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John & Cassandra Collier Travels
The Travels of the Collier family in the early 1800s
Written and compiled by Maud Wilson, the granddaughter of William Collier and Sally Grubb.
December 25, 1913 – Salem Indiana
This history of the different branches follows the same order as the family trees. 1730 – 1913. In loving gratitude to our Pioneer Ancestors, who so bravely faced the wilderness, that we, their children’s children, might one day reap the benefit, this offering is made to the Seventh Generation.
John and Cassandra Collier are the Fourth Great-Grandparents of Jon Q. Peterson.
Jon Quentin Peterson > Emma Malora (Morris) Peterson > Mariah Arvada "Vada" (Cauble) Morris > Nancy Ann (Gee) Cauble >
Mary Ann (Collier) Gee > James Collier > John Collier & Cassandra "Cassie" (Crook) Collier
Additional Photos and links added by Kristin Peterson
John Crook
John Crook, our ancestor, was born in Ireland, but reared and educated in England; crossed to America in 1730. He had six children:
Ozias, Absalom, Ephriam, Zephaniah, Zachariah, and Cassandra (our great-great-grandmother).
Ozias Crook
Ozias married Rebekah Stevens and had a son, John, who was a Major in the Revolutionary War. He was with General Washington at Yorktown when Lord Cornwallis surrendered. Ozias came to Madison County, Kentucky, in 1789, and it is thought his father’s family came at the same time.
Ozias Crook is Jon Quentin Peterson's fourth Great Uncle
This painting depicts the forces of British Major General Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis (1738-1805) (who was not himself present at the surrender), surrendering to French and American forces after the Siege of Yorktown (September 28 – October 19, 1781) during the American Revolutionary War. The United States government commissioned Trumbull to paint patriotic paintings, including this piece, for them in 1817, paying for the piece in 1820. Photo courtesy of Cornwallis.
The Crooks were very tall, slender people, extremely dark skin, with black hair and eyes. The complexion of the Crooks was handed down, through Cassandra, to the Colliers.
Cassandra Crook was born in 1770; early life was spent in Madison County, Kentucky, where she married John Collier. She died in Washington County, Indiana, in 1844.
Madison County, Kentucky
John Collier (our ancestor, and husband of Cassandra Crook), was of English descent, and came from Virginia and located in Madison County, Kentucky, where he married about 1790. True to the military spirit of the Crooks, Cassandra matched, if not excelled, John Collier’s pioneer spirit. She stood staunchly by him in all his wanderings, and during this time of strain and stress, had become the mother of ten children. The story of their lives was recorded by Zachariah, one of their sons, as taken from an old printed record, and given as follows:
To Illinois
John Collier was seized by the restless spirit of the times, and hearing such wonderful reports of the fertility of the bottom lands of Illinois, decided to invest in a tract of land in that vicinity. In 1807, they packed their belongings on horses, and with members of the family riding to keep the pack horses together, they started for their new home in the wilderness. They came north and crossed the Ohio River close to what was then called Yellow Banks.
They passed Fort Chartres, which was surrounded by a stone fortification, and in a sinkhole; near were seven cannons. It was a French fort and had been captured by an American or English officer and later abandoned.
Within two miles of Kaskaskia, they saw a village of friendly Indians. On reaching the bottomlands of Illinois, it proved to be as fertile as reported, so John bought an exceedingly fine tract, which had on it a comfortable house and out-buildings. Later, he bought one hundred more acres, paying one dollar an acre, on which was a young orchard. They wintered their stock on Rush Island. The stock came out fat and sleek in the spring. But with the low, fertile land was malaria. The family sickened, and the neighbors warned them if they tried to live there over the fall, they would all be under the sod.
To Kentucky
So the land was sold and they returned to Madison County, Kentucky. Here he made one crop and sold it in the field, and again, with his family, he was on the road to another promised land – this time Missouri.
To Missouri
Instead of going with pack horses, they used a Conestoga wagon, which held the household goods and family. They were ferried over the Ohio into Indiana and followed the road to Princeton. In crossing a little stream with high banks called Congo Creek, the wagon containing most of their belongings and the family ran off the bridge and fell into the water. No one was seriously hurt but everyone was thoroughly drenched. Darkness came on and they were helpless to get the wagon and its contents out of the stream until the settlers came to their assistance. Much kindness was shown to the family and they remained in the vicinity of Princeton, making one crop. But the next season moved to within two miles of where New Harmony now stands. Here they remained on the Wabash River until after the noted earthquakes of 1811.
