Transcription of document typed by my Grandmother, Effie Collins Hildinger. This is a 1947 interview between Effie M. Collins Hildinger and her aunt, Minnie Duncan Collins in Burbank, CA “My great great grandparents (paternal) came to Missouri on the first train to the continent [?]. Great great grandfather died of cholera on the train. They stopped the train long enough to bury him along the track. They had two boys; one was my great grandfather. Don’t know what happened to his brother. (Don’t know where they came from!)” “My great grandfather, William Jackson Collins – was born in Tennessee [1]. After the Civil War, he left Tennessee and went to Missouri where he married Nancy Adelaide Duncan. She was of Scotch descent. Her parents crossed the plains to Missouri when she was 14 years of age; she rode horseback part of the way; took them 3 months. (I don’t know where they started.) Her parents were wealthy; Her father and his brother owned a distillery. Her father was born in Alabama and her mother was born in Tennessee. [2] To get back to William and Nancy – they left Missouri and went to Oregon and from Oregon to California. Their children were two boys and one girl; Lee, Albert and Minnie. Albert was born in Gilroy, California. He was the father of Effie M. Collins Hildinger.” [1] Minnie’s father was named Wm J Collins, (born IN abt 1833) and her possibly grandfather also? [2] Nancy Adeline Duncan was born in Platte Co., MO – her father, born SC was a farmer – so was his father, b NC - I wonder if this is gg grandmother Collins she is talking about? My Questions are: Can any of you support the idea of this being three-generation story, not two – Minnie’s father and grandfather both being Wm J Collins? Does anyone know of a distillery run by a Duncan or Collins family? [?] Does anyone have a clue which “train” she is talking about? - Rail was after the Civil War, or 1865, right? Wm J was in Oregon in 1852 or 1853, so the “train” had to be before that. Some of the first wagon trains across the continent went west from Independence, MO around 184?. I think I remember from my history lessons that the first wagon train went through the Cumberland Gap about 1795. To “cross the plains” to Missouri would mean what in the context of the Gap crossing? Does anyone have a MO or TN or IN, or ? State Census of Collins, Wm J age 17, son of ? or Wm J on a 1850 Census? Thank you for your attention - Susan Hildinger Hoerner