JACOB P. COLLINS Atlantic Co NJ
(BIOGRAPHY)

Information located at http://www.rootsweb.com/~njatlant/
On a USGenWeb/NJGenWeb Web site
TRANSCRIBED BY JANICE BROWN, County Coordinator in 2006 
Please see the web site for my email contact.
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The original source of this information is in the public domain, 
however use of this text file, other than for personal use, is 
restricted without written permission from the transcriber 
(who has edited, compiled and added new copyrighted text to same).
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SOURCE: Biographical, genealogical and descriptive history of the First
 Congressional District of New Jersey; by Mrs. Wainwright:
New York: Lewis Publishing Co., 1900

page 162
JACOB P. COLLINS
Practical industry wisely and vigorously applied never fails of success;
it carries a man onward and upward, brings out his individual character
and acts as a powerful stimulus to the efforts of others. The greatest
results in life are usually attained by simple means and exercise of
the ordinary qualities of common sense and perseverance. The every-day
life, with its cares, necessities and duties, affords ample
opportunities for acquiring experience of the best kind, and its most
beaten paths afford a true worker abundant scope for effort and
self-improvement. It has been in the legitimate channels of trade that
Jacob Peterson Collins has attained a leading position in industrial
circles in Cape May county, making him one of the substantial citizens
of the community. He belongs to that class of representative Americans
who while promoting individual prosperity, also add to the material
welfare by promoting commercial activity, whereon depends the progress
and improvement of town, county or state.

A resident of South Seaville, Cape May county, he was born in 
Estelville, Atlantic county, New jersey, December 16, 1845, his parents
being Smith and Priscilla (Peterson) Collins. The family has long been
represented in this state. The great-grandfather resided in upper
New Jersey, and his widow removed to Atlantic county with two of her
sons, one being Joseph, the grandfather of our subject. She afterward
married again and removed to the west, from which time all trace of her
was lost. Joseph Collins was reared in Estelville, became a sawyer and
followed that and other occupations in pursuit of fortune. He married
a Miss Judith Steelman, and their children were Steelman, who married
Mary Homan; Daniel, who married Martha Estell; John; Smith; Hannah, the
wife of Somers Townsend; and Millicent, the wife of Daniel Hoffman.

Smith Collins, father of our subject, was born in Estelville, Atlantic
County in 1805, became a sawyer and followed that pursuit in connection
with farming. His political support was given the Republican party,
and he was deeply interested in its success, doing all in his power to
promote its growth. He also belonged to the Sons of Temperance and was a
man whose upright life and probity made him respected by all. His
children were Somers Harrison, who married Jane Getzminger, by whom he
had three children,--Smith and two deceased. The mother died and he then
wedded Mary Champion, by whom he had a daughter, Ida. He was a farmer 
and also engaged in the lumber business in Ocean City. Harry S., a
farmer of Estelville married Ella Steelman, and their children were
Ann, Jesse, Rosa, Ada and Harry.  Jacob P. is the next of the family.
Elizabeth married John English, who formerly engaged in teaching but now
follows farming at English Creek, New Jersey and they have one child,
Ion.  Naomi is the youngest. The father died in 1877, at the age of
seventy-two years, and left to his children the priceless heritage of
the good name which is rather to be chosen than great riches.

Jacob Peterson Collins pursued his education in the public schools of
Estelville until seventeen years of age, and then devoted his energies
to the work of field and meadow upon the home farm until he had attained
his majority. He larned the wheelwright's trade in Absecon, New Jersey,
following that pursuit for three years, after which he engaged in 
carriage-making at May's Landing until 1874. In that year he came to
Cape May and followed the business of wheelwright for a time, but
subsequently he took up surveying and still later engaged in the 
manufacture of sash, doors and blinds, and in the conduct of a sawmill
in South Seaville. His factory was burned in 1889, but with 
characteristic energy he rebuilt, erecting a fine fire-proof
corrugated-iron structure, in which he manufactures all kinds of 
building materials and deals in oil, glass and nails.  This is one of
the leading industries in this section of the country, furnishing
employment to a large force of workmen and bringing to the owner a
handsom competence. He buys timber, which he cuts into logs and converts
into finished lumber. As he has been indicated, he has gradually
increased and extended the field of his business operations as his
capital has grown, and is now numbered among the prominent and 
successful business men of his part of the country. He is the owner of
a valuable farm of fifty-five acres in Dennis township, Cape May county,
and speculates to a considerable extent in land. He is a man of
excellent judgment and is rarely at afault in his estimate of land
values and their probable rise. He is also a member of the South 
Seaville BUilding & Loan Association and represents the enterprise as
solicitor.

On the 12th of May 1880 Mr. Collins married Miss Sarah Somers Townsend,
a daughter of David Townsend, a sea captain at Ocean View and a
granddaughter of Henry Young Townsend, who was one of a family of ten
children. She was the fourth in order of birth in a family of six
children, the others being Shamgar, Cornelia, Edith, Nicholas, and
Lewis C. To Mr. and Mrs. Collins have been born two children,--Edna and
Harold,--who are still with their parents. The family attend the
Calvary Baptist church, of which Mr. Collins is a consistent and zealous
member. He has served as its treasurer for ten years and for a similar
period its clerk. His entire life has been characterized by the 
strictest fidelity to every trust reposed in him, by the most honorable
and straightforward dealing in business and by devotion to and support
of all interests which are calculated to promote the material, social
and moral welfare of the community with which he is connected.



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