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I've
set up a seperate page for each of Peter's children with his first wife, see main Lineage Page. I have not yet researched data on his last two children, born of his second wife, they are listed below.
NOTE! I have yet to clean up this page to include his bio page and lineage chart. I'll announce on the home page when that has been done. About Peter NOTE: THIS IS ONE OF THE
NEXT PAGES TO BE CLEANED UP INTO THE NEW FORMAT AND TO INLCUDE NEWLY ACQUIRED PHOTOS - PLEASE CHECK IN THE VERY NEW FUTURE
TO SEE THE NEW PAGE Much
information on Peter and his descendants is available. As always, I credit much data I use here as coming from the McCollor
Genealogy book I've mentioned before, by Clair Nelson. Peter was born in N. Anson, Maine, on July 2, 1833 to Patrick
and Bridget McCollough/McCollor, the first of our family to immigrate to the U.S. He lived in Anson, attending the "public"
or "common" school until he was twelve. He attended school for five more years after one of the family's moves
back to St. George, Canada, this time at a Catholic Parochial school. After his mother died, and his father brought the children
still living at home back to Maine in 1850, when Peter was about 17 years old. With his brothers, he worked in the woods
as a logger, a profession some present day McCollors still work in.
Gold
Rush Fever Strikes When he was about 23 years old, in 1856, Peter took off to California to seek his fortune mining gold,
but it must not have panned out (no pun intended) because three years later, he went back home to Maine. On
April 15, 1861, Peter married Margaret H. McGarrity. Margaret is credited with bringing the dark coloring, hair, and eyes
into the family tree. She had black curly hair and "the darkest brown eyes you have ever seen" (Nelson). The McCollors
up until this point, were most likely fair in coloring, and Peter is said to have had blue eyes. He was also described as
being small in stature. Civil War Peter, along with most of his
brothers, enlisted in the 24th Regiment out of Augusta, Maine as a corporal to the H Company, on October 13, 1862, while still a newlywed. This regiment lost
191 men, over 180 of them from disease, not combat! Peter was promoted to full sergeant on February 23, 1863, and was wounded
in the left arm at the Battle of Port Hudson in Mississippi on May 27, 1863. That same day, ironically, his second daughter,
Jennie, who he would not see for the first time until after the war, was born. Reportedly, he was wounded a second time, but
we don't have any information on the where or when. He returned home in August of 1863. Peter
continued to work in the woods after the war, and farmed on Parkman Hill, east of Solon. (If anyone lives close by,
do you have pictures of this "hill"?), where he and Margaret eventually created one of the largest McCollor families,
which says alot, considering there are some really huge ones!
"Go West, Young Man!" After Ulay was born, they packed up and made a surprising move to
Minnesota, lured by the big move to "go west!" . They settled in Grant County, specifically Roseville Township.
According to an account by Ernie McCollor, his grandson, Peter wanted to live in a warmer climate, and was attracted by reports
of lush and vast land, just waiting to be farmed. Peter was given 160 acres of land in Section 14, 1 mile east of Yankey Road,
which ran north from Morris, MN, by the government, which could not afford to pay the promised pensions to it's veterans and
instead offered land. He arrived there by train, on his 43rd birthday, and claimed his
land grant. His family stayed back home until he had settled and built a house for them, and then he sent for them to join
him. At the train depot on the day they were to arrive, he at first did not see them. The story goes that he went to the depot
agent, and asked if his wife and family had arrived on the last train. "No, Mr. McCollor," came his reply. "There
was only a gypsy lady and a bunch of black-eyed kids." "That's them," Peter
said. We can imagine that those first few years, breaking the sod, traveling
on almost non-existent roads, was very difficult for them. Like many of the McCollor descendants that I know, including my
Dad and my Uncle Richard, Peter was a handy person, who had alot of talents and skills. He bartered and was paid for these
skills, to keep his family going in those first years. He started a diary about this time, and reported in it that among these
skills were some self-taught veterinary skills, some medical doctoring, and mortician skills, which he had learned in the
war. He was also a talented carpenter. He made alot of items that
still exist in his descendant's homes. Peter
and Margaret had more children out West, bringing the total to eleven, with ten of them living. Peter was about 49 years old
when the last one was born in 1882. I think of poor Margaret, basically being pregnant her entire adult life. She died
from pneumonia, in January of 1884 when the youngest, "Babe", was not quite two years old. Margaret was just
over 41. She is now resting in Morris Cemetery.
A mail
order bride? Sort of ... In a real bind
with the farm and the kids, a widowed Peter advertised for a housekeeper/nanny. Miss Margaret "Maggie" Furman, from
River Falls, WI answered the ad, and was hired for a whopping $5.00 per month salary. A romance blossomed, and on January
2, 1889, they married in Elbow Lake. They eventually
had four children together, to add to Peter's ten. The same year they were married, they had also opened their 3 bedroom (!)
home to the six of Peter's brother Thomas' kids! Thomas had died suddenly while visiting Peter for the Christmas holiday in
1889. Peter is described by his descendants as a man
with a great sense of humor, a taste for the moonshine (the boys made regular 'runs'), and "obsessed with" wood.
He worked very very hard, and got into a bar-room brawl or two. He was also active in civic duties, serving on the town board,
and was justice of the peace for quite a few years. He was a master story teller. Peter "retired" from farming in 1902, and he and Maggie and the children still remaining at home, moved
to Fergus Falls, MN. He lived there the next 11 or so years of his life, dying at noon, December 17, 1914, surrounded
by his family. he is buried at the Calvary Cemetery in Morris, beside his first wife. Whatever became of Maggie after Peter
died? In the 1920 census we find
64 year old Maggie as a "lodger" in the rented Duluth, St. Louis, MN home of Earl and Winefred Owre. With her is
25 year old Dorothy and 22 year old Adelaide.
The 1930 census of Duluth City, MN shows 75
year old