and namesake, Georgiana Collett (the elder) was working as a seamstress and living at 1 Newton Street in Manchester. It seems very odd that no census record for 1871 has so far been found for Georgiana, nor for any of the three youngest children, whilst knowing that her first-born child, Alfred, had died at Salford in 1865, aged just four years. During further research, carried out in 2021, it has been discovered that in 1866, when she was 27 years of age, Georgiana Collett was at court in Manchester, where she was sent to prison for a crime which is still unclear, could it possibly have anything to do with her late son?

By the time of the 1881 Census, Georgina was a widow aged 45 (as opposed to 42) and was living at 9 West Charles Street in Salford. Her place of birth was stated as being Stafford and her occupation was that of a sewing machinist. Living with her was her son Peter Shawcross aged 18 and her daughter Mary Shawcross aged 12, both having been born at Manchester. Peter was a machine grinder with the E & M. What is of particular interest is that 9 West Charles Street was a house that was shared by two families. The ‘other’ family was that of Georgiana’s sister Fanny Collett (below) who was married to Thomas Lowe.

Sometime during the next decade Georgiana’s son Peter adopted the Collett name, since there was no Peter Shawcross listed in 1891, but there was a Peter Collett aged 29 and born in Manchester who was living in the Ancoats district of the city – see below. Mary Shawcross was recorded that same year as living at Regent Road in Salford aged 21. And interestingly enough it was at Regent Road in 1871 that a John Shawcross aged 35 was living. So perhaps he had separated from Georgiana around the time of the birth of her daughter Georgina Collett because the child was not his, and hence it was not given the Shawcross name.

Also, by the time of the 1891 Census, Georgiana’s youngest child Georgina had left the family home and was married to William Holt. After an extensive search, Georgiana herself has been identified living with him and his family. She was listed as Georgiana Collett from Staffordshire, but was recorded in error as being 50 years old, a widow, a shirt maker, and the mother-in-law of the head of the household William Holt. The census return that year placed her with her daughter’s young family at Tame Street in Manchester, when the occupants were listed as William Ernest Holt 22, Georgiana Holt 22, their daughter one-year-old Georgiana Holt, William’s brother Frederick Holt 17, fifty-year-old Georgiana Collett, and ten-year-old William Lowe. The latter child was the son of Georgiana’s married younger sister Fanny Lowe, nee Collett (below). Ten years on, and Georgiana was still living with the Holt family in the Ancoats area of Manchester, but at Fawcett Street, where she was again working as a shirt maker at the age of 62, and confirmed as having been born at Stafford. Less than four years later, Georgiana Collett died at Manchester, where her death was recorded (Ref. 8d 238) during the first quarter of 1905, at the age of 65.

43P86

Alfred Shawcross Collett

Born in 1861 at Salford, Lancs.

43P87

Peter Collett

Born in 1863 at Salford, Lancs.

43P88

Mary Collett

Born in 1868 at Manchester

43P89

Georgina Collett

Born in 1869 at Manchester

43O16

Alfred Collett was born at Rugeley and was baptised there on 1^st September 1841. In 1851 he was nine years old and was living with his family at Yoxall, and a further ten years after that he was 18 and was still living with his family who had then settled in Cannock. On both occasions his place of birth was stated as being Rugeley. At the age of 28 according to the census of 1871, Alfred was working in London and was living in lodgings at Goswell Street in Holborn.

By April 1881 Alfred was a married man, but had moved to the north of England presumably to be near to his older sister Georgiana (above). According to the census record, Alfred was 38 and a boarder at the home of cotton weaver and widow Mary A Marsden at 20 King Street in Salford. His occupation at that time was that of a grinder, although the record also referred to him as an artisan, thus making him a ‘skilled’ grinder. The record also confirmed he was born at Rugeley but, to date, no record has been found of his wife.

During the following years it must be assumed that his wife died because, in June 1885, at the age of 44 he married Jane Cunningham at Salford. Like Alfred, Jane had also been married before and was two years younger that Alfred. In 1881 she was living at 3 Riley Street in Manchester with her first husband and their family. In 1891 the couple were living in the Chorlton-on-Medlock district of Manchester, where Alfred of Rugeley was aged 48 and his wife was 46. Whatever happened to Alfred and Jane over the next ten years is not known but neither of them has been identified in the 1901 Census.

Rather interestingly though in 1891, and also living in Manchester but in the Chorlton & Hulme registration district, was one Lunn Collett aged six years who was born at Barwick-in-Elmet in 1884. She is believed to have been Lina Collett the daughter of William Richard Collett of Barwick and Mary Hannah Todd of nearby Thorner, both on the outskirts of Leeds. No other Collett was listed in the Chorlton & Hulme area of Manchester on that occasion so there is a mystery surrounding what a six years old child would be doing there without other members of her family. Ten years later as Lina Collett she was 16 and was working as a servant in Leeds.

Further details of Lina Collett and her family can be found in Part 36 - The Leeds Line under Ref. 36R2.

43O17

Fanny Collett was born at Rugeley in 1847, her birth recorded at Lichfield (Ref. xvii 13) during the second quarter of the year, the third of the four known children of William Harris Collett and Mary Whittingham. She was four years old in 1851 when she was living with her family at Yoxall. Ten years later the family had returned to live at Rugeley, although by then Fanny had left school as was 13 years old at employed as a live-in house servant at the Rugeley home of the Grimley family. Disgrace fell on the family for a second time in six years when, in 1867, Fanny was found to be with-child and left Rugeley to travel north to Salford, where the child was born. Once in Salford she stayed with her older sister who was also the mother of a base-born child who had previously left Rugeley for Salford in 1861.

By the time of the 1871 Census, Fanny Collett aged 23 and of Rugeley, was working as a charwoman when she was living with her widowed mother, Mary Collett who was 60, at 12 Corporation Square in Salford, with her son Alfred Thomas Collett who was three years old. Seven years later, during the third quarter 1878, the marriage of Fanny Collett, aged 32, and Thomas Lowe who was 31 and born at Bolton, was recorded at Salford (Ref. 8d 77). Following the marriage, Fanny’s illegitimate son adopted the name Alfred Thomas Lowe for a while, but changed back to being Alfred Thomas Collett when he married a member of the Lowe family.

Three years later, according to the national census in 1881, Fanny and Thomas Lowe were living at 9 West Charles Street in Salford, which was also the home of Fanny’s sister Georgiana Collett (Shawcross). Thomas gave his age as being 34 and his occupation was that of a cotton spinner. However, his wife stated she was 32 and born at Rugeley, when in fact she was slightly older than her husband. Living with them were sons Alfred Thomas Lowe, who was 13 and born at Salford, and William Lowe, who was only ten months old and born at Rugeley. Five years after that day, their son William Lowe was the subject of a private baptism at their home, 6 Blackburn’s Buildings in Salford, on 24^th February 1886, when Thomas’ occupation was again confirmed as a spinner.

