Santa Clara County
Biographies
MORRIS COLLINS
MORRIS COLLINS. In Morris Collins the Willow district,
San Jose, has a conscientious and methodical rancher, who has turned his
western opportunities to good account, and in consequence has a pleasant home
and paying orchard of eight acres on the corner of Pine and Cottle
avenues. Looking back over his career, Mr. Collins can attribute but a
small share of his success to education, influence, or money assistance, for
his people were poor, and he was the fifth of four sons and three daughters
dependent upon the resources of a small Canadian farm. He was born in Ontario,
Canada, March 17, 1840, his father, Patrick, and his mother, Mary (Galvin)
Collins, having settled in the English colony as early as 1827, upon their
arrival from County Cork, Ireland.
Mr. Collins remained with his father until attaining
his majority, when he married Ellen O’Leary, a native of Canada, and who
died in the north, leaving to his care four children, of whom Mary, living with
her father, and Annie, a teacher near San Francisco, are the sole survivors.
With his children Mr. Collins came to California in 1886, having heard
much of the climate and remarkable land resources, settling immediately upon
his present ranch, to the improvement of which he has since devoted his
energies. Since coming here he has married and buried a second wife, formerly
Johanna O’Leary, three of whose children brighten his home, and furnish him
additional interest in life. These are George, Harry and Wilbur.
Mr. Collins is a Democrat in political affiliation, and is a devout and
helpful member of the Roman Catholic Church. He is a kind father, an obliging
neighbor, and has never been known to take an unfair advantage of any transaction
in which he has been engaged. Modest and quiet in manner, he carries around
with him a generous heart and broad sympathy for those less fortunate than
himself, which admirable traits have won him the esteem and confidence of the
people among whom his life is being passed.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard 11 November 2015.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Page
861. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Marie
Hassard.