Jesse Lee Collins' ancestors are said to have come from Colinsey Island, off the coast of Scotland. Jesse was born in about 1815, somewhere in North Carolina to Thomas Duren Collins and Wineford Walters. By about the mid 1830's he was in Bradley County, Tennessee. Interestingly, both Jesse Collins and Isaac Brewer (1763-1852) were there in 1840. Jesse's son, Nathaniel Stewart Collins, would later marry a Brewer (Elizabeth Ann Brewer, daughter of John Wesley Brewer and Mary America Hunter).
Jesse married a Cherokee Indian girl, Polly Ann "Mary" Howard, who was a native of Georgia, in Bradley County between 1837 and 1840, this estimate indicating that she was about 13-16 years old. In 1838 the Cherokees were forcibly gathered up and driven from their lands, to be given alternate lands in Oklahoma. Those tribesmen who had the means left on their own. The others were rounded up by the armies and militias. Great atrocities took place during the removal and the 1000 mile journey and many of the Indians died of disease or exposure.
Cherokees who lived on private land were not subject to removal. This was likely the case with Mary since she was married to a white man. He and his dark-skinned wife first left Tennessee for Missouri, and later Arkansas. When they fled Tennessee, they did so under the cover of darkness, with only the stars to guide their way. Mary, and any children they had, hid under a blanket in the wagon for fear of discovery while they rested in our of the way places during the daylight hours, as Jesse was afraid for their lives.
UPDATE: There appears to be a mistake here, as DNA testing evidently does not show Native American heritage in this family (see the comment below). I'll leave the above paragraph as is for now since it is interesting and is likely at least about someone the family knew, and I don't want the tale to be forgotten. If anyone has any additional insight, please leave a comment.
UPDATE: There appears to be a mistake here, as DNA testing evidently does not show Native American heritage in this family (see the comment below). I'll leave the above paragraph as is for now since it is interesting and is likely at least about someone the family knew, and I don't want the tale to be forgotten. If anyone has any additional insight, please leave a comment.
It is believed that the family stopped in Polk County, Missouri and obtained land in Section 7 of Twp 34, Range 22W, although I have not obtained a copy of the land record. They soon moved on to Arkansas and settled in Valley Spring, Boone County, near Harrison, Arkansas. In 1860 they were in Jackson Twp, Carroll County, Arkansas. 21 May 1864 Jesse Collins, of Carroll County, Arkansas, signed an Oath of Allegiance➚, in Springfield, Missouri, to the federal government (Union) by leaving his mark. At this time he was 50 years old and 5'11", with grey hair and blue eyes. Jesse was a Union soldier during the Civil War.
He likely died in Arkansas, although I don't know when. Mary died 2 Aug 1902, probably also in Arkansas.
I am a descendant of Jesse Lee Collins and Polly Howard.
ReplyDeleteI can't find any proof that Polly Howard was Native American. As far as I can tell, this story originated on Donna Flood's Electric Scotland website and has circulated the internet. I even contacted Donna Flood at one point to ask if she had any evidence for this story and she replied that she did not, but believed it based on the family legend.
I have also DNA tested two 2nd great-grandchildren of this couple. Neither one has even a trace amount of Native American. If Polly Howard was full Native American, then this region should be showing up on the autosomal DNA tests of her close descendants.
I have also researched Thomas Duren Collins and Winifred Walters. If online trees are to be believed, and I am definitely skeptical of them, then these two people were born between 1800 and 1803, making them very likely too young to be the parents of Jesse Lee Collins who was born around 1815.
As with the Native American narrative, I think Donna Flood is also responsible for this piece of information. I definitely want to be proven wrong and shown the way because I am annoyingly stuck at Jesse Collins, but right now Thomas Duren Collins and Winifred Walters aren't looking good for his parents.
Good to know! I included the story because it is such a fascinating and, I admit, romantic scenario. There are so many family traditions that are probably not provable - some true and some not. There are so many unknowns and I haven't dug very much into the Collins branch, but if DNA testing found the Indian narrative to be false, then this part of the tale is no more than an interesting story. I'm sure that this happened to someone, as there's often a thread of truth to spark stories like this, but perhaps Donna got mixed up on who the "escape under the cover of darkness" story was about. Thanks for sharing your DNA findings! I will update the story on this page.
DeleteI am new at ancestry but my son did the DNA test and found a distant cousin from the Brewer/Collins families.
ReplyDeleteMy dad was Jess Lee Collins, Jr, My grandfather was Jess Lee Collins, and my great grandmother was Mary America Collins. I hope to find more information on Mary America Collins, but this has proven to be a challenge so far. I love stories like these but some solid proof, published or documents would be needed as well.
I agree. Sometimes documentation is difficult, if not impossible, to find even though it is essential in good research. Very frustrating at times! Sometimes all we have are these stories, past down through the generations. They are a treasure and I wish we had more of them, but those documents could help prove or disprove, fill in the gaps, and pin down the timing of things. Some of the Brewer families led such backwoods lives that their paper trail is so sparse. I wish I could just ask them some things! So many untold stories and truths, and I'm sure tall tales as well, died with them.
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