PART
SEVENTY-FIVE
The London -
Kansas Connection 1770 to 2010
Updated October 2023
Way back in time, around 2010, the two of the first
three generations of this family were included in Part 62 – The Trowbridge to
New Zealand Line. We now know that is
not the case, thanks to receipt from Stephen Carpenter in 2019 of the
transcribed Wiltshire parish registers of births, deaths and marriages, and a
query from Don Cameron in 2020 relating to Henry Collett from Kington St
Michael, born there in 1841. Both the
parish register, and the information received from Don in Australia, confirmed
that Henry died in 1870 and therefore could not have been the Henry [75M13] who
emigrated to Kansas in America, where he farmed and raised a family. This therefore, is the family line of Henry
Collett who was born in London in 1841
No birth or baptism record has been discovered
for Nathaniel Samuel Collett, who we now know was born at Peckham, South London. As regards his likely younger four siblings Elizabeth,
Henry, Esther, and George Collett, they are now confirmed as the children of
Henry and Sarah Collett through their baptism records at St Luke’s Church, Old
Street in Finsbury, London
The
aforementioned Henry Collett, the husband of Sarah who may have been Sarah
Stafford, may also have had two older brothers Samuel Collett and Richard
Collett whose children were also baptised at St Luke’s Church, Finsbury, the
details for whom are now included below for completeness
75K1 –
Samuel Collett, whose date of birth is not known, and
whose wife was Lettice Collett, had a daughter Anne Collett who was born on 1st
December 1794 and was baptised at St Luke Old Street Church on 31st
May 1795
75L1 - Anne Collett was born in 1794 at Finsbury,
Middlesex, London
75K2 –
Richard Collett, whose date of birth is not known, and
whose wife was Elizabeth Collett, had a son Daniel Heapy Collett who was born
on 14th June 1799 and was baptised at St Luke Old Street Church on
14th December 1800
75L2 – Daniel Heapy Collett was born in 1799 at Finsbury,
Middlesex, London
75K3 –
Henry Collett, who may have been born around 1780,
and whose wife was Sarah Collett, possibly the former Sarah Stafford, may have
had five children with the first of them born at Peckham, the next four born at
Finsbury, all as listed below. The
census in 1841 recorded Henry Collett with a rounded age of 60 as residing at
Cavendish Street in Shoreditch with his wife Sarah who was 70. Her rounded age, and the ten year gap in
their ages, are reasons to assume that Sarah was indeed Sarah Stafford, the
daughter of Thomas and Ann Stafford, who was baptised in Middlesex on 8th
December 1771. Living with them, at the
same address in 1841, were 30-year-old Sophia Keefe ad her two children Amelia
Keefe aged five and John Keefe who was two years old, plus Eliza Durant who was
25, and Mary Jarman who was 19. Every
member of the household, excluding head of the household Henry, had been born
within the County of Middlesex
75L3 – Nathaniel Samuel Collett was born in 1797 at Peckham, Surrey
75L4 – Elizabeth
Collett was born in 1803 at Finsbury,
Middlesex, London
75L5 –
Henry Stafford Collett was born in 1805 at
Finsbury, Middlesex, London
75L6 – Esther
Mary Collett was born in 1806 at Finsbury,
Middlesex, London
75L7 – George Collett was born in 1811 at Finsbury, Middlesex,
London
Nathaniel Samuel Collett [75L3] was born
at Peckham in Surrey
during 1797, but not in Middlesex, London.
He may have been the older brother of George Collett who sailed to
America in 1846, although that still needs to be confirmed. At the same time that George Collett and his
young family were living at Cavendish Street in Hoxton on the day of the census
in 1841, Nathaniel Collett and his large family were residing at nearby Kings
Head Street on Hoxton Square in Shoreditch. In June that year, Nathaniel Collett was 45
and his wife Hannah Collett was 49.
Their nine children were Hannah Collett and Sarah Collett, both of whom
had a rounded age of 20, Nathaniel Collett, Charlotte Collett and Clara Collett,
all of them with a rounded age of 15, John Collett 14, Henry Collett 11, Mary
Collett who was nine and George Collett who was seven years of age
Every member of the family, except Nathaniel
senior, was incorrectly
recorded as having been born in within the county of Middlesex, with the family
only moving from Camberwell in Surrey to Finsbury and Shoreditch in Middlesex in
1825 and 1828 respectively. Staying with the family that day, were three
members of the Wells family, Alfred Wells 26, his wife Mercy Collett 30, and
their daughter Emma Wells, not yet one year old, and all born in Middlesex. In America, two members of the family of
George Collett (below) each had a young member of a Wells family living
with them at Diamond Creek in 1875 and 1880.
It is very much a long-shot, that it was George Wells and his brother
Thomas Wells who had a connection with the Collett family through Nathaniel.
Whilst the births and baptisms for the majority
of the children have been found, very few details of the members of the family
have been unearthed after 1841, which also applies to the three members of the
Wells family. What is known, is that
Nathaniel Samuel Collett married Hannah Howard at St Botolph’s Church in
Bishopsgate, London, on 18th July 1818. Hannah was around five years older than her
husband, having been born at Holborn on 4th May 1792 and baptised
there on 10th May 1792, the daughter of Richard and Eleanor Howard. Eight years after the first census day, the
death of Hannah Collett, nee Howard, was recorded at Shoreditch (Ref. ii 621)
during the third quarter of 1849, when she was 57 years of age. By that time it is possible that Hannah’s eldest daughter had already suffered
a premature death
Upon being buried at St Leonard’s Church on 29th
July 1849, her address was reported as Rose Street in Shoreditch. Three years later, the family home was at
Pleasant Row in Shoreditch, where
widower Nathaniel S Collett was 55 and a journeyman cooper who had been born at
Peckham. Still living with him were four
of his children, and they were Sarah J Collett who was unmarried at the age of 31,
Henry Collett who was 20, Mary Ann Collett who was 18, and 16-year-old George. For
all four of them, their place of birth was recorded as Shoreditch, whereas it
is established that Sarah was not born there, but moved there with her parents
when she was nine years old. Also
lodging with the family at Pleasant Row is 1851 were two brothers John Chesher
aged 19 and James Chesher aged 16, both of them born at St Luke’s Middlesex, a
reference to the area of Clerkenwell and Shoreditch in the Borough of Islington
It was at Pleasant Row where Nathaniel Samuel
Collett died just over twelve months later, with his death recorded at
Whitechapel (Ref. 1c 231) during the second quarter of 1852, when he was 55. He was then laid to rest with his wife at the
Church of St Leonard in Shoreditch on 18th April 1852. Members of the broader Collett family were
also living at Pleasant Row in Shoreditch in 1871, when Andrew William Collett [31N35]
from Wiltshire was living at 5 Pleasant Row while, in 1881, it was Shoreditch
born Frederick William Collett [62M43] who was living at 11 Pleasant Row, the
son of William Collett from Wiltshire
75M1 – Sarah Jane Collett was born in 1819 at Camberwell,
South London
75M2 – Hannah Collett was born in 1821 at Camberwell,
South London
75M3 – Nathaniel Samuel Collett was born in 1923 at Camberwell,
South London
75M4 – Charlotte Agnes Collett was born in 1824 at Camberwell,
South London
75M5 – Clarissa Elizabeth Collett was born in 1825 at Finsbury,
Middlesex
75M6 – John Collett was born in 1828 at
Shoreditch, Middlesex
75M7 – Henry Collett was born in 1830 at Shoreditch,
Middlesex
75M8 – Mary Ann Collett was born in 1833 at
Shoreditch, Middlesex
75M9 – George Collett was born in 1834 at Shoreditch,
Middlesex
Elizabeth
Collett [75L4] was born on 30th September 1803
at Finsbury, Middlesex, London, where she was baptised at St Luke Old Street
Church on 1st January 1804, when her parents were confirmed as Henry
and Sarah Collett
Henry Stafford
Collett [75L5] was born at Finsbury in 1805 and was
baptised at St Luke Old Street Church in Finsbury on 24th November 1805,
when his parents were confirmed as Henry and Sarah Collett (nee Stafford?). Henry later married Harriet Ford on 1st
April 1831 at St Michael’s Church, Bassishaw in the City of London, where his
brother George (below) was married in 1833. However, by then, the first of their five
known children had already been born at Hoxton and baptised at St Leonard’s
Church in Shoreditch, as were the majority of their children, when their
parents were confirmed as Henry and Harriet Collett. Ten years after their wedding day, the family
was living at the High Street in Hoxton where Henry Collett was 37 and working
as a clerk. His wife Harriet Collet was
36, and their five children were Harriet Collett who was ten, Walter Collett
who was nine, Henry Collett who was seven, Ann Collett who was five, and
William Collett who was two years old.