Sadly, for Fanny and her sons, Thomas Lowe died in 1890, his death recorded at Salford (Ref. 8d 148) during the third quarter of that year. Whether it was the result of being widowed, and not being able to cope with her son William, is not known, except that 10-year-old William Lowe was placed in the care of Fanny’s older sister Georgiana Collett, as confirmed in the census of 1891. No record of his widowed mother has been found on that census day, when Georgiana and William were recorded staying with the Holt family at Tame Street in Manchester, Georgiana being the mother-in-law of William Ernest Holt.

By 1901, widow Fanny Lowe aged 53 and a charwoman from Rugeley, had been reunited with her two sons and, in fact, was living at the home of her eldest son, married Alfred Thomas Collett at 15 Market Street in Salford. Alfred was 33, his wife Elizabeth was 28, both of them born at Salford, as had been their three young children. Completing the family group that day was Fanny’s youngest son William Lowe, also born in Salford, who was 20. However, sometime after the marriage of William Lowe in 1904, Fanny became an inmate of the Salford Union Workhouse on Regent Road, where she was recorded in the April census of 1911, when she was described as being 65 years of age (sic), a widow, and a former domestic servant. After a further ten years, with maybe nobody really knowing her date of birth, she died at Salford, when the death of 72-year-old (sic) Fanny Lowe was recorded at Salford register office (Ref. 8d 36) during the first three months of 1921 when she was nearly seventy-four years of age.

Following the death of Fanny’s husband just prior to the end of the century, it was Alfred Thomas Collett who was one of the witnesses at the 1904 wedding of his half-brother William Lowe, a brass polisher, whose birth had been recorded at Salford (Ref. 8d 237) during the third quarter of 1880. William was known as Billy Lowe and he married Mary Ann Perry at the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St John in Salford. Whilst there were other children, it was on 7^th November 1910 when the family was living at 33 West Market Street in Salford that Mary Ann presented William with a son Edward Lowe. In turn Edward had a son Terence Lowe, whose cousin Anne Eckersall kindly provided new family details. On the occasion of the census in 1911, William was 31 and Mary Ann was 28, when they had two children living with them, they being Elizabeth Lowe who was four and Edward who was nearly five months old. Visiting the family that day was Mary Ann’s Salford born sister Ellen Jane Perry aged twenty-one.

43P90

Alfred Thomas Collett

Born in 1868 at Salford, Lancs.

43P91

William Lowe

Born in 1880 at Salford, Lancs.

43O18

Harriet Collett was born at Rugeley where she was baptised on 12^th May 1850. She appears not to have survived for more than eleven months as she was not listed in the 1851 Census, nor is she recorded in any census return thereafter.

43P1

William Collett, who may have been known as Willie, was born at Clay County in Kentucky in 1847, the eldest child of Henry Collett and Susan Smith.

43P2

John Henry Collett was born at Clay County on 7^th June 1849, the second child of Henry and Susan Collett, who was one year old in the Clay County census of 1850. In the census return in 1870 he and his family were living at Clear Creek in Keokuk County, Iowa, where Henry Collett was 22. Both of his parents died within the next year, and shortly after that he was married, with his wife giving birth to a son while the couple was still living Keokuk County. John Henry Collett died at Ottumwa in Wapello County, Iowa on 23^rd September 1912. The record of his death gave his date of birth in error as 7^th June 1852, his occupation of that of a labourer, and his parents as Henry Collett of Kentucky and Susan Smith.

43Q1

Oliver Otto Collett

Born in 1887 at Keokuk County, Iowa

43P3

James Collett was born at Clay County in 1852, the third son of Henry and Susan Collett. It seems highly likely that he married Lucinda Rader around the mid-1870 with whom he had three children before they were divorced. James’ sister Mary J Collett (below) married Lucinda’s brother William Rader around five years after he was married. By the time of the census in 1880 Lucinda and her three children were living with childless William and Mary Rader at Lee in Kentucky. Lucinda was 22, Frederick was four, John was two and baby Mary was still under one year old.

43Q2

Frederick Collett

Born in 1876 at Lee, Kentucky

43Q3

John Collett

Born in 1878 at Lee, Kentucky

43Q4

Mary Collett

Born in 1880 at Lee, Kentucky

43P4

Kizzie Collett was born at Clay County on 20^th July 1854, the daughter of Henry Collett and Susan Smith. It is possible that she was later known as Catherine and that she may have been married twice. The reason for saying this is that it is confirmed that Catherine Collett, the daughter of Henry Collett and Susan Smith married James Thornton Ash at Sigourney in Iowa on 13^th February 1906 when she was 51. James was 53 and the son of Joseph Ash and Martha N Anderson.

43P5

Mary J Collett was born at Clay County on 12^th April 1858, when her father was named as Henry Collett and her mother’s maiden-name was Smith. It would appear from the census for Lee in Kentucky in 1880 that Mary aged 22, had only just married William Rader aged 23, and living with them was her sister-in-law, Lucinda Collett nee Rader aged 22, who was divorced from her husband who must have been one of Mary’s brothers, James Collett (above) being of the right age. Accompanying their mother were the three children of Lucinda Collett, they being described as nephews Frederick Collett, who was four, and John Collett who was two, and niece Mary Collett who was under one year old.

43P12

John William Collett was born in Kentucky during 1856 and was a son of William Collett, known as Billy, and his second wife Elizabeth Jane Hall, known as Betsy. It was at Flat Creek in Clay County that he was living in 1860 when, at the age of four years, John Collett was one of six children living with his father William and his mother Betsy Collett. In 1870 John Collett was 13 and, at home, with his parents at District 6, Pine Ville, in ‘Josh’ Bell County. By 1880, John was a married man at 24 who was living at District 3, Marrowbone, in Leslie County, where he was working on a farm. His wife Kittie Collett was 24 and keeping house, when their children were Preston Collett who was seven, Pollie J Collett who was three years of age, plus three-month-old Amanda Collett. The couple and their three children were recorded at Visitation number 90 on that day in 1880, while at Visitation number 95 was the Collett family of John’s uncle Pleasant Lee Collett (Ref. 43O3), his wife Polly Ann Hall and their eight children.

Other than all the above details, the only other known information regarding John William Collett was he died at Essie, Leslie County early in 1900 at the age of 45, and was buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery on 11^th February 1900. The census that year recorded his widow as Katie (Kittie) Collett, and two of her three youngest daughters, staying at the home of married son Preston, his wife and child, at Big Creek, Upper Red Bird in Clay County. Katie Collett was 46 and had given birth to seven children, all of whom were still alive, meaning one of them is missing from the list below. Her two daughters that day were 15-year-old Marie Collett born during September 1885, and six-year-old Dasie Collett born during October 1894.

