PART FORTY-THREE

The Staffordshire Line to Kentucky and Michigan 1870 to 2014

This is the second of three sections of this family line

Updated January 2025

43P61

John Robert Thomas Collett, who was known as Robert, was born in Missouri on 11^th December 1871 and that probably happened at Millard where his father Robert Collett died in May 1880 when John was just eight years old. Also, at the time of the US Census in June 1880, Robert was recorded as being eight years old, when he was living with his widowed mother Elizabeth and the rest of his family at Pettis in Adair County in Missouri. A little while later, during that same year, Robert was recorded as boarding with his mother and sister Katie (above) at the Atchison home of his uncle John Collett. According to the census return, eight-year-old Robert had been born in Missouri and was attending the school in Atchison. He was described as nephew to head of the household John Collett.

In 1900 Robert Collett was 29, a single man who was working as a loco fireman, and was in a boarding house in Thayer Township, Oregon County, Missouri. At the end of the following decade, Robert J Collett was 38 and a roomer at Old Manchester Road in St Louis Township, from where he was employed by the railroad as an axel supervisor. It was around 1923 when Robert Collett married Mary Edna Hoolan in the early 1920s with whom he had a daughter Mary Joan Collett who was born in St Louis during 1927.

Two years earlier Robert was living at St Louis when he heard the news that he and his brothers and sisters were to share in a considerable amount of money left to them by their grandparents back in England. The full details were printed in the San Antonio Express on 4^th February 1925 and are re-produced in Appendix One at the end of this family line.

The census return completed in 1930 for St Louis, Missouri, revealed that Robert Collett was 55 (sic) who had married Mary when he was 47, while Mary H Collett was 40 and was 33 years old on their wedding day. Robert was a fuel agent on the railroad who was residing in rented accommodation with his wife and three-year-old daughter Mary Joan Collett, all of whom were born in Missouri. They were still living in St Louis City in 1940, again in a rented property, and still employed as a fuel agent with the Steam Railroad. Robert was 60 (sic), Mary H was 48, and Mary Joan was 13. Robert appeared to be embarrassed with the big difference in their ages since, he would have been 58 in 1930 and 68 in 1940.

It was a similar situation in 1950, except that the family was living at Clayton in St Louis County, Missouri, by which time Robert had retired and was recorded as being 75 years of age. Mary H Collett was 55, and that day their daughter was Joan Mary Collett who was 23. It is established that, from around that time, their daughter was known as Joan, who was a librarian and was very keen on genealogy and is believed to have spent some time researching her family roots. It seems that she never married, with the death of 65-year-old Mary Joan Collett recorded at Missouri Township in December 1991, and was buried there on 29^th December 1991. Robert Collett died at St Louis in Missouri during the month of April in 1954 and was buried at Calvary and Mausoleum there.

43Q95

Mary Joan Collett

Born in 1927 at St Louis, Missouri

43P62

Helen Maude Collett, who was sometime referred to as Ellen Maude but more commonly as Nellie, was born in Missouri on 4^th May 1874. That may have taken place at Millard where her father died or at Pettis where Helen was living with her family in 1880. The 1880 Census for Pettis in Adair County listed Nellie as being five years of age. Later that year Nellie’s mother was living with Nellie’s uncle John Collett at Atchison in Kansas with her older siblings Katie and Robert (above). That meant Nellie and her sister Minnie, and brothers Arthur and William must have been looked after by another family, possibly in Missouri.

In 1916, Helen was living at 608 West Craig Place in San Antonio. Family legend tells the story that Nellie attempted to take her own life using a pair of scissors. Apparently, she was a patient at the State Mental Hospital in Kerrville, near San Antonio in Texas where she died in 1919. The real tragedy of this story is that six years after she had died, she would have been one of the beneficiaries to the estate of her English grandparents, the parents of her mother Martha Elizabeth Simons, which had been placed in trust at Leicester in England since 1894.

43P63

William Francis Collett was born in Missouri on 19^th August 1877. He was the son of Robert Collett of Colwich and Martha Elizabeth Simmons of Essington and was born eleven years after his family had emigrated to America from England. It seems likely that he was born at Millard in Missouri where it is known his family was living at the time of the death of his father Robert, when William was only one or two years old. The US Census of 1880 for Pettis in Adair County, Missouri simply recorded that ‘Willie Collett’ was two years old and born in Missouri. On that occasion he was living with his widowed mother Elizabeth and five of his older siblings, they being Arthur, Minnie, Katie, Robert, and Nellie.

It is not clear exactly what happened to his family following the death of his father, except that later that same year his mother, together with his sister Katie and brother Robert were living as boarders with his father’s brother John Collett and his family at Atchison. Where William and his other ‘missing’ siblings were on that occasion has still not been resolved, or what happened to them over the following years.

Sometime later and possibly before the end of the century, William left Missouri and moved south into Texas where he met Maje L Townsend whom he eventually marriage in 1906. The couple’s marriage certificate confirmed that the wedding took place on St Valentine’s Day in 1906 in Maverick County, Texas. The document was drawn up in the registrar’s office in the town of Eagle Pass. Maje L Townsend was born in Texas around 1885. This photograph of her may have been taken around the time of her marriage.

Over the next four years William and Maje lived over the border in Mexico where their first child was born, before returning to settle in Texas where their remaining children were born. It is established that it was at Crystal City in Texas that his son William was born, and it may have been there also that his second daughter was born. By 1^st January 1920 (the US Census Day) the family of five was living at Alpine in Brewster County in Texas and was recorded as follows:

William F Collett of Missouri was 42, his wife Maje was 35, and their three children were Margaret of Mexico who was 13, William, who was seven, and Martha who was four years and eleven months old, both of Texas. Shortly after the census the family left Alpine and move to San Antonio, where the couple’s last child was born. In 1925 William and his family were living at 104 Haynes Avenue in San Antonio from where he worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad. It was on 4^th February 1925 that the San Antonio Express (newspaper) published an article about William and his four surviving siblings inheriting a shared fortune of $200,000. The full transcript of the article is re-produced in Appendix One at the end of this family line.

By the time William died at Houston in Texas in 1943 he was 65 and had been separated from Maje for several years due to his busy work schedule and had been staying in a boarding house. Maje survived her husband by twenty-two years when she died at San Antonio in Texas during 1965.

43Q96

Margaret Frances Collett

Born in 1908 at Mexico

43Q97

William Bruns Collett

Born in 1912 at Crystal City, Texas

43Q98

Martha Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1915 at Alpine, Texas

43Q99

Mary Belle Collett

Born in 1921 at San Antonio, Texas

43P64

Dorothy Louise Collett, who was known as Lulu, was born at Aughton Park in Ormskirk, Lancashire on 3^rd June 1858. Around the time she was ten years old her family emigrated to America and by 1880 they were living in Atchison. The census that year listed Dorothy as 22 when she was working at home, where she was supporting her mother, Mary. Seven years later she married James Waters McKelvey, who was known as Jim, on 13^th April 1887 at Merriam Park in St Paul in Minnesota. Jim was a ‘scotch tinner’ and their marriage produced four children for Lulu and James who were all born at Atchison in Kansas.

Dorothy Louise McKelvey nee Collett died whilst at Kansas City on 23^rd January 1925 and was buried at Mount Vernon Cemetery in Atchison in Kansas on 25^th January 1925. Her husband James (although referred to as John in Lulu’s obituary) died eighteen months later, on 19^th June 1926, at Kansas City and was buried with his wife in Atchison. An obituary in the Atchison Globe newspaper read:

“Mrs. Dorothy Louise McKelvey, wife of John W. McKelvey, Kansas City, formerly of Atchison, dies Friday in Kansas City after a long and painful illness. Mrs. McKelvey was a sister of William Barrow Collett. She spent most of her girlhood and many years of her married life in Atchison. She was stricken with the illness which caused her death several years ago, since when she has been almost entirely helpless. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Collett who lived in Atchison for years. Her father died a number of years ago, but her mother survives and lives in Richards with another daughter, Mrs Uberrein formerly of Atchison. Besides her husband, mother and brother and sister, Mrs McKelvey is survived by four children: John McKelvey, who is editor of a paper in a town in Kansas, James McKelvey of St. Louis, Mrs. Bessie Mair of Sioux City, and Mrs. Florence Ellis of Kansas City. Mrs. McKelvey was a staunch Episcopalian and was instrumental in the building of St. Andrew's Chapel in West Atchison and it was hoped the funeral might take place from the chapel. But the main entrance to the chapel is too small for the casket to be taken through, so the funeral will take place at 2 o'clock this afternoon from the Hawin & Douglas Chapel”

Their children were John (Jack) Francis McKelvey born on 21^st July 1888 and died on 24^th December 1967, James Brook McKelvey born during 1890, Florence McKelvey born in 1900 who died on 3^rd February 1925, and Elizabeth (Bessie) McKelvey born during 1902.

43P65

Elizabeth Copeland Collett was born at Eastham, across the River Mersey from Liverpool, on 15^th June 1859. By 1870 Elizabeth and her family had emigrated to America, and by 1880 they were living at Atchison where Elizabeth was twenty-one years of age. It was much later in her life that she married banker Karl Ueberrhein on 19^th December 1901 in Atchison, who was many years younger than Elizabeth. She was an accomplished water-colour artist and she died on 14^th January 1927 and was buried in Whites Cemetery near Richards Township. The cause of death was pneumonia with influenza. Following the death of his wife, Karl is understood to have married Della and the couple lived at 528 West Lee, Nevada in Missouri. He was the Secretary and Treasurer of the Vernon County National Farm Loan Association of Nevada, Missouri and, after Elizabeth died, he continued to manage Edgewood Farm at Richards which was still owned by the Collett family.

43P66

Robert William Barrow Collett was born at Liverpool on 31^st July 1860. He sailed to America with his mother and younger sister Eliza (below) when he was just eight years old, his father and two older sisters having gone on ahead a couple of years earlier. The crossing from Liverpool was on board the sailing ship ‘City of Baltimore’ which arrived in New York on 24^th April 1867. Once in America, the family made their home at Atchison, Kansas. And it was there that they were living at the time of the US Census of 1880. This recorded that William aged 20 and from England, was still living at the family home from where he was working as a clerk.

He later married Annie Heermance the daughter of Henry Philip Heermance and Elizabeth Fonda. Annie was five years older than William, having been born at Glenco, New York on 26^th February 1855 and baptised there on 31^st July 1855. William and Annie remained at Atchison after they were married, and it was there that their three children were born. It was on becoming a naturalised American citizen at the age of 55 on 11^th January 1916, that William Barrow Collett (the first) chose to drop his initial name of Robert. William Barrow Collett died on 1^st September 1930 at Cleveland in Ohio, and was buried in Mount Vernon Cemetery in Atchison where his wife was also buried following her death nearly seven years later, on 2^nd February 1937. The Atchison Daily Globe carried the following obituary on 3^rd September 1930:

"Funeral services for the late William Barrow Collett, 70, former Atchison insurance man who died Monday morning at his home in Cleveland, Ohio were held this afternoon. The body arrived at the Burlington station at 1.33pm and was taken from the train to Mount Vernon Cemetery, where the Rev. Early Poindexter, Rector of the Trinity Episcopal Church conducted a short service at the grave. Pallbearers were Martin Jensen, John Kaff, Herb Mine, Wirth Hetherington, and Arthur and Ed Lukens. Hawin and Douglas were in charge. Mr. Collett first went into the insurance business in Atchison in 1887 with Dick Selts as partner. They engaged in the fire insurance business until 1893 when Mr. Collett became the fourth district agent appointed in the state of Kansas for the North-Western Mutual Life Insurance Co. Together with Mr. K.W. Poindexter, Swift, and P.M and E.H. Anderson, Mr Collett formed the Kansas "Old Guard" of the North-Western Company. Mr. Collett took part in various civic and public enterprises in Atchison. He was appointed receiver of the Atchison Coal Company and closed up its affairs. Together with the late Dr. E. T. Shelly and others, he helped to organise the Committee of Forty, and was instrumental in organising the Atchison YMCA and the Rotary Club. Mr. Collett's illness began in 1919 with an attack of intestinal flu. From 1922 to 1924 he lived in Fort Scott, Kansas in order to be near his farm interests. He returned to Atchison in 1924, which he always claimed as his home, and lived here until 1929 when he went to Cleveland. At the time of his death Mr. Collett was still listed as an active agent by the North-Western Mutual Life Insurance Company. His son, William Barrow Collett Jr is now production manager of the company in the Detroit, Michigan."

43Q100

a Collett daughter (stillborn)

Born on 16.09.1887 at Atchison

43Q101

Mary Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1888 at Atchison

43Q102

William Barrow Collett II

Born in 1895 at Atchison

43P67

Eliza Collett was born in 1861 and very likely at Liverpool where her brother William (above) was born two years earlier. When she was only a couple of years old her father John Collett sailed to America with her two oldest siblings Dorothy and Elizabeth. The remainder of the family, comprising Eliza and William and their mother Mary, followed in due course, when they sailed out of Liverpool on the ship ‘City of Baltimore’ which sailed into New York harbour on 24^th April 1867. The ship’s passenger list included the names of Mary E Collett aged 36, and her two children William who was eight, and Eliza who was six. Whether it was the sea voyage or the one-thousand-mile trek across America that caused the death of Eliza is not known, but she appears not to have survived the journey since she was not listed with the family when it settled at Atchison in Kansas and where they were living in 1880.

43P68

Mary Ellen Collett, who was known as Ella, was born at Ashby-de-la-Zouch at the end of 1860 and in the April census of 1871 she was living at The Castle Inn with her parents and was ten years old. Ten years later Mary’s father was still the inn keeper at The Castle when Mary was 20 years old and working as a draper’s assistant. The marriage of Mary Ellen Collett and John Hollis was recorded at Burton-on-Trent (Ref. 6b 82) during the first three months of 1884 and took place on 3^rd February. John, who was known as Jack, was born in 1858 and was 25 and the son of Edward Hollis, and from Ashby-de-la-Zouch, while Mary Ellen was 23, the daughter of William Collett, and was residing at 23 High Street in Burton. By 1891 the couple and their two children were living at Burton Road in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, where solicitor’s clerk was John Hollis was 33, Mary E Hollis was 30, Charles Reginald Hollis was six, and Mabel Alice Hollis was four years of age. Visiting the family that day was Mary’s sister Kate Elizabeth Collett (below) who was 16. According to the next census in 1901, every member of the Hollis household had been born at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, when in 1901 they were residing at Ashby Road in Packington just south of Ashby-de-la-Zouch. John Hollis was 43 and a solicitor’s clerk, Mary Ellen Hollis was 40, Charles Reginald Hollis was 16, and Mabel Alice Hollis was 14.

It was a similar situation in 1911, when John was again working as a clerk for a local solicitor at the age of 53. Mary Ellen was 50, son Charles Reginald was 26, and daughter Mabel Alice was 24. John’s income from his work was sufficient for him to employ a domestic male servant, sixteen-year-old George Arthur Walker. Thirteen years later, the family was still living in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, where John Hollis died on 22^nd March 1924 at the age of 65, where he was also buried.

43P69

Annie Collett was born at Ashby-de-la-Zouch in 1862 and, in the census of 1871, she was living at The Castle Inn with her parents and was nine years old. Ten years later Annie was nineteen and with no specified occupation it seems likely she was working with her mother looking after their large family. Around the mid-1880s the family left Ashby-de-la-Zouch when they swapped The Castle Inn for The Albion Hotel in Burton-on-Trent where they were living in 1891 when Annie was 28.

43P70

Charlotte Collett was born at Ashby-de-la-Zouch in 1863 and was missing from the family home at The Castle Inn in 1871 when she would have been six years old. Her sister Alice (below) was also absent at that time, although both featured in later census returns. However, the census for Burton-on-Trent in 1871 included Charlotte Collett, aged eight years, as living with her aunt and uncle, Margaret and Richard Geddes. Charlotte was 17 in 1881 and had returned to the family home at The Castle Inn and, like her sister Annie, she too was listed as having no occupation. During the next ten years Charlotte’s father took over as proprietor of The Albion Hotel in Burton-on-Trent, which was where the family was living in 1891. Charlotte was still living with her parents at that time when she was 26 years old.

Curiously in the census of 1901, Charlotte was recorded as being 32 while she was still unmarried and was still living with her parents at The Albion Hotel on Shobnall Road. Her actual age would have been nearer 37, so perhaps it is an error in transcription. Ten years later she was a 47-year-old spinster still living with her parents at The Albion Hotel where she was assisting her father in the hotel business. Charlotte Collett of The Albion Hotel died in Burton-on-Trent on 15^th December 1926. She was a spinster and it was through the office in London that probate was completed on 12^th March 1927 when her sister Agnes Collett (below) was named as the sole executor of her personal effects amounting to £217 6 Shillings.

43P71

Alice Collett was born at Ivanhoe Road in Ashby-de-la-Zouch on 27^th October 1865 and, just like her sister Charlotte (above), Alice was also missing from the family home in April 1871. That was perhaps a temporary arrangement because of overcrowding or some other reason, since both sisters appeared in subsequent census records. By 1881 Alice was 15 and was the oldest child in the family that was still attending school while still living with her family at The Castle in Ashby-de-la-Zouch. Alice has not been found with her family in the census of 1891 since, by then she was married to Arthur Crofts Blant who was born on 16^th November 1870. Alice and Arthur would appear to have been married around 1889 and, over the following thirteen years, they had seven children.

They were Gladys Ellen Blant (born 22.10.1890), Alice Maud Blant (born 04.02.1892), Agnes Elizabeth Blant (born on 26^th September 1894), Charlotte Mildred Blant (born on 27^th November 1895), John Samuel Blant (born on 19^th November 1897), Henry Edward Blant (born on 18^th September 1900) and Gerald Charles Blant (who was born on 6^th October 1902). And it was their youngest child Gerald who, with his wife Hilda Gladys Gee, was the father of David Blant who made contact in 2013 and kindly provided all the new information regarding this branch of the Collett family.

43P72

Lottie Collett may have been born around 1866 at Ashby-de-la-Zouch where all twelve of her siblings were born. Her non-appearance with her large family in any census return might indicate that she suffered an infant death before 1871. However, it seems highly likely that she was the Lottie Winifred Selbey, a married woman, who was granted administration of the personal estate of her brother Richard Edward Collett (below) in 1962, when she would have been in her early nineties.

43P73

Agnes Collett was born at Ashby-de-la-Zouch in 1867 and was three years old by April 1871 when she was living with her family at The Castle Inn at Ashby-del-la-Zouch. Agnes was 13 in 1881 and was still at school and still living at The Castle Inn. By 1891 Agnes’ parents were living at Burton-on-Trent, although by then she was not living with them at The Albion Hotel. It is not clear where Agnes was in 1901, but by April 1911 she was once again living with her parents at The Albion Hotel. The census that year recorded that she was unmarried at the age of 43, when she was assisting with the family business. Agnes was still a spinster in 1927 when she was the sole executor for the Will of her sister Charlotte Collett (above). Agnes Collett was 78 when she died at Burton-on-Trent in 1946, her death being recorded at the Burton register office (Ref. 6b 325) during the month of June that year.

43P74

William Henry Collett was born at Ashby-de-la-Zouch in 1869. At the time of the census for Ashby in 1871 William was two years of age and was living at The Castle Inn with his family, while ten years later he was still there at the age of eleven. He was 21 in 1891 by which time he had moved with his parents from Ashby-de-la-Zouch to Burton-on-Trent, where the family was living in The Albion Hotel of which William’s father was the proprietor. It was towards the end of the decade, when the marriage, by the reading of banns, of William Henry Collett and Emily King was recorded at Burton register office (Ref. 6b 127) during the first quarter of 1899. The wedding ceremony took place at St Paul’s Church in Burton-on-Trent on 26^th February 1899, when William was recorded as residing in the St Johns Horninglow area of Burton. Emily King had been born in Ashby-de-la-Zouch. Shortly after that, Emily presented William with a son, by which time the family of three was settled in Burton. The census in 1901 listed them as William H Collett, a licenced victualler aged 32 and from Ashby-de-la Zouch, his wife Emily who was 25, and their son William M Collett who was just seven months old. At that time in his life William was the landlord of the British Oak Inn at 36 Byrkley Street in Burton-on-Trent. Helping the family was servant Alice E Bradley who was 17 and from Burton.

Four years after that the couple added a daughter to their family, but sadly when she was around four years of age her father died. The family was residing at 35 Derby Street in Burton when William Henry Collett passed away on 14^th August 1910 at the age of 41. His Will was proved at Lichfield on 7^th September 1910, when his widow Emily was named as the administrator of his estate of just £100. Six months after his death Emily Collett from Ashby-de-la-Zouch was 34 and had living with her in Burton her two children. They were William Mark Collett, who was 10, and Eveline Martha Margaret Collett who was five years old. The family was still living at 35 Derby Street, where they were supported by servants Elsie May Topliss who was 13, while visiting the family was Alfred Alexander Gray who was 26.

43Q103

William Mark Collett

Born in 1900 at Burton-on-Trent

43Q104

Eveline Martha Margaret Collett

Born in 1905 at Burton-on-Trent

43P75

Frederick Charles Collett was born at The Castle Inn in Ashby-de-la-Zouch in 1871, when his birth was registered there (Ref. 7a 95) during the first three months of that year, a son of William and Ellen Collett. He was only a few weeks old in the census of 1871 when he was living at The Castle Inn where his father was the inn keeper. It was during the following year that Frederick Charles Collett was baptised at Holy Trinity Church in Ashby-de-la-Zouch on 7^th July 1872. By 1881 he was ten years old and around 1885 Frederick and his family took over The Albion Hotel in Burton-on-Trent where they were living in April 1891 when Frederick was 20. Nine years later, the marriage of bachelor Frederick Charles Collett and widow Ellen Kirk took place in Coventry on 25^th March 1900 and was recorded at Coventry register office (Ref. 6d 1002) during the second quarter of the year.

By the time of the next census twelve month later, Frederick was a married man living at 55-56 Worcester Street (Well Street) in Coventry. Fredk Chas Collett from Ashby-de-le-Zouch was 30 and a grocer’s assistant. His wife Ellen was 39 and from Coventry, and with her was her married daughter from her previous marriage. She was Lizzie Evelyn Stanton aged 20, who was married to John Stanton, a plasterer from Coventry who was 27, with whom she had already had two grandchildren. Evelyn Annie Stanton was one year old, while her unnamed brother was only twelve days old.

After another ten years Frederick Collett from Coventry (sic) was 42 and employed as the hall keeper at the Hippodrome in Coventry when residing at 46 Cope Street in the city. Living there with him was his wife Ellen Collett who was 50, and their daughter Doris Collett who was only seven years old, having been born and baptised at Coventry in the summer of 1903 as Elma Doris Collett, daughter of Frederick and Ellen Collett, recorded as Helen Collett. It seems the family of three was residing in the theatre, when the census in 1911 also listing five other adults who may have been performers or staff.

It is possible that at some time during his life, he served with the Grenadier Guards because in 1913, Frederick Charles Collett of Ashby-de-la-Zouch and born there in 1871, received a military pension. The death of Frederick C Collett was recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 6d 352) during the second quarter of 1924 when he was 54. He should not be confused with another of the same name and also born in 1871, because he was born at Wolvercote in Oxfordshire and died there in 1954.

43Q105

Elma Doris Collett

Born in 1903 at Coventry

43P76

Robert Collett, who was known as Bob, was born at The Castle Inn in Ashby-de-la-Zouch in 1871 but after the census that year which was conducted on second of April, and he was nine years old in the census of 1881 when he was still living at The Castle with his family. About four years later the family left The Castle Inn and moved to Burton-upon-Trent where they set up home in The Albion Hotel and where, in 1891, Robert was 17 years of age. It was ten year later when Robert Collett married Martha Hyde during the second quarter of 1901, the event being recorded at Burton register office (Ref. 6b 703) when the witnesses were named as William James Orton and Amy Beatrice Shilton.

Their marriage had produced three children by the time of the census in 1911 when the family was living at 14 Mill Hill Lane in Winshill, Burton-upon-Trent. Robert Collett from Ashby-de-la-Zouch was 38 and was working at a local brewery. He had been married for ten years to Martha who was 37, while their three children were May Collett who was nine, Katie Collett who was five, and Robert Collett who was three. Another son was added to their one year later and, just two years later, Robert Collett died at Burton-upon-Trent at the age of 43, when his death was recorded at the Burton register office (Ref. 6b 553) during the first three months of 1914.

The births of all four children were recorded at Burton-upon-Trent, when the births of the following three were registered during the second quarter of the year. They were May Elizabeth Collett in 1902 (Ref. 6b 468), Katie Collett in 1906 (Ref. 6b 476), and Walter Collett in 1912 (Ref. 6b 782) when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Hyde.

43Q106

May Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1902 at Burton-upon-Trent

43Q107

Katie Collett

Born in 1906 at Burton-upon-Trent

43Q108

Robert John W Collett

Born in 1908 at Burton-upon-Trent

43Q109

Walter Collett

Born in 1912 at Burton-upon-Trent

43P77

Kate Elizabeth Collett was born at The Castle Inn in Ashby-de-la-Zouch early in 1875 (Ref. 7a 62), where she was also baptised on 21^st February 1875, who was still living with her family in 1881 at the age of six years. Ten years later, Kate was no longer living with her parents, instead she was a visitor at the home of her older married sister Mary Ellen Hollis nee Collett at their home on Burton Road in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, when Kate E Collett was 16 with no stated occupation. Kate was back living with her family on Shobnall Road at The Albion Hotel in 1901 when she was 25, again with no stated occupation, and was there also, ten years later at the age of 36 when she was still an unmarried lady who was assisting her father with the running of hotel. Within six months of the census Kate E Collett married Charles M Robinson, the event recorded at Burton-on-Trent register office (Ref. 6b 142) during the third quarter of 1911. No record of any children has been found.

43P78

John Barrow Collett was born in 1877 at The Castle Inn in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, where he was baptised on 6^th April 1877, the eleventh child of William Collett and Ellen Miller, whose birth was recorded at Ashby-de-la-Zouch (Ref. 7a 109) during the first quarter of 1877. He was four years old in the Ashby census of 1881 when he was still living at The Castle Inn with his family. Four years later John and his family gave up The Castle Inn to take on The Albion Hotel on Shobnall Road in Burton-on-Trent where, in 1891, they were living and where John was 14 and still at school. Just after the end of the century, John was working as a brewer’s number taker and in 1901 was 23 years old and still living with his parents at The Albion Hotel. It is understood within the family that John’s father was a brewer of ‘Burton Beer’ so it is likely that John, and his brother Richard (below), were both working for or with their father.

It is also known from his great granddaughter (see below) that he was working for the Davenport Brewery Company in Birmingham during the early 1900s, as illustrated in a family photograph. It was just over six months after that census day in 1901 when John Barrow Collett married (1) Clara Agnes Jones, with their marriage recorded at Burton-on-Trent register office (Ref. 6b 764) during the last quarter of 1901. The birth of Clara Agnes Jones was registered at Burton-on-Trent (Ref. 6b 393) during the first quarter of 1881. It was also at Burton-on-Trent where the couple set up home, and where births of their two children were recorded. The birth of Ivy Eleanor Collett was recorded at the register office (Ref. 6b 438) during the second quarter of 1902. Tragically, Clara died during the birth of their second child, at which time her two children were taken into the care of their grandparents at The Albion Hotel, where they were recorded in April 1911 as Ivy Eleanor Collett who was nine, and John Edwin Collett who was six years old, both having been born in Burton-on-Trent.

It was previously written here that, “Following the death of his first wife, John Barrow Collett was married for the second time during the autumn of 1908 to either (2) Louise Lovett OR Lucy Elizabeth Perrins, with the event recorded at Coventry register office (Ref. 6d 973-320).” In November 2024 it was discovered that Percy Harold Howe had married Louise Lovett with whom he was living at Nuneaton in 1911 and with whom he had a son Percy H Lovett whose mother’s maiden-name was Lovett. Therefore, it was the marriage of John Barrow Collett and Lucy Elizabeth Perrins that was recorded at Coventry (Ref. 6d 973–92) during the fourth quarter of 1908, where the first of their two children was born, although the birth was not registered there, perhaps because the child was born not long after their wedding day. The birth of their second child was recorded at Aston register office (Ref. 6d 223) during the second quarter of 1910.

Nine months later, in the census of 1911, it was just John and the two children who were living as boarders at 7 Emmeline Street within the Bordesley area of Birmingham, the home of cabinet maker Frederick William Spilsbury and his family. John Barrow Collett from Ashby-de-la-Zouch, a married man, was a motor steerer at the age of 34, who had been married for three years, during which time he and his wife had given birth to two children, both living. They were recorded as Leonard Collett who was two and born at Coventry, and Florence Collett who was one year old and born in Birmingham. What happened to his second wife is not known, but it seems likely that she had died after the birth of her daughter, even though no obvious recorded of her death has been found.

Before the First World War, John Barrow Collett married (3) Elizabeth Bruce, a widow, with the event recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 6c 559) during the last three months of 1914. Elizabeth Bruce was the former Elizabeth Tolladay/Tolliday. It was early in the following year, when the birth of their only child was recorded at Birmingham register office, when the mother’s maiden-name was recorded as Tolliday. The later Electoral Roll for the Yardley area of Birmingham in 1939 recorded John Barrow Collett as residing at 8 Everton Road in Birmingham, where he had been living since 1927.

It was twelve years after the start of the Second World War that the death of John Barrow Collett was recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 9c 292) during the third quarter of 1951 when he was 74. His third wife spent the last nineteen years of her life as a widow, when the death of Elizabeth Collett (born on 28/2/1881) was recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 9c 1010) during the third quarter of 1970.

In November 2022, thanks to Kelly Plant, a great granddaughter of John Barrow Collett, we now know a little bit more about him, and his third wife. John and his father William, were both inn keepers during their lives, with Kelly pursuing the same career path in the twenty-first century, and not far from the family roots in Ashby-de-la-Zouch. She informs us that her great grandmother was Elizabeth Tolliday from Hackney Wick in London, who later lived within the Aston area of Birmingham. Kelly also provided the two photographs (above) of John Barrow Collett, and John and Elizabeth Tolladay.

Recent research reveals that Elizabeth Tolliday was the daughter of Thomas Tolliday, a bricklayer in 1881, and his wife Elizabeth, when the three of them were residing at Prince Edward Road in Hackney where Elizabeth had been born one month prior to that census day on 28^th February 1881. Her birth, as Elizabeth Tolladay, was later registered at Hackney (Ref. 1b 588) during the second quarter of 1881. By 1901 she was still living with her family, but at Osborne Road in Hackney, when Elizabeth Tolliday was 20 and working as a confectionary packer. Under one year later, she married James George Bruce, their wedding day recorded at Hackney register office (Ref. 1b 701) during the first three months of 1902. She was subsequentially made a widow

43Q110

Ivy Eleanor Collett

Born in 1902 at Burton-on-Trent

43Q111

John Edwin William Collett

Born in 1904 at Burton-on-Trent

The following are the two children of John Barrow Collett by his second wife (see above):

43Q112

Leonard Wilfred Collett

Born in 1909 at Coventry

43Q113

Florence Collett

Born in 1910 at Birmingham

The following is the only child of John Barrow Collett by his third wife Elizabeth Tolladay:

43Q114

Irene May Collett

Born in 1915 at Birmingham

43P79

Richard Edward Collett was born at The Castle Inn in Ashby-de-la-Zouch in 1878 where his father was the inn keeper. The census of 1881 recorded that Richard was two years old while living at The Castle Inn with his family. A few years after the census day, the Collett family left Ashby-de-la-Zouch and made their new home at The Albion Hotel in Burton-on-Trent. That was confirmed by the census of 1891 when Richard was twelve years of age. Richard was still living there ten years later in March 1891 when he was 21 and was employed as a brewer’s number taker with his brother John Collett (above).

At the end of the next decade Richard Edward Collett was a brewery employee and was still living with his parents at The Albion Hotel where he was recorded as being unmarried, 33 years of age, and employed by the brewery. Shugborough Hall at Great Haywood, and four miles from Stafford, is today a museum which includes a brewery. Four letters written in 1895 to Richard E Collett are held there. They came from the Midland Railway Telegraph Department, Superintendent's Office in Derby and were addressed to Mr Richard E. Collett at The Albion Hotel, Shobnall Road in Burton-on-Trent and relating to a job of work.

It is possible that he never married, and it was in 1962 that Richard Edward Collett of 324 Shobnall Street in Burton-on-Trent died while a patient at Andressey Hospital in the town. He was 82 and his death was recorded at the Burton register office (Ref. 9b 75) in June 1962. Administration of his personal effects amounting to £488 9 Shillings was granted to Lottie Winifred Selby, a married woman.

43P80

Walter Collett was born at The Castle Inn in Ashby-de-la-Zouch in either December 1880 or January 1881 with the birth recorded in the town (Ref. 7a 101) during the first three months of 1881. Furthermore, Walter was included in the census of 1881 as being just three months old. The next census in 1891 listed Walter as being 10 years of age when he was living with his family at The Albion Hotel in Burton-on-Trent. Upon leaving school, it seems Walter helped his father by working with him at The Albion Hotel since, in the census of 1901, Walter was 20 and his occupation was that of a hotel proprietor’s assistant. Whether it was an accident or through illness is not known at this time, but the death of Walter Collett was recorded at Burton-on-Trent (Ref. 6b 253) during the last three months of 1906 when he was only 25 years old.

43P81

James Henry Collett was born at Wolverhampton on 6^th November 1868, the eldest child of James Collett and Sarah Georgia Hopkins. He was 11 years of age in April 1881 when he was living with his family at Canterbury Villa on the Warwick Road in Solihull. Ten years later he was still living with his family at Warwick Road in Solihull when he was 21 and employed as a brass founder. It was on 17^th April 1897 when James Henry Collett aged 27 married Clara Luckman aged 30 at St Giles Church in the Parish of Sheldon in Birmingham. James was confirmed as the son of James Collett, while Clara, who was born in Birmingham on 15^th May 1866, was named as the daughter of William Luckman. Over the following decade the marriage produced six children for James and Clara, the first three being born at Birmingham, before James and his family returned to the Solihull area of south-east Birmingham within the, where they were residing on the census day in 1901.

On that day James’ occupation was that of a canvasser as confirmed in the census return, when he was living with his family at Lyndon End off Coventry Road, Bickenhill, north-east of Solihull. On that occasion he was recorded as Henry J Collett aged 32, who had been born at Birmingham rather than Wolverhampton. That may have been stated as a direct result of the fact that he and his parents only lived in Wolverhampton for a few months after he was born, following which the family moved to Birmingham, where all his younger siblings were born. The remainder of his family in 1901 were listed as his wife Clara who was 35 and from Birmingham, and their three daughters Ruth E Collett who was three years of age, Georgina M Collett who was one year old, and baby Dorothy M Collett who had just been, although her birth had not yet registered. All three children were described as having been born in Birmingham, indicating the family had only just moved into the dwelling at Lyndon End.

Staying with the family on that census day at the end of March in 1901 was James’ younger brother Frederick John Collett, another canvasser from Birmingham, who was separated from his wife, pending his decree absolute which was granted three months after. The next two children of James Henry Collett and Clara Luckman were born at Solihull and Shirley, with their last child born at Small Heath in Birmingham, who birth was recorded at Aston register office. By April 1911, the family was once again living back at Shirley, to the west of Solihull, and comprised James Henry Collett who was 41 and a steam and automobile engineer, who was said to have been born at Penn Fields in Wolverhampton, his wife Clara who was 44 and born at Alcester Street in Birmingham, and their six children. They were Ruth who had been born at Alum Rock/Alum Rock Road in the Glebe Farm area of East Birmingham and was 13, Georgina who was 11 and said to have been born at Lyndon End at Bickenhill (sic), where Dorothy aged ten years had been born, Gladys who was eight and born at Solihull, Norman who was seven and born at Shirley, and Phyllis who was five years old and born at Small Heath.

The death of James H Collett was recorded at Solihull register office (Ref. 6d 820) during the second quarter of 1936 when he was 66. It was just over two years later that his wife passed away on 23^rd August 1938, following which her Will was proved in Birmingham on 17^th October 1938. The Probate Service confirmed that Clara Collett of 204 Coventry Road at Yardley in Birmingham, a widow, died on 23^rd August 1938 at Lyndon on Queslett Road in Streetly, Staffordshire. The executors of her estate valued at £1,143 11 Shillings and 8 Pence were her eldest daughter Elizabeth Ruth Cetti, Norman Noel Collett a pattern maker, and Elizabeth’s husband Albert Victor Cetti, a stockbroker’s clerk.

43Q115

Elizabeth Ruth Collett

Born in 1897 at Sheldon, Birmingham

43Q116

Georgina Mary Collett

Born in 1899 at Sheldon, Birmingham

43Q117

Dorothy Mabel Collett

Born in 1901 at Sheldon, Birmingham

43Q118

Gladys Clara Collett

Born in 1902 at Solihull

43Q119

Norman Noel Collett

Born in 1903 at Shirley, Solihull

43Q120

Phyllis May Collett

Born in 1906 at Small Heath, Birmingham

43P82

Frederick John Collett was born at Birmingham on 19^th July 1870. His age was given at being nine years in the census of 1881 which might suggest the year of birth was 1871 rather than 1870, since he was 19 years old ten years later, by which time he was working as a merchant’s apprentice while he was still living with his family at Warwick Road in Solihull. It was on 20^th January 1894 that Frederick married spinster Ada Marian Lea at the Wesleyan Chapel in Sparkhill, Solihull, where he may have been working at that time, and where Ada, who was known as Marian, had been born in 1873. The marriage was also recorded at Solihull register office (Ref. 6d 713).

Ada was six months pregnant on the day of their wedding and gave birth to a son just three months after. That child was followed by three more, two of whom had died by the summer of 1899, with the death of the third child oddly recorded at Birmingham register office only weeks after his birth was recorded at Solihull. It was in June 1900 when Ada Marian Collett, formerly Lea, filed for divorce from her husband on the grounds of his adultery and cruelty. It was at the High Court of Justice, Probate Divorce and Admiralty Division on 25^th June 1900 that the petitioner was named as Ada Marrian Collett of Solihull, the wife of Frederick John Collett. The report confirmed that Ada Marrian Lea, spinster was, on the twentieth day of January 1894, lawfully married to the Frederick John Collett at Sparkhill Chapel near Birmingham. It continued that, after her marriage, the petitioner lived and cohabited with her husband at Sparkbrook in Worcester and at other places. The same report also listed the names and dates of birth of their four children two of whom, Howard and Gordon, were described as already deceased, while it also stated that the petitioner, who was now pregnant with the couple’s fifth child, had been assaulted by her husband within one month of their wedding day.

Six months after filing for divorce, the High Court of Justice sitting at the Royal Courts of Justice in The Strand, London, issued the decree nisi on 19^th December 1900. The President, the Right Honorable Sir Francis Henry Jeune KCB, having taken the oral evidence of the Petitioner and of the Witness produced on her behalf in support of the Petition filed in this cause, and having heard Counsel thereon, the Respondent not defending the Suit at the hearing, pronounced that the Petitioner had sufficiently proved the contents of the said Petition. It was also at The Royal Courts of Justice in The Strand that the decree absolute was granted on 1^st July 1901 when it was stated that the marriage was dissolved on the grounds of the adultery, coupled with cruelty, towards the Petitioner, called Marrian Collett, by Frederick John Collett.

Three months earlier, at the time the census was conducted in 1901, Ada M Collett from Solihull was 27 when she and her three surviving children were residing at the Grocer’s Shop on the High Street in Solihull, the home of her mother Mary A Lea. Mary was a widow of 64, a grocer and a shopkeeper who had her own account. Supporting her as assistant grocer was her son Howard P Lea who was 30, and her daughters Jessie M Lea aged 26, and Elsie B Lea who was 23. The three children of Ada Collett were recorded as Cyril F Collett who was six years old and born at Sparkhill, Phyllis M G Collett who was four and from Stechford near Yardley, and Margery M Collett who was just five months old and born at Solihull.

On that same day the children’s father, Frederick J Collett who was 29 and from Birmingham and whose occupation was that of a canvasser like his older brother James (above), was staying at his brother’s home at Lyndon End off Coventry Road in Solihull. That was the last known record of Frederick John Collett who died five years later during 1906 by which time, it is thought, he may have been a serving member of the British Army.

By the time of the census in April 1911 Ada Marian Collett was 37 when she was still living with her mother at the grocer’s shop on the High Street in Solihull. The census return confirmed that Ada was divorced and that she was working as a monthly nurse with her own account. The form also confirmed that she had given birth to five children, only one of which had survived, that being eldest child Cyril. Ada’s mother Mary Ann Lea was 74 and was still a grocer and a shopkeeper, while still living with her were Ada’s two younger sisters Jessie May Lea who was 34, and Elsie Beatrice Lea who was 32, both with no occupation but described as at home. Three years later, Ada received the news that her only surviving child had been killed in France, with the later death of Ada Collett aged 79 recorded at Warwickshire register office (Vol. 96 862) in 1952.

43Q121

Cyril Frederick Collett

Born in 1894 at Sparkhill

43Q122

Phyllis Mary G Collett

Born in 1896 at Stechford

43Q123

Howard Collett

Born in 1898 at Solihull

43Q124

Gordon Victor Collett

Born in 1899 at Solihull

43Q125

Margery Martin Collett

Born in 1900 at Solihull

43P83

Mary Georgia Collett was born at Birmingham on 14^th March 1872. When she was seven years of age her family moved out of Birmingham and made a new home in Solihull where they lived until the end of the century. The census of 1881 confirmed that the family was residing at Canterbury Villa in Warwick Road in Solihull where Mary G Collett was eight years old. She was 18 in 1891 and was still living with her parents at the property in Warwick Road, Solihull. During the next decade Mary married John Arthur Young who was born in 1868. Following the death of her mother in 1899 Mary’s father moved to Newport in South Wales with Mary’s three sisters (below) as confirming by the census of 1901. Mary also moved to Newport at some time and she and John are known to have lived at 40 Summerhill Avenue in the town.

43P84

Rosa Polly Collett was born at Birmingham on 27^th April 1874. By April 1881 her family were living at Canterbury Villa on Warwick Road in Solihull where Rosa was six years old. She was also recorded as Rosa P Collett in the census of 1891 when she was 15 and still attending school when she was still living at Warwick Road in Solihull with her family. However, after her mother died in 1899, her father took Rosa and her two younger sisters (below) to live with him at Newport in South Wales where her mother had been born and where she may have been buried. According to the Newport census of 1901 she was recorded as Rosie Pollie Collett aged 25 and from Birmingham. The only other fact known about Rosie within the family is that she died at Hereford on 30^th May 1932.

43P85

Nellie Mabel Collett was born at Erdington on 4^th August 1877, her birth being recorded at Aston register office (Ref. 6d 403) during the third quarter of that year. By the time of the census in 1881 she was living with her family at Canterbury Villa on the Warwick Road in Solihull at the age of three. She was still there at Warwick Road ten years later in 1891 when she was 13 and still at school. Following the death of her mother in 1898 her father moved to Newport in Monmouthshire, taking his three youngest daughters with him including Nellie M Collett from Erdington who was 23 in 1901.

Seven years later Nellie Mabel Collett married Edwin Hubert Harrison, their marriage being recorded at Newport register office (Ref. 11a 379) during the second quarter of 1908, when the witnesses were Maggie Brankley and Albert Edward Walkley. Tragically they were not married very long when Nellie Mabel Harrison nee Collett died during 1915 when the couple was living at White Cross in Hereford. It may also be significant that Nellie’s sister Rosa Polly Collett (above) died in Hereford during 1932.

43P86

Hilda Ann Collett was born within the Olton district of Birmingham on 11^th September 1881, which is rather strange since her family was living at Warwick Road in Solihull in both 1881 and 1891. By the time of the census in 1891 Hilda A Collett from Olton was nine years old. Her mother died when Hilda was around 18 years of age and, when the census was conducted in March 1901, she and her two older sisters were living with their widowed father in Newport, when Hilda Ann Collett from Olton in Birmingham was recorded 21 rather than 19. If she was born on 11^th September 1880, as previously stated here, there is still the mystery as to where she was in early April 1881 to cause her absence from the census that month. It is also established that she later married A G Harrison who was born around 1876 and that the couple spent some years living in India before returning to England to live at Church Road in Minehead in Somerset.

43P87

Alfred Shawcross Collett was born at Salford, Manchester, on 7^th December 1860, his birth recorded there (Ref. 8d 132) during the first quarter of 1861, who was only four months old in 1861. He was the base-born son of unmarried Georgiana Collett of Stafford and Rugeley, and his father was very likely John Shawcross who never married his mother even though they had three more children together. Oddly, when Alfred was baptised at St Stephen’s Church in Salford, there was no reference to the Shawcross name. Instead, Alfred Collett, the son of John Collett and Georgiana Collett took place on 18^th January 1865. His baptism was arranged as a matter of some urgency because of his failing health, and it was also during the first three months of 1865 that he died, the death of Alfred Collett recorded at Salford (Ref. 8d 12).

43P88

Peter Collett was born at Salford in 1863, his birth recorded there (Ref. 8d 157) during the second quarter of the year, the second son of Georgiana Collett who appears not to have been married. Life was difficult for Peter, with first the premature death of his older brother, and then the imprisonment of his mother during the following year. Consequently, no record of any many of his family has been located for 1871. After a further ten years, Peter Collett from Salford was 18 years old and working was a machine grinder with the company of E & M. It was towards the end of the following year that the marriage by banns of Peter Collett and Mary Jane Carroll took place at St Andrew’s Church in Ancoats, Manchester, on 20^th November 1882, when Peter the son of John Collett was 19, and Mary Jane was 18 and the daughter of James Carroll.