Every member of the family had been born with the County of Middlesex
On that
census day in 1841, the family was the second family recorded at that property,
the first named family was much younger Leach family of Middlesex, comprising
Thomas Leach, a 25-year-old hair dresser, his wife Elizabeth Leach 20, and son
Richard Leach who was one year old. Shoreditch
was also close to where Henry’s brother George (below) raised his family
at Cavendish Street, near Shoreditch Park, in Hoxton, prior to emigrating to
North America. The prospect of making a
new start in the New World may have also been of interest to Henry and his
family since, in the end, before the end of the 1840s, both families had made
the trans-Atlantic journey to Canada, and settled in Bentinck Township in Grey
County, Ontario. After a couple of years
there, brother George decided to leave Bentinck when he and his family moved to
the Rockford area of north-west Illinois, leaving Henry with his family in
Ontario
And it
was there, at Bentinck Township that Henry, wife Harriet, their married son
Henry, his wife Mary Ann, and their two sons Alfred and Edward were living in
1861, when Henry senior and Henry junior were both farmers. Harriet died during the 1860s, as confirmed
by the Bentinck census of 1871, when Henry Collett was a widower at the age of
65, then living with son Henry and his growing family. It was there also that he was living on 24th
August 1877, when Henry Collett died at the age of 71
75M10
– Harriet Collett was born in 1830 at Hoxton, Shoreditch
75M11
– Walter Richard Collett was born in 1832 at
Hoxton, Shoreditch
75M12
– Henry Collett was born in 1833 at Hoxton, Shoreditch
75M13
– Ann Collett was born in 1835 at Hoxton, Shoreditch
75M14
– William Collett was born in 1839 at Hoxton, Shoreditch
Esther
Mary Collett [75L6] was born on 7th May 1806 at
Finsbury and was baptised at St Luke Old Street Church in Finsbury on 26th
July 1806, when her parents were confirmed as Henry and Sarah Collett
George Collett [75L7] was born at Finsbury on 9th
February 1811, the same year that his future wife was born in
England. Three months later George was baptised at St Luke Old
Street Church in Finsbury on 9th June 1811, when his parents were
confirmed as Henry and Sarah Collett.
It was on 25th November 1833, when George Collett married (1)
Rosina Barnaschine at St Michael’s Church, Bassishaw in London, George’s
brother Henry was married in 1831. Historical
Note: The original 12th Century St Michael’s Church, on
Basinghall Street, was destroyed in the fire of London in 1666, but was rebuilt
by the office of Sir Christopher Wren.
In 1900, it was demolished, with the land today occupied by the Barbican
Centre complex
Following their wedding day, Rosina presented George with five children while they were still living in Hoxton, London, although the third of them died aged only two years. The Shoreditch St Leonard, Middlesex census of 1841, identified the family living at Cavendish Street near Shoreditch Park in Hoxton. The completed census return that year recorded George and Rosina with a rounded age of 30, with their three children being Rosina Collett who was four and Henry Collett who was two years old. On that day, Rosina was already with-child, with another son was born immediately after death of their couple’s son Henry, the baby given the same name as a tribute to his deceased brother
One more child was added to the family while
they were still in London, following which, it would appear that George
travelled to Canada in 1846, ahead of his family. It was two years later, that his family
sailed out of the Port of London on the ship Switzerton, bound for Canada via America,
arriving at the Port of New York on 20th October 1848. The passenger list included the names of Rosa
Collett, aged 36, George Collett aged 11, Rosa Collett aged nine, Henry Collett
aged six and Charles Collett who was three years of age. It was the two families of brothers George and Henry Collett (above)
who made their initial homes in Canada in the township of Bentinck in Grey
County, Ontario, in 1849. After a little
while George, who had previously visited
Illinois, decided to leave Bentinck when he and his family moved to the Rockford
area of north-west Illinois, leaving Henry with his family in Ontario. Within a few more years, George and his
family made a more permanent home at Diamond Creek Township in Chase County,
Kansas, during the 1850s
In 2020,
Keith Collett [75Q3] in Kansas made contact to inform us that George and wife
Rosina arrived in Chase County, with their married son George junior and his
wife Emily Collett, née Balch, and unmarried sons Henry and Charles. Emily Balch’s parents and her younger
siblings were also part of the group.
It was at Diamond Creek Township that the family was living in 1860, where George and Rosina from England were both 49, with George described as a type founder. Their three English-born sons, that census day, were confirmed as George Collett who was 25, Henry Collett who was 18 and Charles who was 15, none of whom was credited with an occupation. Staying with the family on that occasion were two members of their extended family. They were the couple’s daughter-in-law Emily Collett from New York who was 19 and the wife of George Collett junior, together with their son Charles Collett from Iowa, who was two years of age. George and Rosina were again recorded at Diamond Creek in the census of 1865, when George Collett, a farmer, was 55, the age also recorded for his wife Rosina, when the only two children still living there with them were unmarried sons Henry Collett and Charles Collett, who were working on the farm
Later
that same year Rosina Collett passed away and was buried at the Prairie Grove
Cemetery in Cottonwood Falls, Chase County in 1865. The Diamond Creek census in 1870 confirmed
that George Collett senior was a widower at the age of 59, when he was still a
farmer. By then only his son Charles
Collett was living with him, and working alongside his father. Two years later on 25th June 1872,
George Collett aged 61 married
(2) Catherine Page in Chase County, with 55-year-old Catherine having brothers who
lived there. The marriage licence
was granted at nearby Cottonwood Falls on 20th
June 1872, the ceremony performed by Pastor N F Tipton at the residence of R
Cuthbert, a farmer who was born in England during 1822, who was living at 115
Cottonwood Falls. Eight years later farmer
George was 71 and Catherine was 64 where they were living at 113 Cottonwood
Falls in 1880. However, five
years earlier, Catherine was not living with George in 1875, at 76 Diamond
Creek Township. Instead, George Collett
senior from England was 65 and a farmer, living next door to the family of his
married son George junior. The only
other person living with George senior that day was George Wells from England
who was 16 and working on the farm with him
Back in England, the young Wells family was
living at Shoreditch with the family of Nathaniel Samuel Collett [75L3] and his
wife Hannah in 1841, George Collett’s eldest brother. Therefore, it is likely that Alfred and Mercy
Wells of Middlesex were grandparents of English brothers George and Thomas
Wells, the latter being eleven years old and living with farmer George Collett
junior (below), on whose farm he was working at Diamond Creek Township in 1880. In 2020 some Wells descendants were still living in Diamond Creek
Township, with the Colletts having settled at the western edge of Chase County,
they eventually slipped over the line into eastern Marion County
That
second married for George endured for twenty-seven years, when he died at Chase
County on 5th June 1892, aged 81, and was buried at Prairie Grove
Cemetery in Cottonwood Falls with his first wife, and where he was joined by Catherine
later on
75M15 – George Walter Collett was born in 1834 at Hoxton, Shoreditch
75M16 – Rosina Sarah Collett was born in 1837 at
Hoxton, Shoreditch
75M17 – Henry Collett was born in 1839 at
Hoxton, Shoreditch
75M18 – Henry Collett was born in 1841 at
Hoxton, Shoreditch
75M19 – Charles Collett was born in 1844 at
Hoxton, Shoreditch
Sarah Jane Collett [75M1] was born in Camberwell
South London during 1819 and was baptised at St Giles Camberwell on 11th
July 1819, the first-born child of Nathaniel Samuel Collett and his wife Hannah
Howard who, by the time Sarah was nine years old, had taken their family to
live at Shoreditch in Middlesex. The first
national census conducted during the first week of June in 1841 recorded
Sarah’s family living at Kings Head Street, Hoxton Square in Shoreditch, when
Sarah had a rounded age of 20. Her
mother died at Rose Street in Shoreditch in 1949 after which the family moved to Pleasant Row in
Shoreditch where in 1851 Sarah J Collett was 31 and a laundress whose place of
birth was incorrectly recorded at Shoreditch.
