KAY LASH COLLECTION, CARGEGIE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, ANGOLA, INDIANA. PUBLISHED IN THE STEUBEN REPUBILCAN ON 10 Aug 1910 JAMES COLLINS, 08 Dec 1820 - 02 Aug 1910 JAMES COLLINS, Son of James and Sarah Collins, was born in the village of Walnut Creek, Pickway county, Ohio, Dec. 8th, 1820. August 2, 1910, at his late home in Angola, Indiana, he entered into rest, having attained to the extreme age of nearly ninety years. When a youth of 16 years he came to Steuben county, and located with his brother-in-law on a farm three miles southwest of Angola. This farm is known to this generation as the Ward farm. Mr. Collins' experiences dated back almost as far as those of the very earliest of the pioneers of this section of the state. At the time of his arrival here Angola was the rudest and most unpretentious kind of a village. Where there are today happy homes and useful public buildings, swamps then abounded. The surrounding forests were filled with wildcat, deer, wolves and smaller game. Mr. Collins has left on record his testimony that at the beginning of his life in this community, "It was not safe at night for one to go alone forty rods from where the public square now is." To the close of his eventful life his speech was full of reminiscences of the first harvests of wheat and other grains which the forest clearings yielded; of the earliest social, political and religious meetings which were held within the county; and of the interesting and rugged personalities which gave the county a history during the earliest decades of its settlement. His sympathies were broad and intensely human; his appreciation of life and its struggles and hopes very keen. He lived an active, energetic life and mingled much with men. When the civil war came on, he enlisted in Co. C., 100th Indiana Volunteers, and served through four years of most arduous and exacting military service. His company was in 29 battles; yet he himself was never wounded or taken prisoner, although at Missionary Ridge he had a horse shot under him. During the celebrated march of Sherman "to the sea," particularly, he saw such evidences of the ravages of war as filled his soul with an ineradicable sense of horror, and led him to express the hope that his country might never again be visited by such a scourge. The comradeship of the army life made a deep appeal to his nature; and during the closing years of his life nothing moved upon his spirit more profoundly than the thoughtful interest and care of his old comrades in arms. Mr. Collins was a man of undeniable integrity and strength of character. The strong, heroic, manly things appealed to him. He was not given to things superficial and effeminate. To him `Life was real, life was earnest." He was withal modest and gentle, and the memory of his patience and serenity in suffering will not soon fade from the minds of those who knew him. He will be mourned by strong and faithful hearts, who will find occasion for rejoicing in the fact that his long warfare is now accomplished. He is survived by one son, Joel F. Collins, of Howe, Indiana. Funeral services were conducted by Elder Vernon Stauffer in the Congregational church, Angola, Wednesday afternoon, August 3rd. (Picture included with obituary) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: James Collins, 08 Dec 1820 - 02 Aug 1910, was buried at Circle Hill Cemetery, Antola, Steuben County, Indiana. His wife and son are not mentioned in "Cemeteries of Steuben County, Indiana, 1990," by Audree Seibel Lewis with James on page 389. Steuben Republican, Wednesday, 24 Aug 1910, "Old Settlers" death list, James Collins. Submitted by Mona Hilden-Beckwith e-mail: hilbeck123@att.net