Nathaniel Collins (1641/42-1684)
We haven’t been this far back in time for a while. It is amazing to think about an ancestor who was born in this country 377-years ago. He probably has thousands of descendants at this point. Given his prominence in early Connecticut, there is a lot of research that could be done on this guy. This post just scratches the surface and gives you a taste of the brief life of Rev. Nathaniel Collins.
— Denise
Nathaniel Collins was born on 07 Mar 1641/42 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, as the sixth child of Deacon Edward Collins and Martha. He had seven siblings, namely: Daniel, John, Sibyl, Samuel, Martha, Abigail, and Edward.
Nathaniel grew up in Massachusetts. He studied at Harvard, living at home during his college years. He first graduated in 1660 but continued studying to attain a second degree. He earned a Master of Arts degree in 1663.
Soon after his graduation, Nathaniel moved to Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut.
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Middletown, Connecticut
When he was 22, he married Mary Whiting, daughter of William Whiting and Susanna, on 03 Aug 1664 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. The Whitings were from Hartford.
Nathaniel Collins and Mary Whiting had the following children:
- Mary Collins was born on 11 May 1666 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. She married John Hamlin on 11 Jan 1683/84. She died on 05 May 1722.
- John Collins was born on 31 Jan 1668 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut.
- Susanna Collins was born on 26 Nov 1669 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. She married William Hamlin on 26 May 1692. She died on 24 Feb 1721/22.
- Sibyl Collins was born on 20 Aug 1672 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. She died young in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut.
- Martha Collins was born on 26 Dec 1673 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. She married William Harris on 08 Jan 1689/90. She married Thomas Hurlbut on 15 Dec 1705.
- Nathaniel Collins II was born on 13 Jun 1677 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. He died on 31 Dec 1756.
- Abigail Collins was born on 31 Jul 1681 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. She married William Ward on 09 Jul 1702. She married Samuel Wolcott on 27 Dec 1705. She died on 06 Feb 1758 at Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut. She was buried at Village Cemetery in Wethersfield.
- Samuel Collins was born on 16 Apr 1683 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. He died on 23 Apr 1683 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut.
On 4 Nov 1668, Nathaniel Collins became the first minister at the First Church of Christ at Middletown. The church just celebrated its 350th anniversary.
November 4, 1668, a church of ten male members, including himself, was gathered, and he was ordained the first minister in the meeting house “twenty feet square, ten feet from sill to plate, and … enclosed with palisades, for a safeguard against the Indians. This house stood eighteen years …
— Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University.
Being the minister organizing a new church also meant being a leader in building the young town of Middletown. Separation of Church and State was not a thing then. It was just the opposite. The church was the most important institution in the town.
In addition to being a minister, Nathaniel Collins was a military man. In 1681, the Colony of Connecticut granted 200-acres of land to Nathaniel to reward him for his service.
This Court grants Mr. Nath. Collins a farm of two hundred acres of land, upon the same tearmes, for his good service.
— The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut.
In 1681, “for his goods and services in sundry Expeditions and Engagements against the Indian Enemy,” the General Court granted him “a farm of two hundred acres,” on the usual condition of non-interference with others’ claims…
— Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University.
Nathaniel Collins died on 28 Dec 1684 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut, after a ministry of 16 years, in the flower of his manhood. He was 42-years old at the time of his death.
When he died, 28 December, 1684, says the famed Cotton Mather, “There were more Wounds given to the whole Colony of Connecticut…than the Body of Caesar did receive when he fell wounded in the Senate-House… All the Qualities of most Exemplary Piety, Extraordinary Ingenuity, Obliging Affability, join’d with the Accomplishments of an Extraordinary Preacher did render him truly Excellent.
— Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University.
Mather then wrote an Elegy to Rev. Nathaniel Collins. The prose is lengthy, but the following excerpts give us an idea of Mather’s respect for Nathaniel Collins.
Upon Nathaniel’s death, Mary Whiting Collins became a widow with several children to raise. The oldest was about 18-years old and the youngest about three. After Nathaniel’s death, the court granted his widow permission to carry through on the sale of two-acres of his land. Nathaniel had sold the land to a man named Obadiah Allyn before his death, but the deed had not been transferred.
In 1686, when they were figuring out who had to pay what as far as taxes, they exempted Mrs. Collins.
The Court doe order Mrs. Collins and her estate to be left out of the list this yeare.
— The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut.
In 1687, several years after his death, and six years after land was granted to Nathaniel, the court approved laying out that parcel of land.
This Court appoynts Lnt Nath. White and Deacon John Hall to lay out to Mrs. Collins the grant of land that was granted by this Court to her husband, according to his grant.
— The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut.
Where is he in the tree?
Notes and Selected Sources:
Note that folks were still using the Julian calendar back in the days of Nathaniel Collins. The first day of the year was March 25th. So, the first month was March, not January. Because of this, the practice of double-dating (or dual-dating) is used. Since he was born in March, it could be confusing. Back then, his March 13th birthday was in 1680, but to us who are used to having the year start in January, the birthday would be in 1681. So, the year is written 1680/81.
Ancestry.com, Colonial Families of the USA, 1607-1775 (Lehi, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016), ancestry.com, Volume III, Collins Family, p. 141.
Ancestry.com, Connecticut, Marriage Index, 1620-1926 (Lehi, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016), Ancestry.com.
Ancestry.com, Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011), ancestry.com.
Ancestry.com, Connecticut, Church Record Abstracts, 1630-1920 (Online publication – Provo, UT, USA: 2013.Original data – Connecticut. Church Records Index. Connecticut State Library, Hartford, Connecticut..Original data: Connecticut. Church Records Index. Connecticut State Library, Hartford, Connecticut.).
Ancestry.com, Hartford, Connecticut Probate Records, 1635-50 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000), Original data: A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records, Hartford District, 1635-1700. Vol. I. n.p., 1906.
The public records of the colony of Connecticut from 1636-1776, James Hammond Trumbull (1850), Collins, Rev. Nathaniel, pp. 93, 171, 215, 233 (https://archive.org/details/publicrecords03conn/ : accessed 4 Mar 2019); image copies, Archive Org.
Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts: 1659-1677, John Langdon Sibley, Shipton, Clifford Kenyon, Sever, Charles William (1881), Nathaniel Collins, pp. 58-60; online images, Google Books (https://books.google.com/books?id=Vcbt3PeI9SAC&dq).
A brief history of the First Church of Christ in Middletown, Connecticut for two centuries and a half, 1668-1918, Azel Washburn Hazen, Chapter III. The Ministry of Nathaniel Collins 1668-1684, pp. 25-30; online images, Archive Org (https://archive.org/details/briefhistoryoffi00haze/).
A brief history of the First Church of Christ in Middletown, Connecticut for two centuries and a half, 1668-1918, Azel Washburn Hazen, Chapter III. The Ministry of Nathaniel Collins 1668-1684, pp. 25-30; online images, Archive Org (https://archive.org/details/briefhistoryoffi00haze/).
A Poem and an Elegy, Cotton Mather, Hunnewell, James Frothingham (1896); online images, Archive Org (https://archive.org/details/apoemandanelegy00hunngoog/).
Leave a Reply