With her, at her widowed father’s house, were three younger siblings who
had been born at Shoreditch. It is very
interesting that staying with the family, as lodgers, was her future husband
and his younger brother. John Chesher
was 19 and working as a casual labourer, and his brother James was 16 and a
post boy
After
her father died in 1852, Sarah Jane Collett appears to have settled down with
the much younger John Chesher, with whom she was living at Chapel Street in
Bethnal Green in 1861. Head of the
household was 31-year-old John Chesher from Paddington who was a carman, his
wife Sarah J Chester from Shoreditch was 41, and their three children were William
Chesher who was eight, Sarah E Chesher who was five, and Mary Ann
Chesher who was two years of age.
Their son had been born at Shoreditch, while the two girls had been born
after the family had settled in Bethnal Green
Hannah Collett [75M2] was born in Camberwell,
South London during 1821, another daughter of Nathaniel and Hannah Collett. When she was around four years old her family
moved to Finsbury and soon after to Shoreditch.
And it was at Kings Head Street that she was 20 years old in the census
of 1841. No further record of her has been found, and she was not
living with her family in 1851
Nathaniel Samuel Collett [75M3] was born
in Camberwell, South London during 1823 and was the eldest son of Nathaniel
Samuel and Hannah Howard who took their family north of the Thames River when
he was two years old. He had a rounded
age of 15 years in the census of 1841 when he was living with his family at
Kings Head Street on Hoxton Square in Shoreditch. The census that year stated that he had not
been born in Middlesex. Curiously, no
record of his birth or baptism has been unearthed, but the marriage of
Nathaniel Samuel Collett and Sophia Kienlen was recorded at Hackney (Ref. iii
147) during the second quarter of 1850.
In the census the following year, Nathaniel Samuel Collett from
Shoreditch (sic) and his wife Sophia from Hackney, were living at Grove Terrace
in Hackney, where Nathaniel was 28 and working as a cooper, while Sophia was
also 28 but with no occupation. Seven
years later, the pair of them died within a few months of each other. First was Nathaniel, whose death was recorded
at Hackney (Ref. 1b 248) during the first quarter of 1858, and it was during
the third quarter of that year when the death of Sophia Collett was recorded at
Hackney (Ref. 1b 195)
Charlotte Agnes Collett [75M4] was born in Camberwell,
South London in 1824 and was baptised at St Giles Camberwell on 9th
January 1825, the fourth child of Nathaniel Samuel Collett and Hannah Howard. Later that same year her family moved to
Finsbury and shortly thereafter to Shoreditch where her younger siblings were
born. As simply Charlotte Collett of
Kings Head Street, Shoreditch, she had a rounded age of 20 in the census of
1841, while she was more accurately recorded in the Shoreditch census of 1851
as being 27 years of age, when she was living at New Inn Street where she was
unmarried and working as a laundress. It
was the same situation in 1862, except that by then laundress Charlotte Collett
from Shoreditch (sic) was 37 and residing at Clerkenwell Green in the
Clerkenwell area of London. As she was
ten years earlier, she was once again described as head of the household. During the next two decades, Charlotte
returned to Shoreditch, where she was living at the Hill Street home of
bachelor Henry Stokes from Cambridge who was 48 and a baker. That year, Charlotte Collett was 57 and was
no longer working as a laundress. It
seems likely, that the death of Charlotte Collett at Brentford (Ref. 3a 52)
during the first three months of 1885, at the age of 62, was Charlotte Agnes
Collett of Shoreditch
Clarissa Elizabeth Collett [75M5], who was
also known as Clara, was born at Finsbury within the London Borough of
Islington on 25th November 1825 and by 1828 the family home was at
Shoreditch. She was later baptised at St
Leonards Shoreditch on 19th September 1831, another daughter of
Nathaniel and Hannah Collett. As Clara
Collett, she had a rounded age of 15 in the Shoreditch census of 1841, when she
and her large family was living at Kings Head Street on Hoxton Square in
Shoreditch. Ten years later, Clarissa E
Collett, aged 25, was unmarried and a servant to Emily W Smith at Stainsby Road
in Poplar, London. After a further six years, and
just prior to the premature death of her older married brother Nathaniel and
his wife Sophia, the death of Clarissa Elizabeth Collett was recorded at
Islington (Ref. 1b 127) during the third quarter of 1857 at the age of only 31
John Collett [75M6] was born at Shoreditch
on 21st March 1828 and baptised at St Leonards Shoreditch in 19th
September 1831, another son of Nathaiel and Hannah Collett. John was recorded as being 14 in 1841,
instead of 13, when living at Kings Head Street in Shoreditch. Like his sister Hannah (above), no later record of John has been found,
and he was no living with his family in 1851 at Pleasant Row in Shoreditch two
years after his mother had died
Henry Collett [75M7] was born at Shoreditch
on 13th October 1830 and was baptised at St Leonards Shoreditch on
19th September 1831, the seventh child of Nathaniel and Hannah
Collett, who was ten years old in the census of 1841 when living at Kings Head
Street in Shoreditch with his family. Henry was one of four children
still living with his widowed father after his mother died in 1849, as
confirmed in the Shoreditch census of 1851 when living at Pleasant Row. Unmarried Henry Collett was 20, whose occupation
was that of a porter working for a tobacconist, when his place of birth was
given as Shoreditch
Mary Ann Collett [75M8] was born at Shoreditch on
15th February 1833 and was baptised at St Leonards Shoreditch on 11th
March 1833. As simply Mary Collett in
1841, she was seven years old and her family were residing at Kings Head Street
in Shoreditch. Eight years later her
mother died and in 1851
Mary Ann Collett from Shoreditch was 18 and employed as a waistcoat maker, when
she was living at Pleasant Row in Shoreditch, one of four children still living
with her widowed father
George Collett [75M9] was born at Shoreditch
on 22nd June 1834 and was baptised there at Holy Mount Independent
Church on 2nd October 1834, the last of the nine children of
Nathaniel Samuel Collett and Hannah Howard.
In 1841 it was at Kings Head Street in Shoreditch that George was living
with his family when he was seven years old.
Ten years later, he
was the youngest of the four children still living with his family at Pleasant
Row in Shoreditch, by which time his mother had passed away two years earlier,
and when 16-year-old George was an apprentice cooper working alongside his
widowed father. What happened to George
after his father died in 1852 has still to be discovered
Harriet
Collett [75M10] was born at Hoxton on 8th July
1830 and was baptised at Shoreditch St Leonard’s Church on 8th August
1930, the first of the five children of Henry Collett and Harriet Ford who were
only married at the start of the following year. Harriet was ten years of age in the Hoxton
Shoreditch census of 1841 when the family was living on Hoxton High
Street. Six years later her family
emigrated to Canada, with part of her family recorded at Bentinck Township,
Grey County, Ontario in 1861, by which time Harriet may well have been married
Walter
Richard Collett [75M11] was born on 18th
February 1832 at Hoxton one year after his parents were married and was baptised on 19th
March 1932 at St Leonard’s Church in Shoreditch. The baptism record confirmed that he was the
son of Henry and Harriet Collett. As
simply Walter Collett he was nine years old in the Hoxton Shoreditch census of
1841 when he and his family were living at the High Street in Hoxton. He would have been sixteen years of age when
his family left London and moved to a new life in Canada, although it not known
whether or not Walter went with them
Henry
Collett [75M12] was born at Shoreditch on 26th
January 1833, and was baptised at St Leonard’s Church on 16th June
1935, another son of Henry and Harriet Collett, who certainly emigrated to
Canada with his parents around 1848. The
later marriage at Bentinck Township, Grey County in Ontario, of Henry Collett
and Mary Ann Davidson produced several children, all of whom eventually moved
to Merritt in British Columbia, and consequently lost contact with their cousin
who end up in the state of Kansas. Prior
to that, the Grey County census in 1851 included Henry Collett who was 19 (sic)
and living at Bentinck Township with his family from England
It was
during 1855 that Henry and Mary Ann were married at Bentinck Township, where
they were living with Henry’s parents in 1861, by which time they had two son
who had been born at Bentinck. Heading
the list of Colletts was Henry senior from England who was 53 and a farmer who
was married in 1831. Next was his wife
Harriet who was 51 and from England, then their married son Henry junior,
another farmer from England who was 28 and married in 1855, his English wife
Mary Ann who was 23, and their sons Alfred G Collett aged five and Edward
Collett who was three years old. In each
case, the surname was recorded as Collet
Two more
children were added to the family during the next decade, also during which
time Henry’s mother passed away. As a
result of that sad event, the young family had Henry’s widowed father staying
with them at Bentinck in 1871. Henry
junior was 36, Mary Ann was 31, Alfred was 13, Edward was 12, Joseph was eight,
and Harriet was six years of age. Henry
senior was 65 by then. On that census
day, Mary Ann was expecting the birth of the couple’s fifth child, and after a
gap of eight years, she gave birth to her sixth and last known child. Following the death of his father in 1877,
Henry junior took his family to live at Grey Township in Huron County, Ontario,
where the enlarged family was residing in 1881
Farmer
Henry Collett from England was 48, Mary Ann Collett was 42, Alfred Collett was
24, Edward was 22, Joseph was 19, all three of them working alongside their
father on the farm, Harriet was 14, John was 10, and Charles was two years old.
