Benjamin F. Collier Sr. (1774 - abt. 1846)

Born 7 Jun 1774 in Charlotte, Colony of Virginia

Ancestors

Husband of Margaret Peggy (Lane) Collier — married 7 Apr 1804 in Virginia, USA

Husband of Mary (Barr-Granbury) Collier — married 1832 (to 17 Jan 1846) in Twiggs County, Georgia, USA

Descendants

Died about 17 Jan 1846 at about age 71 in Blakely, Early County, Georgia, United States

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Biography

Benjamin Collier ^[1] date and place of birth are unknown, but a commonly accepted date is 1774, which is the date listed on his gravestone. ^[2]. In the 1880 Census, James Gautney Collier’s lists that Benjamin was born in Virginia. ^[3]

He was living in Twiggs County, Georgia on February 11, 1814. ^[4]

In 1818, Benjamin lived and paid taxes on 202 ½acres of pineland, Land Lot #4, in the 27th District in Twiggs County, Georgia.

In 1820, Benjamin participated in the Georgia Land Lottery. He drew Land Lot #154 in the 28th District of Early County and this lot was granted to him on March 15, 1821; and in the Early County records he purchased an additional 250 acres of land in the 28th District of Early County from Arthur Stripling of Jones County on March 14, 1821. In 1825, he donated 25 acres of land for the establishment of the Courthouse Square in Blakely, Georgia.

He was living in Early County, Georgia in 1830 ^[5] and 1840.^[6]

Ben died on January 17, 1846 and was buried in what is now Wesley Chapel AME Cemetery on North Church Street in Blakely, Georgia. ^[7] His grave is located in the AME Church cemetery. He is the only white person buried there. The land was originally on his plantation.

Anne Chappell's analysis of his life (Early Colliers of Early County, Georgia)

Numerous descendants of the Early County branch of Colliers remain in that area of southwest Georgia today and in Tyler and surrounding counties in East Texas where their forebears first settled as they moved west. The progenitor of this prolific line was Benjamin Collier. A founding father of Early County, he gave the land for the courthouse square. His name appears often in early records for that county, yet much of his life and ancestry are an enigma. Even his middle name or initial is in question. It has been given as F., C., and Columbus by various researchers, but we know of no documentation.

Several family historians have attempted to trace the ancestry of Early County Benjamin back to Charlotte County, Virginia, to another Benjamin Collier, husband of Sarah Gaines Collier and son of Mary Frances Dabney and Captain Thomas Collier, a prominent Revolutionary War soldier. That lineage extends from Thomas back four more generations to William Collier, the immigrant, who died in New Kent County, Virginia. But a copy of the will which was proven in October, 1791, of Charlotte County Benjamin, born about 1760, son of Thomas, born about 1740, refutes this theory because the only child to whom he devised anything was his daughter Elizabeth. He also provided for his widow Sarah Gaines Collier. He mentioned his inheritance from his father Thomas Collier and he mentioned his siblings, but there is no mention of a son. This document is recorded in Charlotte County, Virginia, will book 2, pages 17 and 18. Since this Benjamin was only about thirty-one when he died, it seems impossible for him to have had a son to whom he had already given an inheritance before making his will. Even in that unlikely event, he would have undoubtedly mentioned in his will that he had made such a settlement. And it also seems obvious that at thirty-one, he could not have had a son who had already so disappointed him that he cut that son out of his inheritance.

Now the only other possibility would be that unknown to Charlotte County Benjamin his wife was carrying a child (Early County Benjamin) when he made his will; however, neither is this a possibility when one looks at other facts. Most importantly, Early County Benjamin's oldest child Mary Elizabeth was born August 25, 1805, less than fourteen years from the death of Charlotte County Benjamin! The Early County ancestor would have married at age thirteen to a woman in North Carolina, not his native state of Virginia, for this to be the case. I do not believe anyone would seriously consider this a possibility.