By 1910, when Kittie Collett, widow, was 55, the Upper Red Bird census stated she had given birth to eight children with seven surviving, when she was still living at the home of her married son Preston. With her that day though, was her daughter Cattie aged 18, and her two-year-old daughter Pur Collett – Kittie’s grand-daughter. Ten years later widow Kitty Collett aged 65 was identified within the 1920 Census for Clay County, Kentucky, when she was living in the Otter Creek area at the home of her married daughter Mary Stewart (previously Cattie/Catherine) and her husband Hence Stewart, and their three children. Three years later Catherine Collett (aka Kitty) died at Brightshade in Clay County during 1923 at the age of 69, after which she was buried in the grounds of the Stewart Cemetery, when her date of birth was recorded as January 1854.

43Q5

Preston Collett

Born in 1874 at Leslie County, Kentucky

43Q6

Pollie J Collett

Born in 1877 at Leslie County, Kentucky

43Q7

Amanda Collett

Born in 1880 at Leslie County, Kentucky

43Q8

Marie Collett

Born in 1885 at Leslie County, Kentucky

43Q9

Catherine Collett (Cattie/Mary)

Born in 1892 at Leslie County, Kentucky

43Q10

Daisy Collett

Born in 1894 at Leslie County, Kentucky

43P15

William Collett was born in Kentucky during 1844, another child of William Collett and Elizabeth Jane Hall, with whom he was living in 1850 as Willie Collett aged seven years. Ten years later Wila Collett was 15 and a farm labourer not living with his family, but with farmer Sally Collett at Flat Creek in Clay County. Nine years after that William married Mary during October 1869 and, in the next census conducted during the following year, the childless couple was recorded at Precinct 7 in Clay County where farmer Wili Collett was 25 and his wife Mary was 20 years old and described as his housekeeper. Willie’s two neighbours that year were his mother with his half siblings Ginny, John and Lucinda (below), and Pleasant Lee Collett and his wife Polly Ann and their children.

Two years after the census Mary presented William with a daughter who was recorded with the couple at Leslie County in the census of 1880. Wiley Collett was 35 and was farming, his wife Mary Collett was 31 and was keeping house, and their daughter Martha Collett was eight years of age. Staying with the family that day were two members of the Jones family, Joseph who was seven and Lee who was two, both described as the cousin of Wiley Collett. Employed by him as a servant was Matilda Napier who was 17. Still living next door to the family was Lucinda Collett (below) who by then was the wife of John Roark.

43Q11

Martha Collett

Born in 1872 at Kentucky

43P18

Mary Jane (Ginny) Collett was born in Kentucky during 1850, the daughter of William Collett and Elizabeth Jane Hall. In the Flat Creek, Clay County census of 1860 Jane Collett was nine years old when living with her sibling at the farm of Sally Collett. By 1870 she was 19 when, as Ginny Collett, she was still living with her mother Elizabeth and her two younger siblings (below) at Precinct 7 in Clay County. Shortly after 1870 she married (1) Wade Roark who was born in 1848, the son of James Roark and his wife Mary Jane Asher, who was 11 years old in the census of 1860 when living at Flat Creek in Clay County. He was then 22 years of age in 1870 when he was still living with his family at Clay County where he was working on his father’s farm. Two of Wade’s sibling also married two of Virginia’s siblings.

43P19

John Collett was born in Kentucky during 1852, the son of William and Elizabeth Collett, and it was in Flat Creek in Clay County that he was eight years old and living with his sibling on the farm of Sally Collett. Ten years later in the census of 1870, as John Collett, he was 18 years of age when he was living with his mother Elizabeth and his two sisters at Precinct 7 in Clay County. It was in 1875 that he married Nancy Roark who was born in 1855 and who was five years old in 1860 and living at Flat Creek in Clay County. She was 15 years of age in the Clay County census of 1870, the sister of Wade Roark who married John’s sister Ginny (above). According to the next census in 1880 John Collett was 29 when he was farming at Leslie County with his wife Nancy, aged 24, who was keeping house. By then Nancy had given birth to two sons, Thomas Collett who was four and Wiley Collett who was seven months old, having been born in December 1879. Living in the adjacent property was John Roark, Nancy’s brother, with his wife the former Lucinda Collett (below), John’s sister.

By the time of the census in 1900, when the family was living at Bad Creek in Leslie County, Kentucky, Nancy had given birth to nine children, three of whom had not survived. That year farmer John Collett was 45 and Nancy was 43, when they still had four of their children living with them. They were John H Collett who was 14, Lucy Collett who was 11, Bradley Collett who was eight and Harrison Collett who was five years old. Recorded in the adjacent property was the young family of Thomas and Lucy Collett (Ref. 43P39).

It is possible that one of John’s children was the ancestor of Walter Collett of White House in Robertson County, Tennessee, just twenty miles north of Nashville, who has kindly provided the following information about himself which it is hoped will be verified in the near future. All that is known at the moment is that Walter is employed as an associate professor of electrical engineering at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky. He has been married for twenty years to Candi Renea Collett nee Henry, and they have two sons Aaron Collett and Ian Collett. During the Spring of 2014 Walter was teaching at Harlaxton College near Grantham in Lincolnshire, England.

43Q12

Thomas Collett

Born in 1876 at Kentucky

43Q13

Wiley Collett

Born in Dec. 1879 at Kentucky

43Q14

John H Collett

Born in 1886 at Kentucky

43Q15

Lucy Collett

Born in 1889 at Kentucky

43Q16

Bradley Collett

Born in 1892 at Kentucky

43Q17

Harrison Collett

Born in 1895 at Kentucky

43P20

Lucinda A Collett was born in Kentucky during 1857, the daughter of William and Elizabeth Collett. By 1860 the family was residing at Flat Creek in Clay County where Lucinda Collett was three years of age and with her two older siblings (above) with farmer Sally Collett. In the census of 1870 Lucinda Collett was 13 when she was one of the three children living with her widowed mother Elizabeth. On that occasion there were other members of the Collett family living on either side of them. On one side was farmer Wili Collett aged 25 and his wife Mary aged 20, and on the other the family of Pleasant Collett. It was four years later on 8^th December 1873 at Leslie County in Kentucky that Lucinda Collett married John Asher Roark who was older than Lucy, having been born in 1850. He was the son of James and Mary Jane Roark who was nine years of age in 1860 and 19 in the Clay County census of 1870 when he was working on his father’s farm. He was also Lucy’s brother-in-law through the marriages of her two siblings (above). In 1860 the family of James and Mary Roark was living next door to the family of Willie and Betsy Collett at Flat Creek in Clay County.