Over the following years, farmer Hemry
Collett returned to Bentinck Township where he was recorded in the census of
1891 at the age of 58. Six years later, Henry
Collett from England was 64 when he died at Bentinck Township on 17th
August 1897, with his body laid to rest at St George’ Cemetery, when his date
of birth was confirmed as 26th January 1833
75N1 –
Alfred George Collett was born in 1856 at Bentinck Township, Ontario
75N2 –
Edward Collett was born in 1858 at Bentinck Township, Ontario
75N3 – Joseph
Collett was born in 1862 at Bentinck Township, Ontario
75N4 – Harriet
Collett was born in 1864 at Bentinck Township, Ontario
75N5 – John
Collett was born in 1870 at Bentinck Township, Ontario
75N6 – Charles
Collett was born in 1878 at Bentinck Township, Ontario
Ann
Collett [75M13] was born on 24th November
1835 at Hoxton and baptised on 13th January 1836 at Shoreditch St
Leonard’s Church, another daughter of Henry and Sarah Collett. She was five years old in the Hoxton Shoreditch
census of 1841 when she and her family were living at the High Street in
Hoxton. Around seven years later her
family emigrated to Canada, but was not with her family at Bentinck Township in
Grey County for the census in 1860
William
Collett [75M14] was born at the High Street in Hoxton early
in 1839 and, unlike his four older sibling no baptism record for him has been
found which, in the case of his siblings, also provided their date of birth. He was the fifth and last known child of Henry
Collett and Harriet Ford and it was their entry in the Hoxton Shoreditch census
of 1841 that placed the two-year-old son William living at High Street, Hoxton.
A search of the Middlesex birth records
has revealed just one William Collett who was born in 1839, and that was
registered at St Luke’s Holoway (Ref. ii 238) during the second quarter of that
year, just north-west of Hoxton and Shoreditch.
By the time he was ten years of he and his family were living at
Bentinck Township, Grey County, Ontario, Canada. However, by 1860 William was not living with
them at Bentinck
George Walter Collett [75M15] was born at Hoxton in
London on 2nd October 1834, possibly at Cavendish Street, after
which he was baptised at the Church of St Leonard in Shoreditch on 26th
January 1835, the eldest child of George Collett and Rosina Barnaschina. It was at Cavendish Street in Hoxton where he
and his family were living in 1841, when George Collett was six years old. He was eleven years of age, when he and his
three younger siblings accompanied their mother across the Atlantic Ocean, on
board the Switzerton, to be reunited with their father who had made the same
journey two years earlier. After a short period of time in Illinois, the family
made their home at Diamond Creek Township, Chase County in Kansas. George married Emily Balch around 1858 and,
by 1860, they had a son, when the three of them were still living with George’s
family at Diamond Creek. George Collett
junior was 25 and from England, Emily Collett from New York was 19, and Charles
Collett was two years old and had been born in Iowa
Two more children were added to the family
which, in 1865, was residing at Diamond Creek.
George Collett junior was 30, his wife Emily was 24, and Charles A
Collett was seven, A E Collett was four and W E Collett was not yet one year
old. What is very interesting about the
census that year, is the fact that the large Balch family was also living close
by to the Collett family. After a
further five years, the Collett family was living at No. 25 Diamond Creek
Township. George W Collett junior was 35
and a farmer, Emily Collett was 29 and keeping house, Charles Collett was 12
and at home, Alice E Collett was eight and Walter E Collett was five years
old. The census form indicated that
George and Emily could not read or write
The family was still residing at Diamond Creek,
at No. 75 in the township in 1875.
George Collett was 40 and a farmer, who had been living in Iowa before
settling in Kansas. His wife Emily
Collett was 34, and their three children were Charles Collett who was 17 and
working with his father on their farmstead, as was daughter A E Collett who was
14 and born at Diamond Creek. Completing
the family was W E Collett who was 10 years of age, while visiting the family
was Beatrice Guidett from England who was 19 in 1875. Living in the adjacent property, No 76
Diamond Creek, was George’s father George Collett senior from England, another
farmer. The Diamond Creek Agricultural Register
of Farmland (Schedule of Productions of Agriculture) in 1875, described the
farm of George Collett as being 160 acres of fenced-off land. George was again farming at Diamond Creek in
1880, when his address was recorded as No. 66 Diamond Creek. He was 47, Emily (C E Collett) was 39, their
son Charles was 22 and a farm hand, daughter Alice was 18 and, completing the
household was, Thomas Wells, aged 11 from Middlesex in England, the younger
brother of George Wells who was living with George’s father in 1875. It is very interesting to note that, in 1880,
the census enumerator for the area of Diamond Creek where his brother Henry
Collett (below) was farming, was George Collett
It was
after 1880 when George took his family to Westphalia in Anderson County,
Kansas, where he continued to farm. He
was still living there when he died on 11th September 1898, and was
buried there at the Cherry Mound Cemetery where, much later, his widow Emily
was also buried. Prior to that though, she left Kansas and in
1900 was living next door to her older brother Albert E Balch as Fourth
Judicial Township with the California County of Fresno. Emily Collett from New York was 59 with no
occupation, who was a boarder with the Calder family. In the adjacent dwelling was her brother from
New York, who was 77 and a fruit farmer, his wife Almira Balch who was 57, and
their three children. They were Albert E
Balch, 26 and a schoolteacher, Laura E Balch 19 and Grace E Balch 15. The census enumerator that year was also
Emily’s nephew, Albert E Balch junior.