The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution discovered the error in this lineage from Early County Benjamin Collier back to Captain Thomas Collier decades ago. I was recently given a copy of a 1987 letter from their Office of the Registrar General which stated, "... enclosed is NSDAR # 101,159 filed by Mrs. Ed Chancy [application dated January 17, 1913] on her ancestor THOMAS COLLIER of Virginia. Please note that this paper has been marked 'NOT ACCEPTABLE FOR PROOF, FUTURE APPLICANTS MUST PROVE LINEAGE'." I requested verification of this information from the DAR and they responded that the only lineage accepted from Benjamin, son of Thomas Collier, is through his daughter Elizabeth who married John Bacon. They sent a 1953 letter of rejection in which they suggested that our Benjamin might possibly have been the son of a brother of Vines Collier, another Thomas Collier who also served in the Revolution and from whom they have no members. This needs research. It could explain the Blakely descendants thinking our Benjamin descended from Thomas Collier of Virginia. Perhaps they traced to the wrong Thomas. Unfortunately, I received this information just as I was completing this material to be printed.

Some researchers have thought our Benjamin to be the son of the above mentioned Vines Collier of Oglethorpe County, Georgia, but that cannot be, for he married Ann Howard the same year Early County Benjamin's first child was born.

There were a number of Benajmin Colliers of that era and area and several other theories have been advanced regarding some of them, but as far as I have been able to determine, not only is there no documention for these theories, there is actually documentation to the contrary.

So leaving behind some of the myths about him, let's look at some of the documented facts about Benjamin. The first census on which he appeared was 1830 in Early County, Georgia. By that date his wife Margaret Lane had already died. The following household members are listed:

1 male 40-50 [Benjamin] 1 male under 5 [William Durdon] 1 male 5-10 [Thomas] 2 males 10-15 [Benjamin, Jr. and Joseph William] 1 male 15-20 [James Gauntney] 1 female under 5 [Sarah Ann] 1 female 5-10 [Martha] 2 males under 10 slaves 1 male 10-24 Slave 1 female 10-24 slave 1 female 36-55 slave

At this census, his daughter Mary Elizabeth or "Polly" and his son Jesse had each married and left home. By the 1840 census, Benjamin had married Mary whose last name is sometime given as Barr and sometimes as Granbury, and his household consisted of the following:

1 male 70-80 [Benjamin] 1 male under 5 [Henry M.] 1 male 10-15 [William Durdon] 1 female 20-30 [Mary] 2 females under 5 [Mary Ann and Rebecca] 1 female 15-20 [Sarah Ann]

At this enumeration, Benjamin's youngest child William G. had not yet been born. The discrepancy in Benjamin's age on the two censuses is impossible to explain with certainty. It is not unusual for censuses to vary, but this variation is quite extreme. According to the 1830 schedule, he was born between 1780 and 1790, but on the 1840 schedule his birth was shown as between 1760 and 1770. Even using the earlier date on the first census and the latter one on the second, there remains a ten year difference in the age span.

In her little book Supplement to Behind the Plow published in 1976, Emmie Gay Thompson a descendant of Benjamin's states, "His tombstone, placed on his grave about fifty years ago by three of his descendants, shows the birth date of 1774..." According to that statement, the monument was placed about 1926. It shows his death date as 17 January, 1846, so it was about eighty years after his death that the monument was placed. And the date of death is documented by his son James Gauntney Collier's application for letters of administration for Benjamin's estate in January, 1846, in Early County. Those three descendants of whom Ms. Thompson spoke quite possibly received their information from the preceding generation who probably remembered Benjamin's passing. So using the 1774 birth date places his age at seventy-two when he died. This date, 1774, is also the median age of the census dates. So if we assume his date of birth was about 1774 which seems most likely, we must also conclude that he was probably about thirty, somewhat older than was the custom, when he married because his first child was born in 1805. We must also theorize that each census enumerator erred by one stroke on the two censuses whether by their own carelessness or by recording misinformation that they were given.

Fortunately, there is earlier documentation of Benjamin Collier. In the archives at Raleigh, North Carolina, in microfilm box #27, volume 17, pages 37-38, is a deed from Northampton County, North Carolina, dated 11 February 1814. In this deed, "Benjamin Collier and Peggy [Margaret] his wife of the state of Georgia and County of Twiggs" sold land received in an inheritance from her father Joseph Lane. There is a similar document in which the couple sold land that Margaret inherited from her brother Thomas. In the loose records in the archives are the estate records of Joseph Lane from Northampton County. At the division of his estate, September 27, 1803, Margaret was listed as Peggy Lane, so her marriage to Benjamin occurred after that date. Following the Lanes, back another generation, across the state line in neighboring Sussex County, Virginia, in will book C, pages 195 through 197 is the will proven, 21 December, 1775, of Margaret's grandfather who was also Joseph Lane.