The Leslie County census of 1880 recorded Lucinda Roark, aged 23, living with her husband John who was 30 and a farmer and their first three sons, James who was five, Robert who was two and Charley who was one year old. Living next door on one side, as they were in 1870, was Wiley Collett, his wife Mary and their daughter Martha. On the other side was Lucinda’s brother John (above) with his wife the former Nancy Roark. Thirty years later the census of 1910 stated that Lucy Roark had given birth to 15 children, although only 13 of them were still alive at that time. Two of her children, her sons William Roark (born 1894) and Wiley Roark, never married.

43P27

Ingram Collett was born in Kentucky on 11^th May 1861, the son of Pleasant Lee Collett and his wife Polly Ann Hall. In the Kentucky census of 1870 Ingrim was six years old, while ten years later he and his family were residing within Leslie County in Kentucky when he was 15 years of age and was working on his father’s farm with his two younger brothers Dire Collett and John Collett. Around the time he was twenty-one, he became a married man for the first time the he married (1) Rena Cope and between 1890 and 1906 they had six known children. Arena (Rena) was born on 26^th November 1873 and died on 14^th July 1909.

According to the census in 1900 Ingram Collett was 38 when he and his family were living at Marrowbone, Bad Creek in Leslie County, Kentucky. On that occasion his family was recorded as his wife Renio Collett who was 28, meaning she was only fourteen when she had her first child Julia A Collett who was 14, Bettie Collett who was 12, Arthur Collett who was eight, Wiley Collett who was four and Millie J Collett who was three. Also living with the family were two nieces, and they were Margaret Collett who was 13 and Ellen Collett who was 11. Renio was probably expecting the couple’s sixth child of the day of the census, who was born later that same year, and she was followed by a final son, after whose birth Renio Collett nee Cope died. Not long after the death of his wife Ingram married (2) Sarah.

By the time of the census in 1910 Ingram had married (2) Sarah who was twenty-five years younger. The census return that year described the family living at Bad Creek in Leslie County as Ingram Collett aged 44, Sarah Collett aged 19, Julian (Julia Ann) Collett aged 22, Arthur Collett aged 18, Wiley Collett aged 15, Millie J Collett aged 12, Lora (Laura) Collett who was nine, and son Shelby Collett who was four. Every member of the household had been born in Kentucky. It was seventeen years after that when Ingram Collett died on 2^nd September 1927.

43Q18

Julia Ann Collett

Born in 1887 at Leslie Cty, Kentucky

43Q19

Bettie Collett

Born in 1889 at Leslie Cty, Kentucky

43Q20

Arthur Collett

Born in 1894 at Leslie Cty, Kentucky

43Q21

Wiley Collett

Born in 1895 at Leslie Cty, Kentucky

43Q22

Millie J Collett

Born in 1898 at Leslie Cty, Kentucky

43Q23

Laura Collett

Born in 1901 at Bad Creek, Leslie Cty

43Q24

Shelby Collett

Born in 1906 at Bad Creek, Leslie Cty

43P29

John Robinson Collette was born in Kentucky on 25^th November 1867 and was the son of Pleasant Lee Collett and his wife Polly Ann Hall. It was as John Collette that he was three years old in the census of 1870 and was John Collett in the Kentucky Leslie County census of 1880 when he was already working on his father’s farm at the age of 12. Before 1890 he married (1) Jennett Reed, daughter of Bill Reed, with whom he had six children before the end of the century, as confirmed in the census of 1900. By that time, he and his family were living in the same area of Leslie County as his brother Ingrim (above), which was Marrowbone in Bad Creek. However, the surname in the census return that year was written as Callett.

John R Collett was 31, his wife Jenett Collett was 26, eldest son Milliard Collett was 10, Lee A Collett was seven and had been born in May 1893, Joel R Collett was six, Nancy A Collett was five, Theophallas Collett was three and Rosa Collett who was one. Three more children were added to their family over the next decade while they were still living at Bad Creek. And it was there also that the larger family was living at the time of the census in 1910, although by that time the couple’s eldest son had left the family home. John R Collett was more accurately aged at 43 and his Janeatta Collett was 36. However, the ages of their children were in conflict with the earlier census details, as was one of the children’s names. Son Lee A Collett was 20, Dire Collett was 16 (presumably the earlier Joel Dire Collett), Nancy A Collett was 13, Theophlus Collett was 12, Rosa Collett was 11, Sherman Collett was nine, Birchfield Collett was five and Charley Collett had only just been born. Living with the family were Millard Robinson aged 23, and his sister Jane Robinson aged 21, who were described as stepson and stepdaughter who could not have been the children of Jennette Collett.

It is known that Mrs Jenetta Collett, nee Reed, daughter of Bill Reed, and wife of John R Collett died on 28^th March 1933 at Leslie in Cumberland County, Kentucky. This information removes the previous suggestion that she had died prior to John’s second marriage to (2) Mattie, with whom he had a further four children. The census in 1930 identified the new family living at Heidelburg in Lee County, Kentucky. John Collett was 63, his wife Mattie F Collett was 49, Joseph Collett was 18, Carrie M Collett was 16, Demar L Collett was 14 and John D Collett was 11. Every member of the household was born in Kentucky.

John later married the much younger (3) Nettie Whitehead with whom he had a further daughter Carolyn E Collett who was born on 31^st October 1941 who later married David R Lewis before she died on 12^th September 2005 at Leslie County in Kentucky. Almost exactly five years later John R Collett died at Leslie in Cumberland County, Kentucky on 7^th October 1946 at the age of 79. It was his death certificate which confirmed the names of his parents as Pleasant Collett and Polly Ann Hall, and that of his last wife as Nettie Whitehead, who was also the informant for his passing. The same document provided his date of birth as 25^th November 1867, his lifetime occupation in agriculture, and that his body was laid to rest at Bad Creek on 8^th October 1946. At that time in their life, John and Nettie were residing in Asher, Leslie County in Kentucky.

