The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1904-05-26
Death Of Pioneer.

age of 90 years and 10 months, died
peacefully Wednesday evening at the
home of her daughter, Mrs. John G.
Doren.
She was the daughter of Rev. John
Collins, known to early Methodism as
Father Collins, and of Sarah Black.
man Collins, and the eighth child in
family of H., and was born at the
farmstead of the ''Old Stone House."
in Clermont county, this state, in
1911. All of her brothers and sisters
she survived many years. Before
coming to Ohio, her family lived in
New Jersey, where they owned a
beautiful park-like farm on Oyster
Bay, covering the present site of At
lantic City. But the mother having
lost two brothers on the sea, wished
to remove her sons from the possibil-
ity of undertaking sea-faring life,
and the family emigrated to Ohio in
1903, taking up beautiful and pict-
uresque tract of land on the east fork
of the Little Miami.
The "Old Stone House," commo.
dious mansion, with rugged walls 30
inches thick and now probably the
Oldest house in the southern part of
Ohio, was erected in the same year
and remained the home of the family
for over half century. Here her
girlhood and early womanhood was
spent. Here she was married and her
daughter after her. In this house
from time to time were gathered the
early fathers of Methodism in Ohio.
Her mother managed the family and
looked after the interests of a large
estate, while her father, an eloquent
preacher, travelled on horseback cir
cult over 200 miles, blazing his way
through the wilderness. He founded
the first Methodist congregations of
Cincinnati and Dayton, and his life,
written by his friend, Chief Justice
Mclean, has become one of the class
les in early Ohio annals. In his home,
where the representatives of western
Methodism from three state we're wont
to meet, plans for its future were laid
which has since taken form and de-
veloped into the Methodist Book Con-
cern, the Western Christian Advo-
cate, and the Ohio Wesleyan Univer
sity. AS little girl, Mrs. Thomas
was lively hearer of all these mat
tiers and to her latest day delighted
to recall them, together with the
prominent men and women of the
time who we're frequent visitors. Her
Oldest sister married Rev. William
Simmons, father of Mrs. Reibold, of
this city; another sister married Dor
sey Stockton, of Kentucky, later
judge of the supreme court of Iowa,
and her youngest sister, Alice, mar
ried Nathaniel Massie, a famous civil
engineer of early days, and son of
General Massie, the founder of Chilli.
cothe and Manchester, and Governor
of Ohio in 1907. Her brother, General
Richards Collins, the father of Mrs.
Julia A. Owens, of this city, became
jurist of note in Kentucky and was
friend and compeer of Henry Clay.
In October, 1884, she was married to
DR.. George Bragdon. After happy
union of five years she was left a
widow with one little daughter, Eliza
beth Bragdon, who later became the
wife of John G. Doren, of this city
In 1853 she married Colonel William
Thomas, man of the sturdy pioneer
type and of force and distinction in
the affairs of his generation. They
continued to live in the neighborhood
of her birthplace until $780, when,
on account of delicate health, she
was forced to relinquish household
cares and gave up her home to live
with her daughter. The death of
Colonel Thomas occurred few years
later. Throughout her long life she
was a woman distinguished for her
warm hearted, sunny disposition, re.
fined tastes and deeply religious
nature. With talent for making
new friends, she had the gift of re-
tanning old ones, and she ruled by the
rightness of her own spirit.
Mrs. Rebecca lden, of indianapolis,
the beloved daughter of her second
husband, and Mrs. John G. Doren are
the only remaining children of her
family.
She was member of Raper Chapel.
The remains, after a short service
conducted by the Rev. J. J. McCabe
at the house, will be taken Friday
morning for interment at the old
Bether churchyard, in Clermont
county. Here she will be laid to rest
by the side of her husband, in ground
set aside from her fathers farm and
consecrated over century ago by
him to the service of the church. 49,
Dayton News.
Mrs. Doren, the surviving daughter
of Mrs. Thomas, Is well remembered
in Hillsboro, where she graduated
when Miss Lizzie Bragdon, from the
famous Oakland Female Seminary,
in the palmy days of yore, when it was
in charge of Rev. Joseph Mcdowell
Matthews and Miss Emily Grand Cir,
ard, names of beloved memory. John
G. Doren was at one time the editor
of the HillsborO Gazette. G.. II. Col,