In the summer of 2012, I, along with several family members from Texas, visited Cousin Virginia Collier Dennis in Barnesville, Georgia. During our conversation I told her I had noticed there were two unmarked graves in the Collier Lot in the Greenwood Cemetery. The graves are actually “marked” with a barren concrete slab but no formal marker. She said I needed to know about the graves, that one might be “one of your people.” She said she would write something down for me. Several months later, I received a card from her in which she said she had promised herself to write me about the unmarked graves once she had paid her taxes and finalized her will, but that she had not yet done either as she had not been well. Cousin Virginia passed away September 2013 and I never got the story of the unmarked graves.
A little background is needed. I am descended from Williamson, one of the 13 children of Vines and Sarah Elizabeth Williamson Collier (see several posts related to Vines Collier). The final resting places of several of the 13 are known, particularly in the counties of Upson, Lamar, and Monroe, Georgia. Williamson moved into Upson County at about the same time as his brother Robert and is known to lived there, but his grave site is unknown. I have long thought it might be one of the graves marked by a simple blank field stone in either the Robert Collier or Isaac Collier cemetery. CHF has placed monuments in both of those cemeteries.
Williamson was married three times. Little is known about his first marriage. His second marriage was to Jemena Powell. Jemena was the sister of Sallie Powell, wife of William Collier, one of Williamson’s brothers. Williamson and Jemena had a son named William Merrill Collier. Williamson later married Mary Ann Power. They had one son, Robert Terrell Collier, my ancestor who moved his family from Upson County to Texas in the 1880s.
The papers of Jena Cuthbert (J C) Collier, Cousin Virginia’s grandfather, contain his efforts to tie together the extensive Collier lines. His book, if it had ever been finished, would have had details of each of the 13 branches from Vines and Sarah Elizabeth. As I went through the papers of J C Collier, I was pleased to find a reference to William (Merrill) Collier, son of Williamson.
I never found that Williamson’s family was “connected up” with much detail. However, I was astonished to find that some 50 years after William Merrill had passed away, J C had his body dug up and re-buried in the Collier Lot in Barnesville. This statement was in a letter J C wrote soliciting genealogical information.
1935_11_29_JCC typed Collier Genealogy 2 hiliteThe Collier Lot is not large and, at the time (1925), there were very few graves there. I have not been able to discover why J C took this action. At the time William Merrill Collier died, J C was only about six years old and would have barely known William Merrill.
Since there was no marked grave of William Merrill Collier in the Collier Lot, he had to be in one of the two graves marked with only a concrete slab. But which one? And why was it never marked? I found the answer to the first question on a map attached to a letter. It identified two graves marked with a concrete slab and identified one of them as being the grave of Junius Augusta Cason, Jr., the son of Junius and Evelyn Collier Cason and grandson of J C Collier. This meant the other grave marked with only a concrete slab was the final resting place of William Merrill Collier, a man my great-grandfather would have called “Uncle William”!
Earlier this year, I asked Elaine Collier Neal to put together the genealogy of William Merrill Collier so that CHF could properly mark the grave. She worked diligently to document each of his four wives and any offspring. We included text that makes the Georgia – Texas connection for Williamson Collier’s line. On July 18, 2017, the following marker was placed on the grave of William Merrill Collier in the Collier Lot in Greenwood Cemetery, Barnesville, Georgia.
Assisting with the placement were (L to R) Josh Rhodes, Daniel Johnson, Glen Collier, and members of the local SCV Camp Al Medcalf, David Shepard, and Milo Wimberly. Photograph by Dillon Johnson, g-g-g-g-g-g- grandson of Vines Collier.
Glen A. Collier
I’m very interested in some of the information on this website. I have a Williamson/Couch/Collier connection that I can’t seem to get past from AL in the mid-1800s. Please look at the 1850 Randolph Co., AL census for confirmation. You will find a William and Frances (Couch) Williams (s/b Williamson) William is shown as a Williams and Frances is shown beneath his name as Williamson. Their 3 toddler sons were of the right age and birth name or initials and birth order to validate their parents were indeed my Williamson gg-grandparents. Living beside them was a Huel and Susan Williamson. Huel’s first name was misinterpreted as Hud. The other neighbor was the Merrill and Malinda Collier family. Merrill was born in NC in what appears to have been the 1790s.
His first wife was Lokie Williamson. She supposedly died in childbirth circa 1844, giving birth to twins. Merrill later married his GA-born first cousin whose name was Malinda Lokey. I can’t seem to match all of these folks up and determine who was related through whom. However, back in that era, folks who traveled together and clustered together were either blood relatives or very good friends.
All three families might have been related for all I know, but it remains a mystery to me. I do know that my DNA shows that I have numerous Collier 3rd and 4th cousins.
I’ve been trying to find the parents of my William Williamson, but I am clueless as to what their names were. Both he and his wife Frances show on the 1850 Randolph Co., AL census that they were born in GA, but where in GA is the mystery. I think Frances could have had family ties going back to Pike Co., GA, but I don’t know about William Williamson. There was a land filing found in Madison Co., AL for land in Randolph Co., AL owned by Robert Williamson and his son, whose name I don’t know. I’ve wondered if my William was a son of this Robert Williamson. Linking land-owning families in Randolph Co, AL, is the courthouse burned down multiple times and there are no records for the era when my Williamson/Couch/Collier relatives lived there. According to information shown on the 1850 Randolph Co, AL census, my Williamson/Couch gg-grandparents were both born in GA in the early to mid-1820s. My Couch lineage might have been in Pike Co, GA, and the same might have been true for the Williamson clan, but I have no proof of where in GA either of them were born.
My grandfather always said his father told him that our Williamson lineage goes back to Isle of Wight, VA, but my links are too broken for me to find a connection. I hope by sharing this bit of info that someone else might be enlightened to find someone new in their family tree. If they do, and if it unearths knowledge of anyone new in my line, I hope the person who finds that info will share the information with me. I’ve about given up on getting my family links connected back in time. I’m in my 8th decade, so the old clock is ticking.
I would love to hear your thoughts on what I’ve shared. Many of the Collier cousins that cropped up in my DNA live in Texas. My direct Williamson line, as well as one and possibly two, brothers, came to TX in the 2nd half of the 1870s.