The following are the children of John R Collett by his first wife Jennett Reed:

43Q25

Milliard Collett (male)

Born in 1889 at Leslie County, Kentucky

43Q26

Lee A Collett (male)

Born in 1891 at Leslie County, Kentucky

43Q27

Joel Dyer Collett

Born in 1894 at Leslie County, Kentucky

43Q28

Nancy Ann Collett

Born in 1896 at Leslie County, Kentucky

43Q29

Theophallus Collett (male)

Born in 1898 at Leslie County, Kentucky

43Q30

Rosa Collett

Born in 1900 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43Q31

Sherman Collett (male)

Born in 1901 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43Q32

Birchfield Collett (male)

Born in 1905 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43Q33

Charley Collett (male)

Born in 1910 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

The following are the children of John R Collett by his second wife Mattie:

43Q34

Joseph Collett

Born in 1912 in Kentucky

43Q35

Carrie M Collett

Born in 1914 in Kentucky

43Q36

Demar L Collett (male)

Born in 1916 in Kentucky

43Q37

John D Collett

Born in 1919 in Kentucky

The following are the children of John R Collett by his third wife Nettie Whitehead:

43Q38

Carolyn Ethel Collett

Born in 1941 at Asher, Leslie Cty

43P32

Pleasant Lee Collette was born in Kentucky around 1874 and was six years old in the Kentucky Leslie County census of 1880. He was the youngest son and twelfth child of Pleasant Lee Collett and Polly Ann Hall. However, in the subsequent census returns his age varied immensely, placing his year of birth anywhere between 1870 and 1876. By 1900 Pleasant Collett was residing at Marrowbone in Bad Creek where other members of his family were living at that time. He was recorded in the Leslie County census as 30 years old whose birth had taken place in June 1870, while his wife of seven years was named as Rusho J Collett who was 26. By that time his wife had given birth to three sons and they were Robert Collett who was five, Ingrim Collett who was three, and Pearce Collett who was two years of age.

It is now established that Pleasant Lee Collett had married Rusay Jane Reid at Manchester, Clay County on 7^th February 1894. In 1920 P L Collett from Kentucky was 48 when he and his wife Lottie Collett, aged 39 and also from Kentucky, was recorded at Clay County in Kentucky with their son Dewey Collett who was 20. Living with the family was Chester Lee Sizemore who was 10 and who may have been related to Emily Jane Sizemore the wife of Joel Dire Collett (Ref. 43O4).

After ten more years P L Collett was 54 when he was still living at Bad Creek in Leslie County with his wife Lottie Collett who was 46, and three of their children in 1930. They were son Dewie Collett who was 30, Susie Collett who was 20 and Edward Collett who was 15. Ten years late the Leslie County census in 1940 had discrepancies with the previous census details, both with names and ages. P L Collett was 68 and his wife Tallie Collett was 64 when they had living with them his widowed son Dewie Collett who was 40 who had with him his two daughters Dorothy Collett who was five and Leitha Collett who was four. The census that year stated that the family was living at the same address as ten years earlier.

The seemingly different names and ages of his three wives in the three census returns may indicate that Pleasant Lee Collett was married three times.

43Q39

Robert Collett

Born in 1895 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43Q40

Ingrim Collett

Born in 1897 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43Q41

Pearce Collett (male)

Born in 1894 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43Q42

Dewie Collett

Born in 1900 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43Q43

Susie Collett

Born in 1910 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43Q44

Edward Collett

Born in 1915 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43P35

Beverly W Collett was born in Kentucky during 1866 the eldest child of Joel Dire Collett and his wife Emily Jane Sizemore who was four in 1870 and 13 in 1880. At the time of the latter census Beverly Collett and his family were residing at Otter Creek in Clay County. Fourteen years later, as Beverly W Collett, he married twenty-year old Nora Bess at Lee County in Kentucky on 24^th December 1894. What happened to the couple after that has not yet been determined.

43P36

Letcher Collett was born in Kentucky during March 1868 the second son of Joel and Emily Collett. He was two years old in 1870 and was 11 in 1880 census for Otter Creek. Like his brother Beverly (above), Letcher also became a married man in 1894 when, as Letcher Collet, he wed seventeen-year-old Rena Best at Lee County on 24^th July. Before the end of the century Rena presented Letcher with a daughter and a son. The census in 1900 confirmed that the family of four living at Straight Creek, Sims Fork Precincts in Bell County, Kentucky comprised Letcher Collett who was 32, his wife Rena Collett who was 21, their daughter Anna Collett who was four and their son Roy Collett who was three years old.

Whether their son did not survive or not is not known, but he was not living with his family at Cary in Bell County in 1910 when Letcher Collett was 40, Rena Collett was 30, and Allie (Anna) Collett was 14. After a further ten years their daughter was presumably married some time before 1920, because the couple was once again living at Straight Creek by themselves, where Letcher was 50 and Rena was 39.

43Q45

Anna Collett

Born in 1896 at Bell County, Kentucky

43Q46

Roy Collett

Born in 1897 at Bell County, Kentucky

43P37

Farmer Collett was born in Kentucky on 29^th March 1871 the third son of Joel Collett and Jane Sizemore. Rather curiously his age was given as seven years in 1880 instead in nine, when he and his family were residing at Otter Creek. Farmer Collett was 21 when he married Nancy Redmon on 13^th August 1892 at Lily in Laurel County, Kentucky. Nancy was 18 and had been born at Claiborne County in Tennessee and her parents were named as P L Redmon and Margaret Redmon, while Farmer’s parents were confirmed as J D Collett and Emily J Collett.

At the start of the new century, they were living at Straight Creek, Sims Fork Precincts in Bell County where Farmer’s brother Letcher (above) was also listed in the census of 1900. Over the years since they were married Nancy had given birth to two children, as a result the family was recorded as Farmer Collett who was 29, Nancy Collett who was 27, Minnie Collett who was four, and Edgar Collett who was two years old. The census confirmed that Nancy and her daughter had both been born in Tennessee, whereas the two males had been born in Kentucky.

One more child was added to their family in 1905 which was confirmed in the next census of 1910 when the family was living in Bell County. On that occasion Farmer was 38, Nancy was 36, Minnie was 13 (although her place of birth was then given as Kentucky), Edgar was 11, and new arrival Tommy was five years old. Not long after that the family was located at Gray, Knox County in Kentucky, where the couple suffered the loss of their fourth child, another daughter, who was stillborn in 1911. The parents of the child were named as Farmer Collett and Nancy Redmon.

No record of the family has so far been identified in the census of 1920 but in 1930 Farmer Collett aged 57, and Nancy aged 55, had living with them at Four Mile and Lone Jack in Bell County, Farmer’s brother ‘Diel Collett’ who was also 55. He was actually Dillion Collett. Farmer Collett was still a resident of Bell County when he died at Pine Ville on 27th February 1944, at which time his father was confirmed as J D Collett, his mother as Jane Sizemore, both of Clay County, and his wife as Nancy Redmon Collett of Pine Ville, the latter being the informant of his passing.