Emily’s time away from Kansas was short-lived and, perhaps it was the
death of her brother that resulted in her returning there within a few years,
since she was residing at Anderson Township in Smith County, Kansas, in
1905. The census that year identified Emily
Collett from New York as a widow aged 64, who had her son W E Collett, aged 40,
living there with her
The last record of Emily Collett, nee Balch,
was at Westphalia in Anderson County, Kansas, where she was recorded in 1910
living on her own. Emily was 69, had
been born in New York, and was living off her own income. It was also at Westphalia, in 1914, where she
died, after which she was buried there at the Cherry Mound Cemetery, reunited
with her late husband
75N7 - Charles A
Collett
was born in Iowa during 1858
75N8 - Alice E Collett was born at Diamond Creek Township in
1861
75N9 - Walter E Collett was born at Diamond
Creek Township in 1865
Rosina Sarah Collett [75M16] was born at Hoxton,
London, possibly at Cavendish Street, during 1837 and was baptised on 29th
January 1838 at St Leonard’s Church in Shoreditch, the only daughter of George
and Rosina Collett. She was four years
of age when living with her family at Cavendish Street in Hoxton in 1841, where
she may have been born. On the passenger
list of the ship Switzerton, which dock at the Port of New York on 20th
October 1848, Rosa Collett was recorded as being nine years old. Her family ultimately settled in Kansas, but it was in Illinois where
Rosina Sarah Collett married George Hamlin with whom she had a couple of
children. George accompanied Rosina’s
brother Henry Collett (below) on an initial trip to Chase County,
Kansas, to look things over in the spring of 1860, after which they both
returned to Illinois to prepare the rest of the extended family for the
journey. Everyone set off but the Hamlin
family did not get farther than Lawrence in Kansas. Keith Collett [75Q3] (supplier of new
details in 2020) has a letter written in the autumn of 1860 by Rosina at
her home in Lawrence to her mother Rosina in Chase County. No further record of Rosina, George Hamlin,
and the Hamlin children has been found
Henry Collett [75M17] was born at Cavendish
Street in Hoxton in 1839, where his family was living in 1841 and where Henry
was two years old. His birth was
recorded at St Leonards Shoreditch (Ref. ii 371) during the second quarter of
1839. Sadly, for the family, Henry died
within the next six months, his death also recorded at Shoreditch (Ref. ii 269)
during the third quarter of 1841. It was
on 16th September 1841 that Henry Collett was buried at
Shoreditch. He was two years of age and
had been residing at Cavendish Street in Hoxton
Henry
Collett [75M18] was born at Cavendish
Street in Hoxton during August 1841, where his family had been living six
months earlier. The birth of Henry
Collett was recorded at Shoreditch (Ref. ii 374) during the same quarter of
1841 that the death of his brother and namesake was recorded there. He was the fourth child of George and Rosina
Elizabeth Collett from England. He was listed
as being six years old on board the ship Switzerton when his family emigrated
to North America in October 1848. After
initially settling in Illinois, the family eventually made their home at Diamond
Creek Township in Chase County, Kansas, where Henry Collett from England was 18
in 1860. Five years later, unmarried
Henry Collett was 23, when he was working on the family farm at Diamond Creek
with his father and younger brother Charles (below)
Shortly thereafter, it was there also, during
1866, that he married Caroline (Carrie) Eliza Houston who had been born on 1st
May 1846 at Knoxville in Tennessee, the daughter of America parents George
Blackburn Houston and Lamenda Owen Munday.
Over the next fifteen years their marriage produced six children for
Henry and Carrie, and all of them were born with at Diamond Creek
By 1870, Henry and Caroline had three children
living with them at Diamond Creek, the family being listed as farmer Henry
Collett who was 28 and not able to read or write, Caroline who was 24 and also
unable to read or write, son Franklin who was three, Fred who was one, and
Caroline who was just one month old. Picking up on the census
enumerator’s comment that the couple could not read or write, in addition to
farming, they ran a country trading post called Elk in Diamond Creek Township
for thirty years, where Henry was also the postmaster, where they prospered at
it. Furthermore, the store’s records are
preserved at the Chase County Museum and they are well-written, plus Henry’s
parents corresponded with siblings in Canada and England, and his sister Rosina
and brothers George and Charles both wrote lively letters when on their
travels, presented in good handwriting
The next census in 1875 confirmed the Collett
farm holding at No. 120 Diamond Creek Township was 86 acres, when Henry Collett
was 32 and described as being in Illinois before arriving in Kansas. Caroline Collett was 29 and their five
children on that occasion were G F Collett who was eight, F H Collett who was
six, C R Collett who was five, E E Collett who was one year old. With the family that day, was married man
Osman M Bayliss from Ohio who was 32 and a labourer who, later had his own farm
there. According to the US Census of
1880 for Diamond Creek Township 19, Range 6, the census enumerator was George
Collett, Henry’s eldest brother (above).
The Collett family living there was made up of Henry Collett from
England who was 38, his wife Carrie E Collett who was 34, and their five surviving
children Franklin Collett 13, Fred H Collett 11, Rosina C Collett 10, Elizabeth
Collett who was six and Grace Collett who was two years old, son Charles having
died prior to that day. Once again, at
that time, Henry’s occupation was that of a farmer, like his father and brother
George
Although no census return for the family has
been identified in 1885 and 1890, they were residing at Diamond Creek in 1895. The family was listed in that year’s census
as Henry Collett who was 53 and a farmer, Carrie E Collett who was 49 and a
housewife, G Franklin Collett who was 28, F H Collett who was 27, Elizabeth E
Collett who was 21 and Grace V Collett who was 16. All four children had been born at Diamond
Creek. Five years later, the Diamond
Creek census in 1900, identified Henry Collett from England as being 59 and a
farmer, having arrived in America in 1848 who had been married for 34
years. His wife Caroline Collett from
Tennessee was 54 and had been born in May 1846, the mother of seven children,
of which five were still alive. The only
child living with the couple that day, 2nd June 1900, was their son
Frank G Collett who was 33 and a merchant, born in Kansas during March
1867. Four and a half years later, on 15th
December 1904, the following item was printed in the Chase Township newspaper “Another of Chase County's oldest and most respected
citizens has passed away. Henry Collett
for more than 40 years has been an active participant in the affairs of Chase
County”.
In the Kansas census of 1905, widow Carrie E Collett
from Tennessee, and the former wife of Henry Collett from England, was 56 and
the only child still living with her, was her unmarried Lizzie E Collett who
was 30. Completing the household was
Mary Cline, a servant. It is very
curious that Carrie’s married son George Franklin Collett also said that she
was staying with him and his family when, as Carrie Collett from Tennessee, he
said she was 58. years old. After
another fifteen years, the census in 1920 for La Animas City in Bent County,
Colorado, continued to include Carrie E Collett, aged 73, who still had living
with her, her daughter Lizzie E Collett.
Just less than four years later, and after nearly twenty years as a widow, Caroline Eliza Collett,
nee Houston, died at nearby Cottonwood Falls on 5th January 1924,
where she was buried at Prairie Grove Cemetery, where George her eldest son was
buried twenty-three years later.
New information received in
2020 from Zach Collett, the great great great grandson of Henry Collett,
reveals that Henry
founded the town of Elk in Kansas in 1865. He owned a general store there, and had a post
office within the general store. He
later started a blacksmith shop as well. A quick side note about Elk, it was never a
huge town, but had approximately forty years during which it thrived. It was plagued by fire, and in 1930 all of the
buildings in the town were burned to the ground. Today, there is nothing but a few foundations
left of the town which on Google is referred to as a ghost town.
75N10 – George Franklin Collett was born at Diamond
Creek during March 1867
75N11 – Alfred Henry Collett was born at Diamond
Creek during 1869
75N12 – Caroline Rosina Collett was born at Diamond
Creek during 1870
75N13 – another child of Henry and Rosina
Collett born in 1872; infant death
75N14 – Elizabeth E Collett was born at Diamond
Creek in 1874
75N15 – Charles O Collett was born at Diamond
Creek in 1876; infant death
75N16 – Grace V Collett was born at Diamond Creek in 1878
Charles Collett [75M19] was born at Cavendish,
Hoxton in 1844, the last child of George Collett and Rosina Barnaschina, his
birth recorded at Shoreditch (Ref. ii 380) during the third quarter of
1844. After arriving at the Port of New
York, on board the sailing ship Switzerton on 20th October 1848,
with his mother and three older siblings, the family settled in the Diamond
Creek Township, Chase County in Kansas where he was still living with his
family in the census of 1860, at the age of 15.
On completing his schooling, Charles joined his father and older brother
Henry (above) working on the family’s farm at Diamond Creek, where he
was recorded in the census of 1865, at the age of 20. By 1870, it was just Charles Collett from
England, who was 25, and his widowed father George, who were recorded still
living and working together at Diamond Creek in the census that year. Nothing thereafter, has been found of Charles
Collett, with his father taking a second wife in 1872
Charles A Collett [75N7] was born in Iowa
during 1858, the eldest of the three children of George Collett from London and
Emily Balch from New York. By the time
he was two years old, he and his parents were residing at Diamond Creek
Township in Chase County, Kansas, as confirmed in the census of 1860. It was as Charles A Collett that he was seven
years old in 1865 and 12 years of age in 1870 at No. 25 Diamond Creek. Five years later, Charles Collett was 17 and
working with his father on their 160-acre farmstead at No. 75 Diamond Creek, while
it was at No. 66 Diamond Creek that Charles was 22 and still working on the
farm with his father in 1880. Not long
after that census day, Charles Collett became a married man for the first time,
his marriage to (1) Jennie E Wilson producing a son and a daughter, both of
whom were born in Kansas. However, for
some reason the marriage (or relationship) did not endure, with Jennie being
remarried in 1892, as Wilson was her new married surname in the census of
1900. Jennie and her two children were listed
in the Brookside Town, South Canyon City in Colorado, just across the state
boundary from Kansas. Jennie E Wilson
from Missouri was 32 and a dressmaker, Sylvia F Collett was 16 and Roy J
Collett was 13, born of them born in Kansas.