Both were recorded as residing at 16 William Street in Salford, from where Peter was employed as a grinder, the same occupation as his father John Collett (aka John Shawcross), when Mary Jane’s occupation was that of a doubler. Interestingly, both Peter and his sister Mary Collett (below) made their mark in the marriage register as groom and second witness, with Mary Jane signing her own name, as did first witness Robert Crawshaw. By the time of the 1891 Census the family living at Washington Street in Manchester comprised Peter who 29 and a tool grinder, Jane from Scotland who was 25, and their four Manchester born children. They were Mary Jane Collett who was eight, Peter Collett who was four, Herbert Collett who was two, and baby Martha Collett who was not yet one year old.

Also in the census of 1891, Peter’s younger married sister Georgiana Holt aged 22, was living nearby in Tame Street, with her husband William Ernest Holt, also 22, and their one-year-old daughter Georgiana Holt. Three other members of the extended family were living at the same address, and they were William’s younger brother Frederick Holt aged 17, fifty-year-old Georgiana Collett, a shirt maker and William’s mother-in-law, the widowed mother of Peter Collett (1862-1899), and William Lowe aged 10 who was a cousin. He was the son of Fanny Lowe, formerly Fanny Collett (Ref. 43O17), and Thomas Lowe.

Almost exactly eight years later tragedy struck the family, when the death of Peter Collett was recorded at Manchester register office (Ref. 8d 135) during the second quarter of 1899, at the age of only 37. Two years after her loss, widow Jane Collett and her four children were still living in Manchester, but at Harding Street, where Jane Collett was 35 and had no stated occupation, but was taking in paying lodgers. Her four children were recorded as Mary J Collett aged 17, Peter Collett aged 14, Herbert Collett aged 12, and Martha Collett who was 10. Every member of the household was said to have been born in Manchester. Jane Collett later married a gentleman by the name of Cadman and he may have been William, Henry, or John. That was confirmed by the census of 1911 in which Jane Cadman who was born in Manchester was still living there and was 46 years of age. On that same day, her youngest child, 20-year-old Martha Collett was a live-in domestic servant and housemaid at the home of Joseph Lionel O’Kelly in Manchester. During the war years Jane was living at 62 Junction Street in Ancoats, and it was there in September 1915 she received the sad news that her son Peter had been killed while serving King and country in France.

43Q126

Mary Jane Collett

Born in 1883 at Ancoats, Manchester

43Q127

Peter Collett

Born in 1886 at Ancoats, Manchester

43Q128

Herbert Collett

Born in 1888 at Ancoats, Manchester

43Q129

Martha Collett

Born in 1890 at Ancoats, Manchester

43P89

Mary Collett was born at Manchester in 1868 and was 12 years old in 1881. Near the end of the next year, Mary was one of the witnesses at the wedding of her older brother Peter Collett (above). By 1891 she was 21 and was living at Regent Road in Salford.

43P90

Georgina Collett was born at Manchester on 5^th June 1869, her birth recorded there (Ref.8d 322) during the third quarter of the year. At the time of her birth, Georgina’s mother was Georgiana Shawcross, the assumed wife of John Shawcross, although no marriage for the couple has been found. However, the fact the child was given her mother’s maiden-name might suggest that Georgina was not a product of her marriage to John Shawcross. No census record for Georgina has been found in either 1871 or 1881, perhaps indicating that she had been removed from the family, while it is certainly confirmed that her mother was living with two of her Shawcross siblings at Salford in 1881. After a further five years, when Georgina Collett was seventeen years old, she gave birth to a son, with the birth of Alfred Collett recorded at Salford register office (Ref. 8d 210) during the third quarter of 1886. He must have been a poorly child, since he was later privately baptised at 24 Muslin Street in Salford on 1^st June 1887, arranged by the vicar of Salford Christ Church, at the home of mother, the spinster Georgina Collett. Not long after the ceremony, the death of Alfred Collett was recorded at Salford (Ref. 8d 92) during the second quarter of 1887.

Just over two years later, on 28^th September 1889, Georgina Collett married William Ernest Holt at St Andrew’s Church in Manchester, the event recorded at Manchester (Ref. 8d 229). It is interesting that the marriage certificate initially shows the father of the bride to be John Shawcross, but the name was subsequently crossed out, perhaps resulting from an objection from her mother. William E Holt was born at Chorlton-on-Medlock in Manchester on 9^th March 1869, the son of William Holt, of Prescot near St Helens in Lancashire, and Anne Moore of Hampshire.

The marriage produced twelve children for the couple, all of whom were born in Manchester, the first group while the couple were living at Chorlton-on-Medlock and the latter ones at Miles Platting. Only six of them are named below. In the 1891 Census, eighteen months after they were married, the couple had their first child living with them at Tame Street in Manchester. Georgina was listed as being 22, as was her husband William E Holt, with their daughter being one-year-old Georgiana Holt. Staying with the family was William’s brother Frederick Holt aged 17, and his mother-in-law 50-year-old Georgiana Collett and her nephew William Lowe who was 10 years old and the child of Fanny Lowe nee Collett. Ten years on, in 1901, the much larger family was living at Fawcett Street in Manchester when William E Holt was aged 32 and was working as a stonemason’s labourer. Georgiana Holt was 31, her daughter Georgiana Holt was eleven, Annie Holt was nine, John William Holt was seven, Mary Holt was five, and Alfred Holt was still under one year old. Still living with the family was widow and shirt maker Georgian Collett who was 62, who passed away shortly thereafter.

One more child was born into the family after that census day, and she was Edith Holt born in 1913, when their mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett. It would appear that Georgina and George lived all of their life together in the Manchester area. And it was in the Ancoats district of the city that George Collett died on 6^th July 1943, following which he was buried at Philips Park in Miles Platting on 10^th July 1943. Sometime during the fourteen years following her husband’s death, Georgina moved to the Crumpsall area of Manchester where she died on 2^nd June 1957. She too was buried at Philips Park in Miles Platting four days after her passing on 6^th June 1957.

43Q130

Alfred Collett

Born in 1886 at Salford; died in 1887

43P91

Alfred Thomas Collett was born at Salford in 1868, his birth recorded there (Ref. 8d 179) during the first three months of the year. He was the base-born son of Fanny Collett and in 1871 the pair of them were living with Alfred’s grandmother, 60-year-old Mary Collett in her home at 12 Corporation Square in Salford. Alfred was three years old at that time. Following the marriage of his mother Fanny to Thomas Lowe in 1878, Alfred changed his name to Alfred Thomas Lowe, as confirmed in the 1881 Census when he was 13 and was living in the family home at 9 West Charles Street in Salford.

Eight years later, Alfred was married at Christ Church in Salford on 21^st December 1889, when the groom was named as Alfred Thomas Collett Lowe aged 20 and a grinder and a bachelor of 4 West Elizabeth Street in Salford. The bride was Elizabeth Ann Barlow 19 and a jack-tenter and a spinster of 15 West Elizabeth Street in Salford. The groom's father was described as Thomas Lowe (deceased), a spinner, while the bride's father was John Barlow, a maker-up. The witnesses at their wedding were William Ernest Holt, the groom’s brother-in-law (above), and Fanny Lowe, the groom’s mother. The couple’s first child was born at 2 Heaps Court in Salford just days before the census in 1891, however she was not with her parents that day.

According to the Salford census that year the young married couple was staying at the St Stephen Place, Salford, home of Alfred’s mother-in-law Jane Barlow who was 49 and his younger brother-in-law William Barlow who was eight years of age. Alfred T Collett was 23 was a grinder and a glazier and Elizabeth A Collett was 18. It is possible their daughter was in hospital on that census day who, despite being baptised a month later died later that same year. Just after the turn of the century the March census of 1901 recorded Alfred Thomas Collett as 33 and a machine grinder, and Elizabeth Ann Collett as 28, when they were living at 15 Market Street in Salford with their daughters, Elizabeth Collett, who was six, Emily Collett, who was four, and Alice Collett who was one year old. Also living with the family on that occasion was Alfred’s widowed mother Fanny Lowe who was 53, and her son William Lowe who was 20.

Three further children were added to the family over the next six years, and it was at Salford that the family was still living in April 1911, although by then the couple had suffered another loss with the death of their daughter Sarah Ellen. Alfred Thomas Collett was 43 and a grinder at an ironworks, and his wife Elizabeth Ann was 38. Their three eldest daughters were confirmed as Elizabeth Ann Collett, 16, Emily Collett, who was 14, and Alice Collett who was 11, while the two new arrivals were listed as James Collett who was six, and Elsie Collett who was three years old. On the occasion of the registration of the birth of his son James, Alfred’s occupation was that of an electrical engineer’s labourer. His youngest child Alfred was only five years old when the death of Alfred Thomas Collett was recorded at Salford register office (Ref. 8d 136) following his passing at Salford on 28^th July 1918 at the age of 50, following which he was buried at the Weaste Cemetery in Salford. He was survived by his widow, with Elizabeth Ann Collett passing away in Salford in 1837.

Over the years, the Collett family appear to have moved a great many times, but all the known addresses were within the Trinity area of Salford and, in addition to those already mentioned above, the other addresses included Cobbett Street in 1895, Arlington Court in 1905, Rigby Street in 1907, 15 Market Street in 1911, Corporation Square in 1913, and Brewery Street in 1923.

43Q131

Mary Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1891 at Salford, Lancs.

43Q132

Elizabeth Ann Collett

Born in 1895 at Salford, Lancs.

43Q133

Emily Collett

Born in 1897 at Salford, Lancs.

43Q134

Alice Collett

Born in 1899 at Salford, Lancs.

43Q135

Sarah Ellen Collett

Born in 1902 at Salford, Lancs.

43Q136

James Collett

Born in 1905 at Salford, Lancs.

43Q137

Elsie Collett

Born in 1907 at Salford, Lancs.

43Q138

Alfred Collett

Born in 1913 at Salford, Lancs.

43Q1

Oliver Otto Collett was born at Keokuk in Iowa in 1887. He settled in Wapello County in Iowa where his father died in 1912 and where his son was born in 1920. And it was at Wapello that Oliver Otto Collett senior died in 1976.

43R1

Oliver Otto Collett junior

Born in 1920 at Wapello County, Iowa

43Q5

Preston Collett was born at Leslie County, Kentucky during April 1876, the eldest of the three known children of John William Collett and his wife Kittie. He was seven years old in the census of 1880 when he and his family were residing at District 3, Marrowbone, in Leslie County, where his father was a farmer. Fourteen years later, the marriage of Preston Collett and Sarah Asher took place on 14^th October 1894 at Jans Hutching in Bell County, Kentucky. The witnesses were Nathan Collett and Wilkerson Asher, with Nathan being Preston’s uncle, the older brother of his father John William Collett. Wilkerson was probably Sarah’s father, whose name was given to the couple’s eldest son. After a further six years Preston Collett was living at Upper Red Bird (visitation #9) in Clay County and had been married to Sarah (Asher) for five years, with the result being the birth of just one child. Preston was a farmer of a rented property who gave his age as 25, whose wife’s age on the census form was not recorded, while their son was recorded in error as William and not Wilkerson Collett who was two years old in 1900. Living close by, at #7 in Upper Red Bird, was Preston’s younger married brother Ambrose Collett (below).

Staying with the young family that census day in 1900 was Preston’s widowed mother and two younger sisters; Katie Collett was 46 and born in January 1854, Marie Collett was 14 and born in September 1885, and Daisie Collett was five years of age and born in October 1894. It was also at Upper Red Bird, in Precinct 7, visitation #25, that the enlarged family was living in 1910 when farmer Preston was 36, and Sarah was 28, who had been married for 14 years and had given birth to seven children, all living.

Those seven children were listed as sons Wilkie Collett 13 (William aged two in 1900), Willie Collett 10 (William in 1920), Thomas Collett seven, Ella Collett five, daughters Addie Collett four, and Ollie Collett three, and Norma Collett one-year-old. Still living with the family was Preston’s mother Kittie Collett aged 55, her daughter Cattie Collett who was 18, and Cattie’s daughter Pur Collett who was two years of age. Two other members of the wider Collett family were recorded nearby at Upper Red Bird with, at visitation #27 was his brother Ambrose Collett (below) who was 24, and at #29 was Thomas Collett (Ref. 43P39) who was 33 with his larger family.

In the census of 1920, conducted on 21^st February, the family was again recorded at Upper Red Bird, but on the road up to Blue Hole Creek. On the road that year were three Collett farms adjacent to one another, farms #2, #3 and #4. The middle of the three properties was owned and farmed by Preston Collett aged 46, where Sarah Collett was 40, William Collett was 18, Thomas Collett was 16, Ella Collett was 15, Addie Collett was 13, Norma Collett was 11, James Collett was seven, P L Collett was five, and Pearl Collett was three. At farm #2 was Preston’s younger brother Silas Collett (below) with his family who, in the same 1920 census, but on a different day in February, was a neighbour of Joseph Collett (Ref. 43Q86) on the road up to Lick Fork in Red Bird at Upper Red Bird. At farm #4 was Wilkie Collett Preston’s recently married eldest son.

After a further ten years Preston Collett was 56 and residing at Blue Hole Creek Road in Magisterial District 8 of Clay County in rented property which he farmed as a general farmer in 1930. His wife Sarah was 51 who had been married at the age of 15, when Preston was 26. Their sons James Collett and P L Collett were 18 and 16, when daughters Diane Collett and Malvaria Collett were 11 and six years old. Living in the next rented property was the couple’s son Willie (William) Collett and his family, and further along Blue Hole Creek Road was Preston’s eldest married son Wilkie (Wilkerson) Collett with his family and his mother-in-law.

Preston Collett was 67 years old when he died on 23^rd September 1941 at Leslie County in Kentucky. Upon the death of his three youngest children, and certainly in 1925, Preston and Sarah were residing in Roark with their family, where daughter Norma was married that year, and where daughter Myrtle suffered an infant death. Also, for the much later deaths of daughters Pearl and Malvie, their place of birth was recorded as Ashers Fork, Roark in Clay County.

Ashers Fork is near Bright Shade in Clay County, while Big Creek is a waterway running down through Leslie County and into the Red Bird River in Clay County.

The following are the confirmed children of Preston Collett and Sarah Asher:

43R2

Wilkerson Collett

Born in 1898 at Big Creek, Upper Red Bird

43R3

William Collett

Born in 1901 at Big Creek, Upper Red Bird

43R4

Tolman Collett

Born in 1902 at Big Creek, Upper Red Bird

43R5

Nanna Collett

Born in 1904 at Big Creek, Upper Red Bird

43R6

Addie Collett

Born in 1906 at Big Creek, Upper Red Bird

43R7

Ollie Collett

Born in 1907 at Big Creek, Upper Red Bird

43R8

Norma Collett

Born in 1909 at Big Creek, Upper Red Bird

43R9

Anna Collett

Born in 1911 at Big Creek, Upper Red Bird

43R10

James Collett

Born in 1913 at Big Creek, Upper Red Bird

43R11

P L Collett

Born in 1915 at Big Creek, Upper Red Bird

43R12

Pearl Collett

Born in 1918 at Big Creek, Upper Red Bird

43R13

Diane Collett

Born in 1920 at Big Creek, Upper Red Bird

43R14

Malvaria Collett

Born in 1922 at Roark, Clay County

43R15

Myrtle Collett

Born in 1925 at Roark, Clay County

43Q8

Ambrose Collett was born at Leslie County on 1^st December 1882 and was another son of John and Kittie Collett. On completing the subsequent census forms he gave different ages, making the year of his birth range from anything between 1880 and 1886. His parents had thirteen children and, up to November 2024, only seven of them had been discovered. It was during December 2024 further work was carried out to find the missing children, one of whom is believed to be Ambrose who was living near his brother Preston in 1910. Sadly, no record of the family has been found in 1891 and by the census day in 1900 their father had died earlier that year, with Preston and Ambrose both married by that day.

With no record found for any member of his family in 1890, Ambrose Collett said he was 17 years old in the Upper Red Bird, Clay County, census of 1900 when he and his wife Bettie, aged 20, were staying with Bettie’s Asher farming family at visitation #7. Her parents were Wilkinson and Pollie Asher and, in addition the Bettie’s siblings, completing the household was single male J C Collett who was 30 and a farm labourer, an employee of Wilkinson Asher. The census return stated he was born during December 1869 but, other than that, nothing is known about him. Also in 1900, Ambrose’s older married brother Preston Collett (above) was living at #9 Upper Red Bird, who had living with him their widowed mother Katie (Kittie) Collett. All three were still residing there in 1910.

For the census of 1910 the two brothers Preston and Ambrose were recorded at #25 and #27 Upper Red Bird, Bright Shade in Clay County respectively. That year Ambrose Collett was 24 (sic) and a farmer with his own account, whose wife of nine years was Lizzie Collett who was 30, who had already given birth to four children. They were Emily Collett who was nine, Bige Collett (Abijah Collett in 1920) who was eight, Preston Collett who was seven, and daughter Mallie Collett who was one-year-old. Shortly after that census day Lizzie, also known as Bettie, gave birth to another daughter Lottie Collett born at Bright Shade that same year. Two more known children were added to the family, Allen Collett in 1917, and Martha in 1919, before Bettie was made a widow in 1920.

For the first time, in the census of 1920, Ambrose Collett was recorded with his most accurate age of 40 when he was still living on the road up to Blue Hole Creek in Upper Red Bird, Clay County, where he was a general farmer. His wife Betsy was 38, and their seven children were Abijah Collett who was 16 and a labourer on the home farm, Preston Collett junior was 14, Mallie Collett was 12, B Golden Collett was ten years four months and described as deformed and dumb, Lottie Collett was six years four months, Allen Collett was four years two months, and Martha Collett was six months old.

Ambrose Collett was 39 when he died on 5^th August 1920 at Ashers Fork in Clay County and was buried at Collett Cemetery in Clay County. The burial record stated he had been born on 1^st December 1880, the same year in which his older sister had been born.

43R16

Emily Collett

Born in 1901 at Bright Shade, Clay County

43R17

Abijah Collett

Born in 1903 at Bright Shade, Clay County

43R18

Preston Collett

Born in 1905 at Bright Shade, Clay County

43R19

Mallie Collett

Born in 1908 at Bright Shade, Clay County

43R20

Golden Collett

Born in 1910 at Bright Shade, Clay County

43R21

Lottie Collett

Born in 1912 at Bright Shade, Clay County

43R22

Allen Collett

Born in 1917 at Bright Shade, Clay County

43R23

Martha Collett

Born in 1919 at Bright Shade, Clay County

43Q9

Silas Collett was born in Leslie County on 6^th November 1884 and was one of the seven surviving children of John and Catherine Collett. The marriage of Silas Collett and Mahala Collett took place at the Bell County home of R W Asher, the Minister who issued the licence, and the Deputy County Court Clerk of Bell County, on 21^st March 1902 when the witnesses were William Collett and Sarah Asher. By 1910 the childless couple was living at Burn’s Spring Precinct, part of Straight Creek in Bell County, when Silas Collett was 27 and a farm labourer married for eight years to Mahala who was 23. Living in, and working the adjoining farm, was the family of Nathan Collett and his wife Mahala Collett, whose family details can be found in the new Part 43 – Other Colletts of Kentucky.

On completing the WW1 Draft Registration Card on 12^th September 1918, Silas Collett was 33, his date of birth 6^th November 1884, and was employed in mining with the Pioneer Coal Company when living at Kettle Island in Bell County. He signed the form with the mark of a cross and named Halie Collett as his nearest relative, which was very likely a shortened version of his wife’s name Mahala.

By 1920 the family had increased in size with the birth of two daughters, when they were residing at a rented farm #2 on the road up to Blue Hole Creek in Upper Red Bird in Clay County. Silas Collett was 36 and a farmer with his own account, Mahaley was 30, and their two girls were Hettie Collett who was 12, and Elizabeth Collett who was 10. Rather than recorded as daughter, they were described as sister, were they were, and in 1910 Nettie Collett aged two was the niece of Samuel and Annie Slusher from Kentucky, living at Seymour in Baylor County, Texas.

Their next-door-neighbour at #3 was Silas’ eldest brother Preston Collett (above) with his wife Sarah and their eight children, and at #4 was the just-married young couple of Wilkie (Wilkerson) Collett (Ref. 43R2) with his wife Phronie, who was Preston’s eldest child. Curiously, two days after the family of Silas Collett was record at Blue Hole Creek, the same family, but with very slightly different ages was also recorded as living at #16 on the road up to Lick Fork of Red Bird, possibly indicating that Silas was operating/managing two farms. A neighbour at #21 was Joseph Collett (Ref. 43Q86).

No record of the family has been found after 1920, apart that is, from the death of Silas Collett which was recorded at Bell County on 28^th January 1960 when he would have been 75 years old. Afterwards, he was buried at the Upland Cemetery in Blackmont in Bell County.

43R24

Hettie Collett – adopted

Born in 1908 at Upper Red Bird

43R25

Elizabeth Collett - adopted

Born in 1910 at Upper Red Bird

43Q11

Catherine Collett, who was known as Cattie, was another of the seven surviving children of John William Collett and his wife Catherine (Katie/Kittie) Collett. She was born at Leslie County, Kentucky in 1892, but was not with her family in 1900 just after her father had died. Instead, as 18-year-old Cattie Collett she had already given birth to a daughter Pur Collett who was two years old in the census of 1910. On that day Cattie and her widowed mother Kitty Collett were staying at the home of Cattie’s eldest married sibling, her only brother Preston Collett (above) at Upper Red Bird, in Precinct 7.

What happened to daughter Pur is not known while, it was within the next four years that Catherine Collett married Hence Stewart, who already had a daughter from his first wife, who were living in District 8, Otter Creek in Clay County for the census in 1920. That year Hence Stewart was 35 a farm labourer having his own account, Mary Stewart was 28, when the three children listed with them were Margaret Stewart who was 15, Rosie Stewart who was eight, and Ada Stewart who was four years and seven months old. Completing the family was Hence’s widowed mother-in-law Kitty Collett, with all members of the household born in Kentucky. Hence’s eldest daughter Margaret was the grandmother of Michelle Hubbard Smith who kindly provided this information in August 2014.

43R26

Pur Collett

Born in 1908 at Big Creek, Upper Red Bird

43Q14

Thomas John Collett was born on 25^th July 1874 at Leslie Collett, Kentucky, the first-born child of John Collett and Nancy Roark who was four years old in the Hayden census in 1880. Thomas married Lucy Mae Asher just prior to the end of the century, and they are believed to have had ten children. However, in the previous version of this family line, those ten children were credited in error to another Thomas J Collett, he being Thomas Joel Collett (Ref. 43P39) born in 1878 who married Maggie Redman/Redmond at Pineville in Bell County on 26^th December 1900, when their wedding ceremony was conducted at the home of Farmer Collett, Thomas’ brother, with the witnesses being brothers Farmer Collett (Ref. 43P37) and Letcher Collett (Ref. 43P36).

In 1900 Thomas Collett was 25 and a farmer living at Bad Creek in Leslie County with his wife of three years Lucy Collett aged 22 who had already given birth to two children. They were Bertha who was two years of age, and Grant who was four months old, who did not survive. Living next door to the family was Thomas’ parents, John and Nancy Collett, together with four of the five younger siblings of Thomas, being John Collett, Lucy Collett, Bradley Collett, and Harrison Collett.

It was at #29 Upper Red Bird in Bright Shade, Clay County, that Thomas Collett and his family were living in 1910. He was 33 and a farmer with his own account who had been married to his wife Lucy for thirteen years. During that time, they had given birth to six children, five of whom were still alive in 1910. Lucy Collett was 26, Bertha Collett was 12, Chester Collett was 10, son Goldie Collett was seven, Hazel Collett was six, and Mitchell Collett who was seven months. Two of his neighbours that year were members of the extended Collett family, being the brothers Preston Collett (Ref. 43Q5) residing at #25 Upper Red Bird, and Ambrose Collett (Ref. 43Q8) at #27.

By the time of the census in 1920 the family was recorded at Lothair Precinct in Perry County where 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, Hazel Collett who was 13, Mitchell Collett who was 10, De Witt Collett who was eight, Edna Collett who was five, and Thomas Collett junior who was three years old. One more child was added to their family over the next three years. Also living at Lothair, in Perry County, was the couple’s recently married son Chester Collett.

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.

The census in 1940 reported that the family was living at London, Laurel County in 1935, and it was in 1938 that Thomas and Lucy left Kentucky to live in Miami County, Ohio. That happened after married son Mitchell Collett moved there around 1935, and where he was living with his family in 1940 and 1950. Once there, the elderly couple settled in Casstown, Lost Creek Township, Miami County, where Thomas J Collett from Kentucky was 65 and a labourer on farmland, when his wife Lucy Mae Collett was 63.

Lucy Mae Collett, the daughter of James Asher and Phoebe Howard, died in hospital at Casstown on 26^th December 1948 at the age of 70, her death certificate confirming they had lived in Casstown for ten years. Her date of birth was confirmed as 8^th May 1878, the wife of Thomas Collett aged 74. The informant of her passing was her son Mitchell Collett of Covington, Ohio, following which she was buried at Casstown Cemetery on 30^th December 1948. Three years after being widowed, Thomas J Collett was 76 when he died in the Stouder Memorial Hospital in Troy, Miami County, on 21^st January 1951, when his home address was Main Street in Casstown, Lost Creek Township. He had been a carpenter with Howard Brothers (his late wife’s family business), and was confirmed as the son of John Collett and Nancy Roark and was buried with his wife at Casstown Cemetery.

43R27

Bertha Collett

Born in February 1898 in Leslie County

43R28

Grant Collett

Born in 1900 in Leslie County

43R29

Chester Collett

Born in 1901 in Leslie County

43R30

Goldie Collett

Born in 1902 in Leslie County

43R31

Hazel Collett

Born in 1907 in Leslie County

43R32

Mitchell Collett

Born in 1910 in Leslie County

43R33

De Witt Collett

Born in 1912 in Leslie County

43R34

Edna Collett

Born in 1915 in Leslie County

43R35

Thomas Collett

Born in 1917 in Leslie County

43R36

Joseph C Collett

Born in 1922 in Leslie County

43Q15

Wiley Collett was born on 20^th October 1879 at Hayden in Leslie County, where he was living with his family in 1880 at the age of seven months. He was another son of John and Nancy Collett, and he married Chloe/Clare Napier around the end of the century and, according to the Bad Creek census in 1910, his wife had given birth to five children, all living. That year Wiley was recorded at farm #64 as Wiley Collett junior who was 35 (sic), married for eleven years and a general farmer with his own account. His wife Chloe Collett was 34 (sic), and the five children were Maude Collett who was 10, Woodard Collett who was eight, Berga Collett who was seven, Stella Collett who was five, and Mallie Collett who was two years of age.

At Bad Creek farm #65 in 1910 was the family of Will Collett, his wife Emily, and seven of their eight children. Ten years later, the same family was living one property away from Wiley and Chloe at Bad Creek - see below.

After another ten years Wiley Collett was 39 and a general farmer with his own account, and the owner of his farm at #36 Bad Creek, Precinct No. 6 in Leslie County in 1920. His wife Clare Collett (nee Napier – see below) was 41, and their seven children were Maudie (Maude) Collett aged 19, sons Wardon (Woodard) and Burgie (Berga) Collett were 18 and 15, Stella Collett aged 14, Mallie Collett aged 10, Harrison Collett who was eight, and Ballard Collett who was six years old. The couple’s four eldest children were recorded as labourers working on the family farm. At farm #38 in Bad Creek in 1920 once again, was the family of Will Collett, his wife Ella, with their five children, who were next-door-neighbours in 1910. Their details can be found in the new Part 43 – Other Colletts of Kentucky.

Ten children were living with Wiley and Clare at #26 Jacks Creek Road in Bad Creek on the day of the census in 1930, while next door at #25 was the large family of Robert and Millie Collett. Wiley was 48 (sic) and renting the family home but still a farmer with his own account. Chloe was 52 who was 24 when she married Wiley when he was 20. Nine children were living with the couple that day, and they were unmarried Mallie Collett was 22, Harrison Collett was 19, Ballard Collett was 16, twins (?) Lucy and Henry Collett were 10, twin-sisters (?) Elizabeth and Golda Collett were four years of age, with twin-sisters (?) Obel (Opal) and Lela Collett being twelve months old.

That 1930 census return raises a query regarding Chloe’s advanced years; were the four youngest children living with them more grandchildren of Wiley and Chloe Collett? Certainly, the 1940 Census for the couple’s daughter Maudie Bowling, married for a second time during the previous year, revealed she had living with her, her son Henry Collett who was 18 and a farm hand. He was described as the stepson of Bristo Bowling and, since Henry appeared to be the twin-brother of Lucy Collett in 1930, both them, and some of their four younger siblings, may have been the children from Maudie’s first marriage. The following census in 1940, when Chloe was 63, again had very young children living with the family for whom she could not have been the mother.

That year (1940), the enlarged family was residing at #112 Bowens Creek Road in Bad Creek, where Wiley was 56 and the owner of his farm, with his own account. Chloe was 63 when, listed as their children were Mallie Collett who was 35, Harrison Collett who was 34 and a labourer with the W P A Roads, Ballard Collett was 25 and working with his father on the farm, Lucy Collett who was 20, Elizabeth Collett who was 14, Opal Collett who was 10, Joe Collett who was eight, and Ada Collett who was seven years of age. Living close by at #110 Bowens Creek Road was the couple’s eldest married son Woodard Collett with his wife and their family. Ten years later, the two families were living together as next-door-neighbours.

On 27^th April 1942 a Draft Registration Card was completed at Hayden in Leslie County for Wiley Collett, referred to as Little Wiley Collett aged 64 residing at Roark, who signed the form with the mark of a cross. Once again Wiley’s closest relative was his wife Chloe Collett of Roark, but curiously his date of birth was incorrected stated as 25^th January 1879. Wiley Collett was 91 when he died at Roark, Leslie County, on 4^th April 1971 and was buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery in Essie, Leslie County. His burial recorded provided his date of birth as 20^th October 1879.

It is the census for Leslie County conducted on 20^th April 1950 that provides the real details for the grandchildren of Wiley and Chloe. Previously named as Collett and described as their sons and daughters, the census that day revealed their surname to be Barrett, the same as the maiden-name of the couple’s eldest daughter-in-law, the wife of Woodard Collett. Of their own family, only one daughter was still living with Wiley and Chloe on their farm at #93 in Leslie County, and that was unmarried Mallie Collett who was 41, when Wiley was 67 and still farming, and Chloe was 72. Their grandchildren were recorded as Elizabeth Sizemore 24, Joe Barrett 18, Ada Barrett 16, Wiley Barrett who was five, Harrison Barrett who was three, and Bernice Barrett who was one year old. Next door as #92 was their son Woodard with his larger family and, on the other side at #94 was farmer George Baily aged 24, and his wife Opal Baily nee Collett aged 21, with their first child David Baily who had been born in December 1949.

43R37

Maude Collett

Born in 1900 at Leslie County

43R38

Woodard Collett

Born in 1902 at Leslie County

43R39

Bergie Collett

Born in 1904 at Leslie County; died 13.12.26

43R40

Stella Collett

Born in 1906 at Leslie County

43R41

Mallie Collett

Born in 1908 at Leslie County

43R42

Harrison Collett

Born in 1911 at Leslie County

43R43

Ballard Collett

Born in 1913 at Leslie County

43Q18

Bradley Collett was born at Leslie County on 29^th April 1894 and was another child of John and Nancy Collett who were living in Bad Creek in 1900 when Bradley was eight years of age. Towards the end of the following decade Bradley moved out of the family home with his younger brother Harrison (below) and in 1910 the pair of them was staying with the Thompson family at Big Creek in Leslie County where they were employed as farm labourers. He served with the military from 20^th May 1918 until 15^th February the following year after which Bradley became a married man to a much younger wife, Mary Ellen Revis. As a consequence of their ten-year age difference, he lowered his age in the subsequent census returns, most likely to reduce the embarrassment. One member of the Revis family of Big Creek in 1910 was George Revis a farmer whose live-in farmer labourer was Gordon Collett. With no link yet found to this family line, his details, and those of near neighbour Johnnie Collett, can be found in the new Part 43 – Other Colletts of Kentucky.

It was at Gilberts Creek in Big Creek for the census of 1920 that Bradley Collett said he was 24, rather than 27, with his wife Mary Ellen Collett being only 17. During the next ten years, Mary Ellen gave birth to five children who were all living with the couple in rented accommodation 1930 in Clay County, where Bradley was 36 and a labourer at a coal mine. The census return stated that 28-year-old Mary had married at the age of seventeen, when Bradley was 25. Their five children were John aged nine, Gracie aged seven, Melvin aged six, Rose who was four, and Hans who was two years and two months old.

Over the following years, the family returned to a rented property at Gilberts Creek in Leslie County where Bradley was a farmer with his own account in 1940 and, by which time, a further five children had been added to his family. Bradley was 47, Mary Ellen was 38, John was 19 and a farmer, Grace was 17, Mel was 16 and a farmer, Rose was 14, Harris was 12, Jean was eight, Neil was six, Stanley was four, Myrtle was three, and Joyce was one year old. The census returned confirmed that the family had been living at the same address in 1935.

The WW2 Draft Registration Card for Bradley Collett was completed at Hyden on 27^th April 1942 and confirmed the following details. He was 49 and born on the day stated above, he was a farmer at home in Marcum, Leslie County, and his wife was Mary Ellen Collett. Sadly, she died later that same year around the time of the birth, or just after, the birth of the couple’s last child. Those two events were recorded in the next census of 1950. Widower Bradley Collett aged 58 was continuing to work as a farmer, when he had ten of his eleven children still living with him, together with a Collett grandson.

John was 30 and a coal loader at a coal mine, Gracie was 28 and keeping house, Mel was 24 and another coal loader, as was Harris aged 22, Jean was 20, Neil was 17, Stanley was 15, Myrtle was 12, Joyce was 10, and Jimmy was eight years old. Bradley’s grandson was six-year-old Bobbie Collett. Nineteen years later Bradley Collett died in Lesle County on 26^th October 1969, when his age was recorded in error as 77, after which he was buried at the John Sizemore Cemetery in Marcum.

43R44

John Collett

Born in 1920 at Marcum, Kentucky

43R45

Grace Collett

Born in 1922 at Marcum, Kentucky

43R46

Melvin Collett

Born in 1924 at Marcum, Kentucky

43R47

Rose Collett

Born on 04.04.1926 at Marcum, Kentucky

43R48

Harris Collett

Born in 1928 at Marcum, Kentucky

43R49

Jean Collett

Born on 31.05.1931 at Marcum, Kentucky

43R50

Neil Collett

Born in 1933 at Marcum, Kentucky

43R51

Stanley Collett

Born in 1935 at Hyden, Leslie County

43R52

Myrtle Collett

Born in 1937 at Leslie County

43R53

Joyce Collett

Born on 09.04.1939 at Marcum, Kentucky

43R54

Jimmy Collett

Born in 1941 at Marcum, Kentucky

43Q19

Harrison G Collett was born on 16^th September 1895 at Buck Fork in Leslie County and was the sixth and last child of John Collett and Nancy Roark. At the age of 15 years, he was living at Bad Creek, Leslie County in 1910, when Harrison and his brother Bradley (above) were lodging with the Thompson family, from where they were working as farm labourers.

It was on 5^th June 1917 at Clay County that Harrison’s WW1 Draft Registration Card revealed he was 21 and born at Buck Fork on 16^th September 1895. At that time he was a self-employed farmer living at Marcum in Clay County. The reason for his claim of exemption from military service was because he had a wife and two children to support. Harrison then signed the form with the mark of a cross. Three years later the family had increased to four children when they were living in Big Creek, Clay County. Head of the household Harrison was 24 and a general farmer with his own account renting the property. His wife Lillie was 29, and their four children were Cornelia Collett who was nearly six, Cornell Collett who was four years and ten months, Clarence who was two years and two months, and Laura Collett who was eleven months old.

During the following decade Harrison purchased a farm in Clay County where the family was living in 1930. The census return gave a value of $300 for the new family home where farmer Harrison Collett having his own account was 35 and married when he was 18. Lillie Collett was 40 and was 23 years old on the day of their wedding. By 1930 the family had grown to eight children with Cornelia aged 16, Cornell who was 14 and working with his father on the farm, Clarence was 12, Laura was 10, Hamp was eight, Nancy was six, Haze (Hayes) was five, and Cassie was three years of age.

It was at Goose Rock on Red Bird River in Clay County that Harrison and Lillie were reported to be living in the census of 1940. Harrison was 44 was a farmer on his own farm, Lillie was 49, son Cornell was 23 and a lineman with the electric company, Laura was 20, Hamp was 18 and a labourer on his father’s farm, Nancy was 16, Haze was 14, and Cassie was 12. Living with the family that day were two of their married children; daughter Cornelia Ledford with husband Arthur Ledford and their three children, and son Clarence Collett and his wife Malva Collett.

The WW2 Draft Registration Card for Harrison Collett was completed at Laurel County in Kentucky on 27^th April 1942 when he was 46 and residing at Whitley (Street) in London, Laurel County. The other details confirmed his date of birth, as above, that he was a self-employed farmer, whose wife was Lillie Collett. Unlike the earlier WW1 Draft Card, on this occasion he signed the form in his own hand.

By the time of the census conducted in 1950 the reduced family was again residing in Laurel County, where Harrison G Collett was continuing to work as a farmer at the age of 54. His wife, as Lillie N Collett was 59 and a farm helper. The couple’s two youngest sons, Hamp and Hayes, had return home after becoming marriage men, with them both employed by the electric company as electric linemen. Hamp Collett was 28 and a widower, and Hayes Collett was 24 and separated from his wife. Also living with the family that day was the couple’s youngest child, married daughter Cassie H Hampton who was 22. With her was her husband Lawrence Hampton 29 and a foreman lineman with the electric company, and their daughter Gloria J G Hampton who was three, and son Philip C Hampton who was one year old.

Harrison Collett was 86 when he died in Laurel County on 10^th September 1980 and was buried at Collett Cemetery in Crab Orchard, Laurel County. The name and dates on his headstone referred to him as Harrison G Collett. However, whoever was the informant of his passing incorrectly gave his date of birth as 16^th October 1894.

43R55

Cornelia Collett

Born in 1914 at Marcum, Clay County

43R56

Cornell Collett

Born in 1916 at Marcum, Clay County

43R57

Clarence Collett

Born in 1917 at Marcum, Clay County

43R58

Laura Collett

Born in 1919 at Marcum, Clay County

43R59

Hamp Collett

Born in 1921 at Marcum, Clay County

43R60

Nancy Collett

Born in 1924 at Marcum, Clay County

43R61

Haze Collett

Born in 1925 at Marcum, Clay County

43R62

Cassie Collett

Born in 1928 at Clay County

43Q22

Arthur Collett was born at Asher, Leslie County in Kentucky on 10^th October 1894, the son of Ingram Collett and his first wife Serena Catherine Cope (aka Rena/Renio). Arthur was eight years old in the census of 1900 when he and his family were living at Marrowbone in Bad Creek in Leslie County. Shortly after 1906 his mother died and his father married the much younger Sarah who was only a couple of years older than Arthur, as confirmed in the Bad Creek census of 1910 when Arthur Collett was 17, with Sarah being 19.

It was around 1916 when Arthur Collett married Frances Morgan, known as Francy, and just after, he served with the US Infantry in 1917 and 1918, when his military records confirmed his date and place of birth as stated above. It was also during 1917 that the couple’s first of their seven children was born, as reported in the Leslie County census of 1920. On that day the family was living at #15 Bad Creek Road in Bad Creek, when farmer Arthur Collett was 22 (sic), his wife Frances Collett was 21, their daughter Bettie Colett was four years and three months, and son Manuel was 13 months old.

It is also established that their son Troy, the couple’s seventh child, was born during the same year that Arthur died at Asher. His death certificate confirmed that he died on 24^th July 1926 and that he was the son of Ingram Collett and Renio Cope. An earlier son of Arthur and Frances, Troy’s older brother Corbett, also had a son with the same name. After the death of Arthur Collett, his widow remarried, and it was Frances and Willie Brock who raised the Collett children.

The census for Roark, Leslie County, in 1940 identified six of Arthur’s children, five of whom were living with their mother Frances Brock aged 42 and their stepfather William Brock who was 44. However, only Arthur’s daughter Elva was named Collett, her four brothers as Brock. Manuel was 21, Corbett was 19, Elva was 17, Clarence was 16, and Troy was 14. Frances’ eldest son Fred was married by then and had two young children who were living with his wife immediately next door, at visitation #151, the remainder of his family was #150. At #148 was Arthur’s cousin Theo (Theophallus) Collett (Ref. 43Q31) and his family. In 1950 William Brock aged 53 and a farmer, and his wife Frances Brock, who was 52, were living immediately adjacent to Francy’s son Corbett Collett at Blue Hole Water, Red Bird in Clay County.

43R63

Fred Collett

Born in 1917 at Asher, Leslie County

43R64

Emanuel Collett

Born in 1918 at Asher, Leslie County

43R65

Corbett Collett

Born in 1920 at Asher, Leslie County

43R66

Elva Collett

Born in 1922 at Asher, Leslie County

43R67

Clarence Collett

Born in 1924 at Asher, Leslie County

43R68

Troy Collett

Born in 1926 at Asher, Leslie County

43Q23

Wiley James Collett was born at Leslie County on 2^nd April 1896, another son of Ingram and Serena Collett. He weas four years old in the 1900 census for Marrowbone, Bad Creek in Leslie County. It was also at Bad Creek that Wiley Collett was again living with his family in 1910 at the age of 15. Four years later, Wiley Collett married Emily Asher during the month of March in 1914 when he was almost 18 years of age and she was nearly 17, with Emily having been born on 12^th May 1897. On 5^th June 1917 the WW1 Draft Registration Card completed for Wiley Collett at Leslie County provided the following information. His date of birth (as above), age 21, married, residing at Asher with his wife and two children, a farmer working for himself, who was claiming exemption due to having a wife and family to support.

The couple gave misleading ages when interviewed for the subsequent censuses, the first of them in 1920 for Bad Creek when they and their two children were living at Bad Creek Road, when farmer Wiley Collett (as Willy Callett) was 22 (sic) having his own account for the farm. Emily was recorded as Ellie Callett who was 21 (sic), when their two children were Shelby Collett (as Shelley Callett) aged five, and McKinley Collett who was two years and two months old. That was on 2^nd January 1920 and just over five weeks later Emily gave birth to the couple’s only daughter Millie, who was followed by the birth of another two sons to complete their family.

All five children were recorded with their parents at Bad Creek Road in Bad Creek, Leslie County, in 1930 with Wiley, the owner of his own farm, claiming he was 38 (sic). Emily was 34 and stated she 19 when she married Wiley, who said he was 21, both incorrect. Their five children, whose births had been recorded at Leslie County, were Shelby Collett who was 15, McKinley Collett who was 13, Millie Collett who was 11, Richard Collett who was nine, and Charlie Collett who was seven.

By 1940 daughter Millie was married and had left the family home which, by then, was at Beech Fork in Leslie County. The remainder of the family was still together when Wiley Collett (as Wylie) was 42 (sic) and renting the property where they were residing and where he was a labourer working on a farm. Emily Collett was 39, Shelby Collett was 25, McKinley Collett was 23, Richard Collett was 18, and Charles Collett was 15. All four son were working as labourer in farming, perhaps even working alongside their father. Shortly after that their two youngest sons were married but were divorced by 1950, when they were sharing the same accommodation in Harlan County, Kentucky

The WW2 Draft Registration Card, completed at Helton in Leslie County on 27^th April 1942, confirmed Wiley James Collett of Asher was residing at Helton and that he had been born on 2^nd April 1896. At that time in his life, he was 46 and employed by Bill Caldwell of Louellen, and the relative’s name he gave was Millie Sandlin of Chavies, Leslie County, his married daughter. The card also stated he was missing a thumb on his right hand. No record of Wiley and Emily has been found in the next census for 1950, when they would have been 54 and 53 respectively.

It was twenty-eight years later, when Wiley Collett, aged 82, died on 23^rd June 1978 with his passing as recorded at Knox County, Kentucky. However, on being buried at Scalf Howard Cemetery in Barbourville, Knox County, he was acknowledged as Wiley J Collett. Five-and-a-half years after being widowed, Emily Asher Collett, aged 86, died at Bimble in Knox County on 27^th December 1983, and was buried with her husband at Barbourville.

43R69

Shelby Collett

Born in 1915 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R70

McKinley Collett

Born in 1918 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R71

Millie Collett

Born in 1920 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R72

Richard Collett

Born in 1922 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R73

Charlie Collett

Born in 1924 at Asher, Leslie County

43Q26

Shelby Collett was born at Bad Creek in Leslie County on 25^th April 1905, the youngest child of Ingram Collett and Serena Catherine Cope, who was four years old in the Bad Creek census of 1910. It was previously written here that it was assumed Shelby married Martha around the middle of the 1920s. However, it can now be revealed that they were both married to other people and were therefore unable to be married until much later, after all their children had been born, making their married their second wedding. By 1930 Martha had given birth to the couple’s first two children when the family was living at Big Branch Road, Beech Fork, Marrowbone in Leslie County. Shelby Collett was 24 and a farmer of a general farm, Martha Collett was 21, their son Dewey Collett (as Huy) was four, and their daughter Grace Collett (as Gracy) was two years old, every member of the household having been born in Kentucky.