43Q47

Minnie Collett

Born in 1896 in Tennessee

43Q48

Edgar Collett

Born in 1898 at Bell County, Kentucky

43Q49

Tommy Collett

Born in 1905 at Bell County, Kentucky

43P39

Thomas Joel Collett was born in Kentucky during 1876 the youngest son and penultimate child of Joel Dire Collett and his wife Emily Jane Sizemore. He was four years old in 1880 when the family was living at Otter Creek. In 1900 Thomas was 25 and a farmer living at Bad Creek in Leslie County with his wife of three years. She was Lucy Collett aged 22 who had given birth to two children, Bertha who was two years and Grant who was four months. Living next door to the family was John Collett (Ref. 43P19) and his wife Nancy, together with their four children, John, Lucy, Bradley, and Harrison. Previously it was written here in error that Thomas had married Mary Sizemore in Clay County on 23^rd September 1889

No record of the family has been found within the census of 1910, while in 1920 the family was listed in the Bell County census at Lothair Precinct. Thomas Collett was 45 and a carpenter working at a local coal mine, his wife Lucy was 42, and their six children were confirmed as Goldie Collett who was 18, Lizzie Collett who was 13, Mitchell Collett who was 10, Dewitt Collett who was eight, Edna Collett who was five and Thomas Collett who was three years old. One more child was added to their family over the next three years.

The next census in 1930 revealed that Thomas had been first married at the age of 21, when Lucy was 18. It was at Laurel County in Kentucky that the family was then living. Thomas J Collett was no longer a carpenter, but was a farmer at the age of 56. Lucy was 52 and the five children still living with the couple were named as Mitchell Collett who was 20 and a coal miner, Dee Collett who was 18 and also employed as a coal miner, Edna Collett who was 15, Thomas Collett who was 14 and Joe C Collett who was seven years of age.

43Q50

Bertha Collett

Born in Feb. 1898 in Leslie County, Kentucky

43Q51

Grant Collett

Born in Feb. 1900 in Leslie County, Kentucky

43Q52

Goldie Collett

Born in 1902 in Leslie County, Kentucky

43Q53

Lizzie Collett

Born in 1907 in Kentucky

43Q54

Mitchell Collett

Born in 1910 in Kentucky

43Q55

Dewitt Collett

Born in 1912 in Kentucky

43Q56

Edna Collett

Born in 1915 in Kentucky

43Q57

Thomas Collett

Born in 1917 in Kentucky

43Q58

Joseph C Collett

Born in 1923 in Kentucky

43P41

Theophilus Garrard Collette, who was known as Theodore Collette, was born in Kentucky on 23^rd November 1857 and was the first child born to John Robinson Collette and his first wife Rachel Roberts with whom he was living in 1870 when he was named as Theador Collette aged 12 years. Originally only known as Theodore, it is now known from his later records that he was actually Theophilus Garrard Collett whose wife was Lucy J Brumley and with whom he had three daughters and a son, although only two children are listed below. The query over the children’s surname is still unresolved, with the options being that they may have been adopted or taken into the care of the Griffin family, whoever they may be, after the possible death of their mother. Another theory is that the Griffin name may have a connection through John Robinson Collett. Theophilus (Theodore) Garrard Collett lived a long life and died sometime after 1920.

43Q59

Joseph Collett Griffin

Born in 1874 in Clay County, Kentucky

43Q60

Sophia Collett Griffin

Date of birth unknown

43P45

John W Collett ($) was born at Clay County in Kentucky during June 1854 the eldest child of Samuel Collett and Elizabeth Whitehead. He was six years old in the Clay County census of 1860 at Flat Creek and was 16 years of age ten years later. However, on that day in 1870 it is surprising to find him working on the Precinct 6 Clay County farm of his future father-in-law 60-year-old widower Washington Whitehead whose real estate was valued at $200 and his personal estate at $328. Washington’s 23-year-old daughter was the housekeeper, while his older daughter Rebecca was 27 and ‘at home’ with her ten-year-old son Millard Whitehead. Just over two years later, and dated 31^st August 1872, an application was made on behalf of John Collett and Rebecca Jane Whitehead, by their respective fathers, seeking approval of a licence for them to be married. It was as a result of that appeal that the young couple were married shortly thereafter, with Rebecca more generally known by her second name of Jane.

By the time of the next census in 1880, John W Collett was a married man aged 23 (sic) and a farmer, when his wife was Rebecca J Collett aged 32 and keeping house, who already had their first four children living with them at District 3, Marrowbone in Leslie County. They were George W Collett who was six, Joseph Collett who was four, Noah Collett who was two, and Elias Collett who was five months old, having been born in January 1880. Living next door to the young Collett family was Rebecca’s widowed father Washington Whitehead aged 75, and next to him was Rebecca’s slightly older married brother James Whitehead with his family.

According to the Bad Creek Precinct census conducted within Leslie County in 1900 recorded the Collett family at Visitation number 98 as follows: John W Collett was 46 and a farmer and owner of the property who had been married for 28 years, whose wife Rebecca J Collett aged 56 had given birth to five children, three still alive. John’s date of birth was recorded as July 1853, with Rebecca’s date of birth being January 1844. The only one of their four children, still living with the couple, was 20-year-old Elias Collett with no stated occupation, whose date of birth was January 1880. Completing the household was Mallie Asher, a servant who was 12 years of age. At Visitation number 96 was another Collett family of Kentucky, that of Samuel Collett 71 and a day labourer born in December 1828, his wife Lizzie Collett 60 born in May 1840, son Gaurden Collett 27 and a farmer labourer born in April 1874, and daughters Martha Collett 18, and Allice Collett 16, born in August 1881 and May 1884 respectively.

Three other Collett families of Kentucky were recorded at Bad Creek Precinct in 1900 at Visitations 89, 88, an 86. At 89 was John Collett aged 45, the owner of his farm, married for 25 years, and born in June 1854, his wife Nancy Collett aged 43, the mother of six surviving children from nine, John Collett 14 and born in April 1886, Lucy Collett 11 and born in January 1889, Bradley Collett who was eight and born in June 1891, and Harrison Collett who was five and born in October 1894. At 88 were Thomas Collett an owner farmer at 25, his wife Lucy 22, Bertha Collett who was two, and Grant Collett who was four months born in February 1900. At 86 was John and Rebecca Jane’s eldest married son George William Collett, his wife Lizzie Beth, and their four children, Emily, Bertha, Shelby and Wilson Collett.

Once again, it was reported again in the completed census return for 1910, that John and Jane Collette had been married for thirty-seven-years and during those years Jane had given birth to five children, two of which had already died prior to that day. The census for Bad Creek Precinct within the Magisterial District 5 of Leslie County, that year included the couple as John Collette who was 56 and a general farmer having his own account, when his wife Jane Collette was 67. Living and working the land on two adjacent farmsteads, were their two sons Joseph and Elias.

