Descendants of Abraham Collins (1648-1719)

Descendants of Abraham Collins
Arrival in Northampton County, VA - 1663

Collins is a difficult name to research since there are so many Collins families in the United States. On the lower Eastern Shore of Maryland/Virginia there were five large (almost certainly unrelated) Collins family groupings before the year 1750. There were also a few other Collins individuals that didn't easily fit in the known Collins family groupings. To separate the Abraham Collins line from others on the shore, I conducted very limited research on other Collins families on the shore before 1750. The progenitors of the other large Collins family lines are as follows

Thomas Collins (1635-1688) -
Died in Northampton County, Virginia in 1688 leaving widow Anne Price, and children Thomas, Walter, Andrew, Price, William, Susan, and Elizabeth.
His children initially migrated to various parts of Somerset County, Maryland (some parts that later became Wicomico & Worcester Counties).

George Collins (d. 1703) -
Died in Somerset County, Maryland in 1703 leaving children George, John, Elizabeth, Mary, and Rachel.
His children initially remained in Somerset County, Maryland. Also believed to have been the father of Edmund Collins.

Samuel Collins (d. 1707) -
Died in Somerset County, Maryland in 1707 leaving widow Elizabeth, and children Samuel, John, Anne, Sarah, and Mary.
His children initially remained in Somerset County, Maryland.

John Collins (1625-1711) -
Died in Accomack County, Virginia in 1711 leaving widow Bridget Paine, and son Thomas
His son, Thomas has a son John (d.1732), who had sons Thomas and Samuel who remained in Accomack County.

Abraham Collins (1648-1718) -
Died in Northampton County, Virginia in 1719 leaving son, Abraham. Also likely had a son named John.
His son Abraham migrated to an area near Concord/Potter's Landing, Maryland, which was in Dorchester County at the time and is now in Caroline County.

Many of the Collins families found in the 1850 Census in Delaware Counties of Sussex & Kent, the Maryland Counties of Caroline, Dorchester, Somerset, Wicomico, & Worchester, and the Virginia Counties of Accomac & Northampton trace back to the above five individuals. In later generations these families sometimes crossed paths and had to been carefully separated. My work focuses on only one of the five large Collins lines from the Eastern Shore, Abraham Collins. He is my Collins ancestor. I look forward to collaborating with anyone who has done extensive record based research on the other Collins lines that originated before 1800 on the lower eastern shore.
Maybe we can team up and bring another early Collins line to the internet.

The scope of my research is limited to Collins named descendants of Abraham Collins (1648-1718) and their children and grandchildren. Example - For the daughter of Mr. Collins, I would continue researching her children and grandchildren (and tried to find all spouses). His son would be named Collins and search keeps going. Much of my descendant research concludes at the 1930 Census. Unless I was able to make contact with descendants (email) or utilize newspaper and obituary records, I did not have the resources to take the lines further. For living descendants, I will not list a birth date, only an approximate year.

Click on Abraham Collins (1648-1718) or
the Surname Index or the Master Place Index to begin your quest.