But the significance of this deed and the estate records to this Collier lineage is that it establishes the fact that Benjamin married a wife from this particular area of North Carolina bordering on Virginia and that they moved to Twiggs County, Georgia. The tombstone of their eldest son Jesse, who lies in the Perry family cemetery in the eastern part of Early County, Georgia, near the town of Arlington, is inscribed "Jesse Collier born Twiggs Co. Ga. July 20, 1807, died in Early Co. Ga Apr 26, 1863, At Rest." He lies there with three of his children, his wife Nancy Ann Perry and her parents Elizabeth Vickers Perry and Ambrose Harper Perry, the only souls interred in that quiet woods. In a letter written 5 February, 1896, from Joseph Green Collier, Jesse and Nancy Perry Collier's oldest son, to Mary Elizabeth Walker Collier the widow of their second son Zachariah Cowart Collier, Joseph told Mary Elizabeth that he had placed a tombstone at each of those seven graves with the money she had sent him. He included in his letter the inscriptions that he had engraved on all of the stones. So from the inscription on Jesse's tombstone ordered by his eldest son, the residency of Benjamin and Margaret in Twiggs County is established as being by the time of Jesse's birth in 1807. On later censuses, their oldest child, born in 1805, gave her birthplace as Virginia, so they probably moved to Georgia in 1806.

Following is a theory concerning Benjamin's possible lineage based on supporting documentation.

On the 1790 census of Sussex County, Virginia, a Jesse Collier is listed with eight white and two black members in his household. On the same census is listed his father-in-law Hugh Ivy with a household consisting of three whites and eleven blacks. Although there is no record of it, the fact that Rebecca, daughter of Sarah Horton and Hugh Ivy, married Jesse Collier can be established by other records. In the Albemarle Parish Register, Rebecca's baptism is recorded as 17 March 1748, and also recorded in the register is the baptism of John Collier, 21 February 1772, the son of Rebecca and Jesse Collier. Rebecca Collier received an inheritance from her father Hugh Ivy in his will recorded in Sussex County, Virginia, will book E, page 179, 24 March 1792. A granddaughter, Elizabeth Collier, also received an inheritance, the only grandchild who did. The balance of his estate was devised to his widow, three sons, and two other married daughters.

Benjamin Collier of Early County, Georgia named his oldest son Jesse, his oldest daughter Mary Elizabeth, and his youngest daughter Rebecca Ivy. On the 1840 census of Early County, there are a John Ivy, age twenty to thirty, and a William Ivy, age forty to fifty, both living very near Benjamin. These could be grandchildren of the brothers of Rebecca Ivy Collier of Sussex County, Virginia. Allied and related families often journeyed together to new frontiers. Sussex County, Virginia, where Rebecca Ivy Collier received an inheritance from her father Hugh Ivy is near Northampton County, North Carolina, where Benjamin's wife received an inheritance from her father Joseph Lane.

There was no death record or will for Jesse or Rebecca Ivy Collier. However, among the few surviving records of Twiggs County, Georgia, is an 1818 tax digest. Ben Collier is listed on page 221. On page 227 under Defaulters is listed Jessee Collier. This Jesse is surely not Benjamin's son Jesse, already a defaulter at age eleven! A much more plausible explanation could be that this Jesse is Benjamin's aged father, defaulting perhaps because he was deceased. He could have moved in 1806 with Benjamin and Margaret. He was probably about sixty years old at that time. If this were the case, it would account for there being no estate records for him in Sussex County, Virginia.

Michael Collier who was a frequent contributor to Alice Collier Clark's publication, "The Collier Collator," and who is a diligent, thorough researcher of all Collier lines believes this to be the most logical theory on this lineage. However, he also states it is just a theory, and it can likely never be proven because all public records seem to have been exhausted. Perhaps the only hope lies in the possibility of documentation surfacing from someone's private records. But in the meantime, this seems to the only theory advanced at this point that has not been disproved.