Three more children were born into the family during the next decade but, tragically, the last of them died three years before the Leslie County census of 1940. According to the census return that year Shelby and Martha Collett were both 35 and living at Asher with their four surviving children, having lost son George who was born at Asher on 1^st April 1937, who died on 19^th November 1937 from broncho-pneumonia. They were recorded as Dewey Collett who was 15, Grace Collett who was 13, Rufus Collett who was nine, and daughter Sternel Collett who was seven years old.

That same year, the WW2 Draft Registration Card completed at Hyden, Leslie County on 16^th October 1940, provided Shelby’s date of birth and confirmed his wife was Martha residing at Asher, and that at the age of 35, Shelby was unemployed. By the time of the next census in 1950, the family’s home was in Louellen, Harlan County, in a dwelling facing Fugitt Creek, “on the road leading into the new mine”. That day, 7^th April 1950, Shelby Collett was at home to assist the census enumerator to complete the form, and this is what was recorded, all under the name Callett. Shelby was 48 and a widower, Martha was 49, Dewey was 23, Rufus was 21, Grace was 19, Sternal was 15, Polly was eight, and Ruby was six years old.

A slightly different story was told to the census enumerator on the following day, on 8^th April 1950, by 42-year-old Martha Collett who was the head of the household and a widow, clearing the way for her to marry the absent Shelby. Living with her were just four of her children, Rufus who was 20 and a coal loader at the local mine, Sternal who was 15, Polly who was nine, and Ruby who was five. Daughter Sternal was born at Asher on 4^th July 1934 and died there on 5^th May 2005 at the age of 71, and was buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery in Essie, Leslie County.

Five years later the marriage of Shelby Collett and Martha Collett was conducted at Essie in Leslie County on 14^th June 1955 when they were both described as divorced and residing at Asher. Shelby was 49 and a farmer, the son of Ingram Collett and Rena Cope, while Martha’s parents were Billy Collett and Nancy Brock. Shelby was 64 when he died on 15^th October 1969 and was buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery in Essie.

43R74

Dewey Huy Collett

Born in 1925 at Asher, Leslie County

43R75

Grace Collett – married Troy Brock

Born in 1928 at Asher Leslie County

43R76

Rufus Collett

Born in 1930 at Asher, Leslie County

43R77

Sternal Collett

Born in 1934 at Asher, Leslie County

43R78

George Collett

Born in 1937 at Asher, Leslie County

43R79

Polly Collett

Born in 1941 at Asher, Leslie County

43R80

Ruby Collett

Born in 1945 at Asher, Leslie County

43Q28

Leander Morton Collett was the second child of John Robinson Collett and Jennett Reed (Jeanette Reed) and was born at Hyden, Leslie County, Kentucky, on 5^th May 1892. As Lee Collett he was eight years of age in the Bad Creek census of 1900, and was a married man with a wife and daughter by 1920. However, three years earlier the WW1 Draft Registration Card revealed that he was 25 and born at Asher, who was living at Spring Creek in Kentucky where he had a dual occupation as a farmer “for himself” and a teacher. The reason he claimed exemption from the draft was because he had a wife to support who had physical disabilities.

It was in 1915 when Leander Collett married Delora Langdon who was simply recorded as L M Collett in the two census returns for 1920 and 1940. His wife was often referred to as Laura and recorded as Lora. In 1920 Leander was 27 years old and Delora was 23, whose daughter Martha Collett was twenty-six months old. That year, their next-door neighbour at Bowens Creek in Bad Creek Precinct was Manford Collett (Ref. 43Q73) and his family. When their son Clarence was born at Manchester in 1925, his birth was recorded at Clay County.

By 1930 the family was living at Artemus Road in Artemus, Knox County, Kentucky, where Lee M Collett was 34 and a teacher at a public school, as was his wife Lora who was 30. Lee was 23 when he married Delora, who was 19. Their children were Mattie Collett who was ten, Roy Collett who was eight, Marie Collett who was six, Clarence Collett who was four, and Gladys Collett who was twenty months old.

Ten years later, husband and wife were teachers at a public school at Hyden in Leslie County when they were 47 (L M Collett), and 43 (Lora Collett) and residing on Rock House Highway 80. Described as a new worker was their son Roy Collett who was 19, whose twin sister Marie Collett was 19 and perhaps looking after household duties. The couple’s other children were Clarence Collett who was 12, Gladys Collett who was 10, L M Collett junior who was nine, and Mahlon Collett who was five years of age. At the start of the following year Leander Morton Collett submitted a Social Program Application in February 1941 which confirmed his date of birth (as above) and that his parents with John Collett and Jeanette Reed.

During the next year the WW2 Draft Registration Card provided the name and date of birth of Leander M Collett who was 49 and born on 15^th May 1892 in Leslie County. His wife was confirmed as Lora L Collett when they were living at Hyden, where Leander was employed as a teacher by the Board of Education for Leslie County. Tragically, it was later that same year when Leander Morton Collett died at Marcum in Clay County, Kentucky, on 29^th November 1942, at the age of 50, and was buried at Langdon Cemetery in Marcum. Between the spring of 1998 and the end of 2007, L M Collett junior was living at 434 East Oak Street in Louisville, Jefferson County in Kentucky.

43R81

Martha Collett

Born in 1918 at Leslie County

43R82

Roy Burton Collett

Born in 1921 at Bowens Creek, Leslie County

43R83

Marie Collett

Born in 1922 at Bowens Creek, Leslie County

43R84

Clarence Ray Collett

Born in 1925 at Manchester, Clay County

43R85

Gladys Collett

Born in 1936 at Hyden, Leslie County

43R86

Leander Morton Collett junior

Born in 1931 at Hyden, Leslie County

43R87

James Mahlon Collett

Born in 1934 at Hyden, Leslie County

43Q30

Nancy Ann Collett was the fourth child of John Robinson Collett and his first wife Jennett Reed, who was born at Leslie County on 16^th May 1896. She was later Nancy Ann Brock who died as a widow on 9^th November 1962 in Red Bird Hospital at Beverly in Clay Co, and was buried at Bad Creek Cemetery in Asher on 11^th November 1962, after residing at Hyden in Leslie County.

43Q31

Theophallus Collett, who was known as Theo, was born at Leslie County on 5^th May 1898, another son of John and Jennett Collett who was 12 years old in the Bad Creek census of 1910. On 12^th September 1918 the WW1 Draft Registration Card was completed Hyden in Leslie Collett for Theo Collett of Asher, Leslie County, when his date of birth was confirmed as stated above. His occupation was in farming and his father was confirmed as John R Collett, his nearest relative. The same form also recorded that he had broken his right arm below the elbow. Just before 1920 he married Susie Whitehead and, in the Bad Creek census that year, he and Susie were living right next door to his uncle Ingram Collett’s farm at #16 Bad Creek Road. Theo Collett was 21 and a farmer living at #17 Bad Creek Road with his wife Susie Collett who was 26, while at #20 Bad Creek Road was Theo’s parents, with three of his siblings.

During the next decade father and son moved into adjacent farms, again on Bad Creek Road in Asher, where Theo and Susie were 32 in 1930. By that time they had three sons, Frank Collett who was nine, Ray Collett who was seven, and Charlie Collett who was five. Theo’s visitation was #88, his father’s was #89, and at #86 was the family of P L Collett and his wife Lottie (Ref. 43P32) his father’s younger brother.

Two more children were added to the family during the following years, with all five children listed with the couple living in Roark, Leslie census in 1940. Theo Collett was 42 and employed as a labourer with the W P A [Road Program], his wife Susie was 44, and the five children were Frank aged 21, Ray aged 17, Charlie aged 14, Jeanette Collett who was seven, and Theo Collett junior who was four years old. That day the family was recorded at #148, when two of his nearest three neighbours were members of the Collett family. At #150 was Frances (Francy) Brock, former widow of Arthur Collett (Ref. 43Q22) who was Theo’s cousin, and next door to them, and at #151, was the family of Fred Collett (Ref.43R49), the eldest children of Arthur and Francy Collett, and therefore Theo’s nephew. Less than two years after that day, the US Draft Registration Card for WW2 was completed at Hyden on 16^th February 1942 for Theo Collett of Asher, working for the W P A at Corbin, whose wife was Susie.

After a further eight years, Theo Collett was 52 and residing in Leslie County when he was a mill worker with a lumber manufacturing company. Wife Susie was 51, and only their two youngest children were still living with them; Jeanette Collett as Nettie was 16 and Theo Junior was 14. That family group was at visitation #253. While at #254 was the couple’s married son Ray, whose wife Dorothy had given birth to their first child in February 1950. Theo Collett died at Hazard in Perry County, Kentucky, on 20^th February 1955 and was buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery in Essie, Leslie County.

The couple’s eldest child, Frank Collett was born on 18^th May 1920, was 21 and a farmer, the son of Theo Collett of Asher, when his WW2 Draft Registration Card was completed at Hyden, Leslie County on 4^th July 1941. The only other known fact about him, is that he died on 2^nd April 1978 aged 57 and was buried at Bowens Creek, Essie, Leslie County.

Theo and Susie’s son Charles, was born at Asher on 24^th August 1926 and died in Clay County on 29^th February 1976, but was buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery, in Essie, where his name was recorded at Charlie T Collett aged 49. On 9^th September 1944 his WW2 Draft Registration Card was completed at Hyden when he was 18 and unemployed and residing in Essie, the son of Theo Collett of Asher.

As regards their daughter ‘Jeanette’, in the Social Program Application dated June 1952, she was described as Nettie Jean Collett, born on 30^th June 1933 at Asher, the daughter of Theo Collett and Susie Whitehead. The records also provided the information that she died on 8^th July 1996 as Nettie J Wilson, when she had been residing at Helton in Leslie County. It was on 13^th December 1955 that she married divorcee Orville Wilson aged 34 and a coalminer, at Bletsoe in Harlan County, the son of Theo Wilson and Flora Howard, when she was 22 and her parents were confirmed as Theo Collett and Susie Whitehead.

It was also the Social Program records that provided the information regarding the couple’s youngest child. He was named as Junior John Collett, born at Asher on 21^st August 1935. The first of two applications made on his behalf, and dated October 1952, also referred to him in the same way, while the later one, on 23^rd November 1984, simply addressed him as Junior Collett the son of Theo Collett and Susie Whitehead. Finally, at the end of his life, he was curiously described as John R Collett who died on 30^th September 2002, with his burial at Bowens Creek Cemetery, Essie, recorded s John R Collett “Junior”.

43R88

Frank Collett

Born in 1920 at Asher, Leslie County

43R89

Ray Collett

Born in 1923 at Asher, Leslie County

43R90

Charlie Collett

Born in 1926 at Asher, Leslie County

43R91

Nettie Jean Collett

Born in 1933 at Asher, Leslie County

43R92

Junior John Collett (aka Theo Jnr)

Born in 1935 at Asher Leslie County

43Q33

Sherman M Collett was the seventh child of John Robinson Collett and Jennett Reed, and was born on 30^th April 1901 at Asher, Bad Creek in Leslie County, where he was living with his family in 1910 aged nine years. At the age of 17 he served as a private 1^st Class 573491 with Company F of 39^th Infantry in France in September 1918. It was in his WW2 Draft Registration Card, completed at Hyden on 16^th February 1942, that he was referred to as Sherman M Collett, the son of John R Collett of Warbranch, Kentucky, who was born at Asher on 30^th April 1901. At that time in his life, he was 41 and residing in Asher, where he was employed by the Frontier Nursing Service. Eight years later, bachelor Sherman Collett, aged 49, married his father’s widow Nettie Whitehead, aged 34, on 21^st March 1950 in Harlan County, although both were recorded at living in Asher. Sherman was a farmer and the son of John R Collett and Jeanette Reed, when Nettie’s parents were named as Levi Whitehead and Mahala Brock.

Two months after their wedding day the pair of them was living at Leslie County with nine children and one grandson, all with the Collett surname. The four eldest children, most likely from Nettie’s first marriage were daughter Haley Collett 19, son Junior Collett 15, Juanita Collett 13, and Annie Collett who was 11. The next three were the children of John Robinson Collett and his third wife Nettie Whitehead, and therefore the half-sisters and brother of Sherman. They were Carolyn (Ethel) Collett aged eight, John R Collett (junior) aged six, and Bettie F Collett who was born around the time her father died. The parents of two youngest children were most likely Sherman M Collett and Nettie Whitehead, and were Johnny L Collett between one and two years old, and Evelyn Collett who had been born during January 1950. It is not known which of the older children was the mother of the just-born unnamed grandson born in May 1950.

Sherman M Collett died at Wallins Creek in Harlan County on 8^th December 1969 at the age of 68 and was buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery in Essie, Leslie County. His daughter Evelyn was born at Hyden on 30^th January 1950 and as Evelyn Collett Hensley she died in Harlan County on 6^th June 2019 and two days later her obituary was published.

43R93

Johnny L Collett

Born on 24.06.1948 at Asher, Leslie County

43R94

Evelyn Collett

Born in 1950 at Hyden, Leslie County

43Q43

Carolyn Ethel Collett was the last of the fifteen known children of John Robinson Collett, and the only child by his third wife Nettie Whitehead. She was born at Asher in Leslie County on 31^st October 1941 and was 22 when she married (1) Rufus Collett (Ref. 43R76) who was 33, at Jonesville, Lee County in Virginia, on 23^rd March 1964. He was the former husband of Martha Blevins, a divorced lady to whom he was first married in 1953 aged 22 and the third child of Shelby and Martha Collett of Essie, Leslie County. Carolyn and Rufus (1930-2003) must have been divorced because, later on in her life, Carolyn married (2) David R Lewis. And it was as Carolyn Ethel Lewis that she died on 12^th September 2005 at Hyden in Leslie County.

43Q46

Robert Lee Collett was born at Bad Creek in Leslie County, Kentucky on 7^th March 1894, the son of Pleasant Lee and Rusho J Collett, who was five in the census of 1900 when he and his family were living at Bad Creek Precinct in Lesle County. Like his two younger brothers (below) and his father, Robert was residing at Upper Red Bird in Clay County by the time of the census in 1920, by which time he was married with a son. Robert Collett was 23, his wife Dora Collett was 19, and their son P L Collett who was two years and two months and named after his grandfather. Staying with the family was servant Mary Jane Brock who was 18. Robert was the owner of a general farm, as were his parents next door, and Robert’s brother Ingram next to them.

Over the following decade Robert and Dora gave birth to four children, and by 1930 the enlarged family was living on Red Bird Road in Clay County. That day Robert Collett ,aged 35, was a general farmer who was 19 when he married Dora Roberts, aged 28, who was 16 on the day of their wedding. The children recorded with the couple were P L Collett who was 12, Boyd Collett who was 10, Pearl Collett who was seven, Matthew Collett who was four, and Margie Collett who was one year old.

During the next ten years Dora presented Robert with a further four children who were still living with the couple of the day of the census in 1940. Head of the household at Red Bird River, Clay County, was Robert L Collett aged 44 and a mail carrier, his wife Dora was 40, and their children were Boyd Collett who was 20, Margorie Collett who was 14, Matthew Collett who was 11, Mabel Collett who was eight, Jewel Collett who was six, Bobbie Collett who was three, and Daisy Collett who was six months old. Still living with the family was the couple’s eldest daughter Pearl, who was married by then, and a mother to her first child.

On that day in 1940, the family was living at #56 Red Bird River with another Collett family living close by at #58 Red Bird River, and that was the family of coalminer Joe (Joseph) Collett (Ref. 43Q84). On the 22^nd April 1942 Robert, as Robert Lee Collett, completed a WW2 Draft Registration Card at Manchester in Clay County. He was 48 and self-employed, living at Roark, Clay County, with his date of birth confirmed as 7^th March 1894, when his wife was Mrs Dora Collett of Roark.

After a further ten years, the family was living in the Blue Hole area of Red Bird River where Robert Collett was 54 and a farmer. Dora was 49 and the four children still living at the family home were Jewell Collett aged 15, Bobbie aged 13, Ruby was 10, and Roasie Collett was six years old. Just over twenty years later, Robert Lee Collett died on 16^th September 1971 at Clay County when he was 77, following which he was buried as Estep Cemetery in Leslie County. It is also established that his widow remarried to become Dora Gray.

43R95

Pleasant Lee Collett

Born in 1917 at Clay County

43R96

Boyd Collett

Born in 1920 at Clay County

43R97

Pearl Mae Collett

Born in 1923 at Clay County

43R98

Matthew Collett

Born in 1926 at Clay County

43R99

Margorie Collett

Born in 1929 at Clay County

43R100

Mabel Collett

Born in 1932 at Clay County

43R101

Jewel Collett

Born in 1934 at Roark, Clay County

43R102

Bobbie Collett

Born in 1937 at Roark, Clay County

43R103

Daisy Collett

Born in 1939 at Roark, Clay County

43Q47

Ingram Collett was born at Asher, Bad Creek, on 12^th April 1897, the son of Pleasant Lee and Rusho J Collett. He was three years old in the Bad Creek census in 1900 when he and his family were residing at Marrowbone. It was just prior to 1920 that Ingram Collett married Sallie Asher at Webster, Clay County, on 12^th March 1919 when the groom was 23, the son of P L Collett and Lottie Reid, and the bride was 22 and the daughter of Joe Asher and Dora Lizenroie. They were both residing in Roark where Ingram was in farming. A year later the census in 1920 included the childless couple as Ingram Collett who was 22 (sic) and a general farmer, and Sallie Collett who was 19 when they were living at #5 in Upper Red Bird in Clay County. Next-door, at #6, was Ingram’s parents, and at #7 was his older brother Robert (above), not far from them was his younger brother Dewie (below).

Ingram Collett died in the Middlesborough Hospital in Bell County on 13^th April 1950, the cause of death being heart failure, at a time in his life when he was living at Barbourville in Knox County. The informant of his passing was Stanley Collett who made an error when he gave his father’s date of birth as 12^th April 1899, confirming the parents of Ingram were P L Collett and Ruth Reid. Three days later he was laid to rest at Barbourville Cemetery.

43R104

Nora Mae Collett

Born in 1921 at Upper Red Bird, Clay County

43R105

Stanley Collett

Born in 1924 at Upper Red Bird, Clay County

43R106

Asher Collett

Born in 1926 at Upper Red Bird, Clay County

43Q49

Dewie Collett was born at Bad Creek in 1900, the son of Pleasant Lee and Rusho J Collett. By the time he was 20, Dewey Collett was living at Clay County, Kentucky in 1920 with his father P L Collett and his mother Lottie Collett. He was still unmarried ten years later in the Bad Creek census in 1930 when he was listed at the family home as Dewie Collett aged 30. Shortly after 1930 he became a married man and his wife presented him with two daughters. However, in the Leslie County census of 1940 Dewie and his two girls were without their mother, when they were living at the home of their grandfather Pleasant Lee Collett. Dewie Collett was 40, while Dorothy Collett was five and Leitha Collett was four.

43R107

Dorothy Collett

Born in 1935 at Leslie County

43R108

Leitha Collett

Born in 1936 at Leslie County

43Q54

Minnie Jane Collett was born in Tennessee on 19^th June 1896 and was the first of the three known children of Farmer Collett and Nancy Redman. After her father died in 1944, Minnie Kirk was the head of the household at 657 South Limestone in Fayette County, Kentucky in 1950. By then she had been married and was a widow at 53, who had no stated occupation but was obviously taking in lodgers, there being three males staying there on that occasion. Recorded with her that day was her widowed mother Nancy Collett who was 75, and her younger brother Tommy (below). As Minnie Jane Collett Kirk, she died at Pineville in Bell County on 13^th June 1988, just six days before her 92^nd birthday, and was buried with her brothers at Pineville Cemetery.

43Q55

Edgar Robert Collett was born on 18^th June 1898 at Middlesboro, Bell County in Kentucky, the second child and eldest son of Farmer Collett and Nancy Redman. By the time he was two years of age, the family was living at Sims Fork Straight Creek Precinct. He was 63 when he died in Pineville Hospital, Bell County after an accident on 31^st October 1961, following which he was buried in Pineville Cemetery on 2^nd November 1961. Once again, he was confirmed as the son of Farmer Collett and Nancy Redmond, when the cause of death was the result of acute bromide poisoning. He had never married and lived his whole life in Bell County, when he worked as a barber.

The WW1 Draft Registration Card for Edgar R Collett which was completed on 12^th September 1918 and stated he was 20 years of age and living at Pineville, his date of birth being 18^th June 1898, and his father being F Collett. The later Draft Card for WW2 confirmed the same date of birth for Robert Edgar Collett and was completed at Pineville on 16^th February 1942, by which time he was not working and was residing in Dorton Branch, near Pineville, Bell County. It was also at Dorton Branch that members of his extended Collett family were living in 1930 and 1940.

43Q56

Thomas Lee Collett, who was known as Tommy Collett, was born at Straight Creek in Bell County on 29^th April 1904, the last child of Farmer Collett and Nancy Redman. He was still living with his parents in 1920 and still at Straight Creek, when Tommie was 15 and coal miner, as was his father. His WW2 Draft Registration Card completed on 16^th February 1942 at Pineville provided his full name as Tommy Lee Collett, his age as 37, his date of birth as above, and his address as 214 Second Street in Pineville, from where he was employed as a purchasing agent for the Bell Company. The name and address of someone who would know his whereabout was Millard Johnson of 710 Tennessee Avenue, Pineville.

During the next eight years Tommy was married and divorced, as confirmed in the census of 1950, when he was living with his widowed mother Nancy, at the home of his sister Minnie Kirk nee Collett (above). That was at 657 South Limestone, Fayette County in Kentucky where Tommy Collett was 45 and a barber at a nearby barber shop, as was his older brother Edgar (above). Thomas Lee Collett “Tommy” died on 26^th January 1978 and was buried at Pineville Cemetery.

43Q57

Edward Collett was born at Bell County on 13^th June 1904 and was the first-born child of Thomas Joel Collett and Maggie Redman, sometimes written/recorded as Redmond. Edward was 32 and a clerk when he married Edna Jump aged 25 at Newport in Campbell County, Kentucky on 8^th August 1936. He was the son of Thomas and Maggie Collett, and she was the daughter of Louis and Julia Jump. Shortly after the wedding, the couple moved to Cincinnati, Hamilton County in Ohio where Edna had been born and, where she gave birth to three children. On the day of the census in 1940 the family was residing at 1711 Elm Street in Cincinnati where Edward was 35 and a machinist with his own business, Edna was 29, Edward junior was three, and Shirley Ann was one year old.

By 1950 the couple was still living in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, with their three Ohio born children. Edward senior was 45 and employed as a (security) guard at a milling machine factory, when Edna was 39 and also born in Ohio. The children were Edward Collett junior who was 13, Shirley Ann Collett who was 11, and Donald Collett who was eight years old. Later on, Edward was 78 years old and living in Montgomery, Hamilton County, Ohio, when he died on 10^th February 1983 and was buried at Vine Street Hill Cemetery.

Edward Collett Junior, aka Edward Joseph Collett, was born on 5^th February 1937 in Cincinnati and died on 26^th July 2005 in hospital in Ohio, when his home address was 611 Sanoma Valley Court, Crestview Hills, Cincinnati. He was 68 and a widower, and was buried Erlanger in Kenton County, Kentucky, with his obituary published by the Kentucky Post at Covington.

Daughter Shirley Ann Collett was born on 12^th February 1939 in Cincinnati and, in the summer of 1964, she was Shirley Ann Arcolino. Twenty-four years later, as simply Shirley Ann Collett aged 49, she suffered a premature death on 27^th April 1988, requiring an autopsy, and was buried at Vine Street Hill Cemetery in Cincinnati. Prior to the sad event, she was divorced and worked as a radiologic technician in a hospital.

Youngest son Donald James Collett was born at Cincinnati on 9^th September 1941 and died there on 25^th April 1988, two days before his sister Shirley. He was 46 and a driver of heavy trucks, residing at North College Hill in Cincinnati.

43R109

Edward Joseph Collett junior

Born in 1937 at Cincinnati, Hamilton, Ohio

43R110

Shirley Ann Collett

Born in 1939 at Cincinnati, Hamilton, Ohio

43R111

Donald James Collett

Born in 1941 at Cincinnati, Hamilton, Ohio

43Q58

Fannie Collett was born at Middlesboro in Bell County on 26^th February 1906, the eldest daughter ad second child of Thomas and Maggie Collett. By the time she was 14, Fannie and her family were living at Straight Creek in Belly County. Sometime after that day in 1920 and, on being married for the first time, she became Fannie Johnson. Much later, on 2^nd September 1949, Fannie Johnson married (2) John F Brooks at Wayne County in Indiana, and it was their application to be married that revealed Fannie’s date and place of birth, a housekeeper residing in Cincinnati, Ohio. John was also living in Cincinnati, where he was working as a car cleaner. Their marriage recorded confirmed that Fannie had been married once and was divorced in November 1945. Her parents were also confirmed as Tom Collett of Knox County, Tennessee (deceased), and Maggie Redmond of Knox County, Tennessee.

43Q59

Robert Collett was born at Middlesboro in Bell County on 9^th June 1908, another son of Tom and Maggie Collett. It was on 1^st March 1930 when Robert, the son of Tom, married Dorothy Wilson the daughter of Claude and Mary Wilson at Pineville in Bell County. They were both single, with Robert aged 22 and working in the mining industry, who was born at Dorton Branch near Pineville, and Dorothy aged 16 and born at Cary in Bell County, to the north of Pineville.

Just over one month later the young couple was living immediately adjacent to Robert’s family at Dorton Branch, when he was 21 and a miner, and his bride was 16. By 1935 Robert and Dorothy were living at Coxton in Harlan County, with Dorothy having given birth to their first two children, with two more born before the end of that decade. The 1940 census for Coxton listed the family at New Camp, Brookside, when Robert was recorded as Bob Collett aged 31 and a miner at the coal mine. Dorothy was 26, and their four sons were Bobby Collett junior who was seven, Billy Collett who was five, Lindsay Collett who was three, and Phillip Collett who was one year old.

It was at Harlan, on 16^th October 1940 that Robert (as Bob) completed the WW2 Draft Registration Card, which included the following details. He was 32, place and date of birth (as above), living at Brookside and employed by the Harlan Collieries Company at Brookside. The person named as someone who would always know his address was Maggie Collett, his mother, residing in Pineville, Bell County.

One more son was added to their family, who was recorded with them in 1950, although by then son Billy was absent. Bob was still a miner at the age of 41, Dorothy was 36, Bobby junior was 17, Linza (previously Lindsay) was 13, Phillip was 11, and Claude Wayne was six years old. By the end of 1989, Robert was still residing in Brookside, and six years later the death of Bob Collett was recorded at Harlan County on 21^st July 1996 when he was 88.

The marriage of Bob Collett junior and June Louise McKamey took place at Jonesville, Lee County in Virginia on 6^th June 1955, when he was 22 and his parents were Bob Collett and Dorothy Wilson, and she was 19 whose parents were Robert McKamey and Grace Childs.

The second son of Bob and Dorothy Collett, Bill Edward Collett was born on 4^th October 1934 at Brookside where he was still living with his family in March 1951 when an application was made to the Social Program, which later confirmed the died that he died was 12^th August 2002, the son of Bob Collett and Dorothy Wilson.

The marriage of Linza Ray Collett and Robbie Ellis took place at Jonesville, Lee County in Virginia on 4^th February 1956. The wedding record stated the groom was 19, a factory worker of Brookside, and the son of Bob Collett and Dorothy Wilson, with the bride being 18 and the daughter of Charlie Ellis and Nettie Miracle, also of Brookside.

43R112

Bob Collett junior

Born in 1933 at Coxton, Harlan County

43R113

Bill Edward Collett

Born in 1934 at Coxton, Harlan County

43R114

Linza Ray Collett

Born in 1937 at Coxton, Harlan County

43R115

Phillip Collett

Born in 1939 at Coxton, Harlan County

43R116

Claude Wayne Collett

Born in 1944 at Coxton, Harlan County

43Q61

Clarence Collett was born at Pineville in Bell County on 7^th April 1913 and, by the time he was 17 in 1930, he and his large family were living in Dorton Branch where Clarence was working as a miner. Seven years after that day the marriage of Clarence Collett aged 23 and Bessie Depew aged 16, took place at Harlan in Harlan County on 26^th February 1937. Once again, the groom’s parents were recorded as Tom and Maggie Collett, with the bride’s parents named as Thomas and Martie Depew.

The WW2 Draft Registration Card for Clarence Collett was completed at Harlan on 16^th October 1940, when his home address was 1821 Liberty Street, Cincinnati, Ohio. That day he was 27 and employed by the Nocum Creek Coal Company at Evarts in Harlan County. His date of birth was confirmed as stated above, while the person named as someone who would always know his address was his wife Mrs Bessie Depew Collett of Brookside, Harlan County.

Ten years later, Clarence and Bessie were listed with their family in the 1950 census for Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, at 18 West Liberty Street, the home of his widowed mother Maggie Collett aged 64, who still had living with her three of Clarence’s younger unmarried brother, Albert, William, and Ernest who was divorced. Clarence was 37 and a cut-saw operator at a local wood sawmill, Bessie was 27, when the couple’s three eldest children had been born in Kentucky before the family moved to Ohio, where their two youngest had been born. They were daughters Eunice A Collett aged eleven, Magil F Collett aged ten, and Loretta F Collett who was nine, and sons Thomas J Collett who was six, and Darrell Collett who was one year old. It is highly likely that Thomas was named in honour of his grandfather Thomas Joel Collett.

At the time of his death, at the age of 70, Clarence Collett was residing at Boone, Kentucky, when he passed away on 30^th April 1983, after which he was buried at Floral Hills Memorial Gardens in Taylor Mill, Kenton County, Kentucky. His wife Bessie had been born on 9^th October 1921 and was 88 years of age when she died on 5^th April 2020 at Edgewood, Douglas County, Nevada. Curiously, publication of her obituary was delayed until 6^th August 2020 and released in Covington, Kenton County, Kentucky.

The details therein were as follows: Bessie Depew Collett, 88, died Monday, April 5, at Hospice of St. Elizabeth Healthcare, Edgewood. She was a homemaker and member of Boone County Senior Center. Her husband, Clarence Collett; daughter Loretta Hutchinson; and son Thomas Collett, died previously. Survivors include her daughters, Eunice Fletcher of Owensboro, Magiel Heinrich of Independence, Sharon Smith of Cincinnati, Linda Woods of Latonia, and Sandy King of Cleves, Ohio; son, Darrell Collett of Independence; brothers, Thomas Depew Jr. of Camden, Ohio and Henry Depew of Fairfield, Ohio; 16 grandchildren; 34 great-grandchildren and 14 great-great-grandchildren.

43R117

Eunice A Collett – Eunice Fletcher

Born in 1939 at Coxton, Harlan County

43R118

Magiel F Collett – Magiel Heinrich

Born in 1940 at Coxton, Harlan County

43R119

Loretta F Collett – Loretta Hutchinson

Born in 1942 at Coxton, Harlan County

43R120

Thomas Joel Collett

Born in 1944 at Cincinnati, Ohio

43R121

Darrell Collett

Born in 1949 at Cincinnati, Ohio

43R122

Linda Collett – Linda Woods

Born after 1950 at Cincinnati, Ohio

43R123

Sandy Collett - Sandy King

Born after 1950 at Cincinnati, Ohio

43Q62

Nancy Marie Collett was born at Pineville in Bell County on 12^th October 1915 who, as Nannie Collett was nearly five years old in the Straight Creek census of 1920 and was 14 in the Dorton Branch census in 1930. It was later that she married Charles F Walsh and, upon her death at Park Ridge, Maine Township, Cook County in Illinois on 31^st July 1978, Marie Collett Walsh, the daughter of Thomas Collett and Maggie Redmond was confirmed as the former wife of Charles F Walsh. After her body was transported back to Ohio, it was laid to rest on 4^th August 1978 in Vine Street Hill Cemetery in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio.

43Q63

Albert Collett was born on 26^th February 1918 at Pineville in Bell County and was three years of age in the Straight Creek census of 1920 and was 12 years old in the Dorton Branch, Four Mile and Lone Jack, census in 1930. Just as with his older brothers, the WW2 Draft Registration Card for Clarence was completed at Harlan on 16^th October 1940. This confirmed his date and place of birth, as above, and that he was residing at 1711 Elm Street in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, care off Edward Collett, when his mother was Maggie Collett on Pineville, and when he was an employee of the Harlan Collieries Company of Brookside Kentucky, as was his brother Bob Collett (above) whose Draft Card was also completed at Harlan that same day.

After his father Thomas Joel Collett died in 1947, Albert continued to live with his widowed mother Maggie Redman Collett at 18 West Liberty Street in Cincinnati, when he was 32 a repairer of furniture for a furniture company in 1950. He never married and thirty-six years later, at the age of 68, he died on 11^th January 1986 in Harlan County, but was buried in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the Vine Street Hill Cemetery with his oldest brother Edward (1983) and his older sister Marie Collett Walsh (1978).

43Q64

William Paul Collett was born on 11^th February 1920 or 1921 at Pineville in Bell County, and was another son of Thomas and Maggie Collett. When he was 17, he or parents on his behalf, made an application for Paul Collett to the Social Program in October 1937. He may never have married as indicated when he enlisted in the US Army at Cincinnati on 7^th August 1942 and, three years after the death of his father, when he was still living in the family home at 18 West Liberty Street in Cincinnati in 1950. In the first of those records, he was William P Collett a 21-year-old semi-skilled mechanic and repairman, and in the second he was William P Collett aged 30 who was working as a clean-up man at a café, where his brother Ernest (below) was a bartender.

Around 1990 he moved from Cincinnati, Ohio, back to Kentucky. William P Collett died on 14^th August 1994, just prior to which he had been living at 735 Johnson Road in London, Laurel County, which was possibly where he passed away at the age of 74. It was at that time his date of birth was recorded as 11^th February 1921, whereas it was his birth and the Social Program documents that gave it to be one year early.

43Q65

Ernest Collett was born at Pineville in Bell County on 7^th March 1923, the ninth child of Thomas and Maggie Collett. In 1940 he was 17 and a new worker on a farm, when he was still living with his family at His life is still a mystery, since it is established that he was married and divorced prior to 1950. In the census that year, Ernest was divorced after his failed marriage, when he was once again back home with his widowed mother at 18 West Liberty Street, Cincinnati in Hamilton County, Ohio. That day he was 27 and working in a local café as a bartender, where his brother William (above) was the clean-up man. After that, all we know is that he was 83 when he died on 21^st September 2006, which may have happened at 2267 Pompano Avenue, Reading in Hamilton County. However, the death certificate named his mother as Margaret Brown, the same name used at the birth of Ernest’s sister Maurine Coll (below).

43Q66

Maurine G Collett was born on 8^th July 1924 at Pineville, Bell County, another daughter of Tom and Maggie Collett. Rather curiously, at her birth her mother was referred to as Margaret Brown, the same name use upon the death of her brother Ernest (above). Upon being married to Carl A Nikirk at Newport, Campbell County in Kentucky, on 14^th December 1946, Maurine Collett was described as 21 and born at Pineville, the daughter of Thomas and Margaret Collett. Carl was 25 and the son of R S and Nellie Nikirk.

By the day of the census in 1950 they had two children, with a third child to be born six months later that same year. Their home was on Cumberland Avenue in Middlesboro, Bell County, where Carl from Virginia was 27, Maurine was 24, daughter Patricia Nikirk was two, and son Michael Nikirk was one year old. Their third child was Deidra G Nikirk who was born at Middlesboro on 4^th October 1950.

43Q67

Mable J Collett was born on 3^rd September 1927 at Bell County another child of Tom and Maggie Collett. Her name was more often spelt as Mable, but it was as Mabel Collett that she was two years of age in the census of 1930 for Dorton Branch in Four Miles and Lone Jack, just south of Pineville where her older siblings were born. In 1940 she was Mable aged 12, the last occasion when she was with her family at Dorton Branch, and was not living with her parents at 18 West Liberty Street in Cincinnati, Ohio, when he father died in 1947, nor later at the same address where her widowed mother was still living in 1950.

On that day in 1950 Mable J Collett was 22 and living in a dormitory at the Pacific Bible College at Portland in Oregon, where she had an income from undertaking housework for a private family. No obvious record for her has been found after that time.

43Q68

Betty Jane Collett was the last child of Thomas Joel Collett and Maggie Redman and was born on 18^th November 1929 at Pineville in Bell County. As Betty Jane she was four months of age in the Dorton Branch census of 1930 and was 10 years old in the Dorton Branch census of 1940. Eight years later, on 4^th June 1948 at Marshall, Indiana, Betty Jane Collett married Ballard G Parsons. He was born at Elkhorn, Kentucky on 3^rd February 1928, the son of James F Parson and Fannie Chappel, who was residing at Plymouth in Indiana, as was his bride, whose parents were confirmed as Thomas Collett and Margaret Redmond.

Ballard Greer Parsons was living at Whitestown, Boone County in Indiana when he died on 5^th August 2015 at the age of 87, when he was buried at the Lincoln Memory Gardens in Whitestown.

43Q69

George William Collett was born in Kentucky on 17^th September 1873, the first child of John W Collett and his older wife Rebecca Jane Whitehead. It was at Leslie County that he was living with his family in 1880 when George W Collett was six years of age. In 1893 George married Elizabeth Chappel of Bad Creek in Leslie County where the couple was living at Marrowbone when the census was conducted in 1900. George was 26 and a farmer who had been married to Elizabeth for seven years. His wife, Lizzie Beth Collett was 24 and had given birth to four children, all still living. They were Emily Collett who was six, Bertha Collett who was four, Shelby Collett who was three, and Wilson Collett who was four months old. It was also at Bad Creek that George’s parents were still living in 1900, together with his youngest brother Elias Collett.

Four more children were added to the family during the next decade but sadly by the time of the Bad Creek census in 1910 two of the couple’s eight children had died. The surname was recorded as Collette, with farmer George being 36 and married to Elizabeth for sixteen years. She was 33, while their surviving six children were listed as Emily who was 15, Bertha who was 13, son Shelby who was 11, Sarah Jane who was six, Birchell who was four and Reuben who was thirteen months old.

The US Army draft record completed on 12^th September 1918 described him in the following way. George Collett, serial number 296, had blue eyes, dark hair, was tall and of medium build. He was 44 years old and a resident of Roark in Leslie County where he was farming. His nearest living relative was Elizabeth Collett of Roark, who was most likely his wife, while the name of his employer was George Collett, perhaps indicating he was self-employed. The form was signed by the registrar McKinley Asher.

Less than two years later the census in 1920 listed the family still living at Bad Creek as farmer George aged 46 who owned the property in which they were living, his wife Lizzie B who was 45, Shelby who was 21, Sarah J who was 15, Bertchel who was 12, Reuben who was nine, Charley who was six, and Mary who was four. A few dwellings from the family home that day was the home of tenant farmer James Collett and his wife and daughter, their details recorded in the new Part 43 – Other Colletts of Kentucky.

After a further ten years George and his reduced family was still residing in Bad Creek at Bowens Creek Road, although their ages were at variants to the ages stated ten years earlier in 1920. George Collett was 60 and still managing the farm, his wife Betsey Collett was 56, unmarried son Shelby Collett was 34, Reuben Collett was 23, Charlie Collett was 18 and Mary was 15. The two younger sons were both labourers and unemployed Shelby was suffering with bad health. Once again, the census return confirmed that George had been first married at the age of twenty-one, while in the case of his wife it was seventeen.

During the following years George was widowed by the death of Elizabeth, after which he married Martha. According to the Bad Creek census in 1940, farmer George was 66 and still living on #116 Bowens Creek Road, Martha was 65, Shelby Collett was 42, and Mary Collett was 25. Living next door was George’s married son Reuben Collett who had living with him his wife Mary and their first four children. Another family living on Bowens Creek Road at #112 was that of Wiley Collett (Ref. 43Q15) and his wife Chloe, and their eight children, and at #110 was their eldest son Woodard Collett (Ref. 43R38).

George William Collett died on 27^th March 1948 at Essie in Leslie County, Kentucky, and was buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery.

43R124

Emily Collett

Born in 1894 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R125

Bertha Collett

Born in 1896 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R126

Shelby Collett – died in 1969

Born in 1897 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R127

Wilson Collett – infant death

Born in 1900 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R128

a Collett child – infant death

Born in 1902 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R129

Sarah Jane Collett

Born in 1904 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R130

Birchell Collett

Born in 1906 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R131

Reuben Collett

Born in 1909 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R132

Charley Collett

Born in 1914 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R133

Mary Collett

Born in 1916 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43Q70

Joseph Collett was born at Kentucky in 1876 and was four years old in the Leslie County in 1880. He was around eighteen years old when he married Dorcas (aka Dorkus) with whom he had one child, who sadly did not survive. That situation was confirmed in the Bad Creek census of 1910 when two of the four known sons of John Collett and Rebecca Jane Whitehead were living and farming on land immediately adjacent to their parents. They were Elias (below) right next door to his parents, with brother Joseph next door to him. Joseph Collett was 34, a general farmer having his own account who had been married for 16 years, during which time his wife Dorkus Collett aged 38, was confirmed as having given birth to just one child, no longer alive.

In 1926 Arthur Collett (Ref. 43Q22) died leaving his wife with six young children, one of the youngest of which was two-year-old Clarence Collett (Ref. 43R67), who was taken in by Joseph and Dorkus. That situation was confirmed in the Bad Creek census of 1930 when Joe Collett was 54 and a general farmer, Dorkus Collett was 58, and Clarence Collett was six years of age, living at 63 Middle Four Road. Clarence was described as a third cousin.

43Q72

Elias Collett ($) was born in Kentucky, at Leslie County on 2^nd January 1880, the fourth and last son of John W Collett and Rebecca Jane Whitehead. He was just five months old in the June census of Leslie County that year after which no record of him has been found until, 1910 when he was still living in Leslie County, at Bad Creek, and married for ten years. The census that year revealed that Elias was married to Carla Howard who already had a daughter from a previous marriage. Elias Collett was 30 and a general farmer with his own account, his wife Carla Collett was 34 and had given birth to a total of four children, one of whom had already died. Elias’ stepdaughter was Martha Ann Collett aged 15, and the couple’s two children were named as Elmer Collett who was four, and John Collett junior who was two years of age. Living on either side of the family were two other parts Elias’ Collett family, but whose surname was recorded as Collette. They were his parents John and Jane Collette, and his older brother Joseph Collette (above) with his wife Dorkus Collette, both general farmers having their own account.

According to the next census in 1920 the family was living on Bowens Creek Road in Bad Creek Precinct, Leslie County, where Elias aged 39 was general farmer and a renter on the property. Carla Collett was 43 and her daughter Martha Ann had left the home by then. Her place in the house had been filled by a third child for Elias and Carla. Elmer Collett was 14 and helping his father on their farm, as was John Collett who was 12, while the newest addition to the family was daughter Della Collett who was nine years of age. Still living and working their farm next door was Elias’ parents John W Collett aged 66 and Jane Collett who was 76. Further along Bowens Creek Road were two more Collett families, living adjacent to one another. They were the family of Manford Collett (below), and Leander Morton Collett (Ref. 43Q29).

In the 1930 census for Bowens Creek Road in Bad Creek, three members of this family were recorded in three adjacent farms. Carla Collett (as Carty) was 55 who was married to the absent Elias when she was 25, a farmer, who had widower John W Collett (Ref. 43P45) aged 74 living with her who was described as brother, when he was her father-in-law. Carla was residing at #74 Bowens Creek Road that year, when at #73 was son Elmer with his family, and at #75 was son John C Collett with his wife and their first child. By the day of the next census in 1940, the couple’s son John L Collett was a married man living in the adjacent property on Bowens Creek Road, when Elias Collett was 60 and a farmer, and curiously his wife of the correct age was named as Elizabeth Collett aged 64.

The US Army draft record completed on 27^th April 1942 described him in the following way. Elias Collett of Essie Town in Leslie County was 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighing 180 pounds, with black eyes, a fair complexion and grey hair. He had been born in Leslie County and was 62 and farming at home. His next-of-kin was named as Carly Collett, also residing at Essie, his wife. The draft form for the Medical Board at Hyden was signed by registrar John L Collett. The earlier draft record for 1917-1918 confirmed his date of birth and also stated he was born at Roark. The death of Carly Howard, nee Collett, on 1^st December 1947 happened at Essie in Leslie County. The death certificate confirmed she was the daughter of Johnie W Howard and Linda Pennington, and the wife of 68-year-old Elias Collett. She was 71 years old and had been born at Leslie on 24^th August 1876. Sometimes, she was recorded at Carty.

Not long after being widowed, Elias Collett died at home in Essie, Leslie County on 13^th February 1948 at the age of 68 and was buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery, the son of John W Collett and (Rebecca) Jane Whitehead, while the informant of his passing was recorded by his son John L Collett. Could he be the same John L Collett, the Medical Board registrar in 1942. Recorded in official US Social Documents dated May 1937, his date of birth was confirmed as given above, with his birthplace recorded as Stinnett in Leslie County, a son of John W Collett and Rebecca Jane Whitehead.

