Husband Thomas Columbus Collins 1
Born: 19 Mar 1850 - Tennessee (Rhea Co, )
Christened:
Died: 20 May 1878 - Washington Co., Ar 2
Buried: - Echo Dell Cem., Elm Springs, Washington Co., Arkansas
Father: Joshua Collins (1825-1913)
Mother: Elizabeth "Betsy" Mirah Essex (1830-Bef 1900)
Marriage: 19 Mar 1871 - Washington Co., Arkansas 3 4
Wife Mary Jane McCurdy 5
Born: 2 Aug 1855 - Washington Co., Ar
Christened:
Died: 23 Jan 1942 - Deming, Luna Co., NM 6
Buried: - Mountain View Cem., Deming, Luna Co., NM
Father: James Donnel McCurdy (1831-1875) 7
Mother: Judah Ann Kifer (1834-1927) 8
Other Spouse: John Green Weaver (1857-1932) - 26 Apr 1883 - Fannin Co., Texas 9
Children
1 M George Oliver Collins 10
Born: 11 Sep 1872 - Washington Co., Arkansas 11
Christened:
Died: 29 Jun 1964 12
Buried: - Claude, Armstrong Co., Tx
Spouse: Nettie Moore (1883-1972) 10
Marr: 8 Jul 1930 - Tucumcari, Quay Co., NM 13
2 M Ira Neal Collins 10
Born: 22 Oct 1875 - Elm Springs, Washington Co., Ar
Christened:
Died: 6 Jan 1928 - Claude, Texas
Buried: - Claude, Texas
Spouse: Elizabeth B. Walton (1882-1956) 10 14 15
Marr: 21 Mar 1899 - Armstrong Co., Texas 16
3 M Thomas C. Collins
Born: 21 Apr 1878 - Washington Co., Arkansas 17
Christened:
Died: 28 Mar 1952 - Albuquerque, New Mexico 18
Buried: - Sunset Cemetery, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Spouse: Ida Coots (1882-1931)
General Notes: Husband - Thomas Columbus Collins
CENSUS:
In 1880 his widow Mary Collins is living in the household of her mother Juda McCurdy in Denton Co., Texas.
DEATH:
On page 27 in Unbroken Circle Mary Jane begins to describe the murder of her husband:
"On April 21, 1878, I gave birth to my third boy, Tom. We had moved back to our own house and let some people by the name of Richardson move into Pa's place to look after the farm. There was a big orchard besides the wheat and oats. At the time the Richardsons moved in, the fences was all up and they were supposed to keep the horses and other stock out of the wheat. Instead, they let the fences go and everything else around the place. It was pitiful and it made me feel like cryin' every time I saw it. One day when Tom was about a month old, Columbus come by Pa's and saw that the fences were down and the stock had been in the grain. It made him so furious that he planned to go and see the Richardsons the next morning. He left our house right after breakfast and told me he'd be back about noon. He stopped and fixed the fence before he went on to the Richardsons'. When he finished with the fence, he went on to the house to talk with the men. As he walked into the yard, there was the old man, his son-in-law and two boys standing there by the wagon near the door. He told them if they let the horses in the wheat any more they would have to leave. I think it was about that time that the old man stepped out and picked up the breast-yoke of the wagon. He slipped up behind Columbus and hit him just behind the left ear. I was putting dinner on the table when he got home. He just turned his head and said, "Look there." The blood was running out of his ear. I cried out, "Oh my goodness, have you been in a fight?" He never made me an answer but went over and sat down in a chair and told me the story. He turned sick at his stomach and was dizzy. I led him outside and he vomited; then I took him back in the house and put him to bed. He died that night about eight.
His mother and father was with me and there was so many neighbors, law! They couldn't get in the house. When Columbus was on the way home after he had been hit, he met a friend and told him what had happened and had asked him to go by and tell his mother. She come right away and sent for the doctor by the same man who had brought her the news. When the doctor came he made an examination and stayed an hour or two before Columbus died. We waited two days before we buried him. He was buried on the day our baby, Tom, was five weeks old.
