a mulatto child adopted by white parents 1873 ohio

[carysmoreland]

I am the 2 times great granddaughter of Charles Myrtle Collins and I have just discovered him on our family tree as my family history has always been a mystery.

I would be really interested to know if you managed to find out any further information on him?

I can see he came to the UK in 1894 and was listed as living with Franklin M Collins and Julia Ann Collins/Hoover in 1880.  He was listed as the adopted son of Franklin but I am not sure if he was also an adopted son for Julia or if she was his biological mother.

Any information you could provide would be great!!

[Erato]

Hi and welcome to RootsChat.  Do you have any further clues you can give to help track him down?  In the meantime, if you want to poke around yourself, there are many US records at FamilySearch.  You have to register but it's free.

https://www.familysearch.org/en/

[carysmoreland]

Hi,

Thank you so much for your reply.  All of the information I have so far is:

- His name on the 1880 census was Charles Myrtle Collins, he was listed as aged 7 here so his birth year is listed as 1873.  He lived at 85 East Wates Street in Urbana, Champaign, Ohio.  His race was entered as 'Mulatto' and his occupation was at school. It says his birth place is Ohio, his fathers birth place is New York and his mothers is Ohio.
- On this Census he was living with Julia Ann Collins whose maiden name was Hoover and he was listed as her son and she was born in Ohio. Her occupation on the census was keeping house and fortune telling.
- He was also listed as living with Franklin M Collins (Julias husband), they got married in 1873 and Charles was listed as his Adopted Son and he was born in Ohio.  His occupation was a plasterer.

From this I believe but I could be wrong that he is Julias son but Franklin is not the father as both Julia and Franklin are white and Franklin is not from New York. I however have not been able to find any birth records for Charles.

- Next I have found is that he left the USA in 1894 for England from Boston and arrived in October 1894 in Queenstown, Ireland on Ship Catalonia with the official number 84126. He was listed as a labourer.

- He is then listed in 1901 on a census as a boarder with a family in Wales where he as a coal miner.

- In 1902 he married Elizabeth Ann Thomas in Merthyr Tydfil in Wales

- In 1911 he was again listed on a census as a boarder with a family in Pontypridd, Wales as a coal miner but was still listed as married and now has 3 children with Elizabeth.

- He died in April 1914 in Neath, Wales.

That is all the information I have I am afraid but if there is anyone who has information on his birth, his parents that would be really helpful. I have tried searching across all sites but cannot find him apart from the records above.

At some points he has also been listed as 'Chas Collins' if that helps too.

Thanks!

[Erato]

I'm afraid that I'm not having much luck in finding out what Julia was up to before her marriage.  According to the 1880 census, Julia's father was German so there's a fair chance that his original name was not Hoover, that he changed it from, say, Huber to Hoover.  That hasn't led me anywhere yet but I'll keep at it.

Another possibility is that Charles was not related to Julia or Frank.  In which case he will be virtually impossible to find except maybe by DNA.

[[Ray]]

Source of term Mulatto? As per coffee / latte ? (B&W?)

[oldohiohome]

History and Etymology for mulatto
Spanish mulato, from mulo mule, from Latin mulus

From Merriam Webster Dictionary online.

[Mike in Cumbria]

History and Etymology for mulatto
Spanish mulato, from mulo mule, from Latin mulus

From Merriam Webster Dictionary online.

Yikes.

[Josephine]

From this I believe but I could be wrong that he is Julias son but Franklin is not the father as both Julia and Franklin are white and Franklin is not from New York. I however have not been able to find any birth records for Charles.

I'd like to point something out; please excuse me if I've misunderstood this and am stating the obvious, but I got this impression from another post as well.

In the census record that you mention, people were listed according to their relationship to the head of the household: Julia was Franklin's wife and Charles was Franklin's adopted son. This does not mean that Charles was not also Julia's adopted son.

Regards,
Josephine

[Josephine]

I also have a question for those more familiar with the subject of this inquiry.

How are people connecting the Charles Collins in Wales with the Charles M. Collins shown in the 1880 census for Ohio?

I've looked at the 1901 and 1911 census images: there's no middle name (or middle initial) and his birthplace is listed as the United States.

Did the Charles Collins in Wales list his middle name and his parents' names on a document such as his marriage record? Or were they listed in an obit or on his death record?

Regards,
Josephine