Collinsville, Illinois

The original town plat was laid out by the representatives of Wm. B. Collins, deceased, Joseph L. Darrow and Horace Look. It constituted a part of the N. E. i of thirtythree, jind a part of the X. W. i of section thirty-four, of three-eight or Collinsville township. The plat was recorded in the office of county clerk May 12, 1837. Since this date there have been seventeen additions made to the plat.

Passage source: History of Madison County, Illinois ... With Biographical Sketches .., published 1882.

The first settler on the present site of Collinsville was John A. Cook, who entered land,, erected a log cabin, and made some improvements in the eastern part of section thirty four, about 1816. "In 1817 three brothers, Augustus, Anson and Michael Collins, from Litchfield, Connecticut, purchased the premises of Mr. Cook, and immediately commenced improvements. They soon erected a distillery, of logs, with two s' ills - one of thirty gallons' and the other of sixty gallons' capacity - a frame store-house, a large, double-decked ox-grist and saw mill, cooper, blacksmith, wagon and carpenter shops, tan yard, and several dwellings. Thus was laid the foundation of the present city of Collinsville. To this place these brothers first gave the name Unionville, which was subsequently changed to its present name." The following letter from the pen of the late Rev. Thomas Lipjiincott, gives a good description of the place at the time of his visit :

Passage source: History of Madison County, Illinois ... With Biographical Sketches .., published 1882.

Litchfield, Connecticut, and were united in the enterprise. I do not know if they had then laid out a village, which they called Unionville, but they did so then or afterwards. At the time of this visit I only saw one of the brothers, who was at work on a large frame house - large, even now - which they were erecting preparatory to the coming of their venerable parents and sisters. The names of the.se brothers were Augustus, Anson, Michael, William B.,and Frederick Collins. A noble band of brothers. While actively and energetically driving their business in the most economical and profitable way, and rapidly accumulating wealth, they were far from being unmindful of the higher interests, social and spiritual, of themselves and those around them. One of their fir^t cares was the erection of a commodious (for those days) and well arranged place of worship ; which also served the purpose of a school-house. Only one of the brothers, Augustus, was then married. In due time thrte others became so. William B. Collins married a daughter of Mr. Hertzogg, of St. Louis, then running a mill in the American B jttom ; Michael, a daughter of Captain Blakeman, and Frederick, a daughter of Captaiu Allm, both of Marine settlement. I said they were growing wealthy. Each attended to a special department, and all worked in unison. It was their aim and boast to have the products of their labor of the best quality. Their whisky was considered first rate, and their inclined wheel ox-mill flour commanded an extra price in eastern markets. Not only had they a store at their own establishment on the Cantine creek, but opened a depot at St. Louis for their commodities. They obtained a post-office, but iuasmuch as there was one place by the name of Unionville in the State, the Postmaster General changed the name of this, which, being accepted by them, thencelbrth was known as Collinsville." * * * * " They were convinced at length that the distilling business was ivrong, was unchristian, and ceased operations; and, instead of selling the machinery, as they might have done for a round sum, they totally demolished the building, broke up the generators, took the huge tanks to their dwellings for cisterns, and sold the wash-tubs to farmers for granaries. I have seen these double hogsheads or tubs at different farm houses, full of wheat or other small grain, while yet there were few or no barns in the county. The partners then separated ; Augustus soon died ; several went to the Illinois river and established mills, &c. at Naples ; and Wm. B. Collins remained alone at Collinsville, carrying on the business - minus the distillery - until his death. ***** All are now gone, including the oldest son, Amos M. Collins of Hartford, the well-known philanthropist and Christian, but the youngest brother, Frederick, who resides in Quincy, and a sister, the widow of him who has been ever known among Presbyterians as the apostle to the great west, the venerated Solomon Giddiugs." ***** All the members of this family are now deceased.

Passage source: History of Madison County, Illinois ... With Biographical Sketches .., published 1882.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Collinsville Township - it names this place 9 more 9 times.