43R134

Elmer Collett

Born in 1905 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R135

John L Collett ($)

Born in 1907 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R136

Della Collett

Born in 1911 at Bad Creek, Leslie Cty

43Q73

Manford Collett was born at Leslie County in Kentucky on 12^th December 1877 and was two years old in the Leslie County census of 1880 when he was living there with his parents William Collett and Alice Elizabeth Caldwell and his younger baby sister Lucy. In 1892, with Alice still his wife, his father took a second much young wife. Six years later, in 1898, Manford Collett married Nancy (Nanie) Sizemore as confirmed by the Leslie County census in 1910 which stated the couple had been married for twelve years. On that census day he, his wife, and their children, were residing at Bad Creek Precinct next-door to James Collette senior – see Part 43 Other Colletts of Kentucky. Manford Collett was 38 and a farmer, his wife Nannie Collett was 28, Judie Collett was 11, Ruth Collett was eight, James F Collett was six, and Lucy was three years of age. Staying with the family was Manford’s younger brother Samuel Collett who was 15 and a labourer on the farm. Curiously he was not living with Manford’s family in 1900 when Samuel would have been five years old.

Further children were added to Manford’s family between 1910 and 1920 which was living at Bowens Creek Road in Bad Creek Precinct, Leslie County, on the census day in 1920. Manford Collett was 42 and a general farmer with his own account, Nancy Collett was 38, James F Collett was 15 and a farm labourer, as was Lucy Collett who was 12. The couple’s younger children were daughter Cornella Collett who was nine, William Collett who was eight, son Billie Collett who was three and a half, and son Berry Collett who was sixteen months old. Living next door that year was Leander Morton Collett (Ref. 43Q29) (as L M Collett) with his wife and their daughter.

On the day the census was conducted at Bad Creek in 1930, farmer Manford Collett was 53 and residing on Jacks Creek Road with his family. Nanie Collett was 48, son Billie Collett was 14, son Berry Collett was 11, Mary Collett was nine and Ruth Collett was six years of age. The census form also stated that Manford was nineteen years old when he married, while Nancy was 15. The adjacent home that year was occupied by farmer Charlie Collett and his young family, and their details are provided in the new Part 43 – Other Colletts of Kentucky.

According to the census in 1940 all their children had left the family home which, that year, was at Little Creek in Clay County. Manford Collett was 62 and Nanie Collett was 57 and the farm where they were living was rented by them, not owned by them. Two years later, on 27^th April 1942, a US Army draft registration form was completed for Manford which included the following details. He was 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighed 140 pounds, with brown eyes, black hair, and a dark complexion. He was 64 years of age and his place of residence was Roark in Leslie County where Nanie was still living with him. It seems he lived his whole life in Leslie County, since it was there that his death was recorded just over twenty years later, on 23^rd February 1963 at the age of 85.

There is a very sad story involving Manford’s youngest son Berry Collett. Just prior to being twenty years of age he married Opha Cox, but tragically, only two months and three weeks after his twenty-first birthday he died at Red Bird Hospital in Beverly, Bell County on 12^th November 1939. The death certificate confirmed his date of birth as 21^st August 1918, the name of his spouse, together with the names of his parents, Manford Collett and Nannie Sizemore. At that time in their young life, Berry and Opha were living in Roark, Leslie County, where Berry was a farmer, and farm owner. The informant of his death was his father Manford Collett.

The cause of death was a “gunshot wound – homicidal”, and a contributory fact, but not related to the principal cause, was acute alcoholism. The certificate included a brief report of the incident, as follows; “Date of injury 11^th November 1939 at home in Roark, during a drunken brawl, when he received a bullet through the chest, and another through the abdomen”.

His older brother Willie Collett was born on 10^th January 1916 and he died on 24^th November 1985 at Jackson County, Kentucky, when he was 69. His younger sister Mary was born at Asher on 3^rd April 1921 and died at Bond, Jackson County in Kentucky on 11^th February 1981 as Mary Emily Collett Roark, when she was buried at Fee Cemetery in New Zion, Jackson County.

The eldest child of Manford Collett and Nannie Sizemore, has been more difficult to trace, mainly because her name was interpreted as Judie/Judy Collett, for whom not entry has been found. Now it is known she was actually Sudie/Suda Collett who was born in Leslie County on 10^th March 1899. Upon her passing on 18^th January 1987, she was buried in the Fee Cemetery in Zion, Jackson County, with her sister Mary, when she was recorded as Suda Collett Fee.

43R137

Sudie Collett

Born in 1899 at Leslie County

43R138

Ruth Collett

Born in 1902 at Leslie County

43R139

James Farmer Collett

Born in 1904 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R140

Lucy Collett

Born in 1907 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R141

Cornella Collett

Born in 1911 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R142

Willie Collett

Born in 1916 at Roark, Leslie County

43R143

Billie Collett

Born in 1917 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R144

Berry Collett

Born in 1918 at Roark, Leslie County

43R145

Mary Collett

Born in 1921 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R146

Ruth Collett

Born in 1924 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43Q74

Lucy Farmer Collett was born at Leslie County on 7^th February 1880, although an alternative source suggests she was born just south-west of Leslie County at adjoining Bell County. She was the second child of William and Alice Collett, and was four months old in the in the Leslie County in June 1880, raising yet another county where she may have been born. So far, the census for 1900 has not been located, by which time Lucy had a husband and had already given birth to the couple’s first two children.

Lucy F Collett was fifteen years of age when she married Farmer Roark with whom she had five children, all living, in the census of 1910. That day, in addition to the seven members of the Roark family, staying with them was Lucy’s younger brother Willie Collett who was 18. Head of the household Farmer Roark was 34 and a general farmer, Lucy was 30, Hobart Roark was 12, Charley L Roark was 10, Martha E Roark was seven, Fannie was four, and Mallie Roark had only been born and was under one month old. At that time in his life Farmer’s brother-in-law Willie was probably helping his on the farm. Three more children were added to the family during the next decade at Lesley County, and they were Luella Roark born on 23^rd October 1913, Annie L Roark born on 6^th October 1916, and Davis Roark who was born on 14^th June 1920.

In March 1939, Social Program Application correspondence referred to her as Lucy Collett Roark born on 7^th February 1800, also known as Lucy Farmer Roark, the daughter of Billie Collett and Alice E Caldwell. Three years later the marriage of widow Lucy Collett Roark, aged 62 and living at Brookside in Leslie County, and widower (2) Lawrence L Blankenship, aged 65 and a farmer and a stonemason, took place at Harlan County in Kentucky on 23^rd May 1942, when her parents were confirmed as Billy Collett, deceased, and Alice Caldwell, while the groom’s parents were Thomas Blankenship, deceased, and Lucetta Mace. They were only married for just less than seven years, when Lucy Farmer Collett died at Nicholas County in West Virginia on 2^nd May 1949 aged 69.

43Q75

James Farmer Asher Collett was born at Roark in Leslie County on 19^th May 1882 another son of William and Alice Collett. As simply Farmer Collett he was 18 years old in the census of 1900 when he was a farm labourer, mostly working on his father’s farm. During 1903 Farmer married Rosa Lee and by 1910, when the couple was living at Bloomington Precinct No.5 in Magoffin County, Kentucky, they already had three children. Head of the household F C, was 25 and a general farmer, Rosa Lee was 23, Maggie Collett was five, Alice Collett was three, and Herman Collett was one year old. The census return confirmed the couple had been married for seven years, during which time Rosa Lee had given birth to three children.

During 1916 Rosa Lee gave birth to a still-born son described at Jefferson County as Freeling Stillbirth Collett. The US Draft Registration document in 1918 confirmed Farmer’s date of birth as detailed above, when he was 36 and residing at Redway, Magoffin County, with the second page stating that he had a broken collar bone. By 1920 the family was still living at Bloomington Precinct No.5 in Magoffin County. Again, as just Farmer Collett, he was 37 and a general farmer. His wife Rosa Lee was 33, daughters Maggie and Alice were 15 and 13, and sons Herman, Bee, and Allen, were ten, six, and twenty-five months.

It was at visitation #167 Long Branch in Salyersville, within the Magisterial District No. 1 of Magoffin County, that the couple was recorded in 1940. At that time in their life, J F Collett was 58 and still farming, when Rosalie was 54. Living with them that day, were four of their children, plus a grandchild. Eldest child Maggie Brock was 35 and a widow from Knox County in Kentucky, and with her was her one-year-old daughter Jean Fay Brock. Completing the household were sons Allen Collett aged 22, and Millard Collett who was 15, and daughter Ella Collett who was 12 years old.

Also living at Long Branch in 1940 were three other Collett families at #168, #169, and #170. The first of them at #168 was Willie Collett and his family whose details can be found in the new Part 43 – Other Colletts of Kentucky. Next door to them at #169 was James’ eldest son Herman Collett with his family, while at #170 was the family of farmer Willie M Collett (Ref. 43Q81).

Two years later the US Draft for the Second World War dated 27^th April 1942 included James Farmer Collett aged 59 and born at Roark on the date above, who was residing at Gifford in Magoffin County, whose wife was Rosa Lee Collett. Twenty-two years later, James Farmer Asher Collett died while residing in Morgan County, Kentucky on 20^th March 1964, after which he was buried at Ollie May Cemetery, Salyersville in Magoffin County.

43R147

Maggie Collett

Born in 1904 at Bloomington, Magoffin County

43R148

Alice Collett

Born in 1907 at Bloomington, Magoffin County

43R149

Herman Collett

Born in 1910 at Bloomington, Magoffin County

43R150

Bee Collett

Born in 1914 at Bloomington, Magoffin County

43R151

Allen Collett

Born in 1918 at Bloomington, Magoffin County

43R152

Millard Collett

Born in 1925 at Gifford, Magoffin County

43R153

Ella Collett

Born in 1928 at Gifford, Magoffin County

43Q76

JOHN COLLETT was born at Clay County in Kentucky during May 1884, another son of William Collett and Alice Elizabeth Caldwell, who may have been born at Otter Creek. John was eight years of age when his father took a second younger wife, and it was with his father and his stepmother Catharine that sixteen-year-old John was one of seven children living with them at Otter Creek in 1900. A further seven siblings/half siblings were recorded with John’s mother Alice at nearby Bad Creek. It was four years after that when John married Dora Smith on 20^th March 1904 at Otter Creek in Clay County, Kentucky when John was 21 and Dora was only 14. According to census in 1910 the family of John Collett, aged 30, was still residing at Otter Creek in Clay County, where his wife Dora Collett was 25, and their daughters were named as Elsie (Elzie) Collett who was four and Bertha Collett who was two years old. It is established that at least three further children were born into the family during the next decade, as confirmed by the next census in 1920. On that occasion the family was living at Manchester in Clay County when John Collett was 39, Dora Collett was 32, and their children were Elsie (Elzie) Collett who was 16, Bertha Collett who was 12, Elbert Collett who was nine, Cordelia Collett who was seven, and Burchell Collett who was four years of age. Every member of the household had been born in Kentucky.

Just two more children were added to the family, one just before and one just after 1830. By the time of the census that year the family was still living in Clay County, but in District 8, when it comprised John Collett who was said he was 53 instead of 49, Dora Collett who said she was 40 instead of 42, Elbert Collett who was 21, Cordelia Collett who was 18, Burchell Collett who was 14 and most recent arrival Norma Collett who was just two years old. It was within the Magisterial District 2 in Bell County, Kentucky, that the family was living in 1940. Head of the household John Collett was 68 (who surely should have been nearer 58), his wife Dora Collett was 51 (which more or less corresponds with her age in the two previous census returns). Still with the couple were their two youngest daughters Norma Collett who was 12, and Opal Collett who was eight. Completing the household was their married son Burchell Collett and his wife Della and their two children.

43R154

Elsie Collett

Born in 1905 at Otter Creek, Clay County

43R155

Bertha Collett

Born in 1908 at Otter Creek, Clay County

43R156

Elbert Collett

Born in 1911 at Otter Creek, Clay County

43R157

Cordelia Collett

Born in 1913 at Clay County, Kentucky

43R158

BURCHELL COLLETT

Born in 1915 at Clay County, Kentucky

43R159

Norma Collett

Born in 1918 at Clay County, Kentucky

43R160

Opal Collett

Born in 1922 at Clay County, Kentucky

43Q77

Nathaniel Collett was born at Clay County in March 1886 and in 1900 and 1910 he was still living with his family at Otter Creek at the age of 14 and 23 when he was recorded as Nathan, a son of William and Alice Collett on whose farm he was working. By that time in his life, he had been married for two years, his wife being Mary Collett who was 18 years old. It was two years earlier that the wedding of Nathan Collett and Mary Slusher was conducted on 13^th August 1908. In 1920 the family of Nathan and Mary were recorded at Banner Fork Precinct No. 6 in Harlan County, by which time Mary had given birth to three children. Nathan was 34 and a coalminer with the Banner Fork Coal Company, when his was Mary was 31. Martha J Collett was nine, Mack Collett was five, and Axie Collett was four years and one month old.

It was in the coal mining community at Frozen, within Magisterial District 2 of Harlan County, just east of Banner Fork, that the family was residing in 1930. Coal-loader Nathan Collett, aged 45, was still in rented accommodation and was 19 years old when he married Mary who was 13 (sic). Mary Collett was 34 (sic) eleven years younger than her husband, where she was only three years younger ten years earlier, and five years younger in 1910. None of their children was working, and they were Mack Collett who was 17, Axie Collett who was 13, and Ethel Collett who was six years old.

Their daughter Axie Collett was 18 when she married James Thomas who was 25 at Arjay in Bell County on 26^th March 1934. It was there also, just over one month later, that their son Mack Collett was 21 when he married May Taylor aged 19, on 2^nd June 1934. In the end, Axie Thomas, daughter of Nathan Collett and Mary Slusher, died at Pineville Community Hospital in Bell County on 8^th July 1961 and was buried at Arjay. Earlier, the death of Nathan Collett happened on 7^th August 1945 at the age of 62, placing his year of birth around 1883 and not 1886, as reported above. Furthermore, whilst his father was confirmed as William Collett, his mother was recorded as Caroline Howard. He was confirmed as born at Clay County as was an employee of a coalmining company, when the informant of his passing was his son Mack Collett.

43R161

Martha J Collett

Born in 1911 at Otter Creek, Clay County

43R162

Mack Collett

Born in 1914 at Otter Creek, Clay County

43R163

Axie Collett

Born in 1916 at Harlan County, Kentucky

43R164

Ethel Collett

Born in 1924 at Harlan County, Kentucky

43Q79

Gilbert Collett was born during May in 1888 at Clay County, another son of William and Alice Collett. He was living with his family in 1900 and six years after was married to (1) Delia Patterson on 12^th May 1906 as recorded at Bell County, Kentucky. It seems likely that Delia died during, or just after, giving birth to daughter Pearly, her name a memorial to her mother having gone through the “pearly gates” Three years later the marriage of Gilbert Collett aged 25 (sic) and (2) Ellen Collett aged 23 (sic) was conducted at the home of William Collett in Clay County on 17^th May 1911, where William Collett was one of the witnesses. The licence for them to be marriage was approved on 13^th May 1911 at Manchester in Clay County. On that day, Gilbert was not an honest man, when the stated this would be his first marriage, as did his much younger bride who was barely 18 years of age and certainly not 23, being 27 in 1920 – below.

By 1920 the family was residing at Banner Fork in Harlan County, where Gilbert was 33 and in rented accommodation while employed as a coalminer with the Banner Fork Coal Company. His wife Ellen was 27, and their three children were Pearly Collett who was 12, Grace Collett who was nine, and son Billie Collett who was seven years of age. Gilbert Collett died on 19^th May 1925, with his death recorded at Harlan County, following which he was buried at Highsplint Cemetery, not far from Closplint where his son Billie was killed in a mining accident in 1950.

43R165

Pearly Collett

Born in 1908 at Clay County

The following are the children of Gilbert Collett by his second wife Ellen Collett:

43R166

Grace Collett

Born in 1911 at Clay County

43R167

Billie Collett

Born in 1913 at Harlan County

43Q81

Betsey J Collett was most likely born at Otter Creek in Clay County, Kentucky in February 1890, a daughter of William Collett by the first of his two Mormon wives Alice. While still married to Alice, his father married Catharine Rader in 1892, and it was with them that Betsey was ten years of age in 1900 at Otter Creek, when Betsey’s mother was living at Bad Creek with a second set of seven children on William Collett. Fourteen years later Betsey J Collett married Andrew Quillen on 5^th May 1914, a double wedding with sister Mollie Collett (below) and Joe Coleman, when parents William and Catharine Collett were described as the father and mother of the girls who “are willing with no objections”. While Molly certainly was the daughter and second child of Catharine’s, Betsey was born three years earlier.

43Q83

Willie M Collett was born on 14^th August 1892 at Roark in Clay County just after his father William Collett married his second concurrent wife, the much younger Catharine Rader. He was living with his family in 1900, but ten years later it was as brother-in-law aged 18, that Willie Collett was staying with his married sister’s husband Farmer Roark at Bad Creek within the Magisterial District No. 5 of Leslie County. Farmer (his christian name) was 34, Lucy F Roark was 30, and their five children. Boarding with the family next door was James Collett who was 24 but with no occupation. Less than four years after that census day, Willie Collett married Sina Caudill on 5^th February 1914 at the home of Abel Caudill in Magoffin County, when the groom’s parents were confirmed as Billie Collett and Alice E Collett, while the bride’s parents were named as Abel and Elizabeth Caudill.

The US Draft Registration for the First World War included Willie Collett born on the date provided above, who was 24 and living at Salyersville in Magoffin County, where he was a self-employed farmer. The form also confirmed he was a married man with one child, and claimed he had weak lungs for exemption purposes. According to the next census in 1920 for Gifford in Magoffin Willie was 25 and the owner of his own general farm. His wife Sina was 18, and their two daughters were Lena who was five, and Myrtle who was two years of age. Boarding with the family, and the owner of his own farm was John M May who was 66, perhaps advising the much younger farm on best practice.

Willie Collett aged 36, was still the owner of the farm in Gifford in 1930 purchased for $1200, the census form confirming he was married to Sina when he was 23, when she was 16, now 32 and recorded as Sudie (sic). Their eldest daughter Lena, had either suffered and infant death or was just absent on that day, with Myrtle being their eldest child at the age of 11 years. The other four children were Junie aged eight, son Onley who was five, Carrie who was three, and Ella who was three months old.

More children were added to the family during the 1930s, which was residing at #170 Long Branch in Salyersville in 1940, where Willie M Collett was 46 a farmer. His wife Sina Collett 43, and their children that day were Myrtle Collett who was 21 and a seamstress with the N Y A sewing project, and Oland Collett who was 16 (Onley in 1930) and a farmer. The couple’s five other children were Claire Collett who was 14 (Carrie in 1930), Elsie Collett who was eight, Nolia Collett who was six, Virginia Collett who was four, and Barbara Collett who was two years of age. Living at #169 Long Branch was the family of Herman Collett (Ref. 43R149), his wife Maggie, and their children, then at – still to be identified, and at #167 was the family of Willie’s older brother James Farmer (Asher) Collett (Ref. 43Q75). Finally, at #168 Long Branch was Willie Collett with his family, whose details are revealed in the new Part 43 – Other Colletts of Kentucky.

Willie M Collett who was born at Roark on 14^th August 1892 was 57 when he died at Gifford in Magoffin County on 29^th April 1950.

43R168

Lena Collett

Born in 1915 at Salyersville, Magoffin County

43R169

Myrtle Collett

Born in 1917 at Gifford, Magoffin County

43R170

Junie Collett

Born in 1922 at Gifford, Magoffin County

43R171

Ollen Collett

Born in 1924 at Gifford, Magoffin County

43R172

Clara Collett

Born in 1925 at Gifford, Magoffin County

43R173

Ella Collett

Born in 1930 at Gifford, Magoffin County

43R174

Elsie Mae Collett

Born in 1932 at Gifford, Magoffin County

43R175

Nolia Collett

Born in 1934 at Gifford, Magoffin County

43R176

Virginia Collett

Born in 1936 at Gifford, Magoffin County

43R177

Barbara Collett

Born in 1938 at Gifford, Magoffin County

43Q84

Molly Collett was probably born at Otter Creek in October 1893, the second child of William and Catharine following the birth of a son soon after they were married in 1892. From William’s two concurrent marriages his two wives, Alice and Catherine, a total of twenty children were born into their family. In the Otter Creek census of 1900, Molly was one of seven children living there with her father and her mother and six other children, when her stepmother Alice was living nearby at Bad Creek with another seven children of the family. On 5^th May 1914 Mollie Collett married Joe Coleman, the same day he half-sister Betsey (above) was married with the approval of their parents.

43Q85

Samuel Collett was born at Clay County, Kentucky, on 12^th December 1895 and was the son of William Collett and his wife Alice E Collett who, for some reason, was not living with his family at Otter Creek in 1900. Instead, Samuel first appeared in the Leslie County census of 1910, when he was fifteen years old and living with his eldest married brother Manford and his family. That day Samuel was working as a labourer on his brother’s farm, when it is still not known where he was in 1900 aged five years. After 1910 Samuel Collett featured in all the following census returns, as detailed below.

On 5^th June 1917, Samuel Collett aged 22 years and born at Roark completed a World War One Draft Registration Card. By that day his occupation was that of a farmer, when he was a married man, who claimed exemption from the draft on grounds of needing to support his wife. He was described as being of medium height and slender build, with light brown eyes and hair.

According to the census return in 1930, the family was residing in a rented property at #76 Bowens Creek Road in Bad Creek, Leslie County. Sam Collett, a farmer, was 35 and had married when he was seventeen years of age. His wife Minnie was 31 and was 14 when she married Sam. They and their five daughters had all been born in Kentucky, and they were Pollie who was 12, Edna who was nine, Ernesta who was six, Judie who was almost five, and Orna who was one month old. Around the middle of the next decade the family moved to Warbranch, West of Middle Fork, in Leslie County, where their home was in 1935, and again in 1940.

Samuel Collett was a farmer aged 46, Minnie Collett was 44 (sic), son Ernest Collett was 16 and a ‘new worker’. Judie Collett was 14, Orna Collett was 11, when the latest arrivals were Leonard Collett who was eight, Walter Collett who was five, and Farmer Collett who was two years old. One more child was added to the family and towards the end of the 1940s, the couple’s eldest son Ernest became a married man, after which he and his wife moved into the property next door to Sam and Minnie, which was how they were recorded in the census of 1950, by which time Minnie’s widowed mother was living with the family. Eight years earlier, Warbranch, Leslie County, was the family address included on the 1942 Military Draft Registration Card for Sam Collett aged 47, whose date of birth was as indicated above, and whose next-of-kin was his wife Minta Collett.

Sam Collett was 56, when his wife was recorded as Minta Collett 55 (sic) and just their three youngest children were still living with them. They were Leonard aged 18, Walter aged 14, Farmer who was 11, and daughter Lizzie Collett was seven years of age. The two older sons were already employed on their father’s farmer as farm helpers. Completing the family that day was Sam’s mother-in-law Martha Breck aged 84. Sam’s older son and daughter-in-law next door were recorded as Ernest Collett who was 26 and a mill worker in lumber manufacturing and his wife Edna M Collett who was 19.

Twenty-one years later, as Sam Collett, he died on 1^st September 1971 when he was at Essie living in Leslie County, and was buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery. On that occasion, his death record stated he had been born on 11^th December 1894.

43R178

Pollie Collett

Born in 1918 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R179

Edna Collett

Born in 1921 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R180

Ernesta/Ernest Collett

Born in 1924 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R181

Judie Collett

Born in 1925 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R182

Orna Collett

Born in 1930 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R183

Leonard Collett

Born in 1932 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R184

Walter Collett

Born in 1935 at Roark, Leslie County

43R185

Farmer Collett

Born in 1938 at Roark, Leslie County

43Q86

Joseph Collett, who was known as Joe, was born at Clay County on 29^th May 1896 and was another child of William and Catherine Collett. At the age of four Joseph and his family were living at Otter Creek in Clay County where he may have been born and ten years later it was Joe Collett who was 13 years of age in the Big Creek census of 1910 when living there with his family. Seven years later, on 13^th July 1917, Joseph Collett married Ellen Nolan with their wedding recorded at Clay County. By 1920 he was living on the road up Lick Fork of Red Bird at Upper Red Bird in Clay County on 23^rd February, when he was described as the son-in-law of Preston Nolan, a general farmer, whose daughter was Ella Collett, and whose granddaughter was Della (as Ella) Collett. Joseph, another general farmer, and Ella, were both 20 years of age, while their daughter was thirteen months old. That day Joseph was living at #21 not far from another Collett family at #16, that of farmer Silas Collett (Ref. 43Q9) and wife Mahaley.

It was at #197 Willard Road, Hazard in Perry County that the family was living in 1930, when the census that day described them as follows. Joe Collett was 42 and working as a labourer on a farm, Ella was 29 and was 18 years old when she married 31-year-old Joseph. Their children that day were Mae Collett (as Moe) who was 11, June Collett who was nine, Mabel Collett who was six, and Joe Collett junior who was three years and two months old.

In 1940, when the family was living at #58 Red Bird River in Clay County, another Collett family was living close by at #56 Red Bird River and that was Robert (Lee) Collett (Ref. 43Q46), Joe’s cousin two-steps removed. That census day Joe Collett was 46 and a miner at a coalmine, his wife Ellen who was 40, and with them their four children and a grandson. Mae Collett was 22, June Collett was 19, Maggie Collett (previously Mabel) was 16 – when the three sisters were farm workers, Agnes Collett was four years old, and grandson J R Collett was three years old and the son of daughter Mae Collett.

The WW2 Draft Registration Card of 27^th April 1942 confirmed he was self-employed and living at Asher Fork in Clay County, when Joe Collett was 46 and his place of birth was Leslie County. The name of his relative, for notification purposes was Mrs Ellen Collett. Eight years later, the family was residing at Flat Creek Waters in Red Bird River where Joe Collett was 54, a farmer and owner, Ellen was 50, June was 30, Agnes was 14, and sons J R Collett who was 13, and J C Collett who was 11 years of age. After a further two years Joe Collett was 56 when he died at Asher Fork in Clay County on 28^th September 1952 and was buried at Bear Creek Cemetery.

In 1950, living not far from Joe and his family, at Blue Hole in Red Bird River, was Ford Collett (Ref. 43S10), his wife and daughter, and his sister Helen (Ref. 43S11). One area of dispute with Joe and Ella’s family arose at the second wedding of their daughter Mae Collett, when it was recorded that she was born at Roark in Kentucky, which is in Leslie County.

43R186

Della Collett (Ella)

Born in 1918 at Upper Red Bird, Clay County

43R187

Mae Collett

Born in 1920 at Upper Red Bird, Clay County

43R188

June Collett

Born in 1922 at Upper Red Bird, Clay County

43R189

Maple Lee Collett

Born in 1924 at Upper Red Bird, Clay County

43R190

Agnes Collett

Born in 1935 at Red Bird River, Clay County

43R191

J R Collett

Born in 1936 at Red Bird River, Clay County

43R192

Joe Curtis Collett

Born in 1939 at Gardner, Red Bird River

43Q89

George Dewey Collett, who was known as Dewey, was born on 11^th September 1899 at Otter Creek, Clay County, and was a son of William by one of his two wives Alice – who died in 1901, or the much younger Catharine. As Dewey, he was 21 when he married Bertie Bolling at Esserville, Wise County in Virginia on 17^th January 1920. Bertie, possibly Roberta, was 17 years of age and born in Virginia, the daughter of Mollie Bolling. Curiously, Dewey’s parents were named as Billy Collett and Allie Fair Collett?

Their daughter Ruth was born in 1925 and they were confirmed as her parents when she married Edward Brock at Big Glades in Wise County on 15^th August 1942. Edward was 21 and the son of Jesse Brock and Martha Shook. Dewey’s son, and namesake, was born at Esserville, Wise County on 12^th September 1931 who, in November 1950, applied to the Social Program when he was residing at Salyersville, Magoffin Count, Kentucky. It was much later when Dewey Earlen Collett died on 23^rd April 2000.

Tragically, the couple had another daughter who was born at Robinson in Wise County on 2^nd February 1935, who died that same day. Their last child was another son, who was born on 3^rd August 1946, and he married Mary Frances Warren, aged 18, at Clintwood, Dickson County on 6^th September 1968, with the bride’s parents named as John Warren and Louise Blanche. George Dewey Collett was at Salyersville in Magoffin County when he died on 5^th December 1967 at the age of 68.

43R193

Ruth Collett

Born in 1925 at Wise County, Virginia

43R194

Dewey Earlen Collett

Born in 1931 at Esserville, Wise County

43R195

Lezia Collett

Born in 1935 at Robinson, Wise County

43R196

Ronnie Paul Collett

Born in 1946 at Robinson, Wise County

43Q96

Margaret Frances Collett, who was known as Peggy, was born in Mexico in 1908 shortly after her parents were married. The US Census of 1920 listed Margaret as 12 and placed her and her family living at Alpine in Brewster County in Texas. Five years later in 1925 Peggy was living with her family at 104 Haynes Avenue in San Antonio when her father received the news that he and his brothers and sister were heirs to a fortune of $200,000 left to them by a distant relative in England. Following an interview with the San Antonio Light, the newspaper ran the headline “Miss Peggy Collett Elects to Get Education with Share of Fortune.” At that Peggy and her three siblings were all students attending a local public school and Peggy expressed a desire to enter a career in journalism. Tragically she died only eight years later at San Antonio in Texas in 1933 when she was only in her mid-twenties, so never did realise her life’s ambition.

43Q97

William Bruns Collett was born at Crystal City in Maverick County in Texas on 9^th November 1912. His second christian name was apparently the name of the medical attendant who assisted at his birth. According to the census of 1920, William was seven years old and was living with his family at Alpine in Brewster County in Texas. William was married twice in his life, the first time to (1) Anna Ruth Strong with whom he had a daughter. William later married (2) Jimmie Evelyn Petersen just prior to the Second World War with whom he had a further five children. The first of them was born at Mississippi, while the next four were all born in Texas. William Bruns Collett was only fifty-four years of age when he died at Lubbock County in Texas on 13^th October 1966. His wife Jimmie, who was born in Brazoria County on 8^th December 1921, died eighteen years after William, when she passed away on 24^th July 1984 at Lubbock.

43R197

Elizabeth Ann Collett

Born in 1935 at San Antonio in Texas

43R198

William James Collett

Born in 1941 in Mississippi

43R199

Beverly Sue Collett

Born in 1943 at San Antonio in Texas

43R200

James Robert Collett

Born in 1947 at McAllen in Texas

43R201

Sandra Lea Collett

Born in 1948 at Hidalgo in Texas

43R202

Sylvia Jean Collett

Born in 1957 at Bellaire in Texas

43Q98

Martha Elizabeth Collett was born at Alpine in Texas on 26^th January 1915 and was four years and eleven months old at the time of the US Census of 1920. At that time her parents, William F Collett and Maje Collett, were living at Alpine in Brewster County in Texas. Also listed were Martha’s two siblings Margaret 13, and William 7. Some years later Martha married Clyde Edgar and the marriage resulted in the birth of one child for the couple, Mary Patricia Edgar born at San Antonio in 1937. Martha was made a widow in 1976 when Clyde died at San Antonio. Martha lived in the original family home of her father William Francis Collett at San Antonio and, at the age of 93 has three grandchildren.

Her daughter Mary Patricia Edgar married Richard G Weil in San Antonio from whom she is now divorced, but not before the couple were blessed with three children, Marsha K Weil, Richard G Weil, and Melinda E Weil. By the time she was 95, and due to her physical limitations, Martha Elizabeth Edgar nee Collett was a resident at Morningside Manor. However, in January 2011 she was taken from there to Nix Hospital in San Antonio where she died on 30^th January 2011, just four days after her 96^th birthday. Following her passing, Martha was buried at San Fernando III Cemetery in San Antonio on Wednesday 3^rd February 2011. The obituary that was displayed at the Mission South Funeral Home read as follows:

“Martha E. Edgar born on January 26, 1915 went to be with the Lord on January 30, 2011 at the age of 96. She died peacefully, of natural causes, surrounded by loving family. She is preceded in death by her beloved husband Clyde Edgar, parents William and Maje Collett, and siblings Peggy Collett, Bill Collett, and Mary Turner. Survivors include her loving and dedicated only child Patricia Edgar Weil, grandchildren Marsha K. Williams (Steve), Richard G. Weil (Elizabeth), Melinda E. Taylor, six great grandchildren Matt, Ryan, Cole, Skye, Zeke, and Townsend, numerous nieces, nephews, and other loving family members and friends. Mrs. Edgar was born in Alpine, Texas. She was the niece of E. E. Townsend, Father of Big Bend National Park. She was a homemaker and a caregiver of loved ones throughout her amazing life. She gave of her time and effort unconditionally to those around her. She was a lifetime member of McKinley Avenue United Methodist Church, where she had many dear friends. She is also survived by her loyal canine companion, Sugar.”

Martha Elizabeth Collett was the sister of William Bruns Collett (above), whose daughter Sue Flanagan provided the details of her aunt’s passing. It was also Sue who kindly sent in the photograph on the right, showing Sue with her Aunt Martha which was taken during her 95^th birthday celebrations at Morningside Manor on 26^th January 2010.

43Q99

Mary Belle Collett was born at San Antonio in Texas in 1921. She married John Mack Turner and they had two sons before John’s accidental death in 1955 at Hannibal in Missouri. Mary Belle lived for almost another forty years after her husband died, until her death around 1994. Both of her sons were married and each presented Mary Belle with a grandchild. John Mack Turner was born in 1953 and his son is Troy Turner. Mark Townsend Turner was born in 1954 and died at San Antonio in 2007 and his daughter was Katrina Turner.

43Q101

Mary Elizabeth Collett was born at Atchison on 30^th July 1888. She initially attended a public grade school in Atchison but went to high school at a private College Preparatory School also in Atchison. She entered Wellesley College in 1906 and graduated with an AB degree in 1910 and she received her Master’s Degree from the University of Pennsylvania to which she returned in 1917 for her PhD.

After securing a Fellowship in Biology at Clark University she took up a teaching post in the School of Medicine at the University of Buffalo. In 1922/23 she was awarded a Fellowship by the American Scandinavian Foundation for which she attended the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. On her returned to America, she spent one year teaching at Tulane University in New Orleans before completing thirty years teaching at Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio in 1954. Doctor Mary Elizabeth Collett, a college professor, died on 28^th June 1969 at Wellesley in Massachusetts and was buried with other members of her family at Mount Vernon Cemetery in Atchison.

43Q102

William Barrow Collett (the second) was born in Atchison, Kansas on 2^nd September 1895. When he was seventeen, he attended Culver Military Academy in Indiana. He later trained as an American Cadet with the Royal Flying Corps of Canada and became a Second Lieutenant at Fort Worth in Texas on 14^th February 1918. During the following week, he sailed to France with 139^th Aero Squadron where he learned to fly rotary engine Nieuports at Issoudon. The trained had not been completed when volunteers were asked to form 12^th Aero Squadron, the second American squadron which was equipped with A5 Avion Renaults. Four months later Lt. Collett was relieved to the command of the Ferry Pilot Landing Field at Gamaches on the Somme near Dieppe and Abbeville.

Following the Armistice, William was made officer-in-charge of field inspection, First Aviation Acceptance Park at Orly near Paris. Here he was offered the command of the Aeroplane Courier Service between Germany and the Peace Conference, but he declined as he wished to return to America. After the war he returned to Nortonville, Kansas in the early spring of 1919 where he renewed his work at the First National Bank where he had been employed in 1916. It was later that same year that he married Vera Frances Groff on 3^rd September 1919 at Nortonville. Vera was born on 13^th July 1890. It was during William’s time at the bank in 1916 that he had first met Vera. The five years following their wedding saw the couple blessed with three children, all of whom were born in Atchison.

It was at that same time in their life when William swapped banking for insurance. That happened between 1921 and 1925 when William Barrow Jr worked alongside his father William Barrow senior in the field of life insurance. At the end of that time William Jr and his wife and family moved to 7310 Wyoming Street in Kansas City, Kansas and the following year the family moved again, this time to Detroit, Michigan.

Less than four months after the attack on Pearl Harbour, William returned to active duty as a Captain in the Air Corps on 3^rd April 1942 and was assigned to Dow Field, Bangor, Maine as Post Intelligence Officer and Public Relations Officer. He was second in command at Dow Field which was the principal embarkation point for all B-17 Flying Fortresses going to Europe. In October 1942 he was promoted to Major and was sent to England and returned three year later in 1945. He was discharged as Lt. Col. Collett at the end of that year.

William Barrow Collett died from a heart attack at Evanston, Illinois on 17^th May 1956 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery – Section 3 Grave 2206A. Vera survived her husband by nearly thirty years when she died on 22^nd October 1985 at Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. She was buried with William at Arlington.

43R203

William Barrow Collett III

Born in 1921 at Atchison, Kansas

43R204

Groff Collett

Born in 1923 at Atchison, Kansas

43R205

Catherine Ann Collett

Born in 1924 at Atchison, Kansas

43Q103

William Mark Collett was the only son and eldest child of William Henry Collett and Emily King. He was born in the British Oak Inn at 36 Byrkley Street in Burton-on-Trent, where his father was the landlord, on 4^th August 1900, where he was also baptised on 3^rd September 1900. On the day of the census the following year, William M Collett was seven months old. His father died in 1910 and in the following year the three members of his family were living at 35 Derby Street in Burton-on-Trent, when William Mark Collett was ten years of age, his widowed mother Emily was 34, and his sister was Eveline was five. Just like his father, William also suffered a premature death, with the death of William Mark Collett was recorded at Burton register office (Ref. 6b 364) during the month of June 1927, at the age of only 27.

43Q104

Eveline Martha Margaret Collett was born in 1905 at 36 Byrkley Street in Burton-on-Trent, The British Oak Inn managed by her father William Henry Collett and Emily King. Her birth was recorded at Burton register office (Ref. 6b 117) during the last three months of the year. During the next nine years her father appears to have given up being the landlord of The British Oak and in 1910 the family of four was residing at 35 Derby Street in Burton where he died, when Eveline was only four years old. And it was at that same address that she was living with her widowed and older brother William (above) in 1911 at the age of five years. The later marriage of Eveline Martha Margaret Collett and Reginald H Payne was recorded at Burton-on-Trent register office (Ref. 6b 24) during the third quarter of 1927.

43Q105

Elma Doris Collett was born at 52 Stoney Stanton Road in Coventry on 22^nd June 1903, the only child of Frederick Charles Collett and Ellen Kirk, whose birth was recorded at Coventry register office (Ref. 6d 573) during the third quarter of 1903 and was seven years of age in the Coventry census of 1911. She was baptised at St Mark’s Church in Coventry on 22^nd July 1903. It was there also that the marriage of Elma Doris Collett aged 19, and Joseph W Rowe was recorded (Ref. 6d 1569) during the third quarter of 1922. Their marriage produced just one child, their son Ronald R Rowe whose birth was recorded at Coventry (Ref. 6d 1260) during the first three months of 1923, a honeymoon baby, whose mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett. Elma was 85 when the death of Elma Doris Rowe was recorded at Warwickshire register office (Vol. 33 244) in 1989.

43Q108

Robert John W Collett was born at Burton-on-Trent on 22^nd July 1908 where his birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 443) during the third quarter of the year. He was 61 when he died in 1970, his death recorded at Lichfield register office (Ref. 9b 759) during the second quarter of that year.

43Q111

John Edwin William Collett was born at Burton-on-Trent during 1904, where his birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 456) during the third quarter of the year, the second child of John Barrow Collett and Clara Agnes Jones. His mother died, either during the birth or shortly after, and was six years old at the time of the Burton census of 1911 when he and his older sister Ivy were being raised by their paternal grandparents William and Emma Collett at The Albion Hotel in Burton-on-Trent. It was under his full name of John Edwin William Collett that on 20^th August 1932 when he married Edith Aileen Harvey at Winshill in Derbyshire. John, who was 28 years of age and confirmed as the son of John Barrow Collett, and Edith had only one child, their daughter Aileen. John and Edith were residing at of 57 Reservoir Road in Burton-on-Trent when John Edwin William Collett died there on 7^th September 1951 at the age of 47. His death was recorded at Burton-on-Trent register office (Ref. 9b 23), following which his Will was proved in London on 12^th November 1951, and named the executors of his estate of £2,422 9 Shillings and 5 Pence as his widow Edith Aileen Collett and her brother Leonard Arthur Harvey, a civil servant.

43R206

Aileen Collett

Born in 1935 at Burton-on-Trent

43Q112

Leonard Wilfred Collett was born at Coventry in 1909 the youngest known son of John Barrow Collett and the eldest of the two children from his second marriage to Lucy Elizabeth Perrins. They were married at Coventry at the end of the previous year when Lucy was already with-child. No record of his birth has been found at Coventry, so it seems highly likely that the couple left the city shortly after he was born, perhaps from the embarrassment of the event so soon after they wedding day. What is known is that he was born in Coventry on 9^th March 1909, but with his birth later recorded at Kings Norton register office (Ref. 6c 451) during the second quarter of that year. While it is possible that he first became a married man prior to the Second World War, a much later record confirms that Leonard W Collett married Gwendoline Wallbank early in 1961, as recorded at Sutton Coldfield register office (Ref. 9c 2425) during the first three months of that year Twenty-one years later he died at the age of 74, with the death of Leonard Wilfred Collett recorded at Staffordshire register office in 1983.

43Q114

Irene May Collett was born in Birmingham in 1915, where her birth was recorded (Ref. 6d 372) during the first three months of that year, and when her mother’s maiden-name was recorded at Tolliday instead of Tolladay, the daughter of John Barrow Collett. It was during the summer of 1940 that Irene M Collett married Edgar Peacock, with whom she had two sons. Their wedding was recorded at Birmingham register office (Ref. 6d 1603) during the third quarter of 1940. The birth of the first of their two sons was also recorded at Birmingham register, as follows: Robert J Peacock during the third quarter of 1949 (Ref. 9c 522) who, with Sandra Smith (born in 1955), had four children Kelly (now Kelly Plant), Joanne, Lee, and Gina. Three years after Robert was born, the birth of John K Peacock was recorded at Meriden register office (Ref. 9c 1170) at the start of 1953. His is married to Sue and they have three children Ben, Richard, and Marie Anne.

43Q115

Elizabeth Ruth Collett was born at Alum Rock/Alum Rock Road in Glebe Farm, east of Birmingham, during 1897, from where her family moved to Sheldon, north of Solihull, where her next sister was born. She was the eldest child of James Henry Collett and Clara Luckman and, as Ruth E Collett, she was three years old and living with her family at Lyndon End, off the Coventry Road, in Bickenhill, north-east of Solihull in 1901. Shortly after the census day that year the family settled in the Shirley area of Solihull where Ruth Collett was 13 years old in April 1911. It was towards the end of 1927 that the marriage of Elizabeth R Collett and Albert V Cetti was recorded at Solihull register office (Ref. 6d 1726), although no record of any children has been found. Ten years later, at the time of the death of her mother in 1936, Elizabeth Ruth Cetti, her husband Albert Victor Cetti a stockbroker’s clerk, and her younger brother Norman (below), were named as executors of her father’s personal effects valued at just over £1,143.

43Q116

Georgina Mary Collett was born at Sheldon, Birmingham in 1899, with her birth recorded at Solihull register office (Ref. 6d 627) during the last three months of that year. She was one year old in the census of 1901, by which time she and her family were living at Lyndon End, Coventry Road, Bickenhill, near Solihull, having been born in Birmingham. Ten years later, the Solihull census in 1911 incorrectly stated that Georgina May Collett aged 11 and attending school, had been born at Lyndon End in Bickenhill, an obvious mix-up with her younger sister (below).

43Q117

Dorothy Mabel Collett was born at Lyndon End, Coventry Road in Bickenhill, north-east of Solihull, during March 1901 and had only just been born on the day of that year’s census. Her birth was later recorded at Solihull register office (Ref. 6d 623) during the second quarter of the year. It was at Lyndon End that she and her two older sisters Ruth and Georgina (above) were living with their parents James and Clara Collett that census day. By 1911, 10-year-old Dorothy Mabel was attending school in Solihull, where she was living with her family, when her place of birth was confirmed as Lyndon End, Bickenhill. She never married and suffered a premature death of the age of 34, when her passing as Dorothy M Collett was recorded at Warwickshire register office (Ref. 6d 491) during 1935.

43Q118

Gladys Clara Collett was born at Solihull on 15^th August 1902, another daughter of James and Clara Collett. Her birth was recorded there during the second quarter of the year (Ref. 6d 660). After living in nearby Shirley, and them Small Heath, the family returned to Solihull where they were recorded in the 1911 Census, when Gladys Clara was eight years of age, and at school. Just over fifteen years after that census day, the marriage of Gladys Clara Collett and Charles Dear was recorded at the Warwickshire Meriden register office (Ref. 6d 1420) during the third quarter of 1926. The later death of Gladys Clara Dear was recorded at Warwickshire register office (Vol. 32 1643) in 1982, at the age of 79.

The first of the couple’s three children was born a year later, when the birth of Dorothy Dear was recorded at Huntingdon register office (Ref. 3b 326) during the summer of 1927. The family of three then returned to the West Midland, where the births of the next two children were recorded; Olive Dear at Solihull register office (Ref. 6d 1125) during the first three months of 1932, and Charles D Dear at Birmingham register (Ref. 6d 489) in the first quarter of 1939. In all three cases, the mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Collett.

