E. T. COLLINS, physician and surgeon; South Charleston. Of the pioneer medical men of Clark Co., but few are left to tell of the trials and hardships of the early days, nearly all having long since been laid beneath the sod; but in the gentleman whose name heads this sketch, we have one of the few living physicians who

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practiced his profession since the days when Clark Co. was a wilderness, and he is, with the exception of Dr. McLaughlin, of Tremont, the only one in full practice who can rank as a pioneer. He is a native of Moorefield Township, Clark Co., Ohio, born Jan. 12, 1818, and the son of Dennis and Mary Collins. His father was born at Winchester, Va., March 4, 1771, of Irish parents, who had settled in that State shortly before his birth. His mother's maiden name was Mary Thomas, born in Princeton, N. J., June 12, 1774, and removing to Virginia with her parents when young, where she was married to Dennis Collins, of which union were born fifteen children, as follows: John, Matthias, Thomas, Catherine, Emily, James, Hannah, Job, Mary, Faris, Milton, Dennis, Elijah T. and two died in infancy. All the balance grew to maturity with the exception of Faris, who died at the age of 15. At the time of the Whisky Rebellion in Pennsylvania, Dennis Collins responded to a call from President Washington, and went out to help suppress the disturbance, which was accomplished without bloodshed. In 1796, he and family removed to Fleming Co., Ky., where they remained until 1811, when they came to Ohio and settled about two miles north of Urbana, Champaign Co., two years later removing south, to what is now Moorefield Township, Clark Co., but at that time a part of Champaign. Here he was engaged in opening up a farm and tilling the soil, until his death, Feb. 24, 1826, his wife surviving him many years, dying Oct. 30, 1843; both had been for years members of the Baptist Church. The subject of this sketch was the youngest in the family, and is to-day the only survivor; his education was obtained in the common schools of his township, and during the winter of 1838-39 he taught school; then began the study of medicine in the office of Drs. Mosgrove and Carter, of Urbana. In the winter of 1840-41, he attended lectures at the Ohio Medical College, Cincinnati, and on the 16th of April, of the latter year, began the practice of medicine at South Charleston, in partnership with Dr. Robert Houston, who some years afterward moved to Champaign Co., Ill., where he died, but who is still kindly remembered by many citizens of this county. On the 16th of September, 1845, Dr. Collins was married to Miss Sarah L. Houston, daughter of Dr. Robert Houston. Mrs. Collins was born in South Charleston, Aug. 30, 1823, and has had eight children, viz., Elizabeth, Lizzie, Milton, Robert, Charles, Mary, Houston and Louie, only three of whom are living, viz., Milton, who, in March, 1881, graduated at the Ohio Medical College, Cincinnati; Robert, a farmer in Ford Co., Ill., and Mary, who is a graduate of the Ohio Wesleyan University, of Delaware, Ohio. Dr. Collins and wife are members of the M. E. Church, and have contributed liberally to the support of religion and morals in their community. The Doctor became a member of the Ohio State Medical Society in 1853, and has been a member of the Clark Co. Medical Society for a number of years. He took an active interest in the building of the Little Miami Railroad, and with the exception perhaps of one or two others, is the only subscriber of stock to that road who is living in this vicinity, and was also a large subscriber to the S. S. R. R. He has been identified with the School Board of the town for several years, and during the rebellion was a stanch Unionist; and though a man of education and good executive ability, he has never sought or wanted office. Politically, a Republican, and a man of the most rigid economy in all his business affairs, he is, yet, strictly upright and honorable in carrying out his promises or fulfilling his contracts ; extremely slow and cautious in arriving at a conclusion; he is withal firm as a rock in upholding the result of his deliberations, and those traits have so guided him through life that he has never been engaged in litigation. He is now a stockholder in the Lagonda Bank, of Springfield, owns 1,600 acres of land in Illinois and Iowa, and after forty years of successful practice in his profession, is to-day considered one of the substantial, wealthy men of Clark Co.84