The fourth member of the household was roomer Berth Hicks from Illinois
who was 25. The same census return
confirmed that Jennie had given birth to two children, both of whom were still
alive, but it also stated that she had been married for only eight years. That suggests that her first marriage to
Charles Collett ended around 1890, if indeed they were married in the first
place.
Where Charles was between 1885 and 1905 is
currently not known, while by 1910, Charles A Collett from Iowa was 53 and
living at No. 218 Monrovia City, where he was an employer and a carpenter working
in the house building industry. He had
been married to his second wife for three years, and she was Eva Collett, who was
41 and also from Iowa. With her, was her
daughter from a previous marriage, Helen Simpson who was 14 and from
Arizona. In 1920, house carpenter
Charles A Collett from Iowa, was 62 and living at Salt Lake City with his
married daughter Sylvia F Poff, who was 35 and from Kansas. Her husband was Claude A Poff, from Wisconsin,
who was 40 and a clerk in the office of a telephone company. The census return that year, also confirmed
that Charles’ father had been born in England and his mother in New York. On that same day, his wife Eva Collett was 49
and a lodger at Los Angeles Township, where she was a helper at a candy factory. Charles A Collett died during the years
between 1920 and 1930, as confirmed within the census for the latter year,
which recorded his widow Eva K Collett, aged 60, living with her married
daughter Helen S Winter from Arizona who was 32, her husband William Winter and
their two children Dolores and William junior.
75O1 – Sylvia F Collett was born in Kansas in
October 1884
75O2 – Roy James
Collett
was born in Kansas in May 1887
Alice E Collett [75N8] was born at Diamond
Creek Township in Chase County, Kansas, on 21st March 1861, where she
and her parents George and Emily were living in 1865. Alice was recorded in the census that year as
A E Collett who was four years old. After
a further five years, the family was living at 25 Diamond Creek Township, where
Alice E Collett was eight years of age. It
was there also that the family was still living in 1875, when A E Collett was
14 and said to have been born at Diamond Creek.
Eight years later, when Alice was 21, she married William E Mitchell (a farmer)
aged 25, their wedding conducted at Anderson County in Kansas on 14th
March 1883. Over the following years,
Alice presented William with six children, all of them born in Anderson County,
where the family was living at Westphalia Township in 1900. Still there together in 1930, were William (from
Pennsylvania) aged 73 and Alice who was 69.
Upon the death of widow Alice Mitchell, nee Collett, on 22nd
April 1960, at the age of 99, her mother’s maiden-name was confirmed as Balch
Walter E Collett [75N9] was born at Diamond
Creek Township in 1865 and was only a few months old in the census that
year. He was the third and last child of
George Collett from London and Emily Balch from New York, with whom he was
living at 25 Diamond Creek Township in 1870, when he was five years old. His entry in the next census of 1875, as W E
Collett aged 10 years, was incorrectly recorded as being the daughter of George
and Emily Collett. His father died in 1898
and, in 1905 W E Collett aged 40 was the only child living with his widowed
mother Emily at Anderson Township in Smith County, Kansas. No trace of Walter has been found in the
following census returns, that is until 1930, when W E Collett was 65 from
Kansas was a lodger at Atlanta, Georgia.
Despite
what is written above, the cautionary tale told within the Collett family is
that Walter E Collett died in childhood as a result of a Fourth of July firecracker
that went off in his pocket, from which he developed t blood poisoning and died. He was then buried at Elk Cemetery in Elmdale,
Kansas, although no such record of his death has been found
George Franklin Collett [75N10] was born at Diamond
Creek during March 1867, the eldest child of Henry Collett and Caroline Eliza
Houston, who was three years old in 1870, when recorded with his family as
Franklin Collett. According to the
census return completed in 1875, he was again living with his family at No. 120
Diamond Creek Township, being an 86-acre farmstead, as G F Collett aged eight
while, five years after that, in 1880, as Franklin Collett aged 13 years, he
and his family were still living in Diamond Creek. The next two five-year censuses seem to be
missed by the Collett family, and no trace of them has been found for 1885 and
1890. However, according to the next
census in 1895, unmarried G F Collett was 28 and a merchant, who was still
living with his parents at Diamond Creek, where he was also a single man in
1900, at the age of 33, when Frank G Collett was the only child still living
with his parents at Diamond Creek Township in Chase County
Three years later, in 1903, George Franklin
Collett married Blanche Pierce, who was born in Illinois during 1867, as
confirmed in the Kansas Wyandotte census of 1910, when George F Collett from
Kansas and Blanche P Collett were both 43 and had been married for seven years. George was an employer as a farmer, running a
truck farm. Five years prior to that,
George and Blanche had George’s widowed mother Carrie Collett living with
them. It was at Fairmount in Leavenworth
County, Kansas, where the couple was living in 1920, when they were both 52 and
George F Collett was a salesman in retail hardware. Eight years after that day, Blanche Pierce
Collett died at Berwick, Warren County in Illinois, on 3rd November
1928, following which she was buried in the Pierce Cemetery. He never married for a second time and had
his unmarried sister living with him at Fairmount in 1930 and again 1940. The census in 1930 described him as George F
Collett, a widower who was 63 and a retail merchant in hardware, the son of an
English father and a mother born in Tennessee. His living companion was unmarried Elizabeth E
Collett (below) who was 56. Ten
years on, George Frank Collett was 73 and a hardware dealer, living at Basehor
in Fairmount Township, Leavenworth County in Kansas, while his sister was
66. George Frank Collett, who was born
during March 1867, died in 1947 and was buried at Prairie Grove Cemetery,
Cottonwood Falls in Chase County, Kansas
Alfred Henry Collett [75N11], who
was often known as Fred, was born at Diamond Creek on 28th October 1869, the second
son of Henry Collett and Caroline (Carrie) Eliza Houston, who was known as
Carrie. As Fred Collett, he was one year
old in the census of 1870, and as F H Collett he was six years of age in 1875. After a further five years Fred H Collett was
11 years old. On completing his
education, he followed his older brother George (above) by taking up
work as a merchant, as confirmed in the Diamond Creek census of 1895, when A H
Collett was 27 and still living there with his family. Two years later, Alfred Henry Collett married
Edith Phillips who was born on 4th July 1871, the daughter of
Washington Phillips and his wife Jeanette. Once married, the couple made their home at Grant
Township in Marion County, Kansas, as revealed in the census of 1900, when
blacksmith Alfred H Collett was 33, and Edith P Collett was 29, to whom he had
been married for three years
It was when Fred was working as a
merchant, that he enrolled with a blacksmith school in Manhattan, Riley County,
Kansas, and then worked at his father’s blacksmith shop, prior to eventually taking
it over as his own. He subsequently move
to what was the farm still owned by my grandfather Henry Collett
Five years later, the Grant Township census
confirmed Edith had given birth to a son, when the three of them were listed as
H F Collett who was 36 and the owner of their home, his wife E P Collett who was
33 and the first of their two known children being H L Collett, who was one
year old, all three of them had been born in Kansas. A daughter was added to the family in the
following year, with the family of four recorded together at Grant Town in
1910, by which time Alfred H Collett was 41 and a farmer, Edith P Collett was
38, Henry L Collett was six, and Dorothy Collett was four years of age. The census return also stated that Edith had
given birth to two children, both living
After a further five years, in 1915, the family
was once again residing in Grant Town, where Fred Collett was 46, Edith Collett
was 43, Henry Collett was 12, and Dorothy Collett was nine years old. It was the same situation in 1920, by which
