C is for Collins, or Collings, or Collyns

 C is for Collins, or Collings, or even Collyns, depending on when a person lived, and how the name was spelled at the time.

Eliza Collins, born March 5, 1817 in Spencer County, Kentucky, is my third great grandmother, and the first ancestor on my family tree to bear the name of Collins.  She married Abraham Hunsaker in Quincy Illinois in 1833 and they later migrated to Box Elder County Utah.  Together they had 12 children, one of which was born in Wyoming while crossing the plains on the way to Utah. 

Eliza's parents were Allen Collins, born in 1796 in Bloomington, Jefferson County  Kentucky . . . . 

and Mary (Polly) Broady.  They were both born in Kentucky, which was originally a part of the great state of Virginia.   

As we move back along the Collins Family Tree, the spelling of the name changes from Collins to Collings, and we encounter Thomas Franklin Collings, Sr. (born 1760 in Pennsylvania),   William Edward Collings (born 1725 in Pennsylvania), Zebulon Collings (born 1706 in Pennsylvania), and Sir Anthony Andrew Collings who was born January 4, 1678 in Antony, Cornwall, England.  He was the first of this line to emigrate to the New World and settled in Westmoreland County Virginia, later moving to Charles County, Maryland, where he died in 1754, well before the Revolutionary War.  

I was very excited today to realize that this branch of my family tree has roots in Cornwall, the beautiful area that my fellow A to Z Challenge blogger, Hillary Melton-Butcher often blogs about.  The LDS Family Search website shows this family line extending back through the generations in Cornwall and Devonshire to John Collings who was born in Huish Parish, Devon, England in about 1555.   Someday I hope to be able to visit this beautiful country of my heritage, but for now I'm grateful to be able to learn about and visit it through the internet and fellow bloggers.