In 1988, Paul H. Arnot followed this line of Colliers and allied families back three more generations from Jesse and Rebecca Ivy Collier in a small book entitled Colliers from Surry County, Virginia. He lists only John and Elizabeth as children of Jesse and Rebecca, but he says that probable children were Daniel and Amos. That still leaves two people not accounted for in Jesse's household on the 1790 census. And since Rebecca was forty-two at this time, having been born in 1748, it is possible that there were other children who had already married and established their own homes. So there were almost surely other children, and Benjamin could certainly have been from this family. ^[8]

Notes

His gg granddaughter - Mrs. Emmie Gay Thompson during the Early Co, GA Bicentennial Celebration on December 14, 1975, made the following speech: "Benjamin Collier, the pioneer -- Benjamin Collier, the patriarch -- Benjamin Collier, the founder, and dedicated citizen, was a modest man. He left no diary or personal written record of his activities and achievements - he left no Last Will and Testament so that we might read his own thoughts about his possessions and his family -- so far as we know he didn't even leave a photograph of himself -- but he did leave a deep and indelible imprint on the history of this community that now, 150 years later, in Blakely's Sesquicentennial Year, you thoughtful citizens, recognizing his worth and his contribution, are deeming it fit to honor Benjamin Collier through this program today..." Following the program, Mrs. W.M. Barksdale laid the wreath at the grave of Benjamin Collier. Cary Houston and R.L. Brookins officials of the P.H. Fitzgerald Post II, American Legion were honor guards for the United States flag at the grave. Benjamin Collier gave the land for and founded the City of Blakely, Georgia, now the county seat of Early County. On May 16, 1975, at Founder's Day ceremonies, a bronze and marble marker bearing his name was placed in front of the City Hall on the courthouse square.

Name of father is circumstantial and not proven nor can be.

Benjamin Collier's parents were Jesse Collier and Rebecca Ivey. Benjamin named a son Jessee Collier and a daughter Rebecca Ivey Collier.

Sources

1. ↑ https://www.ancestry.com/boards/thread.aspx?mv=flat&m=554&p=localities.northam.usa.states.texas.counties.tyler
2. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5467604
3. ↑ Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1880 United States Federal Census, Year: 1880; Census Place: Precinct 3, Tyler, Texas; Roll: 1329; Family History Film: 1255329; Page: 353B; Enumeration District: 103.
4. ↑ https://www.ancestry.com/boards/thread.aspx?mv=flat&m=554&p=localities.northam.usa.states.texas.counties.tyler
5. ↑ Ancestry.com, 1830 United States Federal Census (Provo, UT, United States: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010), 1830 United States Federal Census.
6. ↑ Ancestry.com, 1840 United States Federal Census (Provo, UT, United States: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010), 1840 United States Federal Census.
7. ↑ Find A Grave Memorial #5467604
8. ↑ https://www.ancestry.com/boards/thread.aspx?mv=flat&m=554&p=localities.northam.usa.states.texas.counties.tyler

Lived in Twiggs Co, GA on February 11, 1814. Sold 56 acres of land to Margaret's brother, Levy Lane, in Northhampton Co, NC. Also sold 75 acres of land to Margaret's brother-in-law, Lemuel Hargrave, in Northhampton Co, NC on same date.

Lived and paid taxes on 202 1/2 acres of pineland, Land Lot #4, in the 27th District in Twiggs Co, GA in 1818.

1820 Georgia Land Lottery - Benjamin Collier of Twiggs Co, GA, drew Land Lot #154 in the 28th District of Early Co and this lot was granted to him on March 15, 1821; and in the Early Co records that on March 14, 1821, Benjamin Collier of Twiggs Co, purchased an additional 250 acres of land in the 28th District of Early Co from Arthur Stripling of Jones Co, Jones being a county adjacent to Twiggs.

1825 - Donated 25 acres for the City of Blakely.

His gg granddaughter - Mrs. Emmie Gay Thompson during the Early Co, GA Bicentennial Celebration on December 14, 1975 made the following speech: "Benjamin Collier, the pioneer -- Benjamin Collier, the patriach -- Benjamin Collier, the founder and dedicated citizen, was a modest man. He left no diary or personal written record of his activities and achievements - he left no Last Will and Testament so that we might read his own thoughts about his possessions and his family -- so far as we know he didn't even leave a photograph of himself -- but he did leave a deep and indelibe imprint on the history of this community that now, 150 years later, in Blakely's Sequicentennial Year, you thoughtful citizens, recognizing his worth and his contribution, are deeming it fit to honor Benjamin Collier through this program today..."