43Q119

Norman Noel Collett was born at Shirley in Solihull on 11^th December 1903, with his birth recorded at Solihull register office (Ref. 6d 682) during the first three months of 1904. At the time of the census of 1911 Norman was seven years old and at school when he was living with his family in Solihull. He was later employed as a wood and metal pattern-maker in the process of model-making for metal castings. During the summer of 1932, the marriage of Norman Noel Collett and Lilian B Evans was recorded at Solihull register office (Ref. 6d 137). Lilian was born on 24^th November 1910, with whom Norman had three sons. Norman was still a pattern maker in 1936 when he was named as one of the three executors of his father estate. In 2009 contact was made with Norman’s son David Luckman Collett (Ref. 43R207) who does not wish to provide any details relating to his family or those of his two brothers, the names of whom have been removed. Norman Noel Collett died on 12^th June 1996, with his death recorded at the Solihull North register office.

43Q120

Phyllis May Collett was born at Small Heath, Birmingham on 3^rd August 1906 and was the sixth and last child born to James Henry Collett and Clara Luckman. Her birth was recorded at Aston register office (Ref. 6d 292) during the first quarter of the year. By the time of the census in 1911, Phyllis May was their only child not attending school, when she was five years of age, and confirmed as having been born at Small Heath, in Birmingham. She never married and was still living within the Birmingham area when she died during November 1989. The death of Phyllis May Collett was recorded at Birmingham register office (Vol. 32 727) when she was 83.

43Q121

Cyril Frederick Collett was born at Sparkhill in Solihull on 30^th April 1894 following the marriage of his parents Frederick John Collett and Ada Marian Lea on 20^th January 1894. However, it was during the third quarter of 1894 that the birth was recorded at Solihull register office (Ref. 6d 521), perhaps nearer nine months after the couple was married. Sadly, during the summer of 1900 Cyril’s mother filed for divorce on the grounds of his father’s adultery and cruelty, which was granted by the High Court in London during the summer of the following year. At the time of the earlier census in 1901 Cyril F Collett was six years old when he was living with his mother and two younger sisters (below) at the Solihull High Street home of his maternal grandmother Mary Ann Lea. Having already lost his two younger brothers to infant death, both of Cyril’s sisters died within the next twelve months.

Thanks to Stewart Simpson in September 2024, where we did not previously know where Cyril was in 1911, he has now provided the information that he was serving as a Boy 1st Class in the Royal Navy aboard the armed cruiser HMS Berwick of the 4th Cruiser Squadron which was at anchor off Gibraltar. He does not seem to have been in the navy for very long, having only enlisted in 1910 and being discharged in 1911.

After that he joined the British Army and was a private, Service No. 13375, with the 2^nd Battalion of Worcestershire Regiment, when he was residing at Palmers Green in London at the start of the First World War. Tragically, he was one of the early casualties of war when he was killed in action on the Flanders Fields during the First Battle of Ypres on 31^st October 1914. His military record confirms that he was born in Birmingham, that he enlisted at Oxford, whose name appears on the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres. His death, at the age of twenty, meant that not one of the five children of Frederick John Collett survived to carry on the family line.

By way of explanation, Stewart revealed that he is not a family member, but an amateur military historian with a particular interest in some of the early battles of the Great War, one of which is the action at Gheluvelt on the 31st October 1914. It was here, on that day, that Cyril was killed in action during the famous charge of the Worcestershire Regiment at Gheluvelt Chateau that was instrumental in throwing the Germans back and, in all probability, prevented the Germans from taking Ypres and the Channel ports and perhaps even winning the war.

43Q122

Phyllis Mary Georgina Collett was born at Stechford near Yardley, to the east of Birmingham, either towards the end of 1896 or early in 1897, when her birth was recorded at Solihull (Ref. 6d 202) during the first three months of 1897. By the time of the census in March 1901, her mother had separated from her father, pending their decree absolute, which was granted three months later. On the day of the census Phyllis M G Collett was four years of age and living with her mother and two surviving siblings in the High Street of Solihull, the home of her grandmother. It was nearly nine months later that the death of Phyllis Mary G Collett was recorded at Solihull register office (Ref. 6d 73) during the final month of 1901, when she was five years old. It was also at Solihull, where Phyllis Mary Georgina Collett was buried on 26^th December 1901.

43Q123

Howard Collett was born at Solihull in 1898 and was the third child of Frederick and Ada Collett, whose birth was recorded at Solihull register office (Ref. 6d 634) during the second quarter of the year. It was also during that same three-month period that the death of baby Howard Collett was recorded at Solihull (Ref. 6d 316).

43Q124

Gordon Victor Collett was born at Solihull in 1899, another son of Frederick and Ada Collett. His birth was recorded at Solihull register office (Ref. 6d 635) during the third quarter of the year. Having already suffered the loss of his older brother in the previous year, the family may have temporarily moved to Birmingham just after Gordon was born, because it was at Birmingham register office that the death of infant Gordon Victor Collett was recorded (Ref. 6d 316) during the summer of that same year.

43Q125

Margery Martin Collett was born on 8^th November 1900, with her birth recorded at Solihull register office (Ref. 6d 297) during either the last three months of the year. She was the fifth and last child of Frederick John Collett and Ada Marian Lea, who was baptised at Solihull on 3^rd December 1900. Four months before she was born her mother filed for divorce from her father for reasons of his adultery and his cruelty. Having separated from her father, Margery was only five months old on the day of the census in 1901, she and her mother and her two older surviving siblings were living with Margery’s grandmother, Mary A Lee aged 64, on the High Street in Solihull. Sadly, she died one year later, when the death of Margery Martin Collett was recorded at Solihull register office (Ref. 6d 270) during the second quarter of 1902, following which she was laid to rest in Solihull on 16^th April 1902, aged seventeen months.

43Q126

Mary Jane Collett was born at Ancoats in Manchester in 1883, the eldest child of Peter Collett, formerly known as Peter Shawcross, and his wife Jane. In the 1891 Census she was living with her parents in Ancoats where she was eight years of age. Ten years later, at the age of 17, she was working as a cardboard box maker while living with her mother and brothers and sister in Manchester.

43Q127

Peter Collett was born at Ancoats in Manchester in 1886 and was living there with his family in 1891 and again in 1901 when he was four years old and 14 years of age respectively. On leaving school he took up work as a machine moulder, this being a similar occupation to that of his father who was a machine grinder. Out the outbreak of the First World War, Peter enlisted with the King’s Liverpool Regiment and became Private Collett 20137. Tragically, he was killed in action with D Company of the 12^th Battalion on 25^th September 1915 aged 28 and the sad news was reported to his mother Jane Cadman, formerly Collett, at her home at 62 Junction Street in Ancoats. He was buried at Estaires Communal Cemetery. Estaires is a town in northern France which was held by the British army from 15^th October 1914 and was the subject of fierce fighting and staunch resistance by the allied forces over the following years of the war, finally falling into German hands, on 10^th April 1918.

43Q128

Herbert Collett was born at Ancoats in Manchester on 14^th November 1888, following which his birth was recorded at Manchester register office (Ref. 8d 220) during the last three months of that year. It was at Ancoats that he was living with his family in 1891, when he was two, and ten years later when he was 12 years old. His father died during the first decade of the new century and his mother was subsequently married for a second time. By the time of the census in April 1911 Herbert Collett, aged 22 and from Manchester, was living and working at Hawarden in Flintshire to the west of Chester. He was still residing in the Manchester area where the death of Herbert Collett was recorded during December 1976 at the age of 88 years.

43Q131

Mary Elizabeth Collett was born at Salford in Lancashire on 29^th March 1891, the first child born to Alfred Thomas Collett and his wife Elizabeth Ann Barlow. She was born at 2 Heaps Court in Salford where her parents were living one week later, as recorded in the census of 1891. Her absence from the family home on that day may indicate that she was in hospital with some complication following the birth, while it was three weeks after that census day when Mary Elizabeth Collett was baptised at St Philip’s Church in Salford on 26^th April 1891. However, it was later that same year that the death of Mary Elizabeth Collett, who was under one year of age, was recorded at Salford (Ref. 8d 56) during the last quarter of 1891.

43Q132

Elizabeth Ann Collett was born at 4 Cobbett Street in Salford on 19^th January 1895, the second child of Alfred and Elizabeth Collett. Elizabeth was six years old in the census of 1901 when she and her family were residing at 15 Market Street in Salford. It was as Elizabeth Ann that she was recorded in the Salford census of 1911 when she was 16. It was also at 41 Brewery Street in Salford that she was still living with her widowed mother in 1923 and from where she married John Kershaw at St Phillip’s Church, Salford, on 22^nd December 1923. That was also the same time and place that her sister Alice (below) married Ernest Bebbington. John Kershaw was also born in Salford during 1897, the son of James Owen Kershaw. Tragically, they were only married for around eleven years when John died at Salford during 1934.

During those eleven years together, Elizabeth presented John with three children. Doreen Kershaw was born in 1925, Joan Kershaw was born in 1927 and Edna Kershaw was born in 1930. At the time of the Second World War Elizabeth and her three daughters were living at a dwelling in Shepherd Street in Salford which was hit by an incendiary bomb around 1941, following which the family then moved to Tennyson Street in Salford. Elizabeth Ann Kershaw nee Collett had been a widow for forty-five years when she died at Salford on 3^rd August 1979.

43Q133

Emily Collett was born at 15 Market Street in Salford 1897 and was baptised at St Philip’s Church in Salford on 27^th June 1897. She was four years of age in 1901 and was 14 in 1911 when she and her family were still living at 15 Market Street in Salford. She later married Edward Turner at St Phillip’s Church in Salford on 20^th September 1919, with whom she had two children. On their wedding day, Edward’s and Emily’s fathers were not in attendance, as the certificate described them as Alfred Thomas Collett deceased, a brass polisher, George Turner deceased, a cabinet maker.

Also on that day, Emily was 22 and a ticketer residing at 41 Brewery Street in Salford, and Edward was 24 and a maker-up living at 10 Bath Street in Salford. The second witness on their wedding day was Elizabeth Collett, Emily’s mother. Edward Turner was born in Manchester during 1895 and he died in 1943. Emily Turner nee Collett was living in Manchester when she died on 22^nd April 1975.

43Q134

Alice Collett was born at 15 Market Street in Salford on 7^th August 1899 and was baptised at St Philip’s Church in Salford on 30^th August 1899. She was just one year old in the census of 1901 and was 11 years of age in 1911 when she was still living at 15 Market Street with her family. On 22^nd December 1923 at St Philip’s Church in Salford, in a joint wedding ceremony with her eldest surviving sister Elizabeth (above), Alice married Ernest Bebbington. He was born at Salford on 7^th September 1899 and together they had two sons Ernest and Eric before his untimely death in Salford on 25^th January 1935. Alice Bebbington nee Collett was still residing in Salford when she passed away on 16^th May 1973.

43Q135

Sarah Ellen Collett was born at 2 River Place in Salford during the last three months of 1902, with her birth recorded there (Ref. 8d 147). It was on 3^rd December 1902 that she was baptised at St Philip’s Church in Salford. Tragically, it was two years later, during the last quarter of 1904, that the death of Sarah Ellen Collett was recorded at Salford (Ref. 8d 119), the second of the eight children of Alfred Thomas Collett and Elizabeth Ann Barlow.

43Q136

James Collett was born at 3 Arlington Court in Salford on 2^nd March 1905 and was listed as being six years of age in the Salford census of 1911 when he and his family were residing at 15 Market Street in Salford. It was during the second quarter of 1932, at Christ Church in Salford, when he married Emily Moss who was born at Salford on 10^th June 1908. Their wedding was recorded at Salford register office (Ref. 8d 24). James and Emily had one child and appear to have lived all their life in Salford, where their daughter was born, where her birth was recorded (Ref. 8d 105) early in 1943 when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Moss, and where James Collett died on 6^th September 1976. He was followed exactly twelve years later by his wife Emily Collett nee Moss, who passed away on 6^th September 1988.

43R208

Brenda Collett

Born in 1943 at Salford

43Q137

Elsie Collett was born at 38 Rigby Street in Salford in 1907, her birth recorded there (Ref. 8d 329) during the last quarter of that year. She was three years old in the April census of 1911, when she was the youngest child then living at 15 Market Street in Salford, the home of Alfred Thomas Collett and Elizabeth Ann Lowe, her younger brother (below) born less than two years after. When Elsie was thirty-five years of age, she gave birth to a base-born son in 1942, the birth of Norman Collett recorded at Manchester register office (Ref. 8d 11) during the fourth quarter of the year. Norman is understood to have been adopted by an Italian family when he was around seven months old, following the premature death of his mother. Tragically, Elsie Collett died on 4^th August 1943 while living in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, where she was buried at the Southern Cemetery. The death of Elsie Collett, aged 35, was recorded at Manchester register office (Ref. 8d 41) during the third quarter of the year.

43R209

Norman Collett

Born in 1942 at Manchester

43Q138

Alfred Collett was born on 30^th January 1913 at 5 Corporation Street in Salford, Lancashire, his birth recorded at Salford register office (Ref. 8d 26) during the first quarter of the year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Barlow. He was the youngest child of Alfred Thomas Collett and his wife Elizabeth Ann Barlow. He later married Elizabeth Ford and their only child was born just over nine months after they were married, their wedding recorded at Salford register office (Ref. 8d 122) during the second quarter of 1935. It was also while Alfred and Elizabeth were still residing in Salford that he died in 1980, although his death was recorded at Bury register office (Ref. 38 116) during the first three months6of that year, following which he was buried at the Agecroft Cemetery & Crematorium in Salford in 1^st February 1980, at the age of 67. His son Allan is married but he is the last of this family line, having no children. All the latest information was kindly provided by John Holland in spring of 2014, whose links to the Collett family are through his mother and his grandmother.

43R210

Allan Collett

Born in 1935 at Salford, Lancashire

43R1

Oliver Otto Collett junior was born in 1920 at Wapello County in Iowa. He married around the time of the Second World War and his son was born at Jefferson County in Iowa. Oliver was still living in Iowa when he died at Polk County in 1997 at the age of 77.

43S1

Barry Oliver Collett

Born in 1944 at Jefferson County, Iowa

43R2

Wilkerson Collett, who was known Wilk or Wilkie, was born at Big Creek, Upper Red Bird in Clay County on 12^th April 1898 and was the first-born child of Preston Collett and Sarah Asher. He was recorded as William aged two years in 1900, and was Wilkie Collett in 1910 when was 13 years of age and with his family at Upper Red Bird. Although the record of his wedding has not been found, it was the census in 1930 that provided the ages that they were married, when Wilkerson Collett was 20 and his bride Phrona (aka Frona/Franie) Asher was 17, which places the event around 1918/1919. That situation was confirmed in the Upper Red Bird census for 1920, when Wilkie Collett, aged 21, was a general farmer with his own account and renting a property on the road up to Blue Hole Creek, Farm #4 with his wife Phronie Collett who was 18. As the eldest child in the family, that day Wilkie and Phronie were living immediately next to his father’s family at Farm #3.

Ten years later, the census return for District 8 of Clay County in 1930 identified Wilki Collett residing at #245 Blue Hole Creek Road, where his married brother Willie (below) was living at #242 next door to their parents at #241. Wilki was 32 and a general farmer, Phronia as 28, Mollie was eight, Warden was five, Arlin was 2, and Clarence was one. Living with them was Wilkie’s mother-in-law, 60-year-old Josie Fenimore (?).

In 1940 for the census at District 4 in Clay County Wilk Collett was 43 and a timber cutter who was living on Blue Hole Creek Road in the same house as in 1935. His wife Franie was 38, Walden was 15, Arlen was 13, Clarence was 11, Lousie was eight, Felcie was six, and Paul was three years old. Missing that day was the couple’s eldest child Mollie, whose wedding had already taken place thirty months earlier. Two years later, the US Draft Registration for the Second World War for 16^th February 1942 included Wilk Collett of Ashers Fork who had been born at Clay County on the date above, whose next-of-kin was Franie Collett, his wife, at a time in his life when he was employed by the Bledsoe & Ruth Lumber Company in Manchester.

According to the next census in 1950, Wilk Collett was 58 and an employer whose firm was the Black Rolling Private Company, where his two eldest children living at home that day were employed without pay. In addition to them, Wilk’s younger brother James had his own timber cutting business, which may have been a joint venture with Wilk’s eldest married son Walden. On that day four members of the Collett family were residing at Blue Hole Water, Red Bird; Wilk at #77, son Walden at #78, brother James (below) at #79, and brother Willie (below) at #80. It was a similar story in 1930 and 1940, when Blue Hole Creek Road was the home of three related Collett families in the former, and a different three Collett families in the latter. In 1930 the three were living in adjacent properties, and they were Wilkerson (Wilk) and his two younger brothers Willie, and James (Jim) (below), and in 1940 it was Wilk at #245, while at #241 was his father Preston, and at #242 his brother Willie. Wilkerson Collett, again as Wilk, was 78 when he died on 5^th August 1976 at Ashers Fork in Clay County and was buried in Collett Cemetery in Bell County, Kentucky. The couple’s eldest child, Mollie Collett, was 18 when she married Lawrence Jackson who was 21, their wedding registered at Clay County on 27^th November 1937, when her parents were confirmed as Wilk Collett and Frona Asher. Lawrence was the son of George Jackson and Mollie Mills.

43S2

Mollie Collett

Born in 1922 at Ashers Fork, Clay County

43S3

Walden Collett

Born in 1925 at Ashers Fork, Clay County

43S4

Arlen Collett

Born in 1927 at Clay County, Kentucky

43S5

Clarence Collett

Born in 1929 at Clay County, Kentucky

43S6

Lois Collett

Born in 1932 at Clay County, Kentucky

43S7

Felcie Collett

Born in 1935 at Clay County, Kentucky

43S8

Paul Collett

Born in 1937 at Clay County, Kentucky

43S9

Dora Collett

Born in 1940 at Clay County, Kentucky

43R3

William Collett, who was known as Willie, was born at Big Creek, Upper Red Bird in Clay County on 15^th April 1901, the second child of Preston and Sarah Collett. It was on 30^th November 1924, at Erose in Knox County, when 22-year-old Willie Collett, the son of Preston and Sarah Collett, married Lindima (aka Loedema) Ferrell, the daughter of W M Ferrell and Ellen Ferrell who was 18. William was the first of four Collett siblings to marry into the Farrell/Ferrell family, the other three being sisters Norma and Malvie, and brother Jim (below).

Five years after their wedding day, the census in 1930 recorded the couple and their two children at #242 Blue Hole Creek Road in Red Bird River as Willie Collett who 26 and a general farmer, Loedema (as Louvenia) Collett who was 24, Ford Collett who was five, and Helen who was two years of age. Living right next door in 1930, at #241, was Willie’s father, mother, and four of their younger children, and further along the road at #245, was Willie’s older brother Wilki Collett (above), his wife, their four children, and his mother-in-law.

Ten years after that day, it was the same four members of the family who were again residing at Blue Hole in Clay County in 1940, by which time William Collett was 35 and a farmer, Loedema Collett was 30 and their two children were Ford who was 14, and Helen who was 12. On either side of the family in 1940 were brothers Wilk (above) and Jim (below). It was sometime later, during the 1940s, that the couple adopted two young children to complete their family, perhaps after their own children had left home.

In the 1950 census for Blue Hole Water, Red Bird River, Willie Collett was 48 and a farmer when his wife was Sallie Collett who was 39, when their married son Ford was living nearby. On that day, the two adopted children were described as the stepchildren of Willie Collett. They were Jack Collett aged 11, and Christine Collett who was 10, whose original surname of Eldayea had been scored through. Again, as Willie Collett, he died in Bell County on 8^th July 1974 at the age of 73, and was buried at the Smith Family Cemetery in Ashers Fork, Clay County. Loedema Ferrell Collett, who was born in 1908 at Leslie County, Kentucky, died in 1947 at Blue Hole in Clay County.

43S10

Ford Collett

Born in 1926 at Red Bird River, Kentucky

43S11

Helen Collett

Born in 1929 at Red Bird River, Kentucky

43S12

Jack Collett – adopted

Born in 1938 at Kentucky

43S13

Christine Collett - adopted

Born in 1940 at Kentucky

43R4

Tolman Collett was born at Big Creek, Upper Red Bird, between 1901 and 1903 but, at the time of his death on 4^th April 1956 in Harlan Hospital, he was described as the son of Sarah Asher Collett, whose date of birth was 5^th March 1901. That must have been an error, since his brother William (above) was born on 15^th April 1901. Furthermore, in the Upper Red Bird census returns in 1910 and 1920, he was named in error as Thomas Collett aged seven and 16 years, when living there with his parents Preston Collett and Sarah Collett nee Asher.

Tolman Collett, a miner, married Gladys Gatliff at Highsplint, Harlan County on 9^th March 1926 when he was recorded as 22 with Gladys being only 17 and the child of Jesse and Myrtle Gatliff. The marriage register confirmed he was the son of Preston and Sarah Collett, when one of the witnesses was his older married brother Willie Collett. By 1930 the couple was living at Highsplint where 23-year-old Tolman was a track layer with the local coal mining company, and Gladys was 17 who had already given birth to their first two children, James D Collett aged three, and Ancil M Collett who was one year old. The same census record also stated that Tolman was 18 on their wedding day, and Gladys was 13.

Ten years later the census in 1940 recorded the couple with six children living and working at Kettle Island Camp in Bell County, where Tolman Collett was 35 and a miner with the coal mining company. Gladys was 27, son Jack was 13, Moses was 11, Kathleen was eight, Roy was three, and Jimmie was one year old. Four more children were added to their family during the following decade, with one of them failing to survive beyond three days. He was Oscar Collett, born at Highsplint, Harlan County on 17^th December 1947, who died on 20^th December from congenital heart disease. His death certificate named his parents as Tolman Collett and Gladys Gatliff, with Tolman being the informant of his tragic end of life.

The Highsplint census in 1950 listed the family as follows. Tolman was 48 and employed as a trackman in the business of coal mining, his wife Gladys was 37, when their six children were Kathleen 18, Roy L Collett 13, Jimmie 11, Richard G Collett who was eight, David W Collett ho was six, and Thomas E Collett who was four years of age.

Six years after that day, and upon his passing in April 1956, his death certificate revealed that he was a former trackman with a coal mining company living at Highsplint, who was then buried at Ridgeway-Creech Cemetery in Ridgeway, Harlan County.

43S14

James Douglas Collett

Born in 1927 at Highsplint, Harlan County

43S15

Ancil Moses Collett

Born in 1928 at Highsplint, Harlan County

43S16

Kathleen Collett

Born in 1932 at Kettle Island, Bell County

43S17

Roy L Collett

Born on 09.07.1936 at Kettle Island

43S18

Jimmy R Collett

Born in 1938 at Kettle Island, Bell County

43S19

Richard Gerald Collett

Born in 1941 at Highsplint, Harlan County

43S20

David W Collett

Born on 23.04.1943 at Kettle Island

43S21

Thomas E Collett

Born in 1945 at Kettle Island, Bell County

43S22

Oscar Glen Collett

Born in 1947 at Highsplint, Harlan County

43R5

Nanna Collett (aka Ella) was born at Big Creek, Upper Red Bird in 1904 and the later marriage of Nanna Collett aged 22 and Thomas Slusher who was 45, was recorded at Roark, Clay County on 23^rd May 1925, when the bride’s father was confirmed as Preston Collett, and the groom’s father as Fugate Slusher

43R6

Addie Collett was born at Big Creek, Upper Red Bird in 1906 and was married twice in a very short time. She first married (1) Sherman Sizemore aged 23 at Clay County on 13^th November 1924, when Addie was confirmed as the daughter of Preston Collett and Sarah Asher, with Sherman the son of Grant Sizemore and Haley Baker. Less than three months after that event a plea was received by the authorities from Mr & Mrs Preston Collett of Roark that said “Please let W J Rutledge have a marriage licence for Addie Collett” which was dated 1^st March 1925. Once granted, the marriage of Addie Collett and William J Rutledge took place at Roark in Leslie County on 5^th March 1925. On that day Addie was 19 and her older married brother Willie Collett (above) was one of the witnesses, while William was 40 years old and a widower, the son of William and Lula Rutledge.

43R8

Norma Collett was born at Big Creek, Upper Red Bird in 1909, and it was as Norma Collett, the daughter of Preston Collett and Sarah Asher that, at the age of 22, she married Lewis Ferrell aged 24 the son of Will Ferrell and Nancy Gross, at Erose in Knox County, Kentucky on 15^th July 1930. Six years earlier, Norma’s brother William (above) had married another member of the Farrell/Ferrall family, as did Norma’s younger sister Malvie in 1938, and brother Jim (both below) on the occasion of his second marriage in 1946.

43R9

Anna Collett was born at Big Creek, Upper Red Bird in 1911, another daughter of Preston Collett and Sarah Asher. She was 21 years of age when she was involved in a double wedding ceremony at Gardner in Clay County on 3^rd November 1933. That day Anna Collett married John Jackson who was 19 and a farmer, the son of Alex and Clara Jackson. The parents of Green Jackson, who married Anna’s younger sister Pearl (below) that same day, were Guylie and Liza Jane Jackson, so maybe they were cousins. One of the witnesses to the two marriages was the sisters’ brother P L Collett.

43R10

James Collett was born in 1913 at Big Creek, Upper Red Bird, another son of Preston and Sarah Collett. Jim, as he was known, was married as least twice in his life. The first time, on 15^th December 1933, he was recorded as Jim Collett aged 25 (sic), a farmer, when he married (1) Cordelia Collett, aged 18, the daughter of John and Dora Collett. Six year later the couple was residing at Blue Hole Creek Road in Clay County in 1940, when his wife Candida (Cordelia) was 23. Living with the couple on the farm that they owned, was Jim’s widowed mother Sarah Collett aged 65, who had with her, her younger son P L Collett (below) who was 21 and may having been helping his older brother Jim on his farm.

Two other Collett families were renting the next two adjoining properties, the first of them being Jim’s old brother Willie Collett (above) who was 35 and had living there with him his wife and their two Ford Collett and Helen Collett. Next door to Willie was the much larger family of older brother Wilk Collett (above) who was 43, who had his wife and six children living with him.

Six years later, for the marriage of 33-year-old Jim Collett and (2) Mary Farrell at Manchester in Clay County on 11^th May 1946, the bride was recorded as the daughter of Willie Farrell and Nancy Simpson, when the groom’s parents were confirmed as Preston Collett, deceased, and Sarah Asher. The two witnesses were Hillie Collett and Loedemia Collett nee Farrell, the wife of Jim’s older brother William (above). In addition to the two brothers marrying members of the Farrell/Ferrell family, so too did two of their sisters Norma and Malvie.

Four years after their wedding day James and Mary Collett were 37 years of age, when James was the owner of a company involved in the cutting of timber, perhaps even in partnership with his nephew Walden Collett, 24, the eldest son of Wilkerson (Wilk) Collett, James’ eldest brother. Also, by that time Mary had given birth to two children; Jaunita Collett who was eight, and Preston Collett who was seven years old. Living with the family in 1950, was Sarah Collett, aged 72, James’ widowed mother.

43R11

P L Collett, who is likely to be Pleasant Lee Collett, was born at Big Creek, Upper Red Bird on 6^th July 1913 and died on 13^th October 1987 at Arjay in Bell County from where he made a Social Program Application on 2st October 1975. On each of those occasions he was confirmed as a son of Preston Collett and Sarah Asher.

43R12

Pearl Collett was born at Big Creek, Upper Red Bird on 1^st April 1918 and was 59 when she died at Manchester in Clay County on 6^th September 1977. It was as Pearl Collett Smith that she died when her death record confirmed she was the daughter of Preston Collett and Sarah Asher, had been born on the date above, but at Ashers Fork a couple of miles to the west of Roark in Clay County. Smith was probably the surname of Pearl’s second husband, since it was on 3^rd November 1933 that she married Green Jackson at Gardner in Clay County in a combined wedding ceremony with her older sister Anna (above). The groom the 18-year-old son of Guylie and Liza Jane Jackson, when Pearl was also 18. On that day Anna Collett had married John Jackson who was the son of Alex and Clara Jackson, therefore making Green and John cousins, rather than brothers.

43R14

Malvaria Collett, who was known as Malvie, was born at Big Creek, Upper Red Bird on 24^th August 1922, one of the youngest daughters of Preston Collett and Sarah Asher. Her older siblings, William and Norma, both married members of the Farrell/Ferrell family in 1924 and 1933, respectively, followed by Malvie Collett when she married Oscar Farrell on 9^th September 1938 at Erose, Knox County. His parents were recorded as William Ferrell and Nancy Simpson Ferrell who, six years later, were named as the parents of Mary when she married Malvie’s brother Jim (above) in 1946 as his second wife. On that day, the registration of their marriage confirmed the witnesses were Malvie’s two brothers Jim and Willie Collett. It was as Malvie Farrell nee Collett that she died at Martin in Weakley County, Tennessee on 3^rd November 1999, when her parents were confirmed as Preston Collett and Sarah Asher. The record of her passing, at the age of 77, gave her place of birth as Roark in Clay County.

43R15

Myrtle Collett was born at Big Creek, Upper Red Bird in Clay County on 20^th May 1924. She was the last child born to Preston Collett and Sarah Asher. Tragically, only seven months later, the death of Myrtle Collett was recorded at Clay County after she died at Roark on 8^th October 1925. The informant of her passing was the couple’s very recent son-in-law Thomas Slusher of Roark, the husband of Nanna Collett (above). It is interesting that the record of her infant death stated that her name had been changed from Dora. However, it is worth pointing out that no birth of Dora Collett, daughter of Preston and Sarah Collett exists.

43R16

Emily Collett was born at Bright Shade, Clay County in 1901, the eldest child of Ambrose Collett and Betty Asher who were married during the previous year and had 13 children, although only seven of them have been positively identified to date. Emily was married twice during her life. On the first occasion she was 17 or 18, but recorded as 20 years of age, when she married Isaac Jones who was 34 and the son of W T Jones and his wife whose maiden-name was Cullett (or maybe Collett). Their wedding took place at Moark, Clay County in Arkansas, on 9^th November 1918 when the bride’s parents were named as Ambrose Collett and Betsie Asher. Her later wedding took place at Manchester in Clay County on 20^th January 1954 when, as Emily Jones aged 56 and a widow, she married Jarvis Marcum aged 76, a widower. Emily’s parents were again confirmed as Ambrose Collett and Betsy Asher Collett.

43R18

Preston Collett was born at Bright Shade, Clay County, in 1905 another son of Ambrose Collett and Bettie Asher. He was known as Preston junior, a reference to his father’s eldest brother who was Preston Collett. In 1910 and 1920, Preston junior was living with his family at Upper Red Bird. Upon being married to Mallie Sizemore at Roark on 3^rd August 1926, he was confirmed as the son of Ambrose Collett and Bettie Smith (nee Asher), with Mallie named as the daughter of Everett Sizemore and Ida Bowling. During the previous day, Mallie’s father had authorised the issue of the licence for them to be married. The licence confirmed they were both single, when Preston of Bright Shade was 21 and a farmer, with Mallie aged 19, living in Roark. The minister for the wedding ceremony was William Sizemore and the witnesses were John Asher and Tim Bleadso (Bletsoe). The groom signed the document with the mark of a cross.

Tragically, their life together was cut short when farmer Preston died as the result of an appendicitis at Bright Shade on 19^th January 1929. The informant of the sad event was Roy Sizemore of Roark, when Preston’s parents were confirmed as Ambrose Collett and Bettie Asher. Another record of his premature death states he died at Ashland, Boyd County, Kentucky on 26^th January 1929 at the age of 24, with his death recorded at Roark in Clay County when he was confirmed as a married farmer who was buried at the head of Blue Hole Creek. The death record did not provide his date of birth, or the name of his widow.

43R19

Mallie Collett was born at Bright Shade in 1908, one of the daughters of Ambrose and Bettie Collett. She later married Joe Smith aged 22 and a farmer, when Mallie was 19. He was the son of Darby and Bettie Smith, and they were married at Bright Shade in Clay County on 5^th June 1926. Mallie’s place of birth was Bright Shade and the witnesses were Darby Smith and Preston Collett.

43R20

Golden Collett was born at Bright Shade in the later part of 1910 and certainly after the day of the census day that year. In the Upper Red Bird census of 1920, she was described as deformed and dumb at the age for 10 years and four months. Tragically, she did not survive, and died at Bright Shade on 25^th March 1924, one of the daughters of Ambrose Collett and Betty Asher.

43R21

Lottie Collett was born at Bright Shade in 1912, another daughter of Ambrose and Bettie Collett. When she was 18 years old Lottie married farmer Matt Jackson at Bright Shade on 3^rd December 1930. The groom was 23 and the son of Alex Jackson and Sarah Jane Taylor, with the bride’s parents confirmed as Ambrose Collett and Betty Asher.

43R22

Allen Collett was born at Bright Shade, Clay County, on 12^th December 1917, the youngest son of Ambrose Collett and Bettie Asher. During his life he was believed to be the Reverend Allen Collett, but it was simply as Allen Collett that he died at Knox County, Kentucky on 20^th February 1996. When he completed the WW2 Draft Registration Card at Manchester, Clay County, on 16^th October 1940, he was 22 and attending college, when he named Darby Smith of Bright Shade, his stepfather, as his main point of contact. Four years later Allen Collett was 27 when he married Sophia Sizemore at Erose in Knox County on 27^th December 1944. Sophia was the daughter of Ambrose Sizemore and Easter Mills, with Allen confirmed as the son of Ambrose Collett and Betty Asher.

After a further five years Allen was a married man with three children who had moved to Ohio when the 1950 Census recorded the young family at Riverside Drive, Harrison Township in Montgomery County. On that day Allen was 32 and a machine operator in a motor factory. His wife Sophia was 27, and also from Kentucky, as was their four-year-old daughter Roberta. The couple’s two other children had been born after arriving in Ohio, and they were Allen junior who was two, and daughter Monroe who was born in June 1949. Staying with the family was Martha Smith aged 12 and from Kentucky, the very likely the eldest child of next-door-neighbour Walter Smith, Sophia’s brother, since she was described as niece.

An alternative source suggests that Allen Collett born on 11^th December 1917, was Allen Madson Collett, but he was born at Magoffin County in Kentucky, the son of Rosa May Collett, who died at Garrett in Floyd County, Kentucky, on 6^th March 1987, aged 70.

43S23

Roberta Collett

Born in 1936 at Kentucky

43S24

Allen Collett junior

Born in 1938 at Harrison Township, Ohio

43S25

Monroe Collett

Born in 1939 at Harrison Township, Ohio

43R28

Grant Collett was born in Leslie County during February 1900 and was four months old in the census that year. Sadly, he did not survive and died on 9^th March 1903 aged three years, and was buried in the Pleasant Collett Family Cemetery, the second child of Thomas John Collett and Lucy Mae Asher .

43R29

Chester Collett was born on 10^th October 1901 at Straight Creek, Sims Fork Precincts in Bell County, where his paternal grandparents had been recorded in the 1900 census. He was the eldest surviving son of Thomas and Lucy Collett, and was said to be 10 years old in the Upper Red Bird, Bright Shade, Clay County, census of 1910. Ten years after that day, it was at Lothair in Perry County that recently married Chester Collett was residing with his young wife. Chester was 19 and a coal loader at the local coal mine, when his wife Stella was 16. One property away from their home was the family of John Collett, his wife Ellen, and their four children. The details for that family can be found in the new Part 43 – Other Colletts of Kentucky.

The WW2 Draft Registration Card for Chester Collett of Straight Creek was completed at Cumberland in Harlan County on 16^th February 1942, where he was living and working at the United States Steel Company at the age of 40. Later on in his life, Chester followed his brother Mitchell (below) when he moved to Ohio, where he died at Troy, Miami County on 19^th August 1969.

43R32

Mitchell Collett was born on 17^th July 1909 at Upper Red Bird, Bright Shade, Clay County in Kentucky, the sixth child of (Thomas) John and Lucy Collett. By the time he was ten years of age, he and his family were living at Lothair in Perry County. Mitchell Collett was 21 and living in Louellen when, as the son of T J Collett and Lucy Collett, he married (1) Lula Doughty from Tennessee who was 18 and the daughter of E W Doughty and his wife Mary, on 5^th April 1931 at Closplint in Harlan County. Following being divorced from Lula in early February 1937, Mitchell Collett then married (2) Louetta Lambert Delph at Somerset in Pulaski County in Kentucky on 27^th February 1937. Mitchell was 27 and again confirmed as the son of T J and Lucy Collett, while his bride was 21 and also a divorcee, whose parents were Sam and Mary Lambert. The couple was residing in London, Laurel County, Kentucky prior to their wedding day, where Mitchell’s occupation was that of a linesman. Louetta had been born in Laurel County, with the groom’s birthplace was recorded as Perry County, to where his parents moved after he was born in Clay County.

Their first two children were born when they were still living in Kentucky, but after the arrival of that second child the family moved to Ohio, where they were recorded with two new children in the 1940 census for Staunton Township, part of the City of Troy in Miami County. It was on Jaylis Road South that the family was living that day, when Mitchell Collett was 30 and a labourer in a greenhouse, Louella Collett was 22, and their three daughters were Mary who was four, Shirley who was two, and Barbara who was eight months old. During the next decade two sons were added to the family which, by 1950 was living on Avenue Road in Newton, Miami County.

According to the completed census return that year, Mitchell Collett was 40 years old and recorded as being sick and unable to work. Louella was 32, Mary was 14, Shirley was 12, and Barbara was 10, Stacy was eight, and Samuel was seven years old. It may also have been after the Second World War that Mitchell’s brother Chester (above), followed the family and settled in Troy City, Miami County, where Chester Collett died on 19^th August 1969, where the death of Mitchell Collett was recorded on 27^th April 1983.

Their daughter Shirley was born at London in Laurel County, Kentucky on 9^th October 1937 and died at Troy City on 11^th October 2018 as Shirley Jewel McDowell. Her obituary was published on 14^th October 2018 in Tipp City, Miami County, Ohio. She was confirmed as the daughter of the late Mitchell S Collett and Louella Lambert, with her siblings Mary Gray Collett, Sandra Kay Collett, and Stacy Collett having already passed. She was survived by her sister Barbara Jennings Collett in Florida, and her brother Sam R Collett in Troy, Ohio.

43S26

Mary Collett

Born in 1935 at London, Laurel County

43S27

Shirley Collett

Born in 1937 at London, Laurel County

43S28

Barbara Collett

Born in 1939 at Troy, Miami County, Ohio

43S29

Mitchell Stacy Collett

Born in 1941 at Troy, Miami County, Ohio

43S30

Samuel Roger Collett

Born in 1942 at Troy, Miami County, Ohio

43S31

Sandra Collett

Born in 1950 at Newton, Miami County, Ohio

43R33

De Witt Collett was born on 6^th December 1912 at Red Bird in Whitley County, Kentucky, another son of Thomas and Lucy Collett. At the age of eight years, he and his family were living at Lothair in Perry County, Kentucky. After completing his education, he left the family home, and by 1930 when De Witt was 18 he a boarder at the Harlan County home of the Ettings family from where he was employed as a miner at a nearby coal mine, where head of the household Ed Ettings was also a miner.

On 16^th October 1940, the WW2 Draft Registration Card was completed for De Witt Collett at Hopewell City, Fayette County in Virginia, and included the following personal details. He was 28 and born in Leslie County, where his date of birth was 6^th December 1912, who was residing at 338 South 18^th Avenue in Hopewell with his wife Mrs Hazel Marquerite Collett, from where he was employed by the Hummel-Ross Fibre Corporation. Nearly three years later he entered military service as a private 35709704 at Louisville, Kentucky, on 17^th September 1943 for the duration of the war. At that time in his life he was married, was working as a fireman and had attended one year at high school.

Five years after the war, De Witt, wife Hazel, and their only child Patricia, were living in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan where nearly every adult male named on the 1950 census form were working in the automotive trade. De Witt Collett was 38 and a job setter in an auto factory, Hazel was 31, and Patricia had been born during the month of January that year. The couple remained living in Detroit, where the death of De Witt Collett was recorded on 22^nd April 1972.

On the same Detroit census form in 1950 was Paul Collett aged 21 and a punch press operator at an auto factory, and his wife Eva F Collett who was 22, both members of the Collett family of Kentucky, but so far the direct connection to the family has not been found.

43S32

Patricia D Collett

Born in January 1950 at Wayne County, Mich.

43R35

Thomas Collett, who was known as Tommy and Tommy junior, was born at Hazard City, Perry County in Kentucky on 31^st March 1917 and was 33 years old in the Upper Red Bird, Clay County census of 1950. He was the eighth child of Thomas John Collett and his wife Lucy Mae Asher, and was three years old in the Bell County census in 1920 at Lothair Precinct, and was 14 at Laurel County in 1930 when still living with his family. Tommy Collett junior served with the US military during WW2, having enlisted at Cincinnati on 30^th December 1943. His military record confirmed he was 26 and a married man who, attended grammar school, had miscellaneous unskilled occupations, and held the rank of private.

Three years earlier, Tommy Collett junior aged 23 and the son of Tom Collett senior and Lucy Collett, married Rebecca Harris also 23, the daughter of J A and Louise Harris, at Harlan on 29^th August 1939. While Tommy was single, Rebecca was a divorcee, when the witnesses were Skeet Collett and Lillie Collett. They may have been two older siblings of Tommy, Dewitt and Lizzie, as there appears to be no alternative members of the family that they could be.

Once married, the childless couple settled in Ohio, where they were recorded in the census for Concord Township, Miami County in 1940. Tommy was 23 and a labourer in the construction industry, and Rebecca was also 23. That day they had a lodger staying with them, independent painter Darvin Kindy. Ten years after that census day, the 1950 census recorded them residing at 195 Park Avenue in West Milton, Union Township, Miami County in Ohio, where Tommy Collett junior was 33 and a machinist at an auto parts factory, with Rebecca Collett was 35.

Thomas Collett died on 13^th November 2005 at Franklin, Macon County in North Carolina, when his parents were confirmed as Thomas J Collett and Lucy Asher. That record also stated he had been born at Hazard in Perry County.

43R36

Joseph C Collett was born at Hazard City in Perry County, Kentucky on 19^th August 1922, the last child of Thomas J Collett and Lucy Asher, and was seven years old in the Laurel County census of 1930. Eight years later, an application to the Social Program was submitted with confirmed his date and place of birth, together the names of his parents, when he was recorded as J C Collett, as he was again for a second application dated 14^th January 2005, four days after he had died at Bradenton, Manatee County in Florida. It was on 26^th March 1949 that Jay C Collett aged 26 married Dora Manson aged 19 at Greenup County, Kentucky, when his parents were confirmed as Thomas Collett and Lucy Asher. Jay was already a widower, while Dora was divorced and the daughter of C Bentley and Edna Bentley. One of the witnesses was Jay’s old sister Edna Collett.

43R37

Maude Collett, whose was known as Maudie, was born on 12^th June 1900 at Leslie County and was the first-born child of Wiley Collett and Chloe Napier, sometimes recorded as Clare. She was living with her family at Bad Creek, Leslie County in 1910 and 1920, and was married for the first time shortly thereafter. What is not known are the circumstances under which she gave birth to, what appears to be, eleven children, the older ones living with Maudie’s parents in 1930. They were recorded as Lucy Collett who was ten, Henry Collett who was eight, Golda Collett who was six, Elizabeth Collett who was four, Obel (Opal) Collett who was two, and Lela Collett who was one year old. Just to confuse, Maudie’s parents had linked the children together, as if they were twins, which they were not.

During the next four years, Maudie gave birth to Joe Collett and Ada Collett, those two children living with their Collett grandparents at Bowens Creek Road, Bad Creek in 1940. On that day Maudie’s earlier children were recorded with her parents as Lucy Collett who was 20, Elizabeth Collett who was 14, Opal Collett who was 10, plus the latest arrivals, Joe Collett who was eight, and Ada Collett who was seven years of age. However, just over a year before that day, the second marriage of Maudie Collett and (2) Bristo Bowling was conducted at Creekville in Clay County on 21^st February 1939. The marriage record confirmed that Maudie was 39 and divorced, the daughter of Wiley Collett and Clara Napier. Bristo was 57 and a widower, the son of John Bowling and Fannie Griffin, when the witnesses were Jill Sizemore and Emily (Emley) Collett.

The following year 40-year-old Maudie Bowling and her husband Bristo, who was 57 with no occupation, were living in rented accommodation at #128 Lower Bad Creek in Leslie County on the census day in 1940. Living there with them were three children from Bristo’s previous marriage, and Maudie’s eldest son Henry Collett. He was 18 and a farm hand who was described as the stepson of Bristo Bowling. Living in the adjacent property at #129 Lower Bad Creek was the family of Elmer and Lara Collett with their six children – go to the new Part 43 – Other Colletts of Kentucky.

Whilst no record of Maudie has been found within the census of 1950, some of her children were still living with grandparents Wiley and Chloe Collett that day. For the first time in twenty years, they were recorded in the census for Leslie County under the surname Barrett and were acknowledged as the couple’s grandchildren. Maudie’s first husband was therefore very likely a member of her sister-in-law’s family, the wife of brother Woodard (below) being Blanch Barrett.

Their grandchildren were recorded as Elizabeth Sizemore, formerly Elizabeth Barrett aged 24, Joe Barrett aged 18, Ada Barrett aged 16, Wiley Barrett who was five, Harrison Barrett who was three, and Bernice Barrett who was one year old, with the three youngest children creating another puzzle as they could not have been Maudie’s children born when she would have been 45 to 49 years of age. Her other children, previously recorded with her parents as Collett were Lucy Barrett, Henry Barrett (see below), Golda Barrett, Opal Barrett, and Lela Barrett. Twenty-three years later Maudie Collett Bowling aged 73, died on 15^th November 1973, after which she was buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery in Essie, Leslie County.

