Aliff (Butler) Collins: Woman Scorned

"John F. Collins and Adelph Butler (Ed. note: should be Dixon) were the parents of Elizabeth Collins." 

American Family Musgrove - Richard Graham Musgrove -  page 734

Musgrove family historian, Richard Graham Musgrove, mis-spelled our third great grandmother's* (see relationship notes below) name in his book, The American Family Musgrove.

He got his information from Katie Wildes, the daughter of Janet (Musgrove) Wildes. Katie passed down the information from her Aunt Molly Musgrove, who lived with their family and took care of Katie and their other children.

Our grandmothers' name was Aleph; clearly legible on the 1880 Federal Census.  All we know about her comes from records. She was born around 1813 in South Carolina. 

She met and married John Forbes Collins in Gadsen County, Florida, before moving to Baker County, Georgia around 1841. There she had six more children with grandpa John Collins. 

Before her youngest son was six years old, her husband left her to live in common-law with Elizabeth (Bryan) Musgrove in Clinch County, Georgia.

The Collins and their Slaves

John Forbes Collins Sr sailed his family from Darrien, Georgia to Gadsen, Florida, around 1820, as part of the Forbes Purchase. He owned twelve slaves. Within six years he was stricken with a fatal illness and died at 34 years of age. His only son, John Forbes Collins, was fifteen at the time. His father left his son four male slaves.

Land acquired in Forbes Purchase

On the 1840 census of Gadsen County  John and Aleph Collins still own four males slaves. Their arrival in Baker County, Georgia, in 1841 is based on their children's birth dates and the state in which they were born.

On the 1850 Baker County Georgia Slave Census, the Collins family owns one a fifteen year old male slave. Our own grandmother, Elizabeth Arissa (Betty) Collins, was seven years old in 1850.

By 1860 grandma Aleph had eight children - aged six to twenty years old - living with her in Baker County. She was Head of the Household and her occupation was listed a Laborer. She also had a fifty five year old run-away male slave and a forty-five year old run-away husband.  He was shacking up in Clinch County with Elizabeth (Bryan) Musgrove and her three sons. They owned a fifteen year old female slave. 

Three years later there was another member of the Collins family. The Clinch County Collins' slave was eighteen and conceived a child with a white man. They named him Joseph Collins. Joseph stayed on with the Collins after the Civil War but his mother did not. 

Aunt Louise (Musgrove) Tillman (youngest daughter of Edward Columbus and Macy (Williams) Musgrove) says the boy was mentally challenged and the family kept him on and raised him. After the war her daughter, Betty Collins, visited her father and married David Musgrove, the son of her father's common-law wife.

Reactions

We don't know how Grandma Aleph reacted to her husband and daughter leaving her for another woman and her son. Nor do we know what she thought of Joseph Collins. 

We do know someone brought charges against John Collins and Elizabeth Musgrove for adultery and fornication. In fact, the summer of 1867 was eventful for the  Clinch County Collins. 

Timeline

• Court-house burned down: Summer 1867 • Clinch Cty 
• David and Betty Musgrove's first born: 25 Jun 1867 • Baker Cty
• John and Elizabeth Collins marry: 27 Aug 1867 • Berrien Cty
• Collins' case dismissed: Sep 1868 • Clinch Cty
• David and Betty Musgrove second child: 14 Nov 1868 • Ware Cty
• John Leverett born: 17 May 1869 • Clinch Cty

John Leverett was born to an unwed cousin of David Musgrove living in Clinch County Collins' house. Rumors circulated that David was the father. We don't know if grandma Aliff knew what was said about her daughter's husband.

Land

Our grandpa Collins owned several parcels of land. We're working on Land and Property Tax records from Clinch and Ware County now to unravel all the transactions. But this we do know about grandma Aleph Collins.

Clinch County Courthouse

After John Collins died, Aleph Collins sold her half interest in the Pierce and Ware County properties to brothers, Charles and David Musgrove. Old land contracts are barely legible, filled with 'legalese' and - frankly - confusing.  But it's interesting that part of the contract seems to note this sale to fulfill an order of support against John Collins. We are interested in visiting Baker County, Georgia, to see if such an order exists in their courthouse and, if so, the details of the complaint.

Note: Relationships are expressed from the perspective of the grandchildren of Willis Edgar and Carrie (known as) Mae (Merritt) Musgrove. 

*Terms of relationship - grandmother, uncle, aunt, cousin, etc.  - are used here generically to include  relatives such as fourth great grandfathers, great grand uncles, second cousins twice removed, etc.