time farmer A H Collett was 51, Edith was 48, Henry was 16 and already working
as a labourer on his father’s farm, and Dorothy was 13. Their son was married towards the end of the 1920s,
so it was just Alfred H Collett and Edith P Collett who were living alone at
Grant Town in 1930, where Alfred was stilling farmer of a general farm at the
age of 61, when Edith was 58. Boarding
with the couple was farm labourer Frank Rosfeld who was 19. Five years later, on 22nd April 1935, Alfred Henry Collett
died at and was buried at Elk Cemetery in Diamond Creek Township, Chase County,
Kansas, at which time his son Henry took over the farm. That situation as confirmed in the census of
1940, when Fred’s widow was living with her married son and his family on the
Collett farm. The Grant Town
census that year listed them as head of the household Henry Collett, his wife
Ethel, and their seven children, together with Edith Collett aged 68. Many years later Edith P Collett was 95 years
old when she died on 12th July 1966, after which, she was buried with
husband Fred at Elk Cemetery
75O3 – Henry Lee Collett was born at Grant
Township in 1903
75O4 – Dorothy Helen Collett was born at Grant
Township in 1906
Caroline Rosina Collett [75N12], who was known as
Carrie, was born at Diamond Creek Township on 5th April 1870, the
third child and eldest daughter of Henry and Caroline Collett. As Caroline Collett she was one month old in
1870 and as C R Collett who was five years of age in 1875, while she was Rosina
C Collett, aged 10 years, when she was living with her family at Diamond Creek
in the Kansas census of 1880. She later
married Lewis C Umberger with whom she had six
children. Caroline Rosina Umberger nee
Collett passed away at Halstead in Harvey County, Kansas on 17th
September 1936
Elizabeth E Collett [75N14] was born in Diamond
Creek, Chase County, during February 1874, another daughter of Henry and Caroline
Collett. As L E Collett, she was one
year old in 1875 and was six years old in the Diamond Creek census of
1880. By 1895, she was still living with
her family at Diamond Creek where, at the age of 21, Elizabeth E Collett was
working as a clerk. She never married and
in 1900, Elizabeth and her younger sister Grace (below) were working as
dressmakers when they were at a boarding house in Emporia Township, Lyon County
in Kansas, when Elizabeth E Collett was 26 and Grace H Collett was 22. Upon the death of her father in 1905,
Elizabeth returned to Diamond Creek to be with her widowed mother, the pair of
them recorded together in the census of 1905
Lizzie E Collett was 30 and her mother Carrie E
Collett was 56. Sometime during the
subsequent fifteen years, mother and daughter moved to La Animas City in
Colorado, where they were recorded in the census of 1920. That day, Lizzie E Collett was 45 and
employed at a hardware store as a book-keeper, while her mother Carrie Collett
was 73. That census return also
confirmed that Lizzie’s father was born in England, and her mother in
Tennessee. Her mother passed away in
early 1924, and following her older married brother George (above) being
widowed in 1928, Elizabeth went to live with him at Fairmount in Leavenworth
County, Kansas, where she was recorded in 1930 and again in 1940, as 56 and 66
respectively. For the latter census, the
pair of them was living at Basehor, Fairmount Township in Leavenworth County,
Kansas. It was during 1955 that Lizzie E
Collett died at Cottonwood Falls in Chase County, Kansas, where she was buried
at the Prairie Grove Cemetery
Charles O Collett [75N15] was born at Diamond
Creek on 23rd March 1876, one of the six children of Henry Collett
from Shoreditch in London and his American born wife Carrie E Collett. Tragically, he was almost one year when he
died there on 20th March 1877
Grace H Collett [75N16] was born at Diamond Creek during
May 1878 and was two years old in 1880, the last child of Henry Collett and
Caroline Eliza Houston. It was as Grace H
Collett aged 16 that she was still attending school at Diamond Creek in 1895
and, on leaving school, she and her sister Elizabeth left the family home in
Diamond Creek. That movement was
confirmed in the 1900 census, which identified the sisters boarding in Emporia
Township, where Grace H Collett was 22 and a dressmaker. Grace later married her cousin Egbert Houston Hemry, a nephew of her
mother Carrie Houston Collett. They
lived, childless, at Gallatin, Missouri, where she died on 27th February
1917, where she was also buried
Sylvia F Collett [75O1] was born
in Kansas during October 1884, the first of the two children of Charles A
Collett, a carpenter, and his wife Jennie E Wilson. Her parents’ marriage ended around 1890,
although record of any member of the family has been found in the census that
year. However, by 1900, Sylvia and her
brother, together with their mother, were listed in the census for Brookside
Town, South Canyon City in Colorado, just across the state boundary from
Kansas. Jennie E Wilson from Missouri
was 32 and a dressmaker, Sylvia F Collett was 16 and Roy J Collett was 13, born
of them born in Kansas. It was in 1907
that Sylvia F Collett married Claude A Poff and, by 1910, the childless couple
was living at Denver, Colorado, where Claude was 30 and a clerk with a general
telephone company, and Sylvia was 25.
Ten years after that, the pair of them was living at Salt Lake City,
when Claude A Poff, from Wisconsin, was 40 and a clerk in the office of a
telephone company and Sylvia F Poff was 35 and from Kansas. Living with them was Sylvia’s widowed father
Charles, who was 62. After Claude
suffered a premature death during the 1920s, Sylvia left Colorado and in 1930
was a boarder at the Los Angeles Township home of the elderly McGinnis family
where, at the age of 45, she had no occupation.
By 1940, Sylvia was 55 and a saleslady at a departmental store, who had
been reunited with her married brother Roy Collett (below), with whom
she was living at North 46th Street, Seattle in King County,
Washington
Roy James Collett [75O2] was born
in Kansas in May 1887, the son of Charles Collett and Jennie Wilson. Not long after he was born, his parents
separated, and it was with his mother that Roy and his sister (above)
were living in 1900, when Roy J Collett was 13. At that time in his life, home was Brookside
Town in Colorado. Just a few years
later, Roy James Collett married Anna Carlson around 1908/1909, with whom he
had three children. His military draft
papers during the First World War, stated that he was born at Wichita, Kansas,
on 17th May 1887, and was a resident of Seattle during the war
years. His address was given as 3728
Dunsmore Avenue in Seattle, where he was an electrician with the Skinner &
Eddy Corporation. It also provided the
additional information that he was married with three children (as listed
below). Two years after the war, the
Seattle census in 1920 recorded the five members of the family at Howe West as
Roy J Collett senior who was 33 and an electrician at a shipyard, Anna Collett
from Hawaii who was 34, Virginia Collett who was ten, Rhea Ann Collett who was
eight and Roy J Collett junior who was four years of age. Staying with the family that day was Anna’s
brother William Carlson from Hawaii.
It was also in Seattle that he and his wife
Anna were living in 1930, at 2303 North 46th Street, their home for
many years to come. Kansas born Roy J
Collett was 42 and still working as an electrician at an electric ship, Anna
Collett was 44 and born in Hawaii, while the two of their three children still living
with them were Rhea A Collett who was 19, born in Washington, and employed as a
comptometer operator at a mail order house, with their son Roy J Collett being
14 with no job of work.
The family’s home address in 1940 was again
2302 North 46th Street in Seattle, where Roy Collett was 52 and a
sound operator with a submarine company and his wife Anna Collett was 54 and
from Hawaii. By then, none of their
children were living with the couple, instead it was Roy’s older widowed sister
Sylvia F Poff, who had joined them after losing her husband Claude Poff. His later registration card provided further
details. Roy James Collett was 54 and
residing at 2303 North 46th Street, Seattle, where he was employed
by the Submarine Signal Company of 69 Marion Street. Rather curiously, the name and address of the
person who “will always know your address”, was given as Ruth Petridge of 1612
North 38th Street in Seattle.
