Millie Collins, The Woman at the Cabin
Descendants of the Samuel Calhoun family shared the black and white photo of a woman standing before a cabin who is referred to as Millie Collins. It is identified in a 1979 rendition of the Calhoun Plantation that she lived in her own cabin which is in the background of the photo. [1] In addition, notations on the back of the photo indicate she served as a caretaker for the Calhoun family over several generations, first for the two youngest children Ella and Louis Calhoun, and then for two granddaughters including Catherine Calhoun, daughter of Louis who was named after her grandmother. [2]
“Millie Collins born before 1863 – nursed Aunt Ella and Louis Calhoun – then lived to nurse Mother and Aunt Catherine (Millie had her own cabin facing the road according to the Samuel Calhoun Plantation Home Rendering in 1979.) Given to us by Aunt Catherine Christmas ’77.”
Further research to locate the whereabouts of Millie following the death of Samuel in 1871 and his wife Catherine prior to 1880 resulted in locating her under the Louis Calhoun household in the 1900 census although identified as “Millie Ashley.” Also discovered was a son Marshall along with three other boarders.[3] Millie is located with her son Marshall but under his own household in the 1920 census [4] and once more in the 1930 Census with a younger son Lumen under his household [5]
Due to the lack of records that have accurate dates of birth, her year of birth changes among each of the census she is found in. If she was in fact born in1850, the earliest year recorded found in the 1880 census, we can then identify her as a ten year old slave in the Samuel Calhoun 1860 census [6].
Beginning in 1872 Millie began to have her own children including Eliza (1872), Owen (1874), Pracilla (1879), Jo (1879). Marshall (1880), Sealy (1881), Lumen (1889), and Plinny (1900.) [7]
Unknown at the time is if her cabin remained unchanged as her physical home on the Calhoun Plantation, and whether who she was listed under for record purposes was the only change which actually occurred. The discovery of the 1900 Census and the death certificate for her daughter Pracilla Ashley Vinson helped to recreate the life story of Millie, her children, and the Calhoun families she took care of. Prascilla’s family records helped us determine that Millie lived to be 90 years old at the time of her death in 1940. [8]
Efforts are ongoing to locate others who lived and worked on the Calhoun Plantation who have not yet been identified but are among those recorded on the Schedule II Slaves Schedules of Samuel Calhoun for the years 1850 and 1860. [9]
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