Following the program, Mrs. W.M. Barksdale laid the wreath at the grave of Benjamin Collier. Cary Houston and R.L. Brookins officials of the P.H. Fitzgerald Post II, American Legion were honor guards for the United States flag at the grave.

Benjamin Columbus Collier gave the land for and founded the City of Blakely, Georgia, now the county seat of Early County. On May 16, 1975, at Founder's Day ceremonies, a bronze and marble marker bearing his name was placed in front of the City Hall on the courthouse square.

His grave is located in the AME Church cemetery. He is the only white person buried there. The land was originally on his plantation.

ddunlap475 Family Tree list his name as Benjamin F. Collier, born 7 Jun 1774, Sussex,VA. Married Margaret "Peggy" Lane.

Benjamin Collier [1] date and place of birth are unknown, but a commonly accepted date is 1774, which is the date listed on his gravestone. [2]. In the 1880 Census, James Gautney Collier’s lists that Benjamin was born in Virginia. [3]

Anne Chappell's analysis of his life (Early Colliers of Early County, Georgia) In Anne Chappell's analysis of his life (Early Colliers of Early County, Georgia), she states:

Numerous descendants of the Early County branch of Colliers remain in that area of southwest Georgia today and in Tyler and surrounding counties in East Texas where their forebears first settled as they moved west. The progenitor of this prolific line was Benjamin Collier. A founding father of Early County, he gave the land for the courthouse square. His name appears often in early records for that county, yet much of his life and ancestry are an enigma. Even his middle name or initial is in question. It has been given as F., C., and Columbus by various researchers, but we know of no documentation.

Several family historians have attempted to trace the ancestry of Early County Benjamin back to Charlotte County, Virginia, to another Benjamin Collier, husband of Sarah Gaines Collier and son of Mary Frances Dabney and Captain Thomas Collier, a prominent Revolutionary War soldier. That lineage extends from Thomas back four more generations to William Collier, the immigrant, who died in New Kent County, Virginia. But a copy of the will which was proven in October, 1791, of Charlotte County Benjamin, born about 1760, son of Thomas, born about 1740, refutes this theory because the only child to whom he devised anything was his daughter Elizabeth. He also provided for his widow Sarah Gaines Collier. He mentioned his inheritance from his father Thomas Collier and he mentioned his siblings, but there is no mention of a son. This document is recorded in Charlotte County, Virginia, will book 2, pages 17 and 18. Since this Benjamin was only about thirty-one when he died, it seems impossible for him to have had a son to whom he had already given an inheritance before making his will. Even in that unlikely event, he would have undoubtedly mentioned in his will that he had made such a settlement. And it also seems obvious that at thirty-one, he could not have had a son who had already so disappointed him that he cut that son out of his inheritance.

Now the only other possibility would be that unknown to Charlotte County Benjamin his wife was carrying a child (Early County Benjamin) when he made his will; however, neither is this a possibility when one looks at other facts. Most importantly, Early County Benjamin's oldest child Mary Elizabeth was born August 25, 1805, less than fourteen years from the death of Charlotte County Benjamin! The Early County ancestor would have married at age thirteen to a woman in North Carolina, not his native state of Virginia, for this to be the case. I do not believe anyone would seriously consider this a possibility.

The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution discovered the error in this lineage from Early County Benjamin Collier back to Captain Thomas Collier decades ago. I was recently given a copy of a 1987 letter from their Office of the Registrar General which stated, "... enclosed is NSDAR # 101,159 filed by Mrs. Ed Chancy [application dated January 17, 1913] on her ancestor THOMAS COLLIER of Virginia. Please note that this paper has been marked 'NOT ACCEPTABLE FOR PROOF, FUTURE APPLICANTS MUST PROVE LINEAGE'." I requested verification of this information from the DAR and they responded that the only lineage accepted from Benjamin, son of Thomas Collier, is through his daughter Elizabeth who married John Bacon. They sent a 1953 letter of rejection in which they suggested that our Benjamin might possibly have been the son of a brother of Vines Collier, another Thomas Collier who also served in the Revolution and from whom they have no members. This needs research. It could explain the Blakely descendants thinking our Benjamin descended from Thomas Collier of Virginia. Perhaps they traced to the wrong Thomas. Unfortunately, I received this information just as I was completing this material to be printed.

