CHF has obtained controlling interests to three important historical Collier sites in Georgia. They are the Robert Collier Cemetery Lot in Upson County, the Vines Collier Cemetery in Oglethorpe County, and the Collier Lot in Greenwood Cemetery in Barnesville, Georgia. Through CHF the undivided interests of several heirs to the properties have been consolidated.
1) The Robert Collier Cemetery Lot is located on what was once the Robert Collier plantation. According to the deed,
In early 2015, over 200 cubic feet of documents, ledgers, and other material from the Estate of Virginia Collier Dennis was donated to the Thomaston-Upson Archives in Thomaston, Georgia. The other material included a roll-top desk, large framed portraits, numerous photographs, and textiles. The desk and some of the portraits were put on display in the Archives meeting room. The Archives was selected because of the purpose of the facility and because much of the history represented in the collection related to Upson, Pike, and Lamar counties.
In May 2016, the Archives notified CHF the facility had neither the room nor the resources to handle the collection. Alternate facilities were examined and the best fit was found to be Georgia Historical Society in Savannah On July 26, 2016, Georgia Historical Society had the Collier Collection packaged and loaded on a truck for transfer to Savannah. It was delivered safely and unloaded the same day.
Georgia Historical Society is one of the oldest historical societies in the country. The building is impressive and its facilities are excellent. However, as the state historical society, much of its material is related to Savannah and coastal Georgia. The “Collier Collection” will give them over 100 years of material from the 1820s through the War between the States, World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II. The collection includes deeds, legal documents, business and personal letters, farm information, textile mill documents, merchant records, and industrial reports that document the history of middle Georgia and a prominent family of that area. Many of the photographs and documents you have seen, or will see, posted here will be preserved at the Georgia Historical Society.
The Georgia Historical Society is excited to have the Collier Collection, and the Collier Heritage Foundation is excited for them to have it.
Click on this link to go to the Georgia Historical Society website. Don’t expect to find our donation listed for quite some time as it is being inventoried and cataloged.
Main Building of the Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, Georgia
The papers of J C Collier are extensive. He was a prolific letter writer in both his business and personal life. In an effort to piece together his family’s genealogy, J C Collier wrote letters to Colliers and other suspected kin. Many of the people he wrote to were unknown to him. He was especially interested in tracking down the Efford Cobb Collier branch that located to Texas in the 1850s.
For genealogical research, he mailed out letters accompanied by a standard form which he asked to be filled out and returned. His stenographers typed the letters and kept copies on onion-skin paper. They also transcribed some of the return letters. This link will connect you over to 900 letters from J C Collier’s papers, most of which were written and returned in this manner.
In addition to Collier, some surnames you will find are Wilson, Green, Greene, Jackson, McCoy, Powell, Mills, and Corbin. Files are named according to the following convention:
“year“_”month“_”day” “type” “from” to “to”
Enjoy your reading and feel free to download whatever copies you want!
Click on the following link to see the D. C. Collier House in the Georgia Trust Barnesville Expedition Tour of Homes. The tour is June 11, 2016.
Thank you for the The Georgia Trust Expedition “Barnesville” article I enjoy visiting and seeing old , and historic homes, especially if they have a family connection. ( Smith-Collier home) Although I missed the tour, I plan to visit Barnesville soon and at least see the outside of the Collier homes.
The following is from Elaine Collier Neal. Any relevant information would be appreciated.
Researchers of the Vines Collier family are trying to establish proof that David W Collier is the son of Cuthbert Collier (Vines’ son) and his wife Nancy Dickey. There is information on Dickey W Collier (born 17 Jul 1808 — died 1 Sep 1871) is his son and there is evidence that Dickey W Collier may be the same person as David W Collier. He may have used Dickey as a nickname and his actual name may have been David.
Evidence of these two being the same person is that if Dickey is in the census, David is not, and when David is in the census, Dickey is not. Pointing to an alternating use of the two names. Confusing the issue is the fact that Dickey apparently married four times. Are there any Bible records of this branch of the family?
Researchers are asked to contribute to this discussion.
Glen, thanks for scanning and posting all of these letters. I don’t recall which one it was, but one of J C Collier’s letters that you had with you at the Isaac Collier Family Reunion at Goldthwaite had an error in it. The letter stated that Fannie (Martha Francis Collier) married Hardy Collier. Fannie married Hardy Ransom Jackson. Hardy Ransom Collier was Fannie’s nephew.
Bobby Carter
Bosque County, Texas
Glen, I have scanned through all of the posted letters and failed to find the one I referenced earlier. I might have over looked that part of an email, or it might have been missed when scanning.
I found one other error in a letter from J. C. Collier on Sep 16, 1925 to Mrs. Mary Green Wilson of Douglassville, Tx, in which J.C. Collier states that Efford’s daughter who was a McCoy had died. Again, Fannie married Major Hardy Ransom Jackson, not a McCoy.
Bobby Carter
Bosque County, Texas
Hardy Collier wrote to J.C. Collier on Jan 20, 1924 that he would send him the names, and dates of birth and death of Efford Cobb Collier’s family as recorded in Efford’s Family Bible, but this list is not attached to his Jan 20th letter (which is listed in the first 500 letters posted). However, the listed is included in the second posting as the first undated posting following the posted letter of 2000_10_29.
Glen complied an index that is listed on the second grouping, in Word and PDF format. If you are only interested in specific letters this list can help narrow down your search.
In looking at this incredible collection, I discovered that my Great Grandmother, Mollie Collier, wife of Efford Cuthbert Collier, wrote many letters to Jena Collier, and included some pictures. Would it be possible for me to obtain high resolution scans of the pictures in TIFF or JPG format? I would love to be able to reproduce them.
I have one picture of Mollie that I am attaching.
Attachment
Charles,
I’m happy you discovered us! I will gladly provide the photos you want in high resolution if you can point them out to me and if I still have them. The files were so extensive they couldn’t all be retained and so many were sent to Georgia Historical Society where they are being archived.
By the way, a recent post of additional letters may have other documents of interest to you.
Glen
Glen,
I am very happy to have discovered this site as well!
There are pictures with these letters:
unknown_Ltr with pic Mollie Collier to JCC (2).pdf
unknown_Ltr with pic Mollie Collier to JCC.pdf
And these pictures were from my grandmother, Marian Hall Collier, who was married to Charles Alvin Collier, son of Mollie and Efford Cuthbert Collier. The boy is my father, Charles Thomas Collier, and yes, they called him Junior, even though he wasn’t.
unknown pictures Mrs Chas A Collier.pdf
As you stated, the files are very extensive! I haven’t perused all of them yet, so perhaps there will be more pictures that I am interested in. I greatly appreciate all of your work on this and your willingness to assist me.
Sincerely,
Tom
This picture was framed like the picture of Efford C. Collier (see “Searching for the Family of Efford Cobb Collier”, Dec. 2015). I have not been able to identify it – even took it to the family reunion in Goldthwaite, Texas last year. Perhaps you can shed some light on it.
The Efford C. Collier picture was loaned to JC Collier by a Texas relative and had a copy made.
Glen
Attachment
Glen,
I am sorry to say that I cannot identify the gentleman in the photo. Perhaps one of the Collier brothers?
Good luck,
Tom