Collins Family Our Story · The Family Tree
The Collins Family · Our Roots

Our living family tree.

Our Roots Run Deep, Our Love Runs Deeper

This is a living record of the Collins family — a tree meant to grow as each branch adds its own names, photos, and stories. It's gathered from the family's own records, memories, and DNA, and it's ours to build together. The Collins family runs wider than any single line, through brothers, sisters, and cousins with roots of their own. This record belongs to all of us. Find your line. Add your leaves. Help the rest of the tree take shape.

i. Whose Roots These Are

The couple at this root

From two lives, a whole branch of the Collins family grew. These are the grandparents at the heart of the family's documented line — and above them, generation by generation, the roots reach back nearly two centuries. How your own branch joins the tree is just below.

Willie Pearl Collins, family matriarch
Willie Pearl “Jackson”
Collins
Matriarch · Jackson Line
1927 – 2004
Collins family patriarch
Virges Lee Collins, Sr.
Patriarch · Collins Line
1920 – 1967
Virges & Willie Pearl — their marriage rooted the family in Elgin, Texas

At the heart of our branch stand Willie Pearl Collins and her husband, Virges Lee Collins, Sr. From their marriage grew the large family whose descendants fill the reunion grounds today. This public record honors them and the generations behind them; their living family is kept private here. Other branches of the Collins family begin with kin of their own.

Willie Pearl was born a Jackson — born about 1927 in McDade, in Bastrop County, Texas, a daughter of Pete Jackson and Irene Cathey. She became the matriarch of this branch: with Virges she raised a large family and anchored the home the reunion still returns to. She passed in Elgin in 2004, and her memory roots much of what this record holds.

Virges Lee Collins, Sr. was remembered in the family as a preacher — a man of faith whose example set the tone for the family that carries his name. Together they planted the roots of our branch.

From their two lives, our branch of the tree unfolds — and there is room beside it for every other branch to be added.

Family heirloom photographs, lovingly preserved. Have a sharper scan, a maiden name, or another portrait to add? Bring it to the family record.

ii. The Lineage

From the wall down to the grandparents

The documented Collins paternal line, oldest first — five generations descending from the edge of the written record to the grandparents at the heart of this branch. Read it from the top down, like one unbroken sentence.

As far as the records reach Before 1870 the written record falls silent — the wall most African-American families meet when tracing roots through slavery. We honor it, and we do not guess past it.

  1. b. ~1813
    Charles Collins Harriet Collins
    Oldest documented ancestor · Kentucky
  2. b. ~1850
    Frank Collins Caroline Larkins
    His son · Texas
  3. 1874 – 1926
    Willie Mack Collins Mary Garnett
    His son
  4. 1896 – 1971
    Rufus A. Collins Mary Smith
    Virges Sr.’s parents
    Rufus’s brothers & sisters · Collins side
  5. The grandparents · where this record rests
    Virges Lee Collins, Sr. 1920 – 1967 Willie Pearl “Jackson” Collins 1927 – 2004

    Their portraits open this page — see them above ↑. Willie Pearl was the daughter of Pete Jackson & Irene Cathey.

    Virges Sr.’s brothers & sisters · Collins side
    Willie Pearl’s brothers & sisters · Jackson side

    Willie Pearl was raised by her maternal grandparents, the Cathey family, near Mc Dade and Bastrop. Her own brothers and sisters are being verified before they’re shown here.

    Family research · still being confirmed

    Her maternal Cathey line, recovered from the 1930 & 1940 Bastrop census: her grandfather Ned “Red” Cathey (b. 1874, a Bastrop farm owner) took her in — and his own parents had come to Texas from Mississippi, a thread reaching back toward where the family began. Her aunts and uncles on that side: Marshall, Earl, Tomy, and Inez Cathey.

    The public record honors them here and goes no further — their living family is kept private.

On the Collins side, the record reaches back five generations to Charles Collins (b. ~1813, Kentucky) — about as far as written records carry before the 1870 census. We won’t guess past it: every name here is one the records support — Charles’s Kentucky birthplace is the leading record and still being confirmed. The Jackson side is still being gathered. Know a name, a date, or a generation further back? Add it to the record.

iii. A Living Record

A tree is never finished

The branch you see here was pieced together from one family member's research — public records and family trees on Ancestry.com, plus DNA matches that quietly connect cousins across the wider Collins family. It's a foundation, not the final word. If you know a name, a date, a spouse, a photo, or a whole branch that belongs here — including the lines that run through Willie Pearl's and Virges's brothers and sisters — bring it to the record.

Add to the family tree  → See the tree

New here? You don't have to share this couple's roots to belong on this tree. To add names, dates, or photos, sign in to the Family Hub — every submission is reviewed by family before anything appears here, so the public tree stays accurate and private about living relatives. Prefer not to sign in? Email the names to board@collinscg.com and we'll graft your branch in.

Connect on Ancestry

This is the Collins family tree the family has built so far on Ancestry — records, photos, and the DNA links behind it. Come see what’s there, then help it grow:

Explore the tree so far  → Add to the family tree  →

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