At the time of his death, George U. Collins was a prosperous cattleman and farmer, as well as a member of the Arizona Territorial Legislature.
Born March 1835 in the state of Maine, George was the oldest child of Thomas R. Collins and Lucy W. Ulmer. The 1850 federal census of Liberty, Waldo County, Maine, records the Collinses as farmers.
By 1860, young George was living in East Boston, Massachusetts, and his occupation was listed as ‘ship’s carpenter’. Perhaps George took advantage of his proximity to sailing ships to do some traveling. At any rate, 1870 found him living in Santa Cruz, California, living with Mary Fenderson, whom he had met and married there in 1861. George was working as a tollgate keeper in 1870, and his estimated worth was $2000—not bad for the times!
Evidently, George used some of his funds to move to Arizona in
1875 and purchase land. By 1880, he and
his family were living on a farm in Township 1N2E, three and a half miles
southwest of the original Phoenix townsite and not far from the Salt
River. Collins was an early user of
irrigation water, which he used to grow alfalfa. As the little settlement of Phoenix grew, George
became a prosperous farmer and rancher.
George’s wife Mary died unexpectedly on October 29, 1890. One of her sons was bringing an armload of firewood to the house when he saw her fall, but he was unable to revive her. She was buried in a Phoenix cemetery, most probably in what is now the Pioneer & Military Memorial Park. Two of her grandchildren were buried in City Loosley Cemetery--possibly near her--a few years later.
George continued working on the family farm. Rather than relying on gravity to fill his irrigation ditches, he began digging a well in 1900. Although he struck water at 29 feet, he continued digging to assure a good source of water throughout the dry season. In 1901, he installed a 60-hp pump to bring the water to the surface, thereby making his property the best watered in the area.
As an influential early settler, George joined the Masonic
Order, the Knights Templar and the B.P.O.E. He was also active in local politics, being
elected to the Arizona Territorial Legislature in 1903.
Shortly before Christmas in 1903, George came down with a cough which turned into pneumonia. He died on January 1, 1904, and was buried in the Masons cemetery. There is no grave marker.
When George’s will was entered into probate, his adult sons were chagrined to learn that he had left half of his estate to the Knights Templar, of which he had been a long-time member. The other half was to be divided between his two sons. They argued that their father had been unduly influenced by one of his Masonic brethren, who might stand to benefit in some way. However, the court ruled that the will was valid, since George’s bequest was to the Order itself and not to any particular individual.
-By Donna
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