Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-11-07
JUDGE COLLINS
PASSES AWAY
LEADING ATTORNEY OF MADISON
IN TERRITORIAL DAYS
DIES AT NEENAH.

Judge A. l.. Collins, formerly resi-.
dent of Madison, is dead at the home
of his son, A. W. Collins, in Neenah.
He was 81 years Of age.
Alexander Lynn Collins was born
on st. Patrick's day, 1911, at Whites
town, Oneida county, n. Y. The town
is now known as New Hartford. His
father was Gen. Oliver Collins, dis
tinguished soldier of the revolution,
and brigadier-general in the United
States army from 1912 to 1916. Gen.
Collins was at one time in command
at Sackett's harbor.
The future judge having passed
through the common school of his ma
tive neighborhood and spent year at
an academy, began to teach school.
While teaching school he was com.
manded by his father to choose wha'
| profession he wished to follow and he
chose medicine. This did not meet
with approval on the part of the gen.
eral and he proposed the profession
of law. This, in turn, did not meet
with approval On the part of the
youthful schoolmaster, but somehow
or other the suggestion went into
effect and in less than twenty-four
hours afterward the beardless peda-
gogue was landed" as he described
the act, in the office of the leading
| lawyers of Whitesboro, N. Y. He re
NAMED in the office for four years
! and then, in 1888, he went to Cleve
land. The next year he was admitted
to the bar in that city.
| The young lawyer remained in Cleve-
land until 1912 when he removed
| to Madison, Wis. The pioneer attor-
ney was in the very prime of young
manhood at the time of his settlement
at the capital Of the far western terri.
tory. throbbing with new life. His
energy and ability soon attracted at
tention and in few years he became
a very prosperous attorney. He was
| elected a territorial senator and a
few years after Wisconsin became a
| state he was appointed a circuit
/ Judge.
| Judge Collins remained on the bench
until 1860, when he retired from act.
i've life on account of his health and
settled ON a farm in Winnebago
county, near Neenah. He continued
to practice law for number of years
| afterwards in Appleton and Neenah
but gradually withdrew from business
and for number of years until his
death he led an extremely quiet and
unpretentious life on his farm.
In the active days before the war
the judge travelled a great deal in the
central part of the state attending tC
his law practice and he became wide
ly known as a leading lawyer. His
practice extended as far north as the
lumber regions and south into the
central counties. He was a gentle
man of high attachments and his
natural brightness Of intellect brought
him to the front in the profession
which he never would have chosen i
he had had his own way about it. H
was the only whig candidate for gov
enor in 1916 and joined the newly
organized republican forces in 1856.
Mr.. Collins wife died some time
ago, and he is survived by the follow
ing children: Alexander w. who re
sides on the homestead in the town O
Menasha; Mrs. Samuel McCord o
Milwaukee, Mrs. Ilsley OF Milwaukee
Miss Carrie D. Collins of Seattle
Wash, and A. B. Collins of Chicago
Decedent was brother-in-law of Cos
Doty.