Re: Thomas Langley Collyer, & John Lyon Collyer of Weston Ct. & Ossing, NY
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In reply to:
Re: Thomas Langley Collyer, & John Lyon Collyer of Weston Ct. & Ossing, NY
Alan Zapata 7/23/11
Alan,
I am NOT of “your” Collier line, but have done quite a bit of research on Collier/Collyer of New England and New York. You’ll find a lot of my postings on this and other forums, I’ve published 2 volumes of a genealogy of the descendants of Thomas and Susannah Collier, who arrived in Hingham, Mass. in 1635, and I’ve corresponded with researchers of other “Collier” lines.
I offer the following comments, just hoping to save some time on your part. (I don’t claim expertise in any lines except the two I can claim descent from: Thomas and Susannah, and William Collier of Plymouth Colony, who arrived in 1633. In a few cases over the years I have unwillingly touched some nerves in questioning sources in others’ research, and I don’t wish to go there again.)
1) In addition to the research on your family, which you have in your hands, you will find some related postings on this and other forums.I would guess there are half a dozen active researchers of your line, but I’m not aware that anyone has published anything like a comprehensive genealogy – just snippets.
2) I have a short genealogy of the Joseph Collier family of Hartford – the first 3 or 4 generations, I believe. I don’t believe the origin of Joseph is known, at least not well sourced. I am speaking from memory only, but, since he was in Hartford by about 1670 –80, it might be difficult to prove a connection to Thomas L Collyer 1742-1812, who I believe is said to have come from Devonshire to Conn. I don’t recall seeing anyone even attempting to show such a connection. (I can email this to you, if you are interested. It was assembled from area Vital and Church records, going down roughly to 1760, or so.)
3) William Collier of Southwark, later Duxbury, Mass., has been well studied. He DID have a son named John, b. about Abt. March 18, 1616/17 in Southwark, but he died there about August 24, 1618. In fact, William, according to all the references I have seen, had no surviving sons. 4 daughters came to Plymouth with William and his wife, Jane, in 1633 – again speaking from memory – and as you state, one of these, Sarah, married Love Brewster in Duxbury, May 15, 1634. Another of the 4, Elizabeth, married Constant Southworth in 1637. They are among my ancestors.
So, any descendants of William Collier, to the best of my knowledge, etc., etc., must be descendants of one of his daughters, not a son. In my case, and that of several cousins in various generations, it was just a happy coincidence that a William Collier descendant married a Thomas Collier descendant in 1734.As I said, William Collier’s career in both London and Plymouth is well known, but I’m not aware that any full scale genealogy of his descendants has been done. It could be done, and the first 4 or 5 generations could be easily found in published material on early “Mayflower” and Plymouth families.
Wade Collier
"Colliers of Massachusetts" Project