The COLLINGS family came to Texas from Indiana in 1875.  According to tradition, Elisha COLLINGS (1826-1890) and his two oldest sons rode by train to Dallas, where they purchased a wagon and a team of oxen to continue their journey west.  Taking what was surely the road less traveled, they eventually passed through "what is now Pull Tight" (Paluxy) in Hood County then "stopped a few days at the home of Jesse BROOKS."

The BROOKS farm was located about a mile south of the Rock Church, which was only about two years old at the time the COLLINGSes arrived.  The man wandering in the wilderness and the Good Samaritan who took him in were both religious men, albeit for different denominations — Elisha was a lay preacher for the Primitive Baptists and Mr. BROOKS was a trustee in the Methodist Episcopal church.

Elisha COLLINGS and his son Byrd soon left the Rock Church area.  They spent the next couple of years trying to scratch out a living near present Cisco, Texas (Eastland County).  Son Jack COLLINGS stayed behind and began working for Mr. BROOKS' "next-door" neighbor, James Franklin ROBINSON, whose farm spanned the Hood-Erath county line.  Mr. ROBINSON was himself the son of a popular frontier preacher, but he had taken a much different public stance on organized religion.  In fact, he later would claim that he was the only "infidel [...] known between Stephenville and Granbury ... aye, perhaps from Fort Worth to Comanche."

Despite their disparate religious upbringings, Jack COLLINGS and the infidel's daughter, Rebecca Ann ROBINSON, were married in 1878.  The couple lived on or near the ROBINSON farm before purchasing a place of their own in southeast Erath County in 1886.  When Jack died three years later, Rebecca brought her husband "home" to Rock Church Cemetery.  He was buried near two of Rebecca's nephews: John Darcie ADMS (sic) and Lewis WALKER.  Jack COLLINGS would be joined at the cemetery by his father Elisha just a month later and son James in 1893 (see photo at right).

Byrd COLLINGS also was drawn back to Rock Church.  After a short stint with his father in Eastland County, Byrd returned to marry Mr. BROOKS' daughter Martha Lavenia (Lou) in December 1877.  The couple settled reportedly in Erath County in 1880 and lived on Monroe COWAN's land "near Bluff Dale" for a number of years.  However, the evidence suggests that they actually resided in various places, primarily in Hood County, until 1888.  In 1884 and 1885, Byrd was drafted to work on the Granbury-to-Stephenville road "via Hummins Mill" (now Paluxy).  The family drifted south into Somervell County two years before Lou's death in 1893.  Her body also was returned "home" for burial.  Her headstone at Rock Church Cemetery (see photo at left) overlooks a cluster of small field stones, which appears to confirm the legend that "four of her [infant] children are buried near her."

OTHER COLLINGS CONNECTIONS

The COLLINGS contingent that came to Texas in 1875 almost certainly included Elisha's brother, Jesse Leftridge COLLINGS (1842-1889); a second cousin, William Thomas COLLINGS (see below); and their respective wives and children.  All three of these COLLINGS families were recorded in Greene County, Indiana, on the 1870 U.S. census and were in Hood County by the latter half of that decade.

Jesse Leftridge "Leff" COLLINGS claimed a preemption (state land grant) of 160 acres about one mile east of the Rock Church in 1879 (see map).  He sold same to Jesse and Jacob NUTT in 1881 but continued to live in the area.  In February 1885, Leff and his son Bennett were drafted to work on the Granbury-to-Stephenville road "via Paluxy."  The family moved to neighboring Palo Pinto County soon thereafter and never returned.

William Thomas "Tom" COLLINGS, the son of William COLLINGS and Purlina "Polly" BURCH, was born 15 Apr 1848 in Gibson County, Indiana.  He married (1) Delitha (WORKMAN) MARTINDALE BARTLEY, 1 Sep 1868 in Greene County, Indiana.  The couple likely moved to Texas in 1875.  Tom first appeared on Hood County tax lists in 1878 with personal property valued at $30.  In January 1879, he acquired a preemption grant of 160 acres on the waters of Paluxy Creek, located 1.5 miles northeast of the Rock Church (see map).  The 1880 U.S. census finds him living near his cousin "Leff" in Hood County.

Delitha WORKMAN, the daughter of Noah WORKMAN and Delila WATSON, was born 29 Jan 1845 in Indiana.  She had three children from her previous marriages — Elizabeth and Delila Anne MARTINDALE, and John W. BARTLEY — who appear to have remained in Indiana.  Delitha died 5 April 1889, probably due to complications from childbirth.  She and her infant son are presumed to be buried at Rock Church Cemetery.  Handmade concrete markers placed more recently at the foot of two upright field stones bear the inscriptions: "Delitha COLLINS, 1845-1899" (see photo at right) and "Infant COLLINS, 1899."  The surname is misspelled and the death dates are off by 10 years, but the other information leaves little room for doubt as to the identity of the graves' occupants.

In fact, this particular family's surname is more often than not spelled as COLLINS in various Hood County records.  This likely can be attributed to the fact that Tom — unlike his other COLLINGS relatives who moved to Texas — was unable to read and write. 

W.T. COLLINS (sic) married (2) Sarah Jane (CUNNINGHAM) BRAZELL, 1 Jun 1896 in Hood County.  She had settled in the Rock Church area in 1880 with her first husband, William Monroe BRAZELL (1844-1888).  Upon his death, Mr. BRAZELL was buried at Rock Church Cemetery.  His headstone sits just a few yards south of the COLLINS markers described above.

Tom's second marriage was, by all accounts, a brief affair.  A heated disagreement about where the couple would live — his house or hers — ended in an immediate separation on the ride home from the wedding ceremony.  "They never lived together a single day."  By May 1901, Sarah had moved to Roger Mills County, Oklahoma Territory, where she received a divorce decree asserting that Tom COLLINS had deserted her.

Tom later settled in the Antioch community about four miles north of Tolar in Hood County.  He died 8 Mar 1933 in Tolar and was buried at Strouds Creek Cemetery.  Both his death certificate and headstone list his name as W.T. COLLINS.

Tom COLLINGS and Delitha WORKMAN had 11 children, including Estela Edith "Eddie" (1870-1962), Millard Francis "Frank" (1872-1943), Eliza Theodocia (1874-1942), William Howard (1877-1877), Ina Stella (1880-1958), William Oliver (1882-1918), Eustace Rockwell "Rock" (1884-1966) and Julia Ann COLLINGS (1886-?).

SOURCES:

Jesse Leftridge "Jess" Collings, letter to his son, Cecil Collings, ca 1955.

"78-Year-Old Letters Show Texas Life of Yesteryear," loose clipping from unidentified newspaper, Bloomfield, Indiana, ca 1954.

James Franklin Robinson, "Early Religious Impressions of James Franklin Robinson" (autobiography).  Reprinted by Addison Ford Oates, The Geneaology and History of the Robinson Tree and Its Many Branches, (by the author, 1963), pp. 162-170.

Betty Cox [of Worthington, Indiana], Workman descendant report, March 1997.

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Related websites:

Descendants of Elisha Colliings (ca 1773-1863)

Descendants of Zachariah Brooks (ca 1810-1888)

Return to Rock Church People
Return to Rock Church Index

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This page last updated 06 Oct 2006.