Some researchers have thought our Benjamin to be the son of the above mentioned Vines Collier of Oglethorpe County, Georgia, but that cannot be, for he married Ann Howard the same year Early County Benjamin's first child was born.

There were a number of Benajmin Colliers of that era and area and several other theories have been advanced regarding some of them, but as far as I have been able to determine, not only is there no documention for these theories, there is actually documentation to the contrary.

So leaving behind some of the myths about him, let's look at some of the documented facts about Benjamin. The first census on which he appeared was 1830 in Early County, Georgia. By that date his wife Margaret Lane had already died. The following household members are listed:

1 male 40-50 [Benjamin] 1 male under 5 [William Durdon] 1 male 5-10 [Thomas] 2 males 10-15 [Benjamin, Jr. and Joseph William] 1 male 15-20 [James Gauntney] 1 female under 5 [Sarah Ann] 1 female 5-10 [Martha] 2 males under 10 slaves 1 male 10-24 Slave 1 female 10-24 slave 1 female 36-55 slave

At this census, his daughter Mary Elizabeth or "Polly" and his son Jesse had each married and left home. By the 1840 census, Benjamin had married Mary whose last name is sometime given as Barr and sometimes as Granbury, and his household consisted of the following:

1 male 70-80 [Benjamin] 1 male under 5 [Henry M.] 1 male 10-15 [William Durdon] 1 female 20-30 [Mary] 2 females under 5 [Mary Ann and Rebecca] 1 female 15-20 [Sarah Ann]

At this enumeration, Benjamin's youngest child William G. had not yet been born. The discrepancy in Benjamin's age on the two censuses is impossible to explain with certainty. It is not unusual for censuses to vary, but this variation is quite extreme. According to the 1830 schedule, he was born between 1780 and 1790, but on the 1840 schedule his birth was shown as between 1760 and 1770. Even using the earlier date on the first census and the latter one on the second, there remains a ten year difference in the age span.

In her little book Supplement to Behind the Plow published in 1976, Emmie Gay Thompson a descendant of Benjamin's states, "His tombstone, placed on his grave about fifty years ago by three of his descendants, shows the birth date of 1774..." According to that statement, the monument was placed about 1926. It shows his death date as 17 January, 1846, so it was about eighty years after his death that the monument was placed. And the date of death is documented by his son James Gauntney Collier's application for letters of administration for Benjamin's estate in January, 1846, in Early County. Those three descendants of whom Ms. Thompson spoke quite possibly received their information from the preceding generation who probably remembered Benjamin's passing. So using the 1774 birth date places his age at seventy-two when he died. This date, 1774, is also the median age of the census dates. So if we assume his date of birth was about 1774 which seems most likely, we must also conclude that he was probably about thirty, somewhat older than was the custom, when he married because his first child was born in 1805. We must also theorize that each census enumerator erred by one stroke on the two censuses whether by their own carelessness or by recording misinformation that they were given.

Fortunately, there is earlier documentation of Benjamin Collier. In the archives at Raleigh, North Carolina, in microfilm box #27, volume 17, pages 37-38, is a deed from Northampton County, North Carolina, dated 11 February 1814. In this deed, "Benjamin Collier and Peggy [Margaret] his wife of the state of Georgia and County of Twiggs" sold land received in an inheritance from her father Joseph Lane. There is a similar document in which the couple sold land that Margaret inherited from her brother Thomas. In the loose records in the archives are the estate records of Joseph Lane from Northampton County. At the division of his estate, September 27, 1803, Margaret was listed as Peggy Lane, so her marriage to Benjamin occurred after that date. Following the Lanes, back another generation, across the state line in neighboring Sussex County, Virginia, in will book C, pages 195 through 197 is the will proven, 21 December, 1775, of Margaret's grandfather who was also Joseph Lane.