43S33

Henry Collett (aka Barrett)

Born in 1922 at Leslie County, Kentucky

43R38

Woodard Collett was born in Leslie County on 24^th May 1902, the second child and eldest son of Wiley Collett and his wife Chloe/Clare. In 1910 and 1920 Woodard was eight and 18 years and living with his family at Bad Creek. At the start of the next decade, on 8^th April 1930, Woodard was a married man, when he and his wife Blanch had three young children with them at #67 Bowens Creek Road, their rented home in Bad Creek, Leslie County. Woodard would have been 28 years of age, but was recorded as being 32, who was a farmer with his own account. Blanch was 30 (instead of 22) and was 15 when she married 17-year-old Woodard, and the couple’s three daughters were Vernie (Verna) who was five, Thelma who was three years and one month, and Fadie (Vada) who was one-month-old. Verna later married to become Verna Shepherd and was not living with her Collett family in 1940, but next door to them in 1930 at #68 Bowens Creek Road was the Shepherd family.

Also residing on Bowens Creek Road in 1930 were five other Collett families, as follows: at #69 was (James) Farmer Collett (Ref. 43R139), at #73 was Elmer Collett (Ref. 43R134), at #74 was Mrs Carly (Carla) Collett wife of Elias Collett (Ref. 43Q11), and her father-in-law John W Collett (Ref. 43P45), at #75 was John L Collett (Ref. 43R135), and at #76 Samuel Collett (Ref. 43Q85), all of them farmers.

By 1940, Woodard and Blanch, and six of their children were living at #110 Bowens Creek Road in Bad Creek. Also on that day, Woodard’s mother-in-law and his brother-in-law were recorded with the Collett family. Head of the household Woodard Collett was 38 and a labourer, while his wife Blanch Collett, nee Barrett, was 32. The eldest of their children was 13 years of age, whose name is not decipherable on the census form. The other five children were Vadie (Vada) Collett who was ten, Alex Collett who was seven, Bergie Collett who was five, Bernard Collett who was two, and Mary Collett who was six months old. Blanch’s mother was 62-year-old Laura Barrett, whose unmarried son Taylor Barrett was 36. Recorded in the same census return but at #112 Bowens Creek Road was Woodard’s parents Wiley and Chloe Collett, with eight of Woodard’s younger siblings.

Another, so far unidentified, branch of the family was also residing at Bowens Creek Road in Bad Creek in 1930, and they were father George Collett at #116, and next door at #117 his married son Reuben Collett with his younger family. Their details can be found in the new Part 43 – Other Colletts of Kentucky.

The WW2 Draft Registration Card for Woodard Collett was completed on 16^th February 1942 at Hyden, Leslie County. At that time in his life, he was residing in Roark, Leslie County, when Blanch Collett of Roark was named as his nearest relative. Curiously, it was seven years later that Woodard and Blanch were formerly married when, on 14^th April 1949 the licence to marry was granted and that same day they were joined in matrimony by Cam Smith, a Justice of the Peace, at Harlan in the State of Kentucky, when the witnesses were Cam Smith, Mr Elmor Middleton, and Mary Lou Hensley. The bride and groom were both residing in Cawood, Kentucky, Woodard being 46 and from Leslie County, and Blanch being 38 and divorced, from Owsley County, Kentucky.

The 1950 Census for Leslie County included Woodard Collett who was 48 and a timber foreman with a lumber manufacturing company. His wife Blanch Collett was 42, when their children were Alex Collett 17, Burga (Bergie) Collett 15, Bernard Collett 12, Mary Collett 10, Oscar Collett who was five, Tinsley Collett who was two years of age. On that day Woodard and his family were living at #92, immediately next to his elderly parents at #93, with his younger married sister Opal Collett Baily at #94.

Woodard Collett died at Essie on 15^th February 1984 aged 82 and was buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery in Essie, Leslie County. After spending the last nine years of her life as a widow, Blanch Barrett Collett died on 25^th March 1993 and was also buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery in Essie. The record of her death also stated that she was born on 22^nd April 1908 at Owsley County in Kentucky.

The couple’s daughter Vada is thought to had been born on 28^th January 1930 at Roark in Leslie County, but was only one month old on 8^th April 1930, the day of the census that year, when she and the family were living at Bowens Creek Road in Bad Creek. On 14^th January 1951 she gave birth to a daughter Loshia Collett whose birth was recorded in Leslie County. Son Alex B Collett was born at Roark on 24^th August 1932 and was 71 when he died and was buried in the Collett graveyard at Bowens Creek Cemetery, Essie.

43S34

Verna Collett

Born in 1925 at Roark, Leslie County

43S35

Thelma Collett

Born in 1926 at Roark, Leslie County

43S36

William Collett

Died on 17.09.1928 at Jacks Creek, Floyd Cty

43S37

Vada Collett

Born in 1930 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43S38

Alex B Collett

Born in 1932 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43S39

Berga Collett

Born in 1935 at Roark, Leslie County

43S40

Bernard Collett

Born in 1937 at Roark, Leslie County

43S41

Mary Collett

Born in 1939 at Hyden, Leslie County

43S42

Oscar Collett

Born in 1945 at Leslie County

43S43

Tinsley Collett

Born in 1948 at Essie, Leslie County

43R40

Stella Collett was born on 4^th February 1906 in Leslie County another child of Wiley and Chloe Collett. She never married and died on 9^th April 1978 at Hoskinson in Leslie County.

43R41

Mallie Collett was born at Leslie County on 30^th March 1908, the fifth child of Wiley and Chloe Collett. Upon being married for the first time she became Mallie Smith and, as such, she gave birth to five daughters. They were Tressie A Smith, Edna Smith, Hazel Smith, Hester Smith, and Betty Smith were born in Clay County on 17^th April 1927, 18^th September 1928, 27^th March 1930, 23^rd September 1934, and 17^th July 1935. She was 63 when her death was recorded at Clay County on 31^st October 1971, but as Mallie Collett Barrett, yet another link between the Collett and Barrett families, after which she was buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery in Essie, Leslie County.

43R42

Harrison Collett was born on 4^th September 1911 in Leslie County and was still living with his parents Wiley and Chloe at Bad Creek in 1930 at the age of 19. Ten years later he was again living in the family home at Bowens Creek Road in Bad Creek, by which time he was a labourer with the W P A Roads Project, although incorrectly recorded as Harrison Collett aged 34, and not 29. That same year, on 16^th October 1940, the WW2 Draft Registration Card for Harrison Collett was completed at Hyden, Leslie County, which confirmed his date and place of birth when he was 30 years old and a single man having no dependents living in Essie, Leslie County but employed by the W P A at Corbin in Laurel County. It was his older brother Mr Woodard Collett who was named as the person who would know his address. After a further two years, it was at Cincinnati in Ohio that he was enlisted for the duration of the war on 25^th June 1942. The document confirmed he was private in the army, having had a grammar school education and having been a general farm.

Upon his return, after the war, Harrison Collett married Daisy Roark at Creekville in Clay County on 2^nd March 1946. The groom was 35 and the son of Wiley Collett and Chloe Napier, and the bride was 22 and the daughter of Lawrence Roark and Bernice Smith. Their wedding ceremony was conducted by Willie Sizemore, with the witnesses being Rebecca Sizemore and Taylor Barrett. Harrison Collett was 72 when he passed away on 8^th September 1983, his last home address being Roark, Leslie County, with his body laid to rest in Bowens Creek Cemetery in Essie.

43R43

Ballard Collett was the last child of Wiley Collett and Chloe Napier. He was born on 24^th October 1913 at Leslie County and, at the age of 25 (sic), he was working with his father on the family’s farm at Bowens Creek Road in Bad Creek in 1940. A few months later, on 16^th October 1940, Ballard completed the WW2 Draft Registration Card at Hyden which confirmed his date of birth as stated above. It also confirmed he was 25 and residing in Roark, Leslie County, where he was self-employed on his father’s farm, Mr Wiley Collett of Roark being the named contact. Ballard signed the form by making the mark of a cross.

He served with the military and it was after peace was declared in Europe that the marriage of Ballard Collett and Bernice Sizemore took place at Manchester in Clay County on 19^th June 1945. Ballard was single and 32, a discharged soldier living in Roark, the son of Wiley Collett and Chloe Napier. Bernice was also single, aged 18, residing in Creekville, the daughter of Willie Sizemore and Rebecca Collett – go to the new Part 43 – Other Colletts of Kentucky for more details of Rebecca Collett. The witnesses to the marriage of Ballard and Bernice were Wiley Collett and Rebecca Collett. The later death of Ballard Collett was recorded on 27^th January 2000 at Leslie County, after which he was buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery in Essie, when his date of birth was recorded as 24^th November 1913 (?).

By the time of the census in 1950, the couple was living in Leslie County with their marriage producing three children. Ballard was 35 and a saw mill worker in the manufacturer of lumber, and Bernice was 22. Their eldest son the Johnnie Collett who was four, their son Owen Collett was born on 17^th December 1947 at Essie, and died during November 1986, and their daughter Geraldine Collett had been born in October 1949.

43S44

Johnnie Collett

Born in 1945 at Essie, Leslie County

43S45

Owen Collett

Born in 1947 at Essie, Leslie County

43S46

Geraldine Collett

Born in 1949 at Essie, Leslie County

43R44

John Collett was born at Marcum, Leslie County on 27^th September 1920, the first-born child of Bradley Collett and Mary Ellen Revis. At the age of thirty, he was still living with his large family, when he was working at a local coal mine in 1950. Eight years prior to that the WW2 Draft Registration Card for John Collett aged 20 (?) was completed at Hyden, Leslie County on 16^th February 1942, when his mother Mary Ellen Collett of Marcum was named as his family contact. No record of him ever being married has been found, while it was of 4^th March 2001 that he died aged 81.

43R45

Grace Collett was born at Marcum on 4^th August 1922 the eldest daughter and second child of Bradley and Mary Ellen Collett. She married Chester Lunsford at Manchester, Clay County, on 29^th March 1954.

43R46

Melvin Collett was another son of Bradley and Mary Ellen Collett who was born at Marcum on 14^th April 1924. On 19^th August 1942 when he was 18, his WW2 Draft Registration Card was filled in at Hyden, Leslie County, which included the name of his father as Bradley Collett of Marcum. Ten years later, he was 28 when he married Jane Sizemore, aged 21, at Stinnett, Leslie County, on 19^th November 1952. Jane was the daughter of Duce Sizemore and his wife Lula Belle Hubbard. Upon his death on 19^th August 1992, Melvin Collett was buried at John Sizemore Cemetery in Jackson County, Kentucky.

43R48

Harris Collett was born at Marcum on 16^th January 1928, and he was 18 years of age when his WW2 Draft Registration Card was completed at Hyden on 22^nd January 1946. The card confirmed he was still residing in Marcum and that his father was Bradley Collett. Harris Collett died on 15^th October 2018 and was buried at Hugh Martin Cemetery in Manchester, Clay County.

43R50

Neil Collett was born on 1^st July 1933 and it was on 26^th May 1956 that he married Ruby Sizemore at Creekville in Clay County, the daughter of Felix Sizemore and Mollie Bowling. It was also in Clay County that he died on 28^th September 2005 at the age of 72, when he was buried at General Bowling Cemetery, Clay County.

43R51

Stanley Collett was born on 11^th July 1935 at Hyden, Leslie County, another child of Bradley and Mary Ellen Collett. He was 70 years old when he died on 29^th December 2005, and was buried at Coffey Cemetery in Egypt, Jackson County, Kentucky.

43R52

Myrtle Collett was born in Lesley County on 18^th April 1937 and was the youngest daughter of Bradley and Mary Ellen Collett. She married (1) Paul Turbyfill at Manchester, Clay County, on 13^th June 1954, and later married (2) George Sizemore in Jackson County Kentucky on 30^th November 1991.

43R54

Jimmy Collett was born at Marcum in Clay County on 5^th October 1941 and was the eleventh and last child born to Bradley Collett and Mary Ellen Revis. Tragically, he was only twenty-five years old when he died on 26^th December 1966.

43R55

Cornelia Collett was born at Marcum on 27^th July 1914 and was the first of the eight known children of Harrison G Collett and Lillie Napier. In the census of 1920 Cornelia was five years and eleven months old and living with her family at Bad Creek in Clay County. By 1930, when she was 16, the family was residing in Laurel County. Within the next three or four years she married Arthur Ledford, who were still living with Cornelia’s family at Goose Rock, Clay County in 1940. Cornelia Ledford was 25, husband Arthur Ledford was 26 and working for his father-in-law on the Collett farm, and by then the couple had three children. They were Alma Ledford who was six, son Murrel Ledford who was four, and Judith Ledford, who was two years old.

In 1950 the expanded family at Laurel County comprised Arthur B Ledford 37, a lineman with the electric company, Cornelia who was 35, Alma who was 16, Murrel who was 14, Judith who was 12, Katherine Ledford who was nine, Jane Ledford who was five, and son Estill H Ledford was two years old.

Seven years earlier, in January 1943, an application was made to the social programme which confirmed Cornelia’s date and place of birth, together with the name of her parents, when she was named as Cornelia Ledford. It also stated that she died on 15^th January 2004 at London in Laurel County. The burial record confirmed the same date of her passing and that, as Cornelia Collett Ledford, she was buried at Collett Cemetery in Laurel County aged 89.

43R56

Cornell Collett was born at Marcum on 29^th February 1916, the second child and eldest son of Harrison and Lillie Collett. By 1940 Cornell was 23 and a lineman with the Electric Company who was still living at the home of his parents in Goose Rock, Clay County. Within the next few months, he became a married man, as confirmed in the WW2 Draft Registration Card that was completed on 16^th October 1940 when 24-year-old Cornell was residing in Louisville, Jefferson County, where he was employed by the Gas & Electric Company. The card confirmed his date of birth, as above, and that his wife was Mrs Lottie Mae Collett of 1468 South Second Street in Louisville.

After nearly two years Cornell enlisted with the US Army at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indiana on 17^th August 1942 when he was described as a semi-skilled lineman and serviceman with the telephone, telegraph, and power company, given the rank of private, who had a grammar school education, and had been born in 1916.

Eight years later he was back from the war and again working as a lineman for a utilities company, by which time he was 34 and living in Laurel County, to where his parents had also moved. That day in 1950 the young family was recorded at Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a tourist camp in Paint Lick, Kentucky, where Lottie M Collett was 32, and their five children were Robert H Collett who was eight, Phyllis A Collett who was five, Billy R Collett who was three, as was daughter Jemmie K Collett, while Mary L Collett had just been born and had no stated age.

Cornell was 89 when he died on 18^th January 2006 as a patient in hospital in Ohio. The record of his death confirmed he was a widower who had resided at 407 East Union Street, the son of Harrison Collett and Lillie Napier. The burial of his body took place at Sims-Brier Cemetery in Old Bath, Franklin County, Indiana.

43S47

Robert Harrison Collett

Born in 1942 at Louisville, Jefferson County

43S48

Phyllis A Collett

Born in 1945 at Louisville, Jefferson County

43S49

Billy R Collett

Born in 1947 at Louisville, Jefferson County

43S50

Jemmie K Collett

Born in 1947 at Louisville, Jefferson County

43S51

Mary L Collett

Born in 1950 at Paint Lick, Laurel County

43R57

Clarence Collett was born at Marcum in Clay County on 14^th October 1917 another child of Harrison and Lillie Collett. It was also at Marcum on 23^rd March 1940 that marriage of Clarence Collett Malva Spurlock took place. His parents were confirmed as Harrison Collett and Lily Napier, with Malva’s parents named as J M Spurlock and Lucy Hacker. In the census that year, the just married couple were staying with Clarence’s parents when he was 22 and working on his father’s farm at Goose Rock in Clay County. His wife Malva Collett was 19.

On 16^th October 1940 at Louisville in Laurel County, Clarence completed a WW2 Draft Registration Card on which the 22-year-old was said to be living at 1470 South First Street in Louisville, when he was an employee of the Louisville Gas & Electric Company at Seventh & Magnolia Street. His date of birth Oct. 14^th appears to have had the year 1917 over-written by 1918. The person named as someone who would always know his address was Mrs Jean Collett of R F D Marcum, who was said to be his wife.

Three years later Malva Spurlock Collett gave birth to daughter Judie E Collett at Louisville, Laurel County on 15^th April 1944. By the time of the next census in 1950, when Clarence was 31 and a supervisor of power lines for an electric company, and Malva was 28, they had three daughters, Judie being the youngest. They were Bennie Ann Collett who was nine and born on 24^th February 1941, Betty Sue Collett who was seven and born on 13^th September 1942, and Judy Emma who was five.

The death of Clarence Collett was recorded at Dayton, Montgomery County in Ohio, on 7^th April 2000 and was buried at Forest Hills Memorial Gardens in Butler Township. His death certificate stated he died in a nursing home when his home address was 5690 Tomberg Road, Huber Heights, Montgomery, Ohio, and his parents were Harrison Collett and Lillie Napier.

43S52

Bennie Ann Collett

Born in 1941 at Laurel County

43S53

Betty Sue Collett

Born in 1942 at Laurel County

43S54

Judy Emma Collett

Born in 1944 at Laurel County

43R58

Laura Collett was born at Marcum on 15^th March 1919, another daughter of Harrison and Lillie Collett. Although the record of her later marriage has not been found, it was as Laura Collett Hacker that she died on 9^th December 2015, and was buried at Laurel River Cemetery in Laurel County.

43R59

Hamp Collett was born at Marcum on 21^st March 1921, another son of Harrison and Lillie Collett. He was eight years old in 1930 when he and his family were living on the Clay County farm purchased by his father. That may have been at Goose Rock where the family was recorded in 1940, when 18-year-old Hamp was working with his father on the farm. Nearly two years later Hamp completed the WW2 Draft Registration Card when he was residing in London, Laurel County, aged 20 and working on his father’s farm, Harrison Collett. Eight months later he enlisted with the US Army as a private at Cincinnati, Ohio, on 27^th October 1942 when he was 21 and a farm hand, having had two years in high school

The big event in his life was his marriage to Blanche Woodhall from Michigan the daughter of James and Ethel Woodhall. Hamp was 23 and a soldier, and Blanche was 27, when they were wed at London, Laurel County on 21^st June 1944. Hamp was confirmed as the son of Harrison and Lillie Collett, while one of the witnesses was Laura Collett, Hamp’s slightly older sister. They were not married for long since, by the day of the census in 1950, Hamp Collett aged 28 and divorced, was once again back home living with his parents, when he was employed by the electric company as electric linemen.

Hamp was still living in Laurel County when he died at the age of 36 on 16^th December 1957, after which he was buried at Collett Cemetery in Laurel County.

43R60

Nancy Collett was born at Marcum on 8^th September 1924 another daughter of Harrison and Lillie Collett. It was on 19^th April 1942, when she was 18, that Nancy Collett and Arnold Langdon, aged 21 and a mechanic, were married at London in Laurel County. Her parents were confirmed as above, while Arnold was the son of John and Delphia Langdon. The two witnesses were her old brothers Clarence and Hamp Collett. As Nancy Collett Langdon, she died on 4^th October 2019 and was buried at Collett Cemetery in Laurel County aged 96.

43R61

Haze Collett was born at Marcum on 12^th October 1925, the youngest son of Harrison and Lillie Collett. Confusingly, he was five years old and 14 years of age in the two census returns for Clay County in 1930 and 1940. After a further seven years the marriage of Haze Collett and Betty Hartnett was conducted at Whitesburg in Letcher County, Kentucky, on 12^th September 1947. Haze was 22, single and an electrician, the son of Harrison Collett and Lillie Napier, and Betty was 35 and a widow, the daughter of Ernest Hood and Clara Forester. From that time forward, he was recorded as Hayes Collett.

Just as happened to his brother Hamp (above), so too had Haze separated from his wife by 1950 when, like his brother, he had returned home to live with his parents once again. By then, as Hayes Collett aged 24, he was working with his brother as an electric lineman with the electricity company. Fourteen years later the death of Hayes Collett aged 37 (sic) was recorded at Madison County, Kentucky, on 14^th July 1964. He was buried at Pine Hill Cemetery in Corbin, Knox County, the son of Harrison Collett and Lillie Napier.

43R62

Cassie Collett was born in Clay County on 27^th June 1927 and was the last child born to Harrison G Collett and Lillie Napier. She was three in the Clay County census of 1930 and was 12 when she and her family were living at Goose Rock, Clay County. By 1950 she was married with two children, when the young family was living on the Collett farm in Laurel County. Cassie H Hampton was 22 and her husband was Lawrence Hampton aged 29 and a foreman lineman with the electric company. Their their daughter Gloria J G Hampton was three, and their son Philip L Hampton was one year old.

Cassie Collett Hampton died on 31^st December 2020 and was buried at the Lakeside Memorial Gardens in Somerset, Pulaski County, Kentucky at the age of 93. Her obituary was published on 5^th January 2021 and revealed that she passed away while at Cumberland Nursing & Rehabilitation Center and was survived by daughter Gloria Hampton Parsley and husband John of London, Kentucky, and son, Phillip Lawrence Hampton and wife Florence of Somerset, Kentucky, five grandchildren, and seventeen great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Lawrence Hampton, her granddaughter, Scarlett Catherine Parsley Hooker and husband Jonathan, her parents, Harrison and Lily Napier Collett, and her seven older siblings.

43R63

Fred Collett was born at Asher in Leslie County, Kentucky on 1^st June 1917 and was the eldest child of Arthur Collett and Frances Morgan, who are known to have had at least seven children, although only four of the seven have so far been identified. During his life he was married to (1) Nora Brock, (2) Polly Joyce Morgan, and (3) Etta Mae Cress and he died on 22^nd June 2010. By 1940, and at the age of 22, Fred Collett was the head of one of three Collett families residing in Roark, Leslie County. At #151 Fred and his wife Nora aged 18 had two children with them, daughter Delaware Collett who was one year old, and Sill Collett who was three months old, when Fred was employed by the W P A as a labourer. Next door, at #150, was Francy (Frances) Brock, wife of William Brock, and the former widow of Arthur Collett (Ref. 43Q22) Fred’s mother, while at #148 was Theo Collett (Ref. 43Q31) Fred’s uncle.

43S55

Delaware Collett

Born in 1938 at Laurel County

43S56

Sill Collett

Born in 1940 at Laurel County

43R64

Emanuel Collett was born at Asher in Leslie County on 31^st December 1918, a son of Arthur and Frances Collett. The US Draft Registration on 16^th October 1940 confirmed he was still living with his mother in Asher, Leslie County, his next-of-kin Mrs Frances Brock, when he was 21 and having no job of work. His father had died when Emanuel was eight years old, after which his widowed mother had married William Brock. On the 8^th April 1941 at Fort Thomas, Newport County, Kentucky, he was an enlisted man having the rank of private, his military record confirming he had attended grammar school and having been a farm hand working on a general farm, and that he was single without dependents. The Leslie County census in 1950 identified Emanuel Collett as being 31 years of age and married to Edna, with whom he already had three children by then. He was a farmer, when the couple’s three children were Edmond Collett who was three years old, Alfred Collett who was two, and Dexter Collett who had been born during July 1949, and was nine months old. He was a veteran of the Second World War and died as Asher on 10^th September 1979 at the age of 60, and was buried in Pleasant Collett Family Cemetery.

43S57

Edmond Collett

Born in 1947 at Asher, Leslie County

43S58

Alfred Collett

Born in 1948 at Asher, Leslie County

43S59

Dexter Collett

Born in 1949 at Asher, Leslie County

43R65

Corbett Collett was another of the seven children of Arthur and Frances Morgan (known as Francy) who was born Asher, Leslie County, on 16^th March 1920, and was six years old when his father died. All records found for him so far having used the spelling of his christian name as Corbit. By the time he was 21 according to the WW2 Draft Registration Form he was still living at Asher, although by that time, his next-of-kin was recorded as Francy Brock of Asher, indicating that his widowed mother had remarried. The draft form confirmed his date of birth as reported above, and also stated that he was missing two fingers of his right hand.

One year after the end of the Second World War the marriage of Corbett Collett, aged 25, and Oprah Muncy, aged 21, took place at Harlan, Kentucky on 9^th March 1946. Corbett was confirmed as the son of Arthur Collett and Francy Morgan, and Oprah as the daughter of R E Muncy and Nancy Griffith. By the day of the Leslie census of 1950, Oprah had given birth to two daughters, Shari-Lynn Collett who was three, and Joan who had been born during August the previous year, so was around eight months old. Their father, Corbit (sic) Collett, was 29 and had a farm, while his wife was incorrectly recorded as Orpha Collett aged 22. In 1950 Corbett’s home was at #43, when their immediate next-door neighbour was William Brock, a farmer aged 53, whose wife was Frances (Francy) Brock aged 52 and the former husband and widow of Arthur Collett, Corbett’s parents.

It was at Asher that Corbett Collett died on 16^th April 1998 at the age of 78, with an alternative source claiming the same date, but with his death recorded at Perry County in Kentucky, some miles to the east of Asher. The informant of his death perhaps did not know his date of birth, as it was recorded as 15^th November 1920. Another government document reports that Corbett Collett (his son) was residing at Mozelle in Leslie County from June 1998 until March 2002.

Many other members of the Collett family were living close by the family of Corbett Collett at #43 in 1950, and they were:

at #40 - farmer Emanuel Collett (Ref. 43R64) and his family, son of Francy (below); at #41 – Clarence Collett (Ref. 43R67), his wife Nettie and their three children; at #42 – farmer William Brock, his wife Francy (Ref. 43Q22), Corbett’s widowed mother; at #50 – married teacher Earl Homer Collett (Ref. 43S85), the son of Elmer (below), and; at #53 – farmer Elmer Collett (Ref. 43R134) and his large family

43S60

Shari-Lynn Collett

Born in 1947 at Leslie County

43S61

Joan Collett

Born in 1950 at Leslie County

43S62

Corbett Collett junior

Born after 1950

43R67

Clarence Collett was born at Asher, Leslie County on 30^th November 1923, another son of Arthur Collett and Frances Morgan, with his birth record confirming his mother’s maiden-name as Francie Morgan. His father died when Clarence was two years old, and was six years of age in the 1930 census when he was staying with Joe Collett and his wife Dorkus at their home in Bad Creek at 63 Middle Four Road. By 1940, Clarence was 16 in the Roark, Leslie County, census that year when he was living with his remarried mother Frances Brock at the home of his stepfather William Brock.

On 30^th June 1942, at Libby in Lincoln County, Montana, the WW2 Draft Registration Card for Clarence Collett was completed when he was 18 and living and working at Warland in Lincoln County, the son of Mrs Francy Brock of Asher, Kentucky. As a result of that, he entered military service as a private on 12^th March 1943 at Fort Thomas in Newport County, Kentucky. The same record revealed he had a grammar school education, that his civilian occupation was in general farming, and was he was single without dependents. Three years later Clarence Collett aged 22 and the son of Arthur Collett (deceased) and Frances Morgan, married Nettie Mosley aged 15 and the daughter of Bige Mosley and Mary Napier, on 28^th January 1946 at Asher, Leslie County.

The early years of the married life produced three children for Clarence and Nettie, all of whom were recorded in the Leslie County census of 1950. Clarence Collett was 24, with no occupation, when Nettie Collett was 19, and their three children were Janice Collett who was three, and sons Bobby Collett who was one year old, and Clifford Collett who was three months old and born in January 1950. Their last child was born thirteen years after that census, although there may have been other children born to the couple during the intervening years.

Clarence Collett was 59 and residing in London, Laurel County in Kentucky, when he died on 15^th July 1983 and was buried at the Will Osborne Cemetery in London. The record of his passing gave his date of birth as 23^rd November 1923, which was also the date recorded in the WW2 Draft Card, as opposed to 30^th November 1923 upon the registering of his birth.

43S63

Janice Collett

Born in 1946 at Leslie County

43S64

Bobby Collett

Born in 1948 at Leslie County

43S65

Clifford Collett

Born in 1950 at Leslie County

43S66

Arthur Collett

Born in 1963 at Leslie County

43R68

Troy Collett was born at Asher in Leslie County on 1^st April 1926, the seventh son of Arthur and Frances Collett. As a result of the death of his father when Troy was less than four months old and his mother’s subsequent marriage to Willie Brock, Troy was raised by his mother and stepfather until he was 15 years of age. At that time in his life Troy was not honest about his actual age and joined the Civilian Conservation Corps and worked on Mammoth Cave. He was still in his teenage years when he married (1) Ruth Muncy and although that the marriage produced a son Ross Collette who was born in 1944, soon after Troy abandoned his wife and their son, when he took a second wife after arriving in Ohio.

It was there that he married (2) Opsie H Couch who was also born at Leslie County. Once married the couple moved back to Leslie County where their seven children were born, although only the three listed below are known at this time. Troy’s occupation at that time in his life was that of a coalminer. Troy’s son Corbett was named after his brother, about whom nothing is currently known.

In 1964 Troy was crushed in the coal mine, resulting in a broken back and leg, plus his left lung was punctured by one of his ribs. His fighting spirit helped him to recover and even to regain his ability to walk using crutches despite being informed that he would never walk again. He was however, paralysed from the waist down and four years later the family moved to London in Laurel County, Kentucky in 1968, where Troy lived until he passed away on 19^th February 2003. Two years earlier in 2001, Troy Collett was residing at 2091 Somerset Road in London, Kentucky. According to one internet source he was related to Benjamin Collett who is most likely his grandson Benjamin Wesley Collette, the son of Troy’s son Denver Collette, who has been researching the family tree.

43S67

Ross Collette

Born in 1944 at Leslie County

The following are the children of Troy Collett by his second wife Opsie H Couch:

43S68

Corbett Leonard Collette

Born in 1946 at Leslie County

43S69

Mary Helen Collette

Born in 1948 at Leslie County

43S70

Nancy Sue Collette

Born in 1950 at Leslie County

43S71

Betty Collette

Born in 1952 at Leslie County

43S72

Dwayne Collette

Born in 1954 at Leslie County

43S73

Denver Collette

Born in 1956 at Leslie County

43S74

Glenda Carol Collette

Born in 1959 at Leslie County

43R69

Shelby Collett was born at Bad Creek in Leslie County on 20^th February 1915 and was the eldest of the five children of Wiley Collett married Emily Asher. For the census in 1920 the family was living at Bad Creek Road where, as simply Shelby Collett, he was five years of age, and was still there aged 15 in 1930. Shelby and his three brothers were all living at the family home in Leslie County, when they were all working as farm labourers, as was their father.

The US WW2 Draft Registration Card, completed by Shelby Collett at Louellen in Harlan County on 8^th October 1945, gave his father as his next-of-kin, who was confirmed as Wiley Collett. It was just after the war that Shelby Collett, a bachelor aged 30, married Ruby Brock, a divorcee at 21, at Wallins Creek in Harlan County on 9^th February 1946. Shelby’s parents were again confirmed as Wiley Collett and Emily Asher, with Ruby’s parents named as Kale Brock and Nancy Brunnett, with Nancy Brock and Ben Brock being the two witnesses. After they were married, they settled in Highsplint Mines where the childless couple was residing in 1950. Shelby Collett was 35, and Ruby Collett was 24, with Shelby employed as a coal loader for the Coal Mining Company.

Shelby Collett who was born on 20^th February 1915, died on 15^th February 1983 just five days short of his 68^th birthday, with his passing recorded at Harlan County. His last residence was in Lejunior, Harlan and he was buried at Evarts Memorial Gardens in Kildav, Harlan County, where his brother McKinley Collett (below) was buried eight years later.

43R70

McKinley Collett was born at Bad Creek on 12^th February 1918, another son of Wiley and Emily Collett. On the day of the Bad Creek census in 1920, McKinley Collett was two years and two months old, was 13 in 1930 at Bad Creek Road, and was 23 in 1940, a farm labourer. The next record in his life was the WW2 Draft Registration Card completed on 8^th October 1940 at Harlan County, in which his date of birth was confirmed as above, he was residing at Louellen in Harlan County, and his father was Wiley Collett also living in Louellen. Under employer was written ‘demobilization’.

It was on 15^th June 1946 when McKinley Collett married Opal Miracle at Harlan, when he was 29 and the son of Wiley Collett and Emily Asher, and she was 21, the daughter of Cecil Miracle and Betsy Ann Hoskins. When asked where he was born, McKinley replied in error, Helton, where his parents had been living in 1942. By 1950 the childless couple was recorded at Highsplint Field in Harlan, where McKinley was 33 and a miner at the local coal mine, and Opal was 25. His brother Shelby (above) was also living and working there in 1950. He was still residing in Harlan County when he died on 15^th February 1991 at the age of 73, after which he was buried at Evarts Memorial Gardens in Kildav, Harlan, where brother Shelby was buried in 1983.

Sometime after the day of the census in 1950 it seems highly likely that Opal gave birth to a son. Although no proof has been found to confirm this, it was in July 1998 that a McKinley Collett was residing at Lejunior in Harlan County, where Shelby Collett (above) was living prior to his passing in 1983.

43R71

Millie Collett was born on 11^th February 1920 at Bad Creek, the only daughter in a family of sons, of Wiley and Emily. She was born after the census day that year but was recorded in error in 1930 as being 11 years of age, instead of 10. After a further ten years she was married and recorded as Millie Sandlin in her father’s WW2 Draft Registration Card, the family contact who would know his address. Her son Donald Ray Sandlin was born on 13^th February 1943 at Perry County, and he later married Vada Lee Sumner on 11^th October 1968 at Clintwood, Dickenson County in Virginia. Donald was the son of Oman Sandlin and Millie Collett, and Vada was 19 the daughter of Leonard Sumner and Bernice Combs.

The daughter of Oman Sandlin and Millie Collett, Ruby Nell Sandlin, was born at Knott County on 14^th February 1945. It was on 1^st June 1963 at Clintwood, Dickenson County that she married 20-year-old Carlow Bill Scalf the son of Bill Scalf and Edna Mae Marcum. Sadly, Millie suffered a premature death and died two years after the birth of her daughter, at Perry County on 17^th August 1947, her death recorded as Millie Collett Sandlin, who was buried at Laurel Point Cemetery at Buckhorn aged just 27.

43R72

Richard Collett was born on 8^th September 1922 at Asher in Leslie County, another son of Wiley and Emily Collett. By 1930 his family was living at Bad Creek where Richard was nine years of age in that year’s census, and on completing his schooling he was 18 and a labourer working on a farm in 1940. During the 1940s Richard was married three times, all three ending in divorce. The first of them took place on 7^th April 1943 at Louellen in Harlan County when Richard married (1) Peggy Jump who was 17 and the daughter of John Jump and Ethel Bennon, when Richard was 22, the son of Wiley Collett and Emily Asher.

Two years after that day the second marriage of Richard Collett with (2) Elsie Mae Russell took place at Coldiron in Harlan County on 12^th September 1945 when he was 23 and a divorcee, and she was 16, single, and the daughter of Daniel Russell and Cassie Brock. After another two years, and following their divorce, Richard from Asher, who was living at Lejunior in Harlan County, married (3) Lenora Kelly at Harlan on 8^th March 1948, when he was divorced at the age of 25 and she was single and 17. Lenora was the daughter of George Kelly and Florence McVey. They were subsequently divorced and in 1950 Richard Collett was living at Harlan with his married and divorced brother Charlie (below). Both gave inflated ages when they said they were 35 and 30, when they were 27 and 25, when neither of them had a job of work. Richard Collett died on 25^th May 1995 at Bell County and was buried at the Scalf Howard Cemetery in Barbourville, Knox County, Kentucky.

43R73

Charlie Collett was the fifth and last child born to Wiley James Collett and Emily Asher, who was born at Asher in Leslie County, on 25^th December 1924. He was seven and 15 years old and a farm labourer respectively in the Bad Creek census returns for 1930 and 1940, when living there with his family. Shortly after that census day, young Charlie was married (1) but was divorced by 1950. The same thing had happened to his brother Richard (above) and, on the day of the census in 1950, they were living together at Harlan as two divorcees, when Charles Collett was unemployed at the age of 30 (sic).

It is established that later that same year Charlie married (2) Betty Rae Webb with their wedding recorded at Harlan County, although two dates were recorded for the event on 18^th November 1950 and later on 20^th November 1952. For the first of those dates, it was his brother Richard Collett who was one of the witnesses, but across the completed form were the words “Do Not Publish” The details included on the form were that Charlie, from Asher in Leslie County, was divorced at the age of 26 and unemployed, that Betty was 16, both residing at Evarts in Kentucky – where Betty had been born, the offspring of Wiley Collett and Emily Asher, and Floyd Webb and Alice Cloud.

The reason it was stopped, was because Betty was already married, as confirmed on the marriage certificate for the second date, when she was also referred to as divorced. All of the other details from the first date were the same, except the witnesses, who were completely different, when Charlie was 28 and Betty was 18. Less than two years later Charlie and Betty were divorced and on 18^th March 1954 Charlie Collett married (3) Anna Lou Abbott at Harlan, when he was unemployed at the age of 29, and Anna was a widow aged 19. As with the two earlier records, the bride and the groom were residents of Evarts in Harlan County, when Anna’s parents were named as Lucian Patrick and Ruth Grave.

When Charlie Collett died on 12^th November 2003 at the age of nearly 79, he was living at Lejunior in Harlan County, when his parents were again confirmed as Wiley Collett and Emily Asher. His body was then laid to rest at Mountain Home National Cemetery in Washington County, Tennessee.

43R74

Dewey Huy Collett was born at Asher, Leslie County, on 1^st June 1925. He was the eldest of the five children of Shelby Collett and his second wife Martha who were unable to be married before he was born because they were not divorced from their previous spouses. He was four years of age in the 1930 census when the family was living on Big Branch Road in Beech Fork, Leslie County. By 1940 the family was recorded at Middle Fork in Asher where Dewey Collett was 15 and not credited with having an occupation. Just over two years, on 4^th December 1942 at Hyden in Leslie County, the WW2 Draft Registration Card was completed for him, which gave the year of his birth as 1924 when he was 18 and unemployed, the son on Shelby Collett of Asher.

During the next ten years Dewey was married three times, twice in one year. The first took place at Harlan in Harlan County on 22^nd April 1947, when 21-year-old Dewey H Collett married (1) Dona Hubbard who was 18 and the daughter of Carlo Hubbard and May Napier. Dewey was living in Louellen at that time, when his father Shelby Collett and Dona’s father were the witnesses. Almost exactly seven months later, having divorced Dona, the marriage of Dewey H Collett, aged 22, and (2) Bessie Collett was also conducted at Harlan on 21^st November 1947. Bessie was 16 and the daughter of Chester Collett and Mollie Brock. Dewey was still living in Louellen, where he was employed as a truck driver. The witnesses at the wedding were Chester Collett and Jno (John) Collett. Who they were, and how Bessie may have been related to Dewey has still to be resolved.

Four years later, divorced for a second time, but still a resident of Louellen, Dewey Collett married (3) Janice Loyd at Jonesville in Lee County, Virginia on 8^th January 1952. Dewey was 26 and described as a truck driver from Asher, while 16-year-old Janice was the daughter of Joe Loyd and Charity Lowe who had also been living in Louellen before that day. It would seem, that they had run away together to be married, since no family member acted as a witness. No evidence has been found to indicate that any children were born from the first two three marriages, while there were two born children from the third, with neither surviving.

The birth of David Collett happened on 13^th December 1952, when Dewey and Janice were living at Lejunior in Harlan County. Tragically, four days later he died on 17^th December, his death recorded as Sheilds in Harlan County by his grandfather Joe Loyd, when premature delivery was the cause of his loss of life. David’s little body was laid to rest at Louellen Cemetery, Harlan County. Fifteen months later, Janice gave birth to Fort Worth Collett on 29^th March 1954 at Red Bird Hospital in Beverly, Bell County, where he died one day old. The informant of his death was his father Dewey Collett, when tracheal obstruction and inability to cough, was the cause of death. He was buried at Upper Jacks Creek in Roark when the funeral director was Charlie Collett of Roark. Dewey Huy Collett was 71 years old when he died in Fayette County on 15^th March 1997, after which he was buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery in Essie, Leslie County. Fourteen years prior to his passing, it was recorded that Dewey H Collett, also known as Dewey Collett, born during June 1925, was a resident in the town of his birth, when he was living at Asher in 1983.

43R76

Rufus Collett was born at Asher in Leslie County on 14^th June 1930, another son of Shelby and Martha Collett. He was still single and living with his family at Louellen in Harlan County, a coal mining town, where Rufus was 20 in 1950 and a coal loader for the coal mining company. Less than three years later his marriage certificate stated he was 22 single and a truck driver and living at Louellen. It was on 31^st January 1953 at Closplint in Harlan County that Rufus Collett married divorcee (2) Martha Blevins aged 24 and from High Splint, the daughter of Jim Blevins and Roxie Cawood.

After a further ten years Rufus Collett, son of Shelby and Martha of Essie, married (2) Carolyn Ethel Collett (Ref. 43Q43) at Jonesville, Lee County in Virginia on 23^rd March 1964. He was 33 and unemployed, and stated that he had not been married prior to this. Carolyn (1941-2005) was 22 and the daughter of John Robinson Collett and Nettie Whitehead of Essie, from whom he was later divorced. From 1987 until 2003 Rufus resided at Hoskinston in Leslie County, with his death recorded at Lexington, in Fayette County, Kentucky, on 25^th October 2003 at the age of 73. His body was then laid to rest at Bowens Creek Cemetery in Essie, Leslie County.

43R79

Polly Collett was born at Asher in Leslie County on 5^th June 1941, one of the daughters of Shelby and Martha Collett. As Polly Collett Hill she died at Stinnett in Leslie County on 24^th May 1998 at the age of 56 and was buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery in Essie, Leslie County. She was 19 on 24^th October 1960 when she married (1) Billy Ray Pruett at Jonesville, Lee County in Virginia as the daughter of Shelby and Martha Collett. Billy was 21 and a candy factory worker from Alabama, the son of E C Pruett and Thirsie Speggle, living at 1647 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago. At that time in her life, Polly was working as a machine operator, whose place of birth was recorded as Hyden in Leslie County, when she was residing at 1638 West Jackson Boulevard in Chicago.

On being married for a second time, she became Polly Sizemore, as confirmed in the Social Program in March 1970, while it was twenty-two years after that when Polly Collett Sizemore married (3) Clyde L Hill at Leslie County on 25^th July 1992.

43R80

Ruby Collett was the last child of Shelby Collett and his wife Martha, and was born at Asher in Leslie County on 9^th April 1945. Curiously, a second birth record has been unearthed, which says she was born on 10^th April 1945 as Dorothy Ruby Collett, daughter of Martha Collett. Although no record of a marriage has been found, upon her passing on 24^th March 2008 she was referred to as Ruby Collett Collett when she was buried at Collett Cemetery in Essie, Leslie County. Her last residence was in Roark, Leslie County. During the 1960s two children’s births were recorded at Clay County when the mother was named as Ruby D Collett. They were daughter Laura Faye Collett born on 2^nd December 1964, and Ernest Dean Collett who was born on 21^st May 1968.

43R82

Roy Burton Collett was the second child of Leander Morton Collett and Delora Langdon and was born on 4^th January 1921 at Bowens Creek, Leslie County who, in November 1940, was living at Palm Bay, Brevard County in Florida. The Social Program Application made on that date confirmed that he was a son of Leander M Collett and Lora Langdon. It was on 21^st October 2000 at the age of 79 that he died.

43R83

Marie Collett was born on 19^th June 1922 at Hyden, Leslie County, the third child of Leander and Delora Collett. Early in her life she was married on two occasions and for her third wedding she was referred to as Marie Koolger. That took place on 13^th May 1950 at Webster Township, Wayne County, Indiana, when Marie Koolger married Robert George Portchartrain from Dayton, Ohio. The record of their marriage confirmed that Marie was 28 and residing at Daytona, where she was undertaking clerical work, when her parents were named as L M Collett (deceased) and Lora Langdon residing at Hyden. In addition, her date of birth was confirmed as stated above, and that her two previous marriages had ended in divorce on (1) 23^rd June 1945, and on (2) 11^th October 1949.

43R84

Clarence Ray Collett was born on 21^st March 1925 when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Langdon, another son of Leander and Delora Collett. His birth at Manchester was recorded at Clay County and by 1930, when Clarence was four years of age (sic), he and his family was residing at Artemus Road in Artemus, Knox County, Kentucky. After another ten years, the family was living at Rock House Highway 80 in Hyden, Leslie County, when once again an incorrect age was given to the census enumerator, with Clarence said to be only 12 years old instead of 15. He was 18 years old when the WW2 Draft Registration Card was completed at Hyden on 2^nd March 1943, when his mother was named as Lora L Collett of Hyden.

It was on 6^th June 1950 at Webster Township in Wayne County, Indiana, just after the census day that year, that Clarence Collett, son of Leander Collett (deceased) and Laura L Collett, married Connie L Conley. Their application for a marriage licence confirmed that Clarence, born at Clay County on 21^st March 1925, was a shop worker residing in Dayton, Ohio, the son of Leander Collett deceased. For the question “Is this your first marriage?” Clarence answered yes. This is another fact that separates Clarence Ray Collett from Clarence Collett (Ref. 43R67) the son of Arthur Collett and Frances Morgan.

