"COUNTIES OF MORGAN, MONROE & BROWN, INDIANA. HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL."
CHARLES BLANCHARD, EDITOR. CHICAGO: F. A. BATTEY & CO. PUBLISHERS. 1884.
F. A. BATTEY. F. W. TEPPLE
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP AND MARTINSVILLE, MORGAN COUNTY, INDIANA
PAGE 178
MATTHIAS B. COLLINS, second child in a family of three, was born February
18, 1842, in Butler County, Ohio. His parents, Jacob and May A. (Arbuckle)
Collins, natives of Pennsylvania and Virginia respectively, were married in
Ohio, in 1837, and located near Cincinnati, where the father followed the
cooper's trade and farmed up to the present time. His mother died November
6, 1877, Matthias was reared and educated in Clermont County, Ohio, and
when nineteen years or age came to Indiana and entered the employ of
carriage manufactures, with whom he remained until July, 1862. He enlisted
in Company I, Thirty-third Indiana Volunteers, under Capt. Houser; served
three years, and participated in the following engagements: Thompson's
Station, Resaca, Cassville, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Burnt
Hickory and Dallas Woods; he then marched with Sherman from Atlanta to the
sea, and took part in the battles at Savannah, Bentonville and Averysboro;
near Goldsboro, he was taken prisoner, and first imprisoned at Danville,
then at Libby. Shortly after, he was paroled, and going to Camp Chase,
Ohio, was granted a furlough, and on June 10, 1865, was honorably
discharged. Returning to Bartholomew County, Ind., he resumed work at
carriage-making. On March 25, 1866, he was married to Minerva L. Rominger,
of Bartholomew County. One year later, they removed to St. Louis, Ind.,
where he engaged in wagon-making, remaining until 1872; removing thence to
Miamiville, Ohio, he engaged in photography (which he had learned while in
the army), traveling with a portable gallery until in 1879, when he came to
Martinsville and has since been successfully engaged there in the same
business. Mr. Collins is Senior Warden of the A. F. & A. M., Martinsville
Lodge, No. 74, and Officer of the Guard of Post No. 77, G. A. R. He is a
Republican, and he and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
They have four children--Ella F., Eugene O., Willie A. and Mary E.
Data Entry Volunteer: Diana Flynn "ivie@tima.com"
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