But the significance of this deed and the estate records to this Collier lineage is that it establishes the fact that Benjamin married a wife from this particular area of North Carolina bordering on Virginia and that they moved to Twiggs County, Georgia. The tombstone of their eldest son Jesse, who lies in the Perry family cemetery in the eastern part of Early County, Georgia, near the town of Arlington, is inscribed "Jesse Collier born Twiggs Co. Ga. July 20, 1807, died in Early Co. Ga Apr 26, 1863, At Rest." He lies there with three of his children, his wife Nancy Ann Perry and her parents Elizabeth Vickers Perry and Ambrose Harper Perry, the only souls interred in that quiet woods. In a letter written 5 February, 1896, from Joseph Green Collier, Jesse and Nancy Perry Collier's oldest son, to Mary Elizabeth Walker Collier the widow of their second son Zachariah Cowart Collier, Joseph told Mary Elizabeth that he had placed a tombstone at each of those seven graves with the money she had sent him. He included in his letter the inscriptions that he had engraved on all of the stones. So from the inscription on Jesse's tombstone ordered by his eldest son, the residency of Benjamin and Margaret in Twiggs County is established as being by the time of Jesse's birth in 1807. On later censuses, their oldest child, born in 1805, gave her birthplace as Virginia, so they probably moved to Georgia in 1806.

Following is a theory concerning Benjamin's possible lineage based on supporting documentation.

On the 1790 census of Sussex County, Virginia, a Jesse Collier is listed with eight white and two black members in his household. On the same census is listed his father-in-law Hugh Ivy with a household consisting of three whites and eleven blacks. Although there is no record of it, the fact that Rebecca, daughter of Sarah Horton and Hugh Ivy, married Jesse Collier can be established by other records. In the Albemarle Parish Register, Rebecca's baptism is recorded as 17 March 1748, and also recorded in the register is the baptism of John Collier, 21 February 1772, the son of Rebecca and Jesse Collier. Rebecca Collier received an inheritance from her father Hugh Ivy in his will recorded in Sussex County, Virginia, will book E, page 179, 24 March 1792. A granddaughter, Elizabeth Collier, also received an inheritance, the only grandchild who did. The balance of his estate was devised to his widow, three sons, and two other married daughters.

Benjamin Collier of Early County, Georgia named his oldest son Jesse, his oldest daughter Mary Elizabeth, and his youngest daughter Rebecca Ivy. On the 1840 census of Early County, there are a John Ivy, age twenty to thirty, and a William Ivy, age forty to fifty, both living very near Benjamin. These could be grandchildren of the brothers of Rebecca Ivy Collier of Sussex County, Virginia. Allied and related families often journeyed together to new frontiers. Sussex County, Virginia, where Rebecca Ivy Collier received an inheritance from her father Hugh Ivy is near Northampton County, North Carolina, where Benjamin's wife received an inheritance from her father Joseph Lane.

There was no death record or will for Jesse or Rebecca Ivy Collier. However, among the few surviving records of Twiggs County, Georgia, is an 1818 tax digest. Ben Collier is listed on page 221. On page 227 under Defaulters is listed Jessee Collier. This Jesse is surely not Benjamin's son Jesse, already a defaulter at age eleven! A much more plausible explanation could be that this Jesse is Benjamin's aged father, defaulting perhaps because he was deceased. He could have moved in 1806 with Benjamin and Margaret. He was probably about sixty years old at that time. If this were the case, it would account for there being no estate records for him in Sussex County, Virginia.

Michael Collier who was a frequent contributor to Alice Collier Clark's publication, "The Collier Collator," and who is a diligent, thorough researcher of all Collier lines believes this to be the most logical theory on this lineage. However, he also states it is just a theory, and it can likely never be proven because all public records seem to have been exhausted. Perhaps the only hope lies in the possibility of documentation surfacing from someone's private records. But in the meantime, this seems to the only theory advanced at this point that has not been disproved.

In 1988, Paul H. Arnot followed this line of Colliers and allied families back three more generations from Jesse and Rebecca Ivy Collier in a small book entitled Colliers from Surry County, Virginia. He lists only John and Elizabeth as children of Jesse and Rebecca, but he says that probable children were Daniel and Amos. That still leaves two people not accounted for in Jesse's household on the 1790 census. And since Rebecca was forty-two at this time, having been born in 1748, it is possible that there were other children who had already married and established their own homes. So there were almost surely other children, and Benjamin could certainly have been from this family. [10]