Fort Chartres in Prairie du Rocher, Illinois
photo courtesy of Gate to Fort Chartres
photo courtesy of Conestoga Wagon
William Henry Harrison
photo courtesy of The White House
Tecumseh
photo courtesy of Tecumseh
Tecumseh and General Harrison
At this time the Indians were on the warpath and General Harrison was trying to quell the disturbances that Tecumseh and his brother the Prophet were agitating. The Indians headed by Tecumseh came down the Wabash in great numbers. General Harrison, fearing trouble, gathered his forces at his headquarters at Vincennes – John Collier being one of his guards. As Zachariah, one of the children was there, in all probability Cassandra went with John, taking the family for protection. They witnessed the reception of Tecumseh by General Harrison at the peace conference in front of his home, and the refusal of Tecumseh to be seated in the chair the General offered him. “No, the earth is my mother, I will repose on her bosom.” Tecumseh quote. They also saw Tecumseh and his warriors as they went down the Wabash in their canoes to stir up the other Indian tribes to war.
More information on General Harrison and Tecumseh.
A 19th-century print of New Madrid earthquake chaos.
(Granger Collection, NYC)
photo courtesy of Smithsonian Institute
The Great Earthquakes of 1811
But the most thrilling impression of Zachariah’s childhood was the great earthquakes, in 1811. John Collier was absent from home when the first shock came. Cassandra put all the children under a bed, and then with an ax in her hand, while one of her oldest sons held a loaded rifle, stood guard awaiting an assault, as she supposed, by the Indians. As no further trouble came, they very carefully reconnoitered and found no enemy. They soon learned all the settlers had been greatly alarmed. These earthquake shocks continued at intervals over a period of three months. The Wabash River was frozen to a great thickness, during one of the upheavals; it burst with the roar of a thousand cannons, columns of sand and water being thrown high into the air.
The Great Earthquakes of 1811 in Missouri
To Kentucky in 1812
Fearing a return of the earthquakes, and the Indians still on the warpath, John and Cassandra moved back to Madison County, Kentucky, in 1812, where they remained long enough to make two crops.
To Indiana in 1814
But the pioneer spirit kept him unsettled, and early in the spring of 1814 with his undaunted wife and children, the youngest being one year old, they moved to Madison, Indiana. He bought land and had in seven acres of corn when a fearful storm occurred, and together with fresh out-breaks from the Indians, they became alarmed, and sold their land, and came on a flat boat down the Ohio to Jeffersonville, Indiana, and here they remained two weeks at the Sulphur Springs.
To Washington County, Indiana
Learning emigration was heavy toward what is now Washington County, Indiana, so he entered a tract of land close to Campbellsburg, and brought his family there. This proved to be the end of their wanderings. John died in 1831, and Cassandra in 1844. Both lie buried on a high bluff on the old home place, on what is now the Hutchinson Brown farm, two miles from Campbellsburg.
Marquis de Lafayette
photo courtesy of Lafayette
Zachariah Collier
Zachariah, the family historian, had a remarkable memory and could relate the early incidents of his life very vividly. He was born in Madison County, Kentucky, March 20, 1802, and came to Indiana with his parents when he was twelve years old. He married June 5, 1823, Keziah DePauw (born 1799, died March 6, 1866), a daughter of Charles DePauw, a boyhood friend of Lafayette. Charles DePauw came with Lafayette to America to aid the Colonists in their struggle. He was with Lafayette at Yorktown and tied a sash around the General’s knee when he was wounded by a rifle ball. At the close of the war he returned to France and was sent back by his Government to settle Colonies in Louisiana.
Zachariah and Keziah Collier are Jon Quentin Peterson's third great aunt and uncle.
Zachariah died and was buried in New Orleans but later his remains were brought to Crown Hill in Salem. After his marriage, Zachariah Collier entered the river trade with his brother-in-law, General John DePauw, and had many thrilling experiences. Much of his later life was spent at Campbellsburg, Indiana. Died in 1883, and with his wife, Keziah, lies at Livonia cemetery.
More information on Marquis de Lafayette and Charles DePauw
Washington Charles DePauw
Washington (January 4, 1822 – May 5, 1887) was an American businessman and philanthropist. DePauw University is named in his honor. Washington is the grandson of Charles DePauw.
More information on Washington Charles DePauw. MOR
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