What Happened to Sylvester Collins

Sylvester Collins Was born ca. 1810, presumably in Rutherford County, NC. He was granted a peddler's license in 1836 in Rutherford County. He along with Rev. Drury Dobbins, signed a marriage bond for Ambrose Roach in 1836 in Rutherford County. All three of these men were associated with High Shoals Baptist Church near Henrietta, NC. He married Martha Thorn in Spartanburg County, SC in 1837. They were members of the Arrowood Baptist Church near Chesnee, SC, along with most of the Thorn Family. There is circumstantial evidence that the family moved to Marshall County, MS, some time before 1846. The evidence for this is the birth of his third child, Christopher Columbus Collins (b. 17 Mar 1846) in Mississippi. After that date, Sylvester seems to disappear. Five years later in 1851, Sylvester's wife, Martha Collins, was found in a second marriage to a William Waits in Cherokee County, GA (GA marriage records). Neither Sylvester nor Martha appear in the 1850 Federal Census. Martha and her second husband William Waits appear on the 1860 Marshall County AL Federal Census, with two Collins siblings, Volney B. and Christopher C. in the household. The marriage of Frances J. Collins to Nathan L. Claburn (Claborn) is in the 1859 Marshall County marriage records. This evidence suggests that this Collins family left Spartanburg County, SC, after 1843, probably went to Mississippi briefly, and then to Cherokee County, GA, and finally to Marshall County AL. It seems that Sylvester died or disappeared somewhere along the way. Still looking for Sylvester and his contemporaries and ancestors, and mine!