The day after the funeral I had to go to court. I was so grief-stricken that the memory is almost a blank. On the witness stand I told how he come home and what happened before he died. As soon as Columbus had died, there was men who went to the house where Richarson lived to arrest him, but he was not there. All the time we were working over Columbus, the Richardson boys was skulking out in the brush where they would be out of sight but where they could hear what was going on. As soon as they know my husbnad was dead, they hid the old man until he could get away. By daylight the next day he was out of the country and could not be found by the dozens of men who were hunting him. Right around home, the neighbors offered a five-hundred dollar reward for the capture of the old man Richardson but nothing was heard of him.
At that time Columbus had a brother, Jeff, who was only twelve year old. He was so heart-broken over the death of my husbnad that he vowed he would find his brother's murderer and kill him if it took the rest of his life. When Jeff was grown, he straddled a horse and struck out North. We knew where the Richarsons come from and that was where he made for. Weeks later, Jeff rode into Minnesota territory; he met a man who directed him to where Richardson lived. He rode up on the old man out in the woods. When he saw Jeff, he just threw up his hands and said, "Hello, Jeff! For God's sake, have mercy!" Jeff said, "I'm goin' show you the same mercy you showed my brother." He had a lariat all fixed on his saddle and he just pulled that out and roped the old man around the waist. He turned his horse and rode off, this jerked the old feller down and Jeff drug him about a hundred and fifty yards until he come to a lake. He rode out into the lake of water until he came to the center; then he untied his rope from the saddle horn and rode away. Jeff Collins had kept his vow!"
Based on the above narrative we can calculate the death date of Thomas Columbus Collins. Their son Tom was born April 21, 1878 and was five weeks old on May 26, the day his father was buried. He was murdered two days earlier on May 24. However, his tombstone says that he died May 20, 1878.
General Notes: Wife - Mary Jane McCurdy
CENSUS:
In 1880 Mary Collins is living in the household of her mother Juda McCurdy in Denton Co., Texas.
OBITUARY:
Deming Headlight, Friday, Jan. 23, 1942:
Mrs. Mary Jane Weaver
Mrs. Mary Jane Weaver passed away this morning at the home of her daughter, Mrs Wayne Darling. Funeral arrangements are pending.
The sympathy of the community is extended to the Weaver family in their second bereavement of the week, as Lon Weaver, son of the deceased, was buried only Monday.
Obituary in the Borger Daily Herald, January 28, 1942, copied from Find-a-Grave:
"Mrs. J.E. Early and children, Ferrill, Tommy and Ethellea, have just returned from Deming, N.M., where they were called by the sudden death of Mrs. Early's mother, Mrs. M.J. Weaver.
Mrs. Weaver, who spent a number of her later years at Stinnett, was affectionately known as "Grandma."
The 86-year-old Mrs. Weaver died while sitting in her rocking chair in the yard of another daughter, Mrs. Wayne Darling, in Deming. A son Virgil Weaver, in addition to Mrs. Darling, were with her.
Survivors include four sons, George Collins of Tucumcari, N.M., Tom Collins of Albuquerque, N.M., Ed Weaver of Bayard, N.M., Virgil Weaver of Silver City, N.M.; two daughters, Mrs. Darling and Mrs. Early.
Twenty-three grandchildren and a dozen great-grandchildren are also among survivors. Four of the grandsons are fighting with General MacArthur's forces in the Philippines and two grandsons, Ferrill and Cleland Early, are in service in the United States.
Mrs. Weaver was interred beside her husband who passed away in 1932.
This was the second time in less than a week Mrs. Early had been called to Deming by death. On Jan. 15, she received a message calling her to the bedside of her brother, Lon Weaver, who died Jan. 18."
UNBROKEN CIRCLE:
A few years before her death Mary Jane Weaver told the story of her life to her daughter-in-law Minnie Dee Weaver, who took it down in shorthand and then produced a typewritten copy. It had the title "Eighty-five Years of Living". I have a copy which I made from a copy that I got in the early 1980's from my cousin Cleland Early. In 1986 "Eighty-five Years of Living" was published as a book by Mary Jane Weaver's granddaughter E. Jane Robison and her daughter Jeri Robison-Turner with the title Unbroken Circle. A limited edition of 1000 copies was printed by Plain View Press, 1509 Dexter, Austin, Texas.