Connie Conley was born on 31^st March 1926 at Paintsville, Johnson County, Kentucky, the daughter of Brooks Conley and Laura Alice Meade. Thirteen months after their wedding day, Connie gave birth to the couple’s first child, when their daughter Brenda Kay Collett was born on 25^th July 1951 at Dayton, Ohio. Brenda was married three time and was recorded as (1) Brenda Kay Meneley in 1969, as (2) Brenda Kay Combs in 1971, and finally as (3) Brenda Kay Jewett whose death was recorded 15^th June 1991.

The death of Clarence Ray Collett was recorded at London in Laurel County, Kentucky on 17^th March 2002, when his date of birth was confirmed as written above, the son of Leander Collett and Laura Langdon. His body was laid to rest at A R Dyche Memorial Park in London.

43S75

Brenda Kay Collett

Born on 25.07.1951 at Dayton, Ohio

43R87

James Mahlon Collett was born at Hyden in Leslie County on 23^rd September 1934. His Social Program Application was made during June 1951 when he was living at London, Laurel County in Kentucky, when his parents were confirmed as L M Collett and Lora L Langdon. He died in March 1990.

43R89

Ray Collett was born at Asher, Leslie County in 1923, the second of the five children of Theo Collett and his wife Susie. In the Bad Creek census of 1930, Ray Collett was seven years of age and was 17 in 1940. Nine years after that census day mechanic Ray Collett married Dorothy Vanover on 20^th June 1949 at Harlan, when he was 23 (sic) and she was 21 the daughter of Luther Vanover and Rosana Kellar. Just after their wedding day the couple moved into the property immediately adjacent to Ray’s parents, as recorded in the Leslie census of 1950. At that time in his life Ray was also working at the local mill where his father worked, with Ray being 25 and a mill mechanic for the same lumber manufacturing company. His wife Dorothy was 20, and daughter Anna M Collett was just three months old having been born during February 1950.

43S76

Anna M Collett

Born in 1950 at Leslie County

43R95

Pleasant Lee Collett was the eldest of the eight children of Robert Collett and Dora Roberts and was born on 3^rd December 1917 at Clay County in Kentucky. It was as P L Collett aged 22, a farmer of Gardner in Kentucky, and born at Clay County, that he married Daisy Roark at Roark in Leslie County on 19^th June 1940, when the groom’s parents were confirmed as Robert and Dora Collett. His bride was 21 and the daughter of Lawrence and Vernis Roark. Although both were single, only two months earlier, in the April census of 1940, P L Collett was living next door to his large family when he was 23 and a widower. Later that year, on 16^th October 1940, the WW2 Draft Registration Card for Roark gave his date of birth as 3^rd December 1917, the son of Robert Collett, and employed by A T Crocket at Pineville in Bell County, Kentucky.

43R96

Boyd Collett was born at Roark, Leslie County in 1920, the second child of Robert and Dora Collett. On 24^th November 1944 Boyd married Leota Quisenberry at Greenup, Kentucky, when he was 24 and his bride was 23 and the daughter of Ferris Quisenberry and Ruby Freeman. Boyd’s place of birth was recorded as Roark in Kentucky but, at that time, he was residing in Dayton, Ohio, when his bride was born, and was still living, in Greenup.

43R97

Pearl Mae Collett was born at Hyden, Clay County, on 17^th March 1923, the eldest daughter and third child of Robert and Dora Collett. In the census of 1940 for Red Bird River in Clay County, Pearl was 17 and the wife of Warren Roark who was 19 who, together with their nine-month-old daughter Wanda Roark, were living with Pearl’s parents. It was during December 1951 that Pearl Mae Roark submitted a Social Program Application when her parents were named as Robert L Collett and Dora M Roberts. As Pearlie Mae Roark, her death was recorded during July 1978.

43R98

Matthew Collett was another son of Robert and Dora Collett who was born at Clay County on 27^th January 1926. The later marriage of Matthew Collett and Doris Jo Lyons took place at Greenup in Kentucky on 20^th March 1948, when Matthew was 22, when Doris was 20. Matthew was recorded as born at Pineville who was residing at Argillite in Greenup County, where Doris was also living, the daughter of Proctor R Lyon and Ethel Hayes, when Matthew’s parents were confirmed as Robert Collett and Dora Roberts. Matthew was still living in the Greenup area when he died during the month of September in 1979.

43R99

Margorie Collett was born in 1929 at Clay County, the fourth child of Robert and Dora Collett. Upon being married to George Sizemore, aged 21, at Manchester in Clay County on 13^th July 1943, when Margorie was recorded as being fifteen years of age, the daughter of Robert Collett and Dora Roberts Collett who was born at Clay County. George was a railroad worker from Clay County, but living at Bradford, Ohio, the son of Robert Sizemore and Martha Estes. The witnesses at the wedding were Marjorie’s brother Boyd Collett (above), and her mother Dora Collett.

43R101

Jewel Collett was born at Roark, Leslie County, on 2^nd April 1934, another daughter of Robert Collett and Dora Roberts. A Social Program Application as made in September 1968 when she was residing in Manchester Clay County, by which time she was referred to as Jewel Collett Sizemore. It was also with that name she died on 28^th April 2004, a daughter of Robert Collett and Dora Gray, indicating that her mother had remarried after the death of her father.

43R104

Nora Mae Collett was born at Upper Red Bird, Clay County during 1921, the daughter of Ingram Collett and Sallie Asher. On 1^st August 1938 she married John Sizemore at Roark in Leslie County, when he was 22 and the son of Bob Sizemore and Martha Eastslip.

43R105

Stanley Collett was born at Upper Red Bird in 1924, the son of Ingram and Sallie Collett. He was 24 when the marriage of Stanley Collett and Leona Williams took place at Flat Lick, Knox County on 30^th October 1948. He was confirmed as the son of Ingram and Sallie Collett, and Leona aged 17 the daughter of Dan H Williams and Wealthy Epperson.

43R106

Asher Collett was born at Upper Red Bird in 1926, another son of Ingram and Sallie Collett. He was 22 when he married 17-year-old Billie Jean Stewart on 1^st September 1948 at Pineville in Bell County. Billie was the daughter of Dan Stewart and Mattie Hibbard. On that day the couple was residing in Barbourville, where Billie had been born, and where Asher was working in the trucking business.

43R130

Birchell Collett was born at Hayden, Bad Creek in Leslie County during 1906 and as Birchell Collette he was four years old in the census of 1910 when living with his parents George and Elizabeth Collett. He later married Mollie Asher and their son was born at Harlan (to the south of Hyden) in Kentucky during May 1929, all three of them living at Bad Creek in Lesley County in 1930. The census conducted on 3^rd April listed the family as: Burchell Collett, a farmer of 23, who was married at 21 and was renting the family home at $5 a month; his wife Mollie Collett was 31 and first married at the age of 17, Burchell being her second husband; and their son Junior Collett who was only eleven months old. Living six properties from that Collett family was the family of farmer Lillie Bowling, his wife, and their son Ed, who employed 47 years-old widow Rachel Collett as a domestic servant, who had first been married at the age of 21.

The death of Burchell Collett took place at Covington in Kenton County, Kentucky on 8^th February 1959. His death record confirmed that he was 53 years old and had been a welder, who was born at Hyden and the son of George W Collett and Elizabeth Chappel. His wife Mollie Collett had already passed away fifteen years earlier during 1944. Whilst Burchell is an unusual christian name, it may not be a coincidence that there were two other Burchell Colletts born in Kentucky around the same time, thus raising the question that there was very likely a common link somewhere. The first of them, a cousin two steps removed, is included below (Ref. 43R158), while the brief details for the other ones are included in the new Part 43 – Other Colletts of Kentucky.

43S77

Junior Collett

Born in May 1929 at Harlan, Kentucky

43R131

Reuben Collett was born at Bad Creek in Leslie County on 9^th February 1909, the son of George William Collett and his first wife Elizabeth Chappel. He remained living with his family at Bowens Creek Road through 1910, 1920 and 1930 when he was thirteen months, nine years, and 23 years respectively. It was around 1933 when he married Mary Whitehead who was born around 1913. The census of 1940 identified Reuben, aged 31 and a labourer with W P A, living at #117 Bowens Creek Road when his father was next door at #116 by which time he had taken a second wife following the death of Reuben’s mother a few years earlier. Reuben’s wife Mary Collett was 27 and had given Reuben four children, who were Sallie Collett who was six, Martha Collett who was five, Walter Collett who was three and Ruth Collett who was one year old.

Later that same year on 16^th October 1940, Reuben completed a WW2 Draft Registration Card at Hyden, Leslie County, which confirmed his date of birth, his wife as Mary, when they were living at Essie in Leslie County from where Reuben was employed by the W P A. Three more children were added to the family during the following decade, as confirmed in the Essie census of 1950. Farmer Reuben was 41 and Mary was 38, when all their seven children were living with them. Sally Collett was 15, Martha Collett was 14, Walter Collett was 10 (sic), Ophia Collett was eight, Betsy Collett was six, and Eunice Collett was four years of age. Still living next door was widow Betsy Collett who was 70.

The Essie census of 1950 also include two other Collett families living nearby Reuben’s family, and their details can be found in the new Part 43 – Other Colletts of Kentucky. Reuben Collett was 72 when he died at Essie on 31^st July 1981 and was buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery in Essie.

43S78

Sally Collett

Born in 1934 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43S79

Martha Collett

Born in 1935 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43S80

Walter Collett

Born in 1937 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43S81

Ruth Collett

Born in 1939 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43S82

Ophia Collett

Born in 1941 at Essie, Leslie County

43S83

Betsy Collett

Born in 1943 at Essie, Leslie County

43S84

Eunice Collett

Born in 1945 at Essie, Leslie County

43R134

Elmer Collett was born at Bad Creek, Leslie County on 24^th July 1905 where he was still living with his family in 1920 aged 14 when he was working with his father Elias Collett on the family’s farm. He was the first-born of the three known children of Elias Collett and Carla Howard. Eight years later he married Delora Mosley and they had a sizeable family by 1950. Their first census together in 1930 recorded the young family at #73 Bowens Creek Road in Bad Creek where Elmer Collett was a farmer renting a property at the age of 24. Delora Collett was only 16 and married two years earlier at 14. The couple’s first two children were Earl H Collett and Elias Collett, who were two years of age, and three months old respectively. Living at #74 Bowens Creek Road was Elmer’s mother Carla with her father-in-law John W Collett, while at #75 Bowens Creek Road was Elmer’s younger brother John L Collett (below) with his wife and their first child.

Ten years later in 1940, the enlarged family was residing as #129 Lower Bad Creek, where farmer Elmer Collett was 34, a stonemason with the Work Projects Administration – Roads [W P A] and the owner of their home. Delora (as Lora) was 26, who was looking after her six children. They were Earl aged 10, Pauline who was nine, Edith who was seven, Kenneth who was five, Susie who was three, and Fern Marie who was ten months old. Later that same year, on 16^th October 1940, Elmer’s WW2 Draft Registration Card was filled in at Hyden, Leslie County on 16^th October 1940 and confirmed the following details. He was 35 and living in Essie, Leslie County, whose date of birth was recorded as 24^th July 1905 in Leslie County, and whose wife was Delora Collett. On that day he was still employed by the W P A in Corbin, Laurel County.

By the time of the Leslie census in 1950 Elmer Collett was 41 (sic) and still farming at #53. His wife Delora was 36, when their nine children that day were Edith Collett 17, Kenneth Collett 15, Susie Collett 13, Fern Marie Collett 10, John Collett eight, Marcus Collett six, Joyce Collett three, Paul Collett one, and unnamed baby daughter Collett – just born. The couple’s absent eldest son Earl Homer Collett was married to Rose by then and living close by at #50.

The later death of Elmer Collett born in 1905 was recorded at Essie in Lesle County on 26^th March 1986 and was buried in the Elmer Collett Cemetery where his eldest son was buried in 2022. His wife was born on 2^nd March 1914, and died on 9^th February 2000 at Essie and was buried with Elmer at the Elmer Collett Cemetery. According to the 2022 obituary for their son Earl, missing from the list of children below is a brother Freddie Joe Collett (deceased), Doyle Collett of Indiana, Geraldine Collett, and Rosetta Collett Sizemore. Another sister Pauline Collett (deceased) has been added as the previous unnamed daughter born immediately prior to the day of the census in 1950. In addition, there was no mention of brother Elias and Paul, who may have suffered infant deaths.

43S85

Earl Homer Collett

Born in 1928 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43S86

Elias Collett

Born in 1930 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43S87

Edith Collett – died bf 2022

Born in 1933 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43S88

Kenneth Collett – died bf 2022

Born in 1935 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43S89

Susie Collett – Susie Holland (d)

Born in 1937 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43S90

Fern Marie Collett - Maxwell

Born in 1939 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43S91

John Collett – married Carolyn

Born in 1942 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43S92

Marcus Collett – married Emily

Born in 1944 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43S93

Joyce Collett m Eugene Hunley

Born in 1947 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43S94

Paul Collett

Born in 1949 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43S95

Pauline Collett

Born in 1950 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R135

John L Collett ($) was born at Bad Creek, Leslie County, on 27^th November 1907, the second of the three children of Elias and Carla Collett. The later census return in 1920 recorded his name as John C Collett which may simply have been an error from poor handwriting, or a transcription mistake. Certainly, his great-grandson Derrick Collett confirmed in 2024 that he was known in the family as John L Collett.

He was certainly John C Collett in the Bad Creek census of 1930 when living at #75 Bowens Creek Road, with his mother living at #74, and his older brother Elmer (above) at #73. John C Collett was 22 and had married when he was 18, a farmer, whose wife was Phrona who was 19 and to whom he was married when she 16 years of age. On that day their son Sheldon Collett was twenty-six months old. At #76 Bowens Creek Road was Sam Collett another farmer who was 35 and married with five children, who was Samuel Collett (Ref. 43Q85).

In the US Census in 1940 John and his family were residing at Bad Creek Precinct, Leslie County, where John L Collett was 32 and a salesman living on Bowens Creek Road in the property next to his parents’ farm. With him was his wife Phronia Collett, formerly Morgan, who was 28, together with their six children. They were Sheldon Collett who was 12, Mary Collett who was 10, Vernon Collett who was eight, Elias Collett who was six, Eugene Collett who was four years of age, and daughter Gladys Collett who was one year old. Two years later the Medical Board registrar in 1942 was named as John L Collett who signed his father’s completed US Army draft record on 27^th April 1942, and six years after that it was John L Collett who was informant of his father’s death in 1948.

By 1950, John was 42 and a stone mill worker employed in manufacturing stone, Phronia was 39, son Vernon was working with his father at 18, as was son Elias aged 15, Eugene was 13, Gladys was 11, when the two new arrivals in the family were Helen Collett who was four, and Laretta Collett who was two. Living right next door was their married son Sheldon with his wife Vina. When John L Collett died on 23^rd December 1992 he was living at Essie in Leslie County, and was buried at the Bowens Creek Cemetery, at the age of 85.

43S96

Ernest Sheldon Collett ($)

Born in 1927 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43S97

Mary Collett

Born in 1930 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43S98

Vernon Collett

Born in 1932 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43S99

Elias Collett

Born in 1934 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43S100

Eugene Collett

Born in 1936 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43S101

Gladys Collett

Born in 1939 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43S102

Helen Collett

Born in 1946 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43S103

Laretta Collett

Born in 1948 at Bad Creek, Leslie County

43R136

Della Collett was born at Bad Creek in Leslie County on 9^th September 1911 the third and last child of Elias Collett and Carla Howard. A Social Program Application dated on 26^th February 1973 at Hoskinston in Leslie County named Della’s parents as Elias Collett and Carty Howard. However, twenty-three years later the death of Della Morgan nee Collett was recorded on 12^th April 1996.

43R139

James Farmer Collett was born at Roark, Bad Creek on 9^th December 1904 and was a son of Manford Collett and Nancy Sizemore, who was six years of age in the Bad Creek census of 1910, and was 15 and a farm labourer by 1920, when the family was residing at Bowens Creek Road in Bad Creek Precinct. According to the Roark, Bad Creek census in 1930, it was around 1924/25 when Farmer Collett married Phrona Sheppard/Shepherd since the census return stated that they were both twenty years old on their wedding day. That census day Farmer Collett was 23, as was Phrona, when he was a farmer at #69 Bowens Creek Road. By that time, their daughter Evelyne Collett was two years and two months old.

Just after that census day their son was born at Roark but tragically, James never got to see his children married, when the premature death of James Farmer Collett was recorded at Leslie County on 3^rd January 1938, after which he was buried at Rye Cove Cemetery in Warbranch, Leslie County. The death certificate provided the following details. The informant of his death was his mother Nannie Sizemore Collett, and that it was intended he be buried at Oakley Cave Cemetery in Roark on 4^th January 1938. His death was caused following consumption of a large quantity of illegal liquor, vanilla extract, etc.

However, the next census in 1940 revealed that Phrona had given birth to a third child prior to being made a widow. Phrona and her three children were living at Jacks Creek in Roark, where they had been living in 1935, when widow Phrona Collett was 33, her daughter Evelyn Collett was 12 years of age, son William was recorded as Bennett Collett who was seven, and Eugene Collett was five years old.

By the time of the census in 1950 Phrona only had her youngest child living with. Home on that day was the Red Bird School for Girls on Cow Fork Road East, Beverly in Bell County, where Phrona Collett was the live-in cook at the age of 43. Son Eugene Collett was 15 and attending another school in the area. That day, there were seven people living on the premises, the matron, secretary, and cook - the adults, and three teenage pupils, plus Eugene.

It is known from the later record of the marriage of his only known son in 1955 that his wife was Phrona Shepherd of Roark, a club-house manager, living at Lake Waccamaw, Columbus County in North Carolina. The same marriage certificate stated that the groom’s father was James Farmer Collett of Roark, a carpenter, deceased. Phrona Sheppard, previously married after being made a widow in 1938, was divorced in 1953. She had been born at McClure in Virgina on 24^th July 1926, living at Columbus, Ohio, where she was working as a secretary, when her parents were Thomas W Hubbard and Bernice Rassnick.

43S104

Evelyne Collett

Born on 10.03.1928 at Roark, Leslie County

43S105

William Bennett Collett

Born in 1932 at Roark, Leslie County

43S106

Eugene Collett

Born on 25.01.1935 at Roark, Leslie County

43R147

Maggie Collett was born at Bloomington Precinct No. 5 in Magoffin County, Kentucky on 6^th May 1904 and was five years of age in the census of 1910, the eldest of the five children of James Farmer Asher Collett and Rosa Lee May/Calloy. Just prior to the census in 1920 the marriage of Maggie Collett, daughter of J F Collett and Rosa Lee May and aged 16, and Alfie Caldwell aged 21 and the son of J Caldwell and Nancy Brock was conducted at Magoffin County on 2^nd April 1920. Alfie Caldwell was very likely related to Alice Elizabeth Caldwell the wife of William Collett, Maggie’s grandfather.

Around start of the Second World War, Maggie gave birth to a daughter and may have already been made a widow just prior to the birth following the death of Alfie. Maggie therefore returned to live with her parents at 167 Long Branch in Salyersville, within the Magisterial District No. 1 of Magoffin County, where she was recorded in the census of 1940. Curiously, it was as Maggie Brock, rather than Maggie Caldwell, that she 35 and a widow from Knox County in Kentucky, who had with her, her one-year-old daughter Jean Fay Brock After a second marriage, it was on 21^st February 1966 that, as Maggie L Heilman she made a Social Program Claim when she was confirmed as the daughter of Farmer J Collett and Rosa Lee May, born on the date provided above. Twenty-five years after that, Maggie L Heilman died on 13^th October 1991.

43R149

Herman Collett was born at Bloomington Precinct No. 5 on 3^rd July 1910, the third child of James and Rosa Lee Collett, who was one year old in the 1910 and was ten years of age in 1920, both time at Bloomingdale. It was on 29^th June 1929 that the wedding of Herman Collett and Maggie Alice Patton was recorded at Magoffin County when Herman was 20 and a farmer, the son of J F Collett and Rosa Lee Collett, and Maggie was 19 and the daughter of W M Patton and Cynthia Patton. One of the witnesses was Herman’s cousin Willie (William) Collett (Ref. 43R3). Once married the couple settled at Gifford Precinct in Magoffin County, where they were recorded in the census of 1930 as owners of their own home, for which they had paid $600.

That year, before starting their family, it was just Herman Collett who was 20 and a general farmer, and wife Maggie Collett who was 19 and preparing for the birth of their first child. On that day in 1930, and living immediately adjacent to Herman and Maggie, was the established farming family of Frank Collett, his wife and their seven children, all of whom can be found in the new Part 43 – Other Colletts of Kentucky. Over the next decade Maggie gave birth to two daughters and then two sons, with the six members living at #169 Long Branch within the Magisterial District No. 1 of Magoffin County in 1940. Herman Collett was 29 and a road project labourer with the W P A, his wife Maggie Collett was 23, and their four children were Genevia (sic) Collett aged nine, Reva Collett aged six, J W Collett was three, and Layne Collett was one year old. Living in the adjacent properties were the families of Willie M Collett (Ref. 43Q81) at #170, a younger brother of Herman’s father James Farmer (Asher) Collett (Ref. 43Q75) who was living at #167 Long Branch, while at #168 was Willie Collett and his wife Cellie, whose details can be found within the new Part 43 – Other Colletts of Kentucky.

The US Draft Registration for the Second World War placed Herman Collett, born at Magoffin, still living at Salyersville on 16^th October 1940, whose date of birth was as stated above, an employee of the W P A, and the husband of Maggie Collett. Just after that, Herman and Maggie moved to Indiana, most likely accompanied by their eldest daughter who was later married there, and where Herman died on 1^st December 1943, his death recorded at Clark County.

43S107

Geneva Collett

Born in 1931 at Gifford, Magoffin County

43S108

Reva Collett

Born in 1934 at Gifford, Magoffin County

43S109

J W Collett

Born in 1937 at Long Branch, Magoffin County

43S110

Layne Collett

Born in 1939 at Long Branch, Magoffin County

43R150

Bee Collett was born at Bloomington Precinct No. 5 in 1914 another son of James Farmer and Rosa Lee Collett. Bee was six years old in the Bloomington census of 1920, and it was on 8^th March 1930, when he was 16, that he married Estill Adous who was 17 and the daughter of Abbott Adous and Molina Cook. Bee was described as a farmer and the son of J F Collett and Rosa Lee Calloy.

43R151

Allen Collett was born at Bloomington Precinct No. 5 in 1918 and was two years and one month old in the census of 1920, the fifth children of James Farmer Asher Collett and his first wife Rosa Lee May. It was just after the Second World War, on 11^th March 1946 at Garrett in Meade County, that 28-year-old bachelor and farmer Allen Collett married war-widow Cindy Whitt who was 26. The groom was confirmed as the son of Farmer Collett and Rosa Lee May Collett, when the bride was the daughter of John Morgan Whitt and Nancy Scott Whitt. The marriage certificate stated that the groom was living at Salyersville, and the bride at Garrett

43R152

Millard Collett was born at Gifford, Magoffin, Kentucky on 22^nd November 1925 and was 15 years old in the census of 1940 when he was still living with his family at 167 Long Branch, Salyersville, within the Magisterial District No. 1 of Magoffin County. The following year a Social Program Application was made out in the name of Millard Collett by his parents J P Collett and Rosa L May. Towards the end of the next year Millard Collett was 17 years old when he married Beatrice James 16 at Inez, Martin County near the state boundary with West Virginia, on 7^th November 1942. That day, the record of their wedding day confirmed that Millard was a son of J F Collett and his wife Rosella aka Rosalie, Rosa Lee. Beatrice was the daughter of Jasper W James and Addie James. When he died on 6^th September 2001 he was recorded as Sam M Collett, son of J P Collett and Rosa L May who had been born at Gifford in Magoffin County. Prior to that he had been living at Phoenix, Arizona, and was known as Sam Mil Collett and simply Sam Collett.

43R156

Elbert Collett was born at Otter Creek in Clay County during 1911 and he was 30 and residing in Arjay in Bell County when he married Mae Collett (Ref. 43R187) at Arjay on 14^th December 1940 from whom he was divorced shortly thereafter. His bride was 23 and a daughter of Joseph Collett and Ella Nolan, while Elbert was confirmed as the son of John Collett and Dora Smith.

43R158

BURCHELL COLLETT was born at Clay County in Kentucky on 5^th March 1915, the fifth known child of John Collett and Dora Smith. When Burchell was four years old he was living with his family which was then living at Manchester in Clay County. After a further ten years he was 14 years of age and was still at the family home which was in District 8 in Clay County. Four years later, on 6^th July 1934 at Bright Shade in Clay County, farming Burchell Collett married Della Slusher. He was 22 (sic) and the son of John Collett and Dora Smith, and she was 18 the daughter of Floyd Slusher and his wife Margaret Bleux. By 1940 Della had presented Burchell with their first two children. The census that year recorded the family of four living at the home of Burchell’s parents in Magisterial District 2 in Bell County, Kentucky. Burchell Collett was 24 and a farmer, his wife Della was 20, and their two children were Lee Collett who was five, and Leonard P Collett who was two years of age.

Shortly after that census day in 1940, Della gave birth to a daughter who did not survive to see her third birthday. She was Linda Collett when she was born on 16^th August 1940 at Knox County, and was Lindy Collett when she died on 10^th March 1943 at the Community Hospital in Pineville, Bell County. She was buried at Red Hill Cemetery in Arjay, Bell County, she was recorded as Linda Lindy Collett the daughter of John Collett and Della Slusher. Her father was the informant of her death who was living in Arjay that day, when the cause of death was septicemias.

According to the next census in 1950, head of the household Burchell Collett was 30 (sic) and a machine operator with a coal mining company in Harlan County, when he was 35. He appears to have reduced his age consciously because of the younger age of his wife, Della who was 27. By that time they had three children living with them, and they were Lee I or Lee J Collett who was 15, L P Collett who was 12, and Mae Collett who was seven years of age. Staying with the family at that time was widow Dora Collett aged 58, Burchell’s mother. To bring extra income to the home, Della was taking in lodgers, on that occasion three younger members of the Taylor family, Conley 19, his wife Opal, and their first child Eveline born in September 1949.

It is possible that further children may have been added to the family after 1950, while it was thirty years later that Burchell Collett, who had been born on 5^th March 1915, died on 3^rd June 1980 when he was living at Dowagiac, Cass County in Michigan at the age of 65. It was at Riverside Cemetery that he was laid to rest in Dowagiac.

43S111

Lee Collett

Born in 1935 at Clay County, Kentucky

43S112

LEONARD P COLLETT

Born in 1937 at Clay County, Kentucky

43S113

Linda Collett

Born in 1940 at Knox County, Kentucky

43S114

Mae Collett

Born in 1943 at Harlan County, Kentucky

43R165

Pearly Collett was the only child of Gilbert Collett by his first wife Delia Patterson who possibly died during, or just after the birth. Pearly was born in 1908 at Clay County, but later said her place of birth was Harlan, where her father was living with his second wife and Pearly’s two half-sisters after 1911. Although no record of the family has been found in 1910, by 1920 the new family was residing at Banner Fork in Harlan County where Pearly Collett was 12 years old.

Sometime after that census day Pearly/Pearlie married James Saylor, with Pearly giving birth to Ruth Saylor who was born at Hazard in Perry County on 12^th February 1926. She was married twice in her life, from the first of them she was Ruth Cox in 1953. Sometime within the following nine years she married Robert Leroy Scott and was known as Ruth Scott in 1962, as she was when she died in Lincoln Park, MI on 16^th June 2006 and was buried at the Jenson Cemetery in Jenson, Kentucky. and was Ruth Scott from around 1962 until she died on 16^th June 2006 at Lincoln Park, Wayne County in Michigan. Pearlie and James had two other child; son Mitchell Saylor who died at Mount Pleasant in Knox County during 1938, son Dillion Saylor was born in 1930 at Bell County, who died at Pineville, Bell County, in 1962.

43R166

Grace Collett was born at Clay County in 1911, the second child of Gilbert Collett, but the first by his second wife Ellen Collett. She was married twice in her life, the first time when she married (1) C W Smith, the son of T F Smith and Sarah J Smith, at Baxter in Harlan County on 16^th December 1933. Twelve years later Grace Collett Smith married (2) Ballinger Howard, the son of Grannille (Granville?) Howard and Lucille Callaway, at Pineville in Bell County on 3^rd May 1946.

43R167

Billie Collett was the only known son of Gilbert Collett and his second wife Ellen Collett, who was born at Harlan County during 1914. Six years after his father died, the marriage of Billie Collett and Margaret Honey was conducted at White Star and recorded at Harlan County on 13^th February 1932 when Billie was said to be 21 (sic) and Margaret was 18. Tragically, he was killed while working as a coalminer when the area in which he was working underground collapse. That happened on 8^th November 1950 at Closplint in Harlan County when his age was more correctly recorded as 38, after which he was buried at Jenson Cemetery on 11^th November. The death certificate confirmed that the cause of death was a crushed skull due to a slate fall in a mine.

43R169

Myrtle Collett was the second child of Willie M Collett and Sina Caudill but ended up as the couple’s eldest daughter when her old sister suffered a childhood death. She was born at Gifford, Magoffin County on 26^th November 1917 and was still living with her parents in 1940 at Magisterial District No. 1 in Magoffin County, where she was a seamstress. Eight years later, as Mrs Myrtle Blevins, she and her husband George Blevins, a farmer, were the witnesses at the wedding of her only brother Ollen Collett (below). Their son George Lawson Blevins was born at Salyersville, Magoffin County on 10^th November 1950 when his birth was registered at Magoffin County. The later death of Myrtle Blevins was recorded at Montgomery County in Kentucky during March 1975.

43R171

Ollen Collett was born at Gifford, Magoffin County on 11^th December 1923 and was recorded in various census returns with different names being with O. He was the only son in the family of ten children of Willie Collett and Sina Caudill. He was 18 years old when he completed the US Draft Registration Form at Magoffin on 30^th June 1942 and was inducted for military service on 21^st May 1943 at Huntington in West Virginia, for the duration of the war, plus six months. Her entered with the rank of private, and his military record confirmed that he had received a grammar school education, was a farm hand on his father general farm. What happened after the war is a little curious. First, on 16^th September 1946, the marriage of bachelor Ollen Collett and spinster Marie Collins took place at Paintsville in Johnson County, when one of the witnesses was Marie’s mother Josie Collins.

Then two years later, when Ollen Collett was nearly 25, he married Marie Collins, who was 21, at Elsie in Magoffin County on 5^th November 1948, and confirmed as the son of Willie and Sina Collett nee Caudill Collett. Elsie was the daughter of Beecher Collins and Josie Stacy. Despite their young ages, both were stated to be divorced, making each of them entering their second marriage. The witnesses were the former Myrtle Collett, Ollen’s sister, Myrtle Blevins, and her husband Gorgie Blevins.

Just after that strange recording, and within the two weeks after his twenty-eighth birthday, the marriage of Ollen Collett, son of Willie Collett and Sina Caudill Collett, and Etta Fay Caudill, daughter of Bill Caudill and Lisa Williams Caudill, was conducted at Salyersville, Magoffin County on 23^rd December 1951. Ollen was recorded in error as being only 27, while Etta was just 21, and once again, Ollen’s sister Myrtle Blevins was one of the witnesses.

Ollen Collett was two weeks short of his sixty-third birthday when he died on 29^th November 1986 with his death recorded at Fayette County in Kentucky, prior to which he had been living at Montgomery County, Kentucky.

43R172

Clara Collett was another child of Willie and Sina Collett who was recorded in census returns with different names; as Carrie aged three in 1930, and as Claire aged 14 in 1940, placing her year of birth around 1926-1927. However, as Clara she was born at Gifford on 6^th April 1925, another daughter for Sina Caudill Collett, with her birth registered Magoffin County five days later. It was at Salyersville that Clara Collett married Earl Collins on 30^th April 1945 in the presence of Rex Collins and Elsie Mae Collins, Clara’s younger sister (below).

Clara applied to the Social Program on 1^st November 1973 when she was residing in Salyersville and was confirmed as the child of Willie Collett and Sina Caudill. After a further twenty-three years, Clara Collins died at Lexington in Fayette County, Kentucky on 3^rd December 1996.

43R174

Elsie Mae Collett was born at Gifford, Magoffin County on 9^th March 1928, the daughter of Sina Caudill, did not feature with her family in 1930, but was eight years old and was living with her family at 170 Long Branch in Salyersville for the census in 1940. When Elsie Mae Collett married Rex Collins on 13^th April 1945 at Salyersville, she was 18 and Rex was 20. Whilst the bride was described as a daughter of Willie Collett and Sina Caudill, the groom’s parents were interestingly recorded as Millard Collins and Mattie Caudill. The witnesses were Myrtle Collett, Elsie’s older sister (above) and Earl Collins. The known son of Rex and Elsie was Rex Collins who was born on 20^th March 1947. Elsie Mae Collett Collins died at Paintsville in Johnson County, Kentucky on 26^th May 2001 when she was 73, and was buried at Highland Memorial Park Cemetery in Staffordsville, Johnson County.

43R176

Virginia Collett was born on 30^th May 1936 at Salyersville, Magoffin County, another daughter of Willie and Sina Collett. It was as Virginia Ward that she died on 10^th August 2002, while thirty years earlier she applied to the Social Program in August 1971 when she was residing in Salyersville and confirmed as the child of Willie Collett and Sina Caudill. Also, as Viriginia Collett Ward, the wife of Raymond Ward, she gave birth to two daughters: Debra A Ward, on 6^th August 1957, and Patricia Lynn Ward, and two sons: Phillip R Ward on 14^th December 1960, and Willie Earl Ward on 23^rd September 1966, the births registered at Johnson County, Kentucky, the latter of whom died on 9^th December 1966.

43R187

Mae Collett was born in 1920 at Upper Red Bird in Clay County who, on marrying for the second time, gave her date and place of birth as 2^nd September 1918 and Roark in Lesley County, with the date more likely to be that of her older sister. Mae was the second of the seven children of Joseph Collett and Ella Nolan. By 1930 the family was living at Willard Road, Hazard in Perry County, where Mae was 11 (sic) years of age, but was not with her parents in 1920.

During 1935 Mae was 16 when she discovered she was with-child. It was on 3^rd March 1936 that the birth of J R Collett was recorded at Perry County, but without the name of the father. His place in the family was confirmed in the Red Bird River in Clay County census of 1940 when three-year-old J R Collett was described as the grandson of Joseph and Ella Collett who was living there with his unmarried mother Mae Collett who was 22 (sic), the age of her older sister Della who had already left the family home.

Mae Collett was 23 when she married widower (1) Elbert Collett (Ref. 43R156) at Arjay in Bell County on 14^th December 1940, when he was 30 and the son of John Collett and Dara Smith, with Mae confirmed as the daughter of Joe Collett and Ellen Nolan. The bride and the groom were both living in Arjay at that time in the life. Five year later, after being divorced from Elbert, Mae Collett was 27 when she married (2) Eugene F Nick at Bell County on 17^th November 1945, when he was 23 and the son of Charles Nick and Flora Allen, with Mae again confirmed as the daughter of Joe Collett and Ella Nolan. Curiously, Mae was a divorcee and Eugene was single and employed in mining, both residing in Arjay, Kentucky. It was as Mae Nick that she died at Manchester Clay County on 29^th July 1997.

43S115

J R Collett

Born on 3^rd March 1936 at Perry County

43R188

June Collett was born in 1922 at Upper Red Bird, Clay County, another daughter of Joseph and Ella Collett. She was nine years old in 1930 at Willard Road in Hazard, and was 19 years of age in 1940 at Red Bird River. Sixteen years after that census day, when June was 35 years old, she married 33-year-old unemployed Russell Atkinson junior at Manchester in Clay County on 26^th June 1956, when June was confirmed as the daughter of Joe Collett and Ella Nolan, and Russell was recorded as the son of Russell Atkinson and Bessie Chandler. He was a divorcee and June was single.

43R189

Mabel Collett was six years old in 1930 and as Maggie Collett was 16 in 1940, another daughter of Joe and Ellen Collett. She was born on 1^st May 1924 at Upper Red Bird, Clay County and in the Social Program documentation she was recorded as Maple Lee Collett, daughter of Joe Collett and Ellen Nolan. Four days after her seventy-first birthday she died at Manchester in Clay County on 5^th May 1995 as Maple Lee Grubbs, when she was buried at Bear Creek Cemetery in Ashers Fork, Clay County. Her husband was John Junior Grubbs who was 26 years old in the Bell County census of 1950, when Maple Grubbs was 25. They were married at Arjay in Bell County on 10^th April 1944, when Maple was 19 and Junior was 21, the son of John Grubbs and Josie Combs

43R190

Agnes Collett was born at Red Bird River in Clay County during 1935, the fifth child of Joseph and Ella Collett. At the age of four years, she was still living with her family at Red Bird River, while ten years later, at the age of 14, she was one of four children living at the family home which by then was at Flat Creek Waters in Red Bird River. Just over four years later the marriage of Agnes Collett, 18, and Everett Harrison took place at Manchester in Clay County on 14^th January 1955. His parents were recorded as Arthur Harrison and Ollie Smathers, with Agnes confirmed as the daughter of Joe Collett and Ella Nolan.

43R192

Joe Curtis Collett was born on 14^th July 1939 at Gardner in Clay County, the last child of Joseph Collett and Ella Nolan. Although not listed with his family in 1940, J C Collett was eleven years of age in 1950 when the family home was at Flat Creek Waters in Red Bird River. Two applications were made to the Social Program using his full name of Joe Curtis Collett, the first of them in February 1954, the second on 22^nd June 1995, when his parents were confirmed as Joe Collett and Ella Nolan. Two years after the latter, the death of Joe Curtis Collett aged 58 was recorded at Bell County on 20^th September 1997, who had previously been residing at Bimble in Knox County.

43R197

Elizabeth Ann Collett, who is known as Ann, was born at San Antonio in Texas on 22^nd August 1935, the only child of William Bruns Collett and Anna Ruth Strong. She married Roger (Buddy) Kondoff on 20^th April 1957 with whom she had three children who were all born at San Antonio. They were Keith Brian Kondoff who was born on 20^th July 1958, Karen Elaine Kondoff who was born on 14^th October 1959 and Kevin Wayne Kondoff who was born on 16^th October 1960.

43R198

William James Collett, who is known as Bill, was born at Mississippi on 24^th November 1941. He was married, although none resulted in the birth of any Collett children. In 2008 Bill participated in the Collett DNA Project managed by Barry Collett of Iowa (Ref. 43S1).

43R199

Beverly Sue Collett, who is known as Sue, was born at San Antonio in Texas on 25^th March 1943. She married (1) Buford Ray Flanagan on 9^th April 1963 with whom she had two children. They were Laura Lynn Flanagan born on 9^th February 1966, who died on 7^th November 2011, and Daniel Ray Flanagan who was born on 24^th June 1970. Sue and Buford were divorced in 1976. Buford was born at Marion County in Alabama on 26^th July 1941 and he died at Garza County in Texas in 1984. Sue married (2) Jerry Donald Collier on 16^th February 1984 and they were divorced six years later in 1990, following which Sue resumed using the surname Flanagan. This photograph of Sue was taken in September 2009

43R200

James Robert Collett, who was referred to as Bobby, was born at McAllen in Hidalgo County, Rio Grande Valley in Texas on 27^th September 1947. He was a banker and, in his leisure time, he created beautiful Faberge style eggs. One such egg was gifted to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Museum where it is displayed to this day. Bobby never married and he sadly died at the age of just forty-three years and six months at Homestead in Florida on 9^th March 1991. This photograph of Bobby was taken around 1989.

43R201

Sandra Lea Collett was born at Hidalgo in Texas in the Rio Grande Valley on 20^th October 1948. Towards the end of the 1960s Sandra married William Charles Peters with whom she had two sons. Today Sandra is employed as a mitigation specialist working with defence lawyers on murder cases at Lubbock in Texas.

43S116

Bryan Scott Peters

Born in 1969 at Fort Worth in Texas

43S117

Jeffrey Lee Collett formerly Peters

Born in 1970 at Fort Worth in Texas

43R202

Sylvia Jean Collett was born at Bellaire in Texas on 17^th February 1957. Sylvia married Darrell Wilson in 1986 and the marriage produced one child for the Sylvia and Darrell. In May 1999 Sylvia married Robert Kyle and today they live at Hockley County in Texas. Their son Taylor Ryan Wilson was born on 3^rd May 1987.

43R203

William Barrow Collett III was born in Atchison, Kansas on 7^th August 1921 when his parents were living at 319 T Street. He graduated from Central High School in St Joseph Missouri and started college at Westminster College where Winston Churchill made one of his famous war-time speeches. He transferred to the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland shortly before the US joined World War II. He graduated in 1943 and married Dorothy Alyce Butler, who was known as Stormy, at Annapolis in September 1943 just before he was assigned to sea duty on the US cruiser Nashville. Dorothy was the daughter of retired US Navy Captain Willard/William Cornwallis Butler and his wife.

It is interesting to note that in 1944 a Japanese kamikaze pilot crashed his plane into the cruiser Nashville with the loss of 138 lives. The long separation was too much for them and they were divorced soon after William's return to the States. He then entered flight school and became a naval pilot and was transferred to Ottumwa in Iowa where he met his second wife Corrine Phillips who was born there in 1920. It was on 29^th May 1948 that William married (2) Corinne at West Orange, New Jersey and the couple originally settled in Florida before moving to Washington in 1951, where William was becoming proficient in the Russian language.

William used to fly with the navy, just at weekends, in order to retain his pilot’s rating. It was during one of those flights that he was tragically killed on 13^th January 1952 at Wayne City when the plane crashed into the frozen over Detroit River. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, where his father and mother had also been buried.

His obituary appeared in the Ottumwa newspaper and read as follows: Corrine Phillips’ Husband Dies in Navy Plane Crash. Lt. William B Collett III, U. S. Navy, was killed in a plane crash near Detroit on Sunday afternoon when flying a navy Beechcraft patrol plane from Washington to Detroit. He was the son-in-law of Mr and Mrs Howard Phillips of 1805 North Court Street. His wife, the former Corinne Phillips, was at home with their baby daughter in Washington, D. C. when she learned of the accident. Lieutenant Collett was a flying officer in the navy but for the past year he has been stationed in Washington, D. C. in intelligence duty. However, he maintained his flight status by flying regularly. It was on one of these routine flights that he was killed. Following the death of her husband, Corrine was remarried first to Bob Long and then to Dick Smith.

43S118

Cosette Louise Collett

Born in 1949 in Florida

43R204

Groff Collett was born at Atchison on 8^th May 1923. In 1926 the family moved to Detroit, Michigan where he attended Cooke School in Rosedale Park. In 1935 they moved to St. Joseph, Missouri. On 29^th June 1946 Groff married Lila Grace Wiggin who was born at Pittsburgh on 6^th April 1923. This took place at Oak Park in Cook City in Illinois. It was in Ohio four years earlier in 1942 that Groff had first met Lila. He was attending Kenyon College in Gambier in Ohio, while Lila was attending Dennison College in Granville, Ohio. They had four children. This photograph of Groff was taken in 1990

His college was interrupted by World War II and after teaching for a short period he joined the Navy where he became an Electronic Technician. It was when he was discharged from the navy in June of 1946 that he and Lila were married, following which they and then moved to Gambier, Ohio where Groff finish his degree in mathematics at Kenyon College. In 1947 they moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts where Groff entered graduate school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received his Master’s degree in Business and Engineering Administration in 1949. They moved to Appleton, Wisconsin in 1949 where Groff joined an organisation doing research for the paper industry.

In 1954 Groff joined Consolidated Papers in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin and became a Vice president in 1966. He retired in 1988 when he and Lila were still living in Wisconsin Rapids and, in 2020 their married daughter Leslie Moss moved her elderly parents to near where she and her family were living in DePere, Wisconsin. It is thanks to Groff’s generosity in kindly providing the details of his family that has enabled them to be added to this Staffordshire family line.

Just after the start of 2022, Groff’s daughter Leslie informed us of the sad news that he had passed away on 28^th December 2021. She also provided a copy of his obituary, as follows:

“Groff Collett, 98, recent resident of De Pere, Wisconsin, and long-time resident of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, passed away on December 28, 2021. He was born on May 8, 1923, in Atchison, Kansas, to Vera Groff Collett and William Barrow Collett Jr. Groff attended Central High School, St Joseph, Missouri; Kenyon College and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a member of the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity. Groff married Lila Grace Wiggin on June 29, 1946, in Oak Park, Illinois. Groff had a successful career in the paper industry. In 1988, he retired from Consolidated Papers, Inc, as a Vice President in charge of Paperboard Products Division, 13 Board Machine, Stevens Point Specialty Papers Division and Castle Rock Container Corporation. Groff served in the US Navy from 1944-1946.

Groff was extremely active in community affairs. He served as the director on various boards including the American Red Cross, the Wisconsin Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce, Rotary of Wisconsin Rapids, the South Wood County Y.M.C.A., the Wood County Unit of the Wisconsin Heart Association and the Riverview Hospital Association. He also served as Vice Chairperson of the Jobs Task Force of the South Wood County Economic Development Corporation. Groff was named the 1990 Citizen of the Year by the Wisconsin Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce. He worked extremely hard and was very active in his leisure time. He was intellectually curious and stayed abreast of and researched numerous topics including current affairs, finance, and family genealogy. He loved the outdoors and shared this love with his wife and children. He also enjoyed travelling in his motorhome and numerous sports including skiing, golf, football, racquetball and camping. His quieter hobbies included playing bridge and reading.