John and Jane were still living in Bad Creek Precinct in 1920, at a property on Bowens Creek Road where John W Collett was 66 and still a farmer, and his wife Jane Collett was 76. Also, on that day in 1920, there was a total of four Collett families living on Bowens Creek Road in Leslie County. In addition to John and Jane, next door to their married son Elias and his wife and children, there was Manford Collett, the eldest son of John’s younger brother William (below) with his family, and next to them was L M Collett (born circa 1893), his wife Delora and daughter.

So far that latter family has not been positively linked to any members of this family line, but their details are included here for completeness. L M Collett (#43p45) was 27 and a farmer, his wife Delora Collett was 23, and their daughter Martha Collett (#43q56) was two years and two months olds.

Rebecca Jane Collett, nee Whitehead was born on 9^th November 1843 and was 81 years old when she died at Essie in Leslie County on 24^th July 1925 and was buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery . By the time of the Bowling Green, Warren County census in 1930, farmer John W Collett was remarried and living at Ewing’s Ford at the age of 76. His younger wife that day was Mariah J Collett from Kentucky who was 74. Six years later, and described simply as John Collett aged 82 the husband of Jane, the death of John W Collett was recorded at Bowling in Leslie County on 10^th March 1936, placing his year of birth as 1854. The cause of death was pneumonia, his occupation was in farming, and the informant of his passing was his son Elias Collett of Essie in Leslie County, after which he was laid to rest at Bowling Cemetery on 12^th March 1936.

43Q61

George William Collett

Born in 1873 at Kentucky

43Q62

Joseph Collett

Born in 1876 at Kentucky

43Q63

Noah Collett

Born in 1878 at Kentucky

43Q64

Elias Collett ($)

Born in 1880 at Kentucky

43P46

William Collett was the second child of Samuel Collett and Elizabeth Whitehead, but the first born after their wedding day, and was born at Clay County, Kentucky on 26^th July 1858. William was two years old in the Flat Creek, Clay County census in 1860, but died just after the day.

43P48

WILLIAM COLLETT was born at Clay County in Kentucky during October in 1860. He was the fourth child of Samuel Collett and Elizabeth Whitehead whose second son, also William, had suffered an infant death just prior to his birth, after whom he was named. William was still in his teenage years when he married (1) Alice Elizabeth Caldwell during 1877 who was probably the mother of most of his children. In the June census of 1880 William and Alice were living in Leslie County where William Collett was 21 and working on a farm, Alice E Collett was 20 and their two children were Manford Collett who was two years of age, and Lucy Collett who was recorded in error as eight months when she was born in the first week of February that year.

Previously, it was assumed that William’s first wife Alice must have died, for him to be able to marry (2) Catharine Rader in 1892. That has now been proved not to be the case since, in the census returns for 1900, William Cullett and wife Allice Cullett were recorded with eight of William’s children at Bad Creek Precinct. At the same time, William Collett and his (other, much younger) wife Catharine Collett and another nine of his children were recorded at Otter Creek Precinct. Therefore, the original list of nine children previously credited below to William, seven of whom were living with him and Catharine at Otter Creek in 1900, have now been joined with the eight children at Bad Creek, as highlighted in yellow.

Otter Creek Precinct, Clay County in 1900

Bad Creek Precinct, Clay County in 1900

William Collett 40 and Catharine Collett 22 married for 8 years having 4 children, 3 alive John Collett was 16 Nathaniel Collett was 14 Gilbert Collett was 12 Betsey J Collett was 10 Molly Collett who was seven Joseph Collett who was four Ollie Collett who was two years old The two eldest children Manford and Lucy had already left the family home

William Cullett 40 and Allice E Collett 40 Farmer Collett a farm labourer was 18 Ellen Collett who was 13 Polly Collett who was 11 Lizzie Collett who was nine Willie Collett who was eight Samuel Collett who was five Ashley Collett who was three years old Dewey Collett who was eight months old The census said William and Allice were married in 1877

William and Alice’s eldest son Manford Collett had married Nancy Sizemore in 1898 who, by 1910 had a family of their own, who also had living with them Manford’s younger brother Samuel Collett aged 15 and working of their farm at Bad Creek Precinct. And that was the key to link the two sides of the family.

Alice Elizabeth Caldwell was born at Clay County on 17^th June 1859 and as Alice Elizabeth Caldwell Collett she died at Magoffin County in Kentucky on 7^th October 1901 and was buried at the Oakley Cave Cemetery, Roark in Leslie County. Although previously the list of children below stopped just before 1900, and with his wife Catharine being on 22, it is very likely further children were added to the family, as revealed in the subsequent census. One of those could be Ellene Collett, a widow aged 27, who was born at Clay County in 1905 who, on 14^th August 1932 married bachelor Willie Sizemore aged 22 at Arjay in Bell County, Kentucky, where the couple was residing and when the bride was named as the daughter of Billy Collett and Catharine Collett. The witness for the bride was older half-brother Nathan Collett.

For the Big Creek, Clay County census in 1910, William only added five years to his age in 1900, when he was 45 and a general farmer and his surviving wife Catharine was 35 who by then had given birth to nine children with only four living. A total of seven children were still living with the couple, with Catharine being the mother of the four youngest. The three older children were all working for their father on the farm, and they were Nathaniel, as Nathan aged 23, and his wife Mary aged 20 (daughter-in-law), Gilbert who was 20, and Betsy who was 18. Catharine’s four surviving children were Mollie 15, Joe 13, Liza who was nine, and Oscar who was one year and nine months.

By 1920, William and Catharine had William’s youngest and last child living with them at 1^st Precinct of Manchester in Clay County on the Road to Haute Branch. William Collett was 56 and a miner, Catharine Collett was 44, son Shelby Collett was four years of age, and completing the family group was eight-year-old Elisha Wagers who was the couple’s grandson. However, upon the marriage of that youngest son Shelby in 1946, his parents were named as Wily, as it was in his 1945 Draft Registration Form, and Emma Asher. That is perhaps a good indication that William had taken a third wife sometime after the death of his first wife Alice Elizabeth Caldwell in 1901.

