The Collins Family

(Crest No. 262. Plate 29.)

THE Collins family is descended from Milesius, King of Spain, through the line of his son Heber. The founder of the family was Cormac, King of Munster, A. D. 483. The chief of this tribe was the McCarthy More, Prince of Muskerry, King and Prince of Desmond, King of Cashel and Munster. The ancient name was Cullen, meaning “Fair haired.”

The chief of the Clan Cuillean had large possessions in the present County of Tipperary.

Many of this name occupy an honorable place in Irish annals. John O’Cullane, or Collins, was one of the most meritorious of the Irish poets of the last century. Many of his productions have been admirably rendered into English by Sir Samuel Ferguson and others.

There have been many distinguished members of this family in the United States, notably the late Jerome J. Collins, the meteorologist and discoverer of the law of storms. It was he who invented and perfected the system of predicting the meteorological changes, by which storms can be accurately foreshadowed and located, and people forewarned of the approaching danger. Mr. Collins lost his life a few years ago in the unfortunate Jeanette polar expedition.

Another conspicuous member of the name is General P. A. Collins, the present United States consul-general in London, England, and formerly member of Congress from Boston, Mass. As an orator and lawyer, General Collins enjoys a national reputation. The late William Collins, poet and journalist, of New York, was also a descendant of the Munster Collinses, although born in the County of Tyrone.