It may be worth noting that Ruth M Petridge, aged 58, died in Seattle on
9th March 1953, the daughter of Theodore Carlson and Caroline
Christiansen. Therefore, she was the
sister-in-law of Roy James Collett, the sister of his wife Anna
75P1 – Virginia Collett
was born at Seattle in 1910
75P2 – Rhea Ann Collett
was born at Seattle in 1912
75P3 – Roy James
Collett
was born at Seattle in 1916
Henry Lee Collett [75O3] was born at Grant Township in
1904, the eldest of the two children of Alfred Henry Collett and Edith
Phillips. He was living with his parents
at Grant Township up to 1920, when he was a labourer working on his father’s
farm aged 16. Towards the end of the 1920s,
Henry married Ethel with whom
he was living at Grant Township with the first of their children in 1930. Henry was 26 and a farmer at a general farm, Ethel
was 20, and son Howard was fifteen months old.
During the next decade, five more children were added to the family by
1940, Ethel actually giving birth to a total of nine children. Five years earlier, Henry’s father had passed
away, with Henry moving his family in with his widowed mother, and taking on
the family farm and living in the house built by his father. The Grant Township census in 1940 comprised
Henry Collett who was 36 and a farmer, Ethel Collett was 30, Howard Collett was
eleven, Shirley Collett was nine, Margery Collett was six, Anita Collett was
five, Clarice Collett was three, and Roma Collett was just three months
old. Completing the household was Henry’s
mother Edith Collett who was 68
Despite Henry being a farmer for his
entire life and living on the farm that his father Fred had purchased, in the Grant
Township census of 1950 his occupation was that of an auto repair mechanic,
when he was 46. Ethel was 40, and their
children still living with them were Shirley who was 19, Marjorie who was 16,
Anita who was 15, Clarice who was 13, Roma who was 10, and Stephen who was four
years old. Their home was described as
being on Antelope Rock Road, one mile east of Grant Township. Henry Lee Collett was years old when he died
on 13th August 1992
75P4 – Howard L Collett was born at Grant
Township in 1929
75P5 – Shirley Collett was born at Grant
Township in 1931
75P6 – Margery Collett was born at Grant
Township in 1934
75P7 – Anita Collett was born at Grant
Township in 1935
75P8 – Clarice Collett was born at Grant
Township in 1937
75P9 – Roma Collett was born at Grant
Township in 1940
75P10 – Stephen R Collett was born at Grant Township in 1945
75P11 – Mark Collett was born at Grant Township
75P12 – Stacey Collett was born at Grant Township
Dorothy Helen Collett [75O4] was born at Grant
Township, Marion County, Kansas, on 8th March 1906, the younger of the two children of
Fred and Edith Collett. She was four
years and 13 years of age in the Grant Township census returns for 1910 and
1920. She married Walter Hayen, a farmer from Illinois, and by
1930 they had two children, two-year-old Leon and Virgina who was one year old,
when Walter was 33 and Dorothy was 24 and living at Center Township, Marion
County. The enlarged family was still
living there in 1940 when Leon H Hayen was 12, Virginia D Hayen was
11, Marilyn M Hayen was nine, John Homer Hayen was six, and Max
D Hayen who was four. Their last
child Carmen Hayen was born at Center Township in 1942. Dorothy was 99 years old when she died on 14th
October 2005, with her death recorded at Marion County at Dorothy Helen Collett
Hayen, and was buried at Grant Town Cemetery.
Her obituary published in The Hutchinson News for Kansas on 15th
October 2005 confirmed she was the daughter of Fred Collett and his wife Edith
Phillips Collett, and the wife of Walter Hayen.
Their children were listed as Leon Hayen, Virginia Downing, Marilyn
Geis, John Hayen, Max Hayen, and Carmen Parrack
Roy James Collett [75P3] was born at Seattle in
1916, the third and last child of Roy James Collett senior from Kansas and Anna
Carlson from Hawaii. He was four years
of age in the Seattle census of 1920 and was 16 in the Seattle census of
1930. Around eight or nine years later
that, Roy James Collett married Marion L Lail, the daughter of Verne and Ethel
Lail. Not long after, Marion presented
him with a son, who was Roy James Collett III.
It is likely the child was born at Glendale Township in California,
where the three of them were residing in 1940.
Roy J Collett junior was 24, Marion L Collett was 22, both born in
Seattle, and Roy J Collett III was one year old. Staying with the family was Marion’s younger
sister Bernice G Lail, who was 21 and also from Seattle. The family’s home was at 1802 East Glenoaks
Boulevard, from where Roy was employed as a magazine salesman, while his
sister-in-law was a waitress at a cafe
75Q1 – Roy James
Collett III was born at Glendale Township in 1939
Howard L Collett [75P4] was born at Grant
Township on 21st January 1929, the first-born child of Henry L
Collett and his wife Ethel. He was
fifteen months old in the Grant Town census of 1930 and was eleven in 1940,
where his father was a farmer on both occasions. Howard was a school teacher and farmer
for most of his life, spending the vast majority of it within five miles of
where grandfather Henry Collett originally settled in Elk. When he was around twenty-one years of age he
married (1) Marjorie Flatt with whom he had four children. Marge passed away in 1990 and Howard then married
(2) Mary Elizabeth Argo in 1992 and both he and Beth were still living at the
family farm in the summer of 2020. Howard
lived on and owned, the farm that his grandfather Fred Collett initially purchased
and, at the age of 92 he was still farming there, owning approximately 35 cows
The US Public records reveal that from 1994 to
2009, he had been living at Grant Town in Marion County and El Dorado City in
Butler County, when his relatives were named as his wife Beth Collett, Marjorie
L Collett, and Mary E Collett. Upon his
later death, he was buried with his grandmother Edith Phillips Collett at Elk
Cemetery in Elmdale
After first publishing this family line
of the Collett Family History website in August 2020 it was discovered by Zach
Collett, the grandson of Howard L Collett.
He wrote “I wanted to touch base with you after reading your recent
post on the Collett family that lived in Kansas, near Diamond Creek. I am of that lineage, and the Collett name
still has a strong presence in this area.”
As regards his grandfather, Zach says “He still owns the farm that his
parents [Henry and Ethel] lived on, and we as a family try to meet there once a
year with all the cousins, numbering over 100 now. Our family knows a decent
amount of information about the members Collett family that immigrated here
from London.”
75Q2 –
Randy Collett was born in 1952 at Marion County,
Kansas
75Q3 –
Keith Collett was born on 20th July 1954
at Marion County, Kansas
75Q4 –
Collette Collett was born in 1956 at Marion County,
Kansas
75Q5 –
Melinda Collett was born in 1958 at Marion County,
Kansas
Shirley Collett [75P5] was born at Grant
Township in 1931, who
became Shirley Bowers on being married
Margery Collett [75P6] was born at Grant
Township in 1934, who
became Margery Talbott on being married
Anita Collett [75P7]was
born at Grant Township in 1935, who became Anita Sly on being married
Clarice Collett [75P8] was born at Grant
Township in 1937, who
became Clarice Hammer on being married
Roma Collett [75P9] was born at Grant
Township in 1940, who
became Roma Skaggs on being married
Stephen
R Collett [75P10] was born at Grant Township on 4th
August 1945 and that may have been at Antelope Rock Road, where Stephen was
four years old in the census of 1950. He was 71 when he died on 20th
January 2022 and was buried at Elk Cemetery in Elmdale, Chase County,
Kansas. He was known as Steve and, at
the start of 2009, he was living at Cedar Point in Chase County, having
previously resided at Cottonwood Falls, Kansas
Randy Collett [75Q2] was born in 1952, the first of the four children of Howard L Collett and Marjorie Platt. He married Rachel Muenks and they have three children. In 2020 Randy and Rachel were living in Marion, Marion County, Kansas, a small farming town located approximately fifteen miles west of what was Elk
75R1 –
Carrie Collett was born in December 1975, at Kansas, became Carrie Parazin
75R2 –
Zachary Collett was born in December 1988, at Kansas
75R3 –
Margaret Collett was born in November 1991, at Kansas
Keith
Collett [75Q3] was born on 20th July 1954
at Marion County, Kansas, the second of the four children of Henry L Collett and Marjorie
Flatt, his first of two wives. It was
Keith who in 2020 provided new details relating to his family that resulted in
the file being updated in 2023
Collette
Collett [75Q4] was born in 1956 at Marion County,
Kansas. On being married, she became
Collette Erickson
Melinda
Collett [75Q5] was born on 10th March 1958
at Marion County, Kansas, the youngest child of Henry and Marge Collett. When she married, she became Melinda
Gravenstein