My Collins ancestry takes me back seven generations to John Collins, born in about 1710. Through his wife, Jane, I have traced the family back another two generations to Henry Rumley, born in about 1675. That makes twelve generations in total if I include myself and my grandchildren.
The earliest Collins history took place in the East Riding of Yorkshire, then moved to Lincolnshire before the family settled across the Pennines in Manchester. The Dillons on my mother's side originated in Ireland, moving from there at about the time of the potato famine (about 1850) via Scotland to Manchester.
In the 1970s, our branch of the Collins family moved away from Manchester to the south of England. I now live in St Albans, my brother (Leslie Collins) lives in Hampton, my daughter (Nicola Jane Honeywell) lives near Bedford and my son (Jonathan Paul Collins) lives near Cirencester.
This simplified family tree gives the known main Collins family members and events:
JOHN COLLINS - Born ca 1711; Married, Jane Rumley 1756; Died 1775 in Holme on Spalding Moor, Yorkshire
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JAMES COLLINS - Born 1756; Married, Hannah Walkers 1780; Died 1846, Eastrington, Yorkshire
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JOHN COLLINS - Born 1782; Married, Hannah Singleton 1805; Died 1873, Balkholme, Yorkshire
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ROBERT COLLINS - Born 1812; Married, Hannah Major 1842; Died 1879, Hull
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ROBERT MAJOR COLLINS - Born 1854; Married Ruth Waite 1879; Died 1924, Manchester
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ROBERT MAURICE COLLINS - Born 1877; Married Ada Froggatt 1901; Died 1924, Manchester
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FRED COLLINS - Born 1914; Married Ruby Dillon 1936; Died 1959, Manchester
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IAN COLLINS - Born 1944; Married (1) Anne Spenceley 1964, (2) Gabrielle Florence Curwen 1994
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NICOLA JANE COLLINS - Born 1965
JONATHAN PAUL COLLINS - Born 1966
ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE COLLINS SURNAME
Surnames came into use in the Middle Ages (about 1300 to 1400), and the name Collins developed independently in several parts of England. There is also an Irish derivation of the surname, but there is no evidence that our branch of the Collins family originated in Ireland.
Collins is derived from the nickname “Col”, a diminutive of the Christian name Nicolas, embellished with “-lin”, a medieval term of endearment when added to the end of a name. The “-s” suffix is the Old English genitive case, which means of or belonging to. So the original person in our family with the surname Collins could have been the son, servant, serf or even slave of a person called Nicolas. In our case, it is possible that our original surname was “Collin”, and this became corrupted from the mid-18th century with the addition of the “-s”. Though before this time endings such as: -s, -e, -g, -gs, -ge, had been used interchangeably, as had Collyn, Collan and Collen.
Our branch of the Collins family were agricultural people and probably originated in the East Riding of Yorkshire, though the name is relatively uncommon in the area, which implies the family came from elsewhere.
For the record, the Gaelic (Irish) derivation of Collins is from Cuilein - meaning darling, a term of endearment applied to young animals. In Latin: Catulus. In Welsh: Collen signifies hazel (or hazel grove).
The earliest mention of the Collins surname in English history dates to Anglo-Saxon times in Shropshire, in the ninth century.
The 1891 Census for England and Wales, shows the distribution of the Collins surname is: London - 21%, Lancashire - 8%, Yorkshire 6%, Kent 4%, Hampshire 4%, the remaining counties are less than 1%.