43Q65

Manford Collett

Born in 1877 at Leslie County

43Q66

Lucy Farmer Collett

Born in 1880 at Leslie County

43Q67

James Farmer Collett

Born in 1882 at Clay County

43Q68

JOHN COLLETT

Born in 1884 at Clay County

43Q69

Nathaniel Collett

Born in 1886 at Clay County

43Q70

Ellen Collett

Born in May 1887 at Clay County

43Q71

Gilbert Collett

Born in May 1888 at Clay County

43Q72

Polly Collett

Born in July 1889 at Clay County

43Q73

Betsey J Collett

Born in 1890 at Clay County

43Q74

Lizzie Collett

Born in May 1891 at Clay County

43Q75

Willie M Collett

Born in August 1892 at Clay County

43Q76

Molly Collett

Born in 1893 at Clay County

43Q77

Samuel Collett

Born in 1894 at Clay County, Kentucky

43Q78

Joseph Collett

Born in 1896 at Clay County

43Q79

Ashley Collett - son

Born in July 1896 at Clay County

43Q80

Ollie Collett – a daughter

Born in 1898 at Clay County

43Q81

George Dewey Collett

Born in October 1899 at Clay County

43Q82

Liza Collett

Born in 1902 at Clay County, Kentucky

43Q83

Oscar Collett

Born in 1908 at Big Creek, Clay County

43Q84

Shelby Collett

Born in 1917 at Leslie County, Kentucky

43P56

Arthur Collett was born on 10^th August 1864 and this is likely to have taken place at Essington in Staffordshire. By the time he was three years old he was no longer living in Staffordshire due to his parents emigrating to North America. In 1867 his parents sailed out of Liverpool on the ship ‘City of Baltimore’ which docked in New York harbour on 24^th April 1867. The ship’s passenger list included Arthur’s name, together with that of his father, his mother, and his brother James (below), but indicated that he was seven years old rather than him being three, which may have been a simply error in transcription.

By 1880 and following the death of his father, Arthur was 16 and was working as a ticket agent with the Wabash Railway. On the day of the census that year he was living with his widowed mother at Pettis in Adair County in Missouri and his place of birth was confirmed as England. Arthur married Emma Fulton and the married produced two sons for the couple, the first boy being named after Arthur’s father who died around 1880.

In 1923 he became a naturalised American citizen, and during completion of the records he stated he was born in Wolverhampton on 10th August 1864. Essington, where it is believed that Arthur was born, lies on the northern edge of Wolverhampton. Two years later in 1925, Arthur learned that he and his brother and sisters were to receive an inheritance amounting to $200,000 from their grandparents at Leicester in England. Apparently, the money had been left in trust in 1894 but it had taken many years to track the family eventually to Arthur’s brother William in San Antonio.

A formal announcement was made in the San Antonio Express on 4^th February 1925, a transcript of which can be found in Appendix One at the end of this family line. The article refers to Arthur Collett being a resident of Seattle at that time. Arthur Collett later died whilst he was living at 11032 Sand Point Way in Seattle in the state of Washington.

43Q85

Robert Collett

Date of birth unknown

43Q86

Arthur Collett

Date of birth unknown

43P57

Mary Elizabeth Collett, who was referred to as Minnie, was born at Essington on 9^th July 1866 the daughter of Robert Collett and Elizabeth Martha Simons. Rather curiously she was not listed with her parents when they sailed from Liverpool to New York in 1867. However, she was living with her widowed mother Elizabeth Collett at the time of the US Census of 1880 when she was fourteen years old and was confirmed as having been born in England. The census was conducted just after her father had died at Millard in Missouri and this placed Minnie and the remainder of her family as living three miles from Millard at Pettis in Adair County in Missouri.

In 1925 Miss Minnie Collett, who was then fifty-nine and living in Moberly, discovered that she and her four surviving siblings were beneficiaries under the terms of a trust set up in 1894 at Leicester in England by the parents of her mother. The estate was believed to be $200,000 and this was announced in the San Antonio Express on 4^th February. See Appendix One for the newspaper article about the inheritance.

In the end, after months of trying to resolve settlement of the trust, the actual amount of money that passed to Mary and her siblings was greatly reduced from the originally speculated sum – see Appendix One for details. Mary Elizabeth Collett never married during her life and died while she was still living in Missouri.

43P58

Katherine Louise Collett, who was referred to as Katie, was born at Hannibal, Marion County in Missouri on 20^th October 1868 after her parents had emigrated to America. Although born at Hannibal, her family eventually settled Millard in Missouri, some fifty miles north-west of Hannibal, where it is known that her father died when she was eleven years old.

One month after the death of her father the Missouri census of 1880 took place in June that year and it confirmed that Katie was 11 and that she was living with her widowed mother Elizabeth Collett at Pettis in Adair County, just three miles from Millard. Also at a later time that same year, Katie was 12 years of age when she was boarding with her mother and younger brother Robert (below) at the Atchison home of her uncle John Collett, the brother of her late father, and she was described as being the niece of John Collett who was born in England. It was at Moberly, Randolph County in Missouri that Katie married Boon Barker on 6^th June 1894 with whom she had five children, the first four being born at San Gabriel in Mexico, and the fifth at Nogales in Arizona. She and Boon (picture here around the time of the couple’s wedding) later lived at Tucson in Arizona.

Boon Barker was born at Williamstown, Clark County in Missouri on 4^th February 1859 and at the time of his marriage to Katherine Louise Collett he was thirty-five years old, compared to Katie who was only twenty-five. Tragically the couple’s first two children died at San Gabriel in Mexico within one week of each other, when first their daughter Helen died on 19^th May at two years of age, followed by son Robert who died on 25^th May when he was four years old.

On 4^th February 1925 the San Antonio Express printed an article that announced the heirs to a $200,000 fortune had at long last been found. Katherine Barker of Crystal City in Texas was named as one of five Collett children to benefit. See Appendix One for a copy of the front-page announcement.

Katherine Louise Barker nee Collett died at Phoenix, Maricopa County in Arizona on 18^th September 1941, and was buried four days later at Tucson on 22^nd September 1841. Her husband had died less than two years earlier, when Boon Barker died at Tucson, Pima County in Arizona on 24^th June 1939.

The book ‘Beyond the Mexican Sierras’ by Dillon Wallace and published in 1910 refers to Boon Barker on the acknowledgment page. This stated that Boon Barker was the station agent at Tepehuanes in Mexico. Also mentioned are Mrs. Barker and her three surviving children, and all three appear in photographs on pages 252 and 253. In addition to this, the two older children are mentioned by name on page 262 as Howard and Florence, although the latter is clearly a reference to Frances.

All of this new information was kindly supplied by Jim Thomas in Seattle whose wife is directly related to the family of Katie Collett and Boon Barker through their son Howard. For more details on the Barker family go to http://home.comcast.net/~jimt075/barker

43Q87

Robert Francis Barker

Born on 18.03.1895; died on 25.05.1899

43Q88

Helen Barker

Born on 20.04.1897; died on 19.05.1899

43Q89

Howard Collett Barker

Born on 28.04.1900; died on 11.08.1986

43Q90

Dorothy Frances Barker

Born on 25.12.1902; died on 27.02.1975

43Q91

William Boone Barker

Born on 23.04.1906; died on 18.04.1997