He is survived by his wife, Lila Wiggin Collett, with whom he was married for 75 years and shared a wonderful life together. Children: Tama Mobisson, Chrisanne (Jeffrey) Waldo, Kent Collett, and Leslie (Stephen) Moss. Grandchildren: Shelley (Grant) Boulanger, Geoffrey (Donna) Mobisson, Kathrine (Katura) Mobisson-Brown, Laura (Imo) Mobisson-Etuk, Jidenna Mobisson, Kori (David) Burland, Michael Waldo, Kristin (Ryan) McClintock, Elizabeth (Edward) Chaisson, Jamie (Fletcher, Jr.) Stovall, Roberta (Matthew) Neuwirth, Jefferey (Chrissy) Collett, Gregory (Laura) Collett, Alexander (Rebecca) Moss, Laura Moss, Samuel Moss, and 22 Great Grandchildren. Siblings: sister, Catherine Buck, sister-in-law, Corinne Smith, niece and nephew: Dana Dunne and Parker E. Wiggin, III.”

43S119

Tama Louise Collett

Born in 1948 at Boston, Massachusetts

43S120

Chrisanne Collett

Born in 1949 at Appleton, Wisconsin

43S121

Kent Groff Collett

Born in 1952 at Appleton, Wisconsin

43S122

Leslie Wiggin Collett

Born in 1961 at Wisconsin Rapids

43R205

Catherine Ann Collett was born at Atchison on 15^th November 1924. She graduated from Central High School in St Joseph in Missouri in 1942. Four years later Catherine and her family moved to Chicago where she was a teacher at a nursery school in Oak Park. A little later she was an assistant teacher at the Girl’s Latin School of Chicago. After a spell at a school in Elgin, Catherine returned to Boston where she had undertaken her earlier training and she graduated from Boston University with a degree in Nursery School Education in 1950. She then returned to Chicago to live with her parents. On 10^th May 1952 Kate, as she was called by the family, married Robert (Bob) Louis Buck in Chicago. Bob was born on 1^st October 1921 at Lakewood in Ohio. In 1965 the couple moved to Barrington in Illinois where Kate still lives today and where Bob died on 31^st March 2009.

43R206

Aileen Collett was born at Burton-on-Trent where the birth was recorded (Ref. 6b 25) during the first quarter of 1935, when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Harvey. She was the only child of John Edwin William Collett and Edith Aileen Harvey. She was just twenty-years-of age when her first marriage to (1) Geoffrey C Hawkins was recorded at Burton-on-Trent register office (Ref. 9b 86) during the second quarter of 1955. No children have been identified for that first marriage, while the later marriage of Aileen Hawkins and Ronald G Thomson was recorded at the East Staffordshire register office during February 1989. Aileen was understood to have still been alive in 2013, but no details have been forthcoming.

43R208

Brenda Collett was born at Salford on 13^th March 1943 and was the only child of James Collett and Emily Moss. She never married but had a very full life and died on 12^th January 2024 in Salford. Her birth as recorded at Salford register office (Ref. 8d 698) when her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Moss.

43R210

Allan Collett was born at Salford on 25^th November 1935, the only child of Alfred Collett and Elizabeth Ford. His birth was recorded at Salford register office (Ref. 8d 32) during the first three months of the year, when his mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Ford. As Alan Collett, aged 24, he married Moira Botham, the event recorded at Salford register office (Ref. 10f 132) during the first quarter of 1960. The couple did not have any children, while after sixty-three years together, it was also as Alan Collett that he died on 18^th March 2023.

43S1

Barry Oliver Collett was born at Jefferson County in Iowa in 1944. He is married and his son was born in Lee County in Iowa.

43T1

Barry Oliver Collett junior

Born in 1968 at Lee County, Iowa

43S3

Walden Collett was born at Ashers Fork, in Clay County on 12^th April 1926, the second child and eldest son of Wilkerson Collett and Phrona Asher, - Wilk & Franie. In the census of 1930 he was five years of age when he and his family were living at 245 Blue Hole Creek Road and was 15 years old in the census of 1940, again at Blue Hole. He was referred to as Walden Collett of Arjay in Bell County when an application was made in 1943 to the Social Program when his mother was confirmed as Franie Asher. Two years after that, when he was 19, Walden married Pauline Roark, aged 16, at Rook in Bell County on 15^th December 1945. The groom was confirmed as the son of Franie Collett, when the bride was the daughter of Lawrence Roark and Bernice Smith.

By the time of the next census in 1950 four members of his Collett family were living in four adjoining properties, with Walden and his family living immediately adjacent to his parents, home. It was appear that, while his father had his own business and store, Walden and his uncle and next-door neighbour Jim Collett had opened up a timber cutting company in which they were both described as employers. Walden Collett was 24, his wife Pauline was 19, by which time they had three children living with them at 78 Blue Hole Waters in Red Bird. They were Suther aged three, a son, but with F in the gender column, Esther May who was one, and Walden James who had been born there in March that year. The census was on 1^st April, so he could have been anything from one day old to four weeks.

Just less than forty-six years after that census day, when Walden Collett was 70, he passed away on 1^st January 1996, with his death recorded at Bell County, after which he was buried at the Smith Family Cemetery in Ashers Fork, Clay County. For both the registering of his passing, and his burial, he was referred to as Walden Collett senior, indicating that he and Pauline had a son with the same name – as confirmed above. The son’s second forename appears to be in honour of his uncle and ‘business partner’ James Collett.

43T2

Suther Collett

Born in 1946, at Red Bird, Kentucky

43T3

Esther May Collett

Born in 1948, at Red Bird, Kentucky

43T4

Walden James Collett

Born in March 1950, at Red Bird, Kentucky

43S10

Ford Collett was born in 1926 at Red Bird, Kentucky and by 1950, Ford was a married man with a daughter, who had his sister Helen (below) staying with the family that year. Ford Collett was 24 who was cutting timber at a private stone-mill, wife Helen Collett was 17, and daughter Brendalue Collett was two months old and born during February in 1950, when Ford’s sister Helen was 22.

43T5

Brendalue Collett

Born in 1950, at Red Bird River, Kentucky

43S11

Helen Collett was born on 31^st March 1929 at Red Bird, Kentucky, and was living at the home of her brother Ford Collett (above) at Blue Hole of Red Bird River when she was 22 in 1950. Helen’s husband’s surname was Rose, who were married sometime after 1950, since by October 1959, an application was presented to the Social Program for Helen Collett Rose in Chicago, whose mother was incorrectly recorded as Ludemia Firral (Loedema Ferrell). The application confirmed that Helen was born on 31^st March 1929 at Ashers Fork. Fourteen years later, in October 1973, a second Social Program Application was submitted but, on that occasion, for simply Helen Collett, who may have been divorced or widowed by then. The later death of Helen Collett Rose was recorded on 6^th January 2002.

43S14

James Douglas Collett, who was known as Jack, was born on 19^th January 1927 at Highsplint in Harlan County, was the first-born child of Tolman Collett and Gladys Marie Gatliff. It was also at Highsplint that the family was living in 1930 when, as James D Collett, he was three years old. By 1940, when Jack was 13, the family was residing at Kettle Island Camp in Bell County. Six years later he was discharged from the US Navy on 6^th May 1946, when his home address was Highsplint. As James Douglas Collett senior, he was 80 years old when he died on 9^th August 2007 at Erlanger in Kenton County, Kentucky. The burial record confirmed he was residing at Elsmere, and was buried at Highland Cemetery, Fort Mitchell, Kenton.

His obituary was published in the Kentucky Post, Covington on 11^th August 2007, which revealed the many members of his extended family. Those named were as follows: his wife Hazel Smith Collett; daughters Delvina Collett Hanson; Cynthia Collett; Donna Collett Jackson; Phyllis Collett Schry; Evelyn Collett Glenn; Phebe Collett Walsh; Onetta Collett Daily; sons Delbert Collett; Mike (aka Michael Gene) Collett; James Douglas Collett junior; and Tolman Collett, named after his grandfather Also named were Jack’s four brothers, Tommy, David, Roy, and Jim.

With no knowledge of the dates, or place of birth, of the eleven children of James Douglas Collett senior and his wife Hazel Smith, it is not possible to list them in the order that they were born. So, for the time being, they are included above in the order they were named in their father’s obituary. However, in 2020 the daughter of Michael Gene Collett, Trish Frierson in Kentucky, provided her single-string family line back to Sarah Collett (Ref. 43N3) and Dillion Asher, as confirmed by the on-line Asher Family History. All of Sarah’s Asher family children were given the surname Collett.

43S15

Ancil Moses Collett was born at Highsplint in Harlan County on 9^th March 1929 who was one year old in the Highsplint census of 1930 and the second child of Tolman and Gladys Collett. On the day of the census in 1940 the family was residing at Kettle Island Camp in Bell County where, as simply Moses Collett, he was 11 years old. Less than six years later, at Louisville in Jefferson County on 12^th January 1946, Ancil Moses Collett was a private in the US Army, having had a grammar school education, who was single, without any dependents. He was eventually discharged from the army on 27^th March 1946, when his military record gave his date of birth as 9^th March 1928 (maybe because he said he was 18), and confirmed his mother’s name as Gladys Marie Collett.

It was shortly after the start of 1948 that Ancil Moses Collett married Hilary who had with them on the day of the census in 1950, their first child. On that day the young family was living in Highsplint where Ancil M Collett was 21 and employed as a coal loader for the Coal Mining Company, his wife Ilery Collett was 20, and daughter Judith L Collett was one year old.

He was 71 when the death of Ancil Moses Collett was recorded at Montgomery, Hamilton County in Ohio, on 4^th January 2001, following which he was buried at Goshen Cemetery, in Goshen, Clermont County, Ohio. The date of birth on the headstone, and in all other records except that of his military record, was 9^th March 1929.

43T6

Judith L Collett

Born in 1949 at Highsplint, Harlan County

43S16

Kathleen Collett was the only daughter in the large family of boys of Tolman and Gladys Collett. She was possibly born at Highsplint in Harlan County in 1932, where her family was record in 1930, before a later move to Kettle Island Camp in Bell County where Kathleen was eight years old in 1940. However, by 1950, when Kathleen Collett was 18, she and her large family were living again at Highsplint. It was on 27^th May 1950 that she married Louis Wiggins at Pineville in Bell County, when Kathleen was 19, the daughter of Tolman Collett and Gladys Gatliff and Louis was 31 and the son of J G Wiggins and Bessie Grant. Nine months later, on 27^th February 1951, Kathleen presented Louis with daughter Linda C Wiggins, whose birth was recorded at Harlan County.

Curiously, on 16^th July 1946 at the age of 15, an earlier marriage of Kathleen Collett and Louis Wiggins, aged 27, was recorded at Harlan.

43S18

Jimmy R Collett may have been born at Kettle Island in Bell County after his family moved there from Highsplint where the majority of his siblings were born. It was on 29^th January 1938 that Jimmy R Collett was born who, as one-year-old Jimmie Collett, was living with his family at Kettle Island Camp on the day of the census in 1940. Ten years later Jimmie R Collett was eleven years of age when he and his family were living at Highsplint, Harlan County.

In 2020, Trish Frierson, nee Collett, made contact to enquire about how she might be connection to the Collett family line in Kentucky. All she could provide with any certainty at that time, was the name of her father, and that of her grandfather, with just an idea that her great-grandfather may have been Tolman Collett who was not known back then. It is only now in January 2024 that a positive identity of the said Tolman Collett has been found to complete Trish’s link to this family line.

Jimmy R Collett was her grandfather, and it was one of his children who was Michael Gene Collett, who was born during 1958 at Covington in Kentucky, where the obituary for Jimmy’s eldest brother James Douglas Collett (above) was published in 2007

43T7

Michael Gene Collett

Born in 1958 at Covington, Kenton County

43S19

Richard Gerald Collett was conceived when his parents, Tolman and Gladys Collett. were living and working at Kettle Island Camp in Bell County. However, his birth was recorded at Highsplint in Harlan County on 29^th April 1941 but as Richard Jearld Collett. As Richard G Collett he was eight years old in the 1950 census for Highsplint. Upon his death in hospital on 6^th August 1980 at Cincinnati, Hamilton County in Ohio, he was described as the son of Gladys Gatliff, and a married man.

43S21

Thomas E Collett was born on 3^rd September 1945 at Kettle Island Camp with his birth recorded at Bell County. He was the youngest surviving child of Tolman Collett and Gladys Marie Gatliff and was four years of age in the 1950 for Highsplint, Harlan County. He may have been married twice in his life, with the only record so far found was on 19^th October 1990 when, at the age of 45, Thomas E Collett married Stella Maloney at Fayette County.

43S29

Mitchell Stacy Collett was born on 1^st November 1941 at Casstown, Miami County, Ohio, the fourth child and eldest son of Mitchell Collett and his second wife Louetta Lambert. He was eight years old in 1950 when the family home was at Avenue Road in Newton, Miami County. On the application for his marriage licence, it stated that Mitchell Stacy Collett was 21 and born at Casstown in Ohio on the date above, a driver for Troy Sunshade living with his family at Pleasant Hill, Ohio. Judith Ann Lucous was 22 and born on 10^th April 1941 at Ludlow Falls, Ohio, a beauty operator living at 225 South Wall Street in Covington, Ohio, the daughter of Wallace D Lucous and Anna Mae McPherson. The document was completed on 28^th October 1963, with their wedding ceremony conducted on 1^st November 1963.

43S30

Samuel Roger Collett was the younger of the two sons in the family of girls of Mitchell and Lou Etta Collett and was born at Troy, Miami County on 30^th December 1942. He was seven years of age in 1950 by which time he and his family were living at Avenue Road in Newton, Miami County. Sixteen years later the marriage of Samuel Roger Collett and Barbara Ann Ross was recorded at Miami County Ohio on 28^th May 1966 when he was 23 and she was 17, the son of Mitchell Collett and Lou Etta Lambert, and the daughter of Carl N Ross and Helen M Baker. At that time in his life Samuel was a drill press operator residing at 118 William Street in Pleasant Hill, Ohio. Barbara was born on 26^th February 1949 at Piqua, Ohio, and was a student. It was a Piqua that they were living in the 1990s, and a Pickaway, Ohio, in 2004, and by 2011 it was in Troy.

43S33

Henry Collett (aka Henry Barrett) was born in Leslie County around 1922 and was Henry Collett aged eight years and Henry Collett 18 years of age in the 1930 and 1940 census returns. On the first of them he was living with his paternal grandparents, and for the second he was with his mother Maudie Collett Bowling and her second husband Bristo Bowling, his stepfather. All that is known about him is that he married Rosie Roark, and their only known child Tinsley Collett was born on 13^th February 1948 who died a hospital in Warbranch on the following day. The cause of his death was recorded as a congenital malfunction, birth injury. Henry Collett died in 2005 and was buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery in Essie, Leslie County.

43T8

Tinsley Collett

Born in 1948; died in 1948

43S34

Verna Collett was born on 1^st January 1925 at Roark in Leslie County and was the eldest child of Woodard Collett and Blanch Barrett. She was 89 when she died on 24^th April 2014, and was buried at Rye Cove Cemetery in Warbranch, Leslie County. During her married life as Verna Shepherd, she gave birth to at least ten children. They were: Woodard Shepherd on 4^th January 1940; Woodrow Anthony Shepherd on 4^th March 1942; Asher Shepherd on 29^th May 1944; Sheldon Shepherd on 16^th February 1946; Curtis Shepherd on 28^th May 1948; Ernest Shepherd on 24^th January 1950; Dale Shepherd on 11^th March 1952; Raymond Shepherd on 5^th November 1953; daughter Lonnie Shepherd on 14^th November 1959; and Alan B Shepherd on 22^nd February 1962. From around 1994 to 2005 Vernie was residing at East Bernstadt in Laurel County, Kentucky.

43S35

Thelma Collett was another daughter of Woodard and Blanch Collett. She was born on 25^th November 1926 at Roark in Leslie County, and died on 8^th December 1996 at Warbranch, Leslie County.

43S39

Berga Collett was born on 3^rd January 1935 at Roark in Leslie County, another child of Woodard and Blanch Collett. He was 65 when he died at Essie in Leslie County on 30^th June 2000 and was buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery.

43S40

Bernard Collett was another son of Woodard and Blanch Collett and was born on 5^th October 1937 at Roark, Leslie County and died at Stinnett in Leslie County on 9^th January 2002, but was buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery.

43S41

Mary Collett was born on 28^th February 1939 at Hyden, Leslie County, another child of Woodard Collett and Blanch Barrett. She was six months old in the census of 1940, when her family was living on Bowens Creek Road in Bad Creek. She was married twice in her life, the first time to Vernon Hoskins, and later to Albert Coomer. Upon her death on 10^th January 2023 she was living in Jeffersonville, Clark County in Indiana, following which she was buried at Walnut Ridge Cemetery in Jeffersonville. Her obituary published on 11^th April 2023 was very revealing, as follows:

Mary Collett Hoskins Coomer died while in Clark Memorial Hospital, Jeffersonville. She was a member of the North Charlestown Church of God and was survived by her children Melissa Christian of Austin Texas, Patricia Bowling (Danny Bowling), of London Kentucky, Zandal Hoskins of Charlestown Indiana, Dinah Wanger (Greg Wanger) of Jeffersonville, and her sister Vadie Collett of Jeffersonville. She was preceded in death by her husbands, Albert Coomer and Vernon Hoskins, her father Woodard Collett, her mother Blanch Barrett Collett, her brothers A C Collett, Oscar Collett, Tinsley Collett, Burgie Collett and Bernard Collett, and her sisters Verna Shepard, and Thelma Fee.

43S42

Oscar Collett was born on 17^th April 1945 at Leslie County another child of Blanch Barrett and Woodard Collett. He died on 23^rd March 2013 and was buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery in Essie, Leslie County. The only details of his life come from the 2016 obituary for his daughter Lola Jean Collett who died on Saturday 13^th August 2016.

Lola Jean Collett, age 59 of Cedar Lane Apartments in London, KY, was born March 14, 1957 in Asher, KY. She was welcomed into the arms of her loving Saviour and Lord on Saturday, August 13 at the Hospice of the Bluegrass. She was a devout Christian and loved going to church. Lola enjoyed traveling, attending Bluegrass festivals, gardening, spending time with her grandchildren, family and friends. She had an unconditional love for her family. She was a loving mother, grandmother, sister and friend. Lola was preceded in death by her parents, Lucy & Oscar Collett; paternal grandmother, Dora Roark; maternal grandparents, Wiley & Cloe Collett; brothers, T.J. and Wiley Collett and the father of her children, Shelby Hoskins. She leaves behind her former husband and special companion of 34 years, Charles G. Riley of London, KY; one beloved daughter, Jeanie Pennington and husband Steve, also of London, KY; one beloved son, Michael William Hoskins and wife Tonya of Middlesboro, KY; five sisters, Thelma Hubbard of Asher, KY, Cloe Jessie Collett of Jack’s Creek, Hattie Collett of Stinnett, KY, Daisy Brock of Tazewell, TN, Georgia Collett of Stinnett, KY; a host of beloved nieces and nephews; four beloved grandchildren, Jaden S. Pennington of London, KY, Tyler Phelps of London, KY, Skylar Hoskins of Onawa, IA, Aligha Fee Hoskins of Middlesboro, KY; special uncle, Mannual Roark; and special friend, Molly Hubbard. Funeral services for Lola Jean Collett will be conducted on Friday, August 19 at 1:00 p.m. at Bowen’s Creek Baptist Church in Essie, KY with Pastor Gary Elzia officiating. Burial will follow in the Bowen’s Creek Cemetery.

43T9

Lola Jean Collett

Born on 14.03.1957; died on 13.08.2016

43S43

Tinsley Collett was born in 1948 at Essie in Leslie County and was the youngest son and tenth children of Woodard Collett and Blanch Barrett who was two years old in the Leslie census of 1950. Another Tinsley Collett (Ref. 43T8) who was born on 13^th February 1948, who would also have been two years of age in 1950 had he survived, was the son of Henry Collett (Ref. 43S33) and Rosie Roark, who died in hospital in Warbranch on 14^th February 1948. It was on 27^th January 1969 that Tinsley Collett married Janet Fay Napier in Jonesville, Lee County, Virginia. Their five children, as listed below, were probably born during the seventies and early 1980s.

It was at the Continue Care Hospital in Corbin, Whitley County, Kentucky, that he died on 2^nd October 2018 and was buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery in Essie. His obituary was published on 4^th October 2018 at Hyden, Leslie County, in which his last home address was Hill Top Road in Essie, and that he was the son of Woodard and Blanch Collett, a retired welder. It then listed his family as having three sons, Russell who was married to Debbie, Auddie, and Timmy, and two daughters Ida, and Shonda and her husband Denver Lewis. He also had two surviving sisters, Mary Coomer (above), and Vadie Collett, plus two grandchildren, Byron and his wife Sophie, and Addison Lewis.

43T10

Russell Collett

Date and place of birth unknown

43T11

Auddie Collett

Date and place of birth unknown

43T12

Timmy Collett

Date and place of birth unknown

43T13

Ida Collett

Date and place of birth unknown

43T14

Shonda Collett

Date and place of birth unknown

43S57

Edmond Collett, whose date of birth is not known, was the son of Emanuel Collett and the grandson of Arthur and Frances Collett. He was a successful lawyer in Kentucky and was also one of the largest landowners in the state. He was one of three men charged and convicted of conspiracy in the use of false absentee ballots in the US election of 1977. The case was reported in the Kentucky newspaper on 29^th October 1980, when the three co-conspirators were each fined $5,000 and sentenced to four years in prison. One of the men named with Edmond was C Allen Muncey who may have been related to the wife of Troy Collett, the younger brother of Edmond’s father Emanuel. The only other known fact about Edmond at this time, is that he has a daughter Angela.

43T15

Angela Collett

Date of birth unknown

43S66

Arthur Collett was born at Leslie County on 7^th June 1963, the last child of Clarence Collett and Nettie Mosley, and was named after his paternal grandfather. When Arthur Collett married Carrie Jean Crouch he was confirmed as another child of Clarence Collett and Nettie Mosley. Eight years after his father had passed away, Arthur Collett died on 18^th June 2010 and was buried at Osborne Cemetery in London, Kentucky.

43S67

Ross Collette was born at Leslie County in 1944, the son of Troy Collett and his first wife Ruth Muncey. Sadly, his father left his mother for another woman when Ross was still a baby and, in fact, Ruth also looked after Ross’ half-brother for a short while. Ross later married Sharon Kaye Caudill and it was Ross and Sharon’s daughter, Angela Collette, who kindly provided details of her family line from Sarah Collett (Ref. 43N2) and Dillion Asher, whose children all retained the Collett surname.

43T16

Angela Collette

Date of birth unknown

43S68

Corbett Leonard Collette was born at Leslie County on 26^th March 1946, the son of Troy Collett and his second wife Opsie H Couch. Corbett was named after his father’s brother and was referred to as Little Corbett. He attended college and later joined the Coast Guard. Corbett went on to have three children of his own, Joseph Troy, Stacy, and Debbie. He was only fifty years old when he passed away on 3^rd November 1996 at the age of 50. It was his daughter Debra Lynn Collett, now Debbie Lee, of Richmond in Indiana, who made contact in 2014 and supplied the latest details about her family. Joseph Troy Collett is her half-brother, her father having been married twice.

43T17

Joseph Troy Collett

Date of birth unknown

43T18

Stacy Collett

Date of birth unknown

43T19

Debra Lynn Collett

Date of birth unknown

43S73

Denver Collett was born at Leslie County another son Troy Collett and his second wife Opsie H Couch. All that is currently known about Denver is that he is married to Melissa and that his son Ben has researched the Collett family and was building a website in early 2014. The couple’s other son Dustin (Dusty) Collett was born in 1982. Nothing has been heard from Ben since 2014.

43T20

Benjamin Wesley Collett

Date of birth unknown

43T21

Dustin Clay Collett

Born in 1982 at Louisville, Kentucky

43S84

Eunice Collett was born at Essie in Leslie County on 12^th April 1945 and was the youngest child of Reuben Collett and Mary Whitehead. She was married twice in her life, the first time to (1) Oakley Morgan, while her second husband was (2) Curtis Lee Collett. Eunice Collett died at Hazard in Perry County, Kentucky, on 26^th January 2010.

43S85

Earl Homer Collett was born at Bad Creek, Leslie County on 16^th July 1928, the first-born child of Emler Collett and Delora Mosley. He was two years old in the census of 1930 when living at Bowens Creek Road in Bad Creek and was 10 in the Lower Bad Creek census of 1940. He attended the Lees Junior College after high school, where he obtained an associate degree in teaching and then taught at the old Stinnett Schoolhouse. Just prior to 1950 he left the family home but was separately living their wife his wife on the day of the census when he was 21 an elementary school teacher. His wife Rose Nell Collett was 15 years of age when the couple was living just three doors from Earl’s family. He later worked as a grocery delivery person for Hyden Dry Goods. In 1974 he opened the Hill Top Market at Stinnett (Collett’s Farm & Feed); he operated Hill Top Market for more than 35 years before retiring in 2009.

For most of his life Earl Homer Collett resided at Stinnett in Leslie County, and it was there that he died on 7^th February 2022 at the age of 93. His body was laid to rest at Elmer Collett Cemetery in Essie, Leslie County, although an alternative source states he was buried at Glady Branch Cemetery in Stinnett. His obituary was published at Hyden two days later, and included the following details.

“In addition to his parents, Earl was preceded in death by two brothers, Freddie Joe, and Kenneth Collett and three sisters, Susie Holland, Pauline Collett, and Edith Collett. Earl leaves behind his beloved wife, Mary Gamble Collett to whom he was wed on 9^th June 2007; three sons: David Collett (Shandra) of Corbin, KY, Jimmy Caudill of Stinnett, KY and Jesse Lee Wooton of Frankfort, KY; three brothers, John Collett (Carolyn) of London, KY, Marcus Collett (Emily) of Roark, KY, and Doyle Collett of Indiana; four sisters, Fern Maxwell of TN, Joyce Hunley (Eugene) of Essie, KY, Geraldine Collett (Mason) of Essie, KY and Rosetta Sizemore (Steve) of Barbourville, KY; and nine cherished grandchildren, including Charles David Collett Jr, and Jaxxon Raylan Reed Collett.”

43S96

Ernest Sheldon Collett ($) who was known as Sheldon, was born at Bad Creek, Leslie County on 20^th December 1927 and was the first-born child of John L Collett and Phrona Morgan. He was two years old in the Bad Creek census of 1930, was 12 years old in 1940, and by 1950 Sheldon Collett was a married man aged 22 who was a stone mill worker in the manufacturing of stone. It was just prior to the census day that Ernest had married Vina Osborne, with the childless couple living next door to Sheldon’s parents, when Vina Collett was 17. It would seem he lived his whole life in Kentucky, including places like Stinnett, Essie, and 160 Daniel Branch Road in Essie, where he was residing during the summer of 1993. And it may have been there that he died on 27^th May 2010, at the age 82, when he was buried at Bowens Creek Cemetery in Essie, Leslie County.

Thanks to Sheldon’s grandson we know for sure that he and Vina had a son Douglas who was born in the 1950s, although there may have been others in addition to Doug as he was referred to by his son Derrick.

43T22

Douglas Collett ($)

Date of birth unknown

43S101

Gladys Collett was born at Bad Creek, Leslie County on 18^th January 1939, the sixth of the eight children of John L Collett and Phronia Morgan. She was one year old in the 1940 census when living with her family at Bowens Creek Road. She was married four times during her life, the second time on 6^th June 1968 when, as Gladys Collett Roberts, she became Gladys Collett Sizemore, the wife of Hughie Sizemore, when Hughie’s mother’s name was Rebecca Collett, the wife of Willie Sizemore. It was on 8^th September 1980 when the last marriage of Gladys Collett Sizemore and Ray Morgan, a possible member of her mother’s family, took place at Lee County in Virginia. Ray was 49, the son of Dennis and Nerva Morgan, while Gladys was 41 and the daughter of John L Collett and Phronia Morgan. By the time Gladys passed away on 21^st May 2004, she also had another name she was known by, and that was Gladys Partin applicable in 1978, presumably via her second marriage.

43S105

William Bennett Collett was born at Roark on 19^th June 1932, and was the younger of the two known children of James Farmer Collett and Phrona Sheppard. Seventeen years after the premature death o his father, William B Collett married Doris Hubbard at Richmond, Wayne County in Indiana on 26^th March 1955. The Application for a Marriage Licence made by the groom provided the following information. William B Collett, bachelor, born at Roark (date as above), was residing at Columbus, Ohio, where his occupation was that of a statistician. His parents were James Farmer Collett who was born at Roark, a carpenter, deceased, and Phrona Sheppard of Roark, a club-house manager, living at Lake Waccamaw, Columbus County in North Carolina.

43S107

Geneva Collett was the eldest child of Herman Collett and Maggie Alice Patton and was born on 26^th February 1931 at Gifford, Magoffin County in Kentucky. She was thirty-two when she married Dale Hoke Coleman at Knox County, Indiana, on 26^th June 1963, when she was confirmed as the daughter of Herman Collett and Maggie Alice Patten. Dale was the same age as Geneva, having been born on 11^th March 1931.

43S108

Reva Collett was born at Gifford, Magoffin County, in 1934 and was another daughter of Herman and Maggie Collett. She was very young when she married Warden Caudill at Magoffin County on 23^rd December 1947, when she was confirmed as the daughter of Herman Collett and Maggie Alice Patten.

43S112

LEONARD P COLLETT was born at Knox County in Kentucky on 2^nd November 1937, the second child of Burchell and Della Collett. He was two years of age in the census of 1840 when he and his family was staying with his paternal grandparents John and Della Collett at Magisterial District 2 in Bell County, Kentucky. Leonard later married Lola Cloud with whom he had a son after the couple settled in the town of Dowagiac in Michigan.

43T23

MARK COLLETT

Born in 1965 at Dowagiac, Michigan

43S116

Bryan Scott Peters was born on 24^th July 1969 at the Carswell Air Force Base at Fort Worth in Texas. Today Bryan lives in Wisconsin.

43S117

Jeffrey Lee Collett was born as Jeffrey Lee Peters on 18^th November 1970 at Carswell Air Force Base at Fort Worth in Texas. He is known as Jeff, and when he was sixteen years of age, he legally changed his surname to his mother’s maiden of Collett. Nowadays, Jeff lives at Watford in Hertfordshire, England, with his wife Karen. Jeff works in the field of information technology for a Boston based company, while Karen is a Special Educational Needs Teacher.

43S118

Cosette Louise Collett was born in Florida on 28^th March 1949. Her father William Barrow Collett (the third) died before she was three years old, following which her mother remarried. By 1990 she was living at Coon Rapids in Minnesota.

43S119

Tama Louise Collett was born in Boston, Massachusetts on 14^th October 1948. She attended public schools in Wisconsin Rapids and then entered Rockford College in Illinois. While a student there she developed a relationship with a foreign student and delivered a baby girl out of wedlock. The father of the child decided not to continue the relationship so it was agreed that the baby should be offered up for adoption and was fortunate to be selected by an outstanding family. Today the child of Tama Louise is married with two children of her own, and both she and her husband, currently living in Minneapolis, Minnesota, have a good relationship with the Collett family.

Tama married Oliver Udemmadu Ogbonnia Mobisson on 4^th October 1969 at Cambridge in Suffolk City. He was a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was born at Awo-Idemili, Orlu in Nigeria on 23^rd April 1943. The marriage produced four children for Tama and Oliver, the first three born in Massachusetts and the fourth at Wisconsin Rapids. They are Geoffrey Emeka Mobisson born 10^th May 1970 at Cambridge, Kathrine Chinyere Mobisson born 10^th June 1972 at Lynn, Laura Nneka Mobisson born 10^th March 1975 at Cambridge, and Jidenna Theodore Mobisson who was born on 4^th May 1985.

Tama and Oliver Mobisson lived in Nigeria from 1985 until 1991, after which Tama returned to Wisconsin Rapids. It was during the following year that she joined Pilgrim Healthcare as a staff accountant. Oliver was Professor Oliver Mobisson at the Enuga State University, where he was a computer scientist at the forefront of modern computer technology. When Tama returned to America in 1991, he stayed on in Nigeria to carry on his development work, but in March 1995 he suffered a stroke, at which time Tama flew out to Lagos and returned with him to Boston.

43S120

Chrisanne Collett was born at Appleton, Wisconsin on 24^th December 1949. She married (1) Douglas Harold Freund on 30^th June 1979 at Wisconsin Rapids. Douglas was born at McHenry in Illinois on 14^th May 1956, and his marriage to Chrisanne produced two daughters for the couple. They were later divorced and, on 24^th July 1997, Chrisanne married (2) Jeffrey Mark Waldo who brought two adopted Korean children into the marriage. The four children from her two marriages are Kori Elise Freund born 10^th January 1982, Kristin Ashley Freund born 24^th February 1985, both at Woodstock in Illinois, Michael Lee Waldo born 21^st February 1984, and Elizabeth Ann Waldo who was born on 24^th October 1988.

43S121

Kent Groff Collett was born at Appleton, Wisconsin on 13^th November 1952. He married Constance Hagen on 22^nd January 1972 at the Moravian Church in Wisconsin Rapids. During the first six years of their life together Constance presented her husband with four children, including a set of twins. They were later divorced. After high school Kent attended Bucknell University in Pennsylvania and after his marriage he earned his degree in marketing from the University of Wisconsin. In 2009 Kent was working as a manufacturer's representative and was living in St. Louis, Missouri.

43T24

Jamie Marie Collett

Born in 1972 at Madison, Wisconsin

43T25

Roberta Ann Collett

Born in 1977 at Wisconsin Rapids

43T26

Jefferey Charles Collett

Born in 1978 at Fond du Lac County

43T27

Gregory Groff Collett

Born in 1978 at Fond du Lac County

43S122

Leslie Wiggin Collett was born Wisconsin Rapids on 17^th August 1961. She attended public schools in Wisconsin Rapids and later earned a degree in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin in Platteville, Wisconsin. It was at Wisconsin Rapids that on 1^st October 1988 Leslie married Stephen John Moss who was also born in Wisconsin on 23^rd March 1961. They have three children and in 2009 were living in DePere, Wisconsin, where they were still living on 2021. Their three children were born at Green Bay in Wisconsin and are Alexander Stephen Moss born 30^th December 1990, Laura Kathrine Moss born 24^th January 1994, and Samuel Patrick Moss who was born on 11^th April 1998.

43T17

Joseph Troy Collett was the son of Corbett Leonard Collett, although his date and place of birth is not known. He is the half-brother of Debbie Lee, formerly Debra Lynn Collett, who provided the details of his family. In 2014 Joseph was living in Alabama and has a daughter Hailee Collett and a son Payton Collett. Through his marriage Joseph also has another child, the daughter of his wife, who has also taken the Collett family name, she now being known as Stacey Collett.

43U1

Hailee Collett

Born circa 1992

43U2

Payton Collett

Born circa 2006

43T21

Dustin Clay Collett was born at Louisville in Kentucky on 9^th October 1982, a son of Denver and Melissa Collett. He was raised in Ohio and when his family moved to Tennessee, Dustin remained in Ohio where he continued his schooling. Known as Dusty, he was a senior and a business management major at Northern Kentucky University, but tragically passed away on 7^th May 2005.

43T22

Douglas Collett ($), who is known as Doug, was born in the 1950s, a son of Ernest Sheldon Collett and his wife Vina Osborne.

43U3

Derrick Collett ($)

Date of birth not unknown

43T23

MARK COLLETT was born at Dowagiac in Michigan on 19^th December 1965, the only known child of Leonard P Collett and Lola Cloud.

43U4

Natalie Collett

Born in 1989 at Dowagiac, Michigan

43U5

JASON COLLETT

Born in 1990 at Dowagiac, Michigan

43T24

Jamie Marie Collett was born at Madison in Wisconsin on 16^th August 1972, the eldest of the four children of Kent Groff Collett and Constance Hagen, who were later divorced. It is from her grandfather’s obituary that we know, at the time of the death of Groff Collett, at the end of 2021, Jamie was married to Fletcher Stovall junior.

43T25

Roberta Ann Collett was born at Wisconsin Rapids on 19^th May 1977. On 11^th January 2003 she married Matthew Neuwirth at St Louis in Missouri with whom she has a son Nicolas David Neuwirth who was born on 12^th February 2008 at the Missouri Baptist Medical Centre in St Louis.

43T26

Jefferey Charles Collett was the twin brother of Gregory (below), who was born at Fond du Lac in Fond du Lac County on 3^rd December 1978. He married Christina (Chrissy) Brianne de Venney on 29^th July 2006 at the First Christian Church in Columbia, Missouri and has a son who was born during the following year.

43U6

a Collett son

Born in 2007 at Columbia, Missouri

43T27

Gregory Groff Collett was born at Fond du Lac County on 3^rd December 1978, twin brother of Jefferey (above) and the youngest child of Kent Groff Collett and Constance Hagen who, sometime after he was born, were divorced. It is known that Gregory later married Laura, with their names amongst those listed in the obituary of his grandfather Groff Collett, who died at the end of 2021.

43U3

Derrick Collett ($) may have been born in the 1970/80s, while it was in October 2024 that he made contact with new information which has assisted in tracing his family line back to 1620 in England.

43U4

Natalie Collett was born at Dowagiac in Michigan on 19^th June 1989 and is the daughter of Mark Collett and Lola Cloud of Dowagiac. She married Russell Dilley, from whom she is now separated, while her son was born at Tucson in Arizona in 2017 at the home of her father.

43V1

Ethan Jase Collett

Born on 05.08.2017 at Tucson, Arizona

43U5

JASON COLLETT was born at Dowagiac in Michigan on 15^th August 1990, the son of Mark Collett of Dowagiac. It was Jason who kindly provided the details relating to his sister Natalie (above) and his nephew Ethan. In 2017 Jason and his father Mark were residing in Tucson.

APPENDIX ONE – SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS

Wednesday 4^th February 1925

30 YEAR SEARCH FOR HEIRS OF $200,000 ESTATE ENDS WITH THE FAMILY FOUND HERE

William Collett of 104 Haynes Avenue, a travelling tariff inspector for the Southern Pacific Railroad will become joint heir with four others to a fortune estimated at $200,000. The announcement terminates a search for missing heirs carried out since 1894. Information of the legacy reached San Antonio Tuesday morning in a letter to Chief of Police T O Miller asking him to assist in finding Miss Helen Collett who lived at 608 West Craig Place in 1916. Inquiries developed the fact that Miss Collett had died in 1919, but a brother William Collett lived on Haynes Street. Collett was in Houston on a business trip and Mrs Collett called at police headquarters and conferred with the Chief of Police in establishing the identity of the heirs. The letter confirming the information was sent by a law firm in Leicester, England and said that the estate had been held in trust since 1894 for the heirs of Mrs Elizabeth M Collett. Mrs Collett died several years ago at Moberly in Missouri. The family originally numbered six children, and five of them are still living. Beside William Collett of San Antonio the other participants are Miss Minnie Collett of Moberly, Mo; Mrs Katherine Barker of Crystal City, Texas; Robert Collett of St Louis; and Arthur Collett of Seattle, Wash. The letter did not have the legator and members of the Collett family could give no indication of the benefactor as several near relatives are known to be living in Leicester. The Collett family came to America fifty years ago and settled in Missouri. William Collett was born in that state. Later he spent several years in Mexico before going with the Southern Pacific. He has lived in San Antonio for five years.

Later correspondence dated 18^th May 1925 from Toller, Poohin & Wright (Solicitors) at 2 Wycliffe Street in Leicester, England revealed the amount of money in trust was in fact only £670 and that the benefactor was Miss Catherine Mary Simons who died on 2^nd April 1892. She was the sister of Elizabeth Martha Simons (Mrs Elizabeth M Collett in the article above) who married Robert Collett and who together with their first two children emigrated to America in 1867. It was Robert and Elizabeth who had the six children that are referred to in the newspaper article above. Robert Collett is Ref. 43O10 and his six children were: Arthur Collett born in England and of Seattle (Ref. 43P56); Minnie Collett aka Mary Elizabeth born in England and of Moberly (Ref. 43P57); Katherine Louise Barker nee Collett (Ref. 43P58); John Robert Thomas Collett of St Louis (Ref. 43P59); and William Francis Collett aka Willie of San Antonio (Ref. 43P61). The deceased sixth child was the aforementioned Helen Maude Collett aka Nellie (Ref. 43P60).

APPENDIX TWO COLLETT BAD BOYS – Case 1 Go to Part 43 – Other Colletts of Kentucky for Case 2 and Go to Part 60 [Appendix Two] for Cases 3 through to Case 7

In addition to bad boy Thomas Collett (Ref. 60N5 - previously Ref. 43o5), who was arrested for burglary in 1821 and subsequently transported to Tasmania, there were other members of the Collett family who suffered the same fate. This appendix includes one of them, George Collett who married Arabella Lawman at St Mary’s Church on St Marylebone Road in London on 21^st May 1803, who was baptised at St Bartholomew’s Church in London on 2^nd February 1783. He was the likely son of Henry Collett and his wife Sarah who are referred to under Ref. 43M13 in the main body of this family line. Case 1 – John Collett 1804-1932

A2n1 A2o1

Henry Collett was married to Sarah and their son George was born in London in either late 1782 or early 1783. Following the marriage of George Collett to Arabella Lawman in 1803, the couple initially settled at Sacombe, just north-west of Ware in Hertfordshire, where their first child was born and baptised. That child was followed by at least five more, but only after the family had moved into the Putney area of London.

A2p1

John Collett

Baptised on 25.03.1804 at Sacombe, Herts.

A2p2

Mary Anne Collett

Born on 11.02.1806 at Putney

A2p3

Sarah Ellen Collett

Born on 21.01.1808 at Putney

A2p4

Jane Weedon Collett

Born on 28.03.1810 at Putney

A2p5

Anne Agnes Collett

Born on 21.09.1812 at Putney

A2p6

George Collett

Baptised on 09.01.1815 at Putney

A2p1

John Collett was baptised at Sacombe near Wareham in Hertfordshire on 25^th March 1804, the eldest of the six children of George Collett and Arabella Lawman. John Collett was the great-great-great-grandfather of Carlene Smelt of Queensland in Australia. It was in Surrey on 30^th December 1822, at the age of eighteen, that he was tried and convicted of housebreaking and, together with his accomplices William Sawyer and John Perry, he was given a life sentence. The three of them then arrived in Australia during 1823 on the sailing ship ‘Commodore Hayes’ with 220 other convicts.

The following notice was published by the Police Office in Hobart on 17^th March 1825. Runaway John Collett, 5 feet 7 inches, with dark brown eyes, dark brown hair, 22 years of age, a labourer, tried at Surrey in December 1822, sentenced to life, arrived in this Colony per Commodore Hayes in 1823, native of Sandon (in Hertfordshire), scar on left cheek bone and one on left side of upper lip, absconded from the Prisoners' Barracks on December 21^st 1824. Reward £2.

John later married Elizabeth Ives on 1^st January 1832, with Elizabeth having been born in England during 1814. Their daughter Sarah Roseanna Collett (1833-1919) was born in Tasmania and she later married Richard William Thompson in Hobart Town, Van Diemen’s Land, Tasmania, with whom she had seven children. John Collett and Elizabeth Ives also had three other children before he died at the age of 32, following which he was buried at St David’s Park in Hobart, Tasmania, on 6^th May 1837.

During his married life John Collett, who was living at Oatlands during the autumn of 1834, was called as a witness in two cases of cattle stealing. In the first of them on 9^th December 1834, John Collett had been employed as a servant on the farm of Mr Cawthorne for the previous six to seven years, when George Steel and Samuel Pullen Wells were charged with stealing an ox belonging to Mr Riley which had been grazing on Mr Cawthorne’s land. During the second court case on 10^th March 1835, John Collett was living at Oatlands and lodging there with him and his family was the accused James Goodwin, who was charged with stealing four oxen from the Sutherland brothers farm in Launceston, some seventy miles away from Oatlands. The presiding Judge ruled that there was no evidence to convict the prisoner of stealing the beasts, in as much, as the witness Collett had sworn that the prisoner had not been away from his house, at any time, sufficiently long enough to have gone to Mr. Sutherland's farm and return. Neither did it appear that he had received the four bullocks with a guilty knowledge. He therefore entered a verdict of not guilty. However, perhaps for some other reason, the prisoner was still remanded to gaol.

A2q1

Sarah Roseanna Collett

Born circa 1832 in Tasmania

A2q2

a Collett child

Born circa 1834 in Tasmania

A2q3

a Collett child

Born circa 1835 in Tasmania

A2q4

a Collett child

Born circa 1837 in Tasmania

A2p2

Mary Anne Collett was born at Putney on 11^th February 1806 and was six years old when she was baptised at St Mary’s Church in Putney on 18^th October 1812 in a combined ceremony with her three younger sisters (below).

A2p3

Sarah Ellen Collett was born at Putney on 21^st January 1808 and was three years of age when she was baptised with her three sisters on 18^th October 1812 at the Church of St Mary in Putney.

A2p4

Jane Weedon Collett was born at Putney on 28^th March 1810 where she was baptised on 18^th October 1812 with her three sisters at St Mary’s Church.

A2p5

Anne Agnes Collett was born at Putney on 21^st September 1812 and was four weeks old when she was baptised at St Mary’s Church in Putney on 18^th October 1812, it being a joint baptism ceremony with her three older sisters, the four daughters of George Collett and Arabella Lawman