The Colliers

The blog is acting up. It is doubling pictures and adding lots of spaces between paragraphs. I am going to once more remove them, but I cannot guarantee that they won't be there when I push the publish button.

This is a nutshell view of the Colliers as I have them.

The oldest Collier I have is Isaac who was born about 1718 and married Mary Gaines who was born in 1720. They had a son named Michael who was born about 1738 and married an Elizabeth. Michael and Elizabeth had a son on January 8, 1764 named Daniel.

Daniel married Elizabeth Prather born December 9, 1769. She was the daughter of James Prather. They had a son Richard on May 9, 1789. He married Matthew Caudill and Sarah Webb's daughter, Mary Caudill.

Richard and Mary married on August 30, 1832. They had a daughter, Elizabeth, in 1833.

In the 1850 census for Letcher county they are listed as:

Collier, Richard, 53

Mary 49

Stephen 16

William 15

Samuel 12

Sally 11.

Stephen married Elizabeth "Betsy Ann" Roark. They had these children: Richard (married Mary Bell Cook), James, Martha and Jamie.

William Dee "Willie" Collier married twice. First, he married Rebecca Meade, daughter of Thomas Kronis Meade and Mary "Polly" Hall. In the 1860 census he and Rebecca are living with his parents Richard and Mary:

Colier, Richard, 68, farm laborer

Mary 58

William 25, farm laborer

Rebecca 22 (William's wife Rebecca Meade)

Mary 5, grandchild

Robert 3, grandchild

Willis 1, grandchild

Meade, Catherine 24 (Rebecca Meade's sister)

Christener 4 (Catherine's child)

Martha 1 (Catherine's child)

Mary the 5 year old is Mary Matilda "Polly" Collier who was born April 30, 1855. She married Andrew "Little Andy" Wright who was killed in a shootout when he and other Wright relatives and William Pardue went to arrest Elijah Wright. After Little Andy's death she married Alexander Wright and then Wilburn Reedy.

The grandchild Robert who was 3 was born May 15,1858. He married Martha Yonts.

The grandchild Willis who was 1 was born April 22, 1859 as Willis Kirk Collier. He first married on September 18, 1885 to Mary Ellen Adams daughter of William Green Adams and Mary "Polly" Webb. She died in April of 1889. On May 5, 1890 Willis took Elizabeth "Lizzie" Vanover daughter of William and Elizabeth Vanover as his second wife.

Willis had three children with Mary: Wilburn "Wibby", Sadie and James Harrison. Sadie was Otho Bentley's first wife.

Willis had ten children with Elizabeth: Arnettie "Nettie", Mazie Frances, Milton M., Florence, Ireland Drew, Carrie, Ira F., Howard M., William and Delphia Jane.

I can't find Richard and Mary in the 1870 census yet. William Dee and Rebecca are there under a spelling of Colier.

Going on with Richard and Mary's children Samuel P. Collier married Martha Roark, probably a sister to Stephen's wife Elizabeth Roark. I haven't done any work on the Roarks to confirm this. Samuel and Martha had 8 children: William Wesley "Bill", Lizzie, Mary, Peter, Richard, James, Martha and Enoch Irvin.

Richard and Mary's youngest child, Sarah "Sally" married Robert C. Meade. They had 8 children: Mary "Polly", Nancy, Siletha, Riley, Rebecca, Samuel, Arminda and Martha.

The reason I wanted to try to sketch out the Colliers is because so many of them are in the Houston Cemetery at Goose Creek.

W. D. Collier

I don't know if this is William Dee Collier. It says W. D. Collier. It was clear at the graveyard. I can't make it out clearly on film. I should have chalked it so it would have read clearly.

Willis Kirk Collier 1859 - 1943

It says Rev. W. K. Collier July 23, 1859 May 8 1943. At the bottom that says "In Memory of Howard Collier." His son, Howard, did not die until 1971, so it is probable that this marker was not placed until after that time.

Florence Collier Hall 1898 - 1922

Florence was the daughter of Willis Kirk Collier and Elizabeth "Lizzie" Vanover, She was the half-sister of Sadie Collier Bentley. She was born on July 22, 1898 in Letcher County. She married John Henry Hall on February 21, 1916. They had two children: Rhoda and Ford. John Henry died on March 17, 1924. In the 1930 census the two children are living with their grandparents: Rhoda with Willis Kirk & Lizzie Vanover Collier and Ford with is widowed grandmother, Nancy Elizabeth Anderson Hall. Jim Hall had died in 1929.

Carrie Collier 1903 - 1920

Carrie was the daughter of Willis Kirk Collier and Elizabeth "Lizzie" Vanover. She was a half-sister to Sadie Collier Bentley. I could not find a death certificate for Carrie.

Sarah Collier Yonts 1886 - 1967

Robert Collier was Willis Kirk Collier's older brother. He married Martha Yonts, daughter of Solomon & Frances Whitaker Yonts. This is the grave of Robert and Martha's daughter, Sarah. Sarah was born August 6, 1886 at Neon. She married John Quiller Yonts, the son of Solomon "Sollie" Yonts and Virginia "Jennie" Quillen. They had five children: Luther, Quilva, Marcus, Martha and Gladys. John died in 1950 and was buried at Goose Creek. If Sarah lies beside him, he is in a grave marked only with a rock and the head and foot.

Arthur Denton Collier 1909-1909

I can't figure this one out. I have no birth or death record for him. I don't know who he belongs to.


Robert Collier 1899 - 1926

Again I can't figure this one out.