Jacob S. Collins: Shoemaker’s Son, Storekeeper, Self-Made Man

William Grayson, Machinist’s Son

Our maternal great-grandfather William Leon Grayson (1870-1941), the only child of a working-class Savannah, Georgia family, worked as a produce clerk, merchant, and insurance agent before attaining leadership roles in city government, the state militia, and national fraternal organizations. I’ve often described our ancestor as a self-made man. Because William came from an intact family and attended city schools as a youth, William’s mentor has perhaps a greater claim to the “self-made” characterization.

Jacob Collins, Shoemaker’s Son

Jacob Samuel Collins was born in Columbus, Georgia in 1857. His father, a shoemaker, died when Jacob was about three. By age 13 the family was in Savannah, where Jacob was working as a day laborer to help support his widowed mother and unmarried sisters. The 1870 census indicated that neither Jacob nor his 21-year old brother could read or write.

Freedman’s Savings and Trust, 1865-1874

An interesting document sheds additional light on the family. Freedman’s Savings and Trust was chartered by the U.S. Congress in 1865 to give Black Civil War veterans and former slaves a safe place to deposit their money, though the 1871 Savannah City Directory advertised Freedman’s S&T as a “Savings Bank for All.” At its peak, the bank had 70,000 depositors and 37 branches. Like many others around the country, after an 1873 bank panic this “safe” institution failed. Contrary to then-common belief, its deposits were not protected by the federal government. Freedman’s depositor documents have been preserved, and through them we learn that Jacob:

• Opened an account at the Savannah Branch on February 12, 1872
• Was born in Columbus GA
• Claimed to be 17 (he was actually 14) and had a white complexion
• Worked for Chas. B. Ash on Congress St. (According to the city directory, Charles Ash was a hatter.)
• Father Henry was dead, while mother Fanny lived in Savannah
• Could indeed sign his name, contrary to the notation in the 1870 Census

Henrietta Grayson Collins

Henrietta Bell Grayson, also born in 1857, suffered loss and want to a greater degree than her future husband Jacob. Five of Henrietta’s siblings died as children, capped in 1869 first by the death of her father from heart disease and then a sixth sibling, a 5-year old brother, to random gunfire. Henrietta’s widowed mother Amelia Hale Grayson was forced to send her daughter to live at an orphanage while Henrietta’s newly married older brother Edward, a railroad machinist, provided for Amelia and her two other surviving brothers. Henrietta and Jacob were each 18-years old when they married in 1876.

J.S. Collins & Co.

Twenty-two year old Jacob Collins is recorded as a clerk working for Congress Street grocer Aaron Champion in 1879. In the 1880 Census he is listed as a “Commission Mcht,” supporting his wife, 55-year old widowed mother, and 20-year old unmarried sister (also named Henrietta). The young couples’ first child was not born until 1883, by which time Jacob had opened J.S. Collins & Co. Wholesale Grocers, in partnership with the younger Henrietta’s new husband John A. Henges.

In 1887 we circle back to find 17-year old William L. Grayson, only child of Henrietta Grayson Collins’ older brother Edward, apprenticed to her 30-year old husband Jacob. By 1900 the name of the firm was officially Collins, Grayson & Co., which later expanded to include ownership of Savannah Candy Factory.

Successful Businessman

By 1915, William had been a two-term city alderman, was Clerk of the Chatham County Superior Court, a Lt. Colonel in the Georgia National Guard, and was entrusted with national leadership of the Fraternal Order of Eagles. Jacob Collins had risen from storekeeper to concurrently being president of the National Bank of Savannah, president of the Real Estate Bank and Trust, president of Oglethorpe Savings & Trust, president of the Savannah Directory Publishing Co., and chairman of the Chatham County Jury Commissioners. One wonders if it was in part Jacob’s influence that led to William attaining the Court Clerkship. What is clear is that Jacob Collins was an extraordinary mentor, and, as far as is possible, a self-made man.

Collins Legacy

Jacob and Henrietta had six children. An infant daughter died of malaria in 1892, and their oldest son – himself a successful businessman – died in 1915 in a boating accident at age 32. When Jacob passed away in 1925 he and Henrietta owned properties at Tybee Island, on the Bonaventure Road, and in the city, and could boast of four married children and six grandchildren. Henrietta Grayson Collins welcomed at least four additional grandchildren and a number of great-grandchildren before she passed away in 1948 at age 91.