Hi Jerre Mills and an apology to the rest of the COLLINS Roots subscribers. I've been trying to get back to Jerre with the address attached to his posting, but the messages keep bouncing. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Jerre Thanks for your reply. This COLLINS-BELL thing is in a set of names that I know little about. In fact I'm not at all certain that they are connected to my extended COLLINS family. But they come to the right place and seemingly their names Samuel and BELL get used by known family members, so I wonder..... Specifically, I know that all my COLLINS lines were still in Ireland as of 1811. The S.J. COLLINS who married a BELL was "born in TN in 1835, his parents having come from Ireland to the USA a few years earlier" [perhaps 1830?] This would seem to rule out any close connection to your Charles COLLINS and Mary BELL. None of the material I have gives any suggestion of a Native American heritage for Lucy BELL (b.1844 AL). > >In your post to Bobbie Wright, your Collins-Bell connection caught my eye. >We've just recently discovered an ancestor, Charles Collins, who married >Mary Bell, a full-blooded Choctaw. We don't know any more about Charles & >Mary, other than that they had a daughter, Nancy Collins who with her >husband, Joseph Dukes was one of the first Indians on the Trail of Tears >(1831). They were said to reside in Mississippi. I believe this would place >Charles & Mary's birthdates around or before 1790. > >Given that this occurred in Mississippi, it may have no connection to your >Collins, but I thought I'd give you what I have and see what you make of it. >Any idea if there's a Native American connection with your Collins? > >In the History of Mississippi, Volume 4, 2nd edition, is listed the names of >Mississippians who fought in the war of 1812, including William Collins. I >haven't seen this reference myself, just read it somewhere. As discussed above, I doubt that this William would tie into my bunch because of the dates. Since movement of people from Britain to the USA ceased during that war, he would have had to have come prior to it which is too early. Thanks for your ideas. I'll keep them to hand and if any matches appear, will post you a message. John M. Collins ***************************************************************************** * * * John M. Collins, jcollins@xcelco.on.ca * * Sarnia, Ont., Canada * * * * Looking for COLLINS in Cookstown, Co. Tyrone area in 1750-1850 period. * * Also allied Ulster families of BELLIS, CLARKE, DAVISON, DUNLOP, LYND, * * MAGILL, MORGAN, PILLAR, WALLACE, WEIR, and ANDREWS of Dublin * * * * Later locations: Belfast, Dublin, Ballymena Co. Antrim in Ire; Chile; * * Peterborough, Toronto, Ont, Canada; Philadelphia, PA, Crockett, TX, USA. * * Family was Irish Presbyterian in all occurences found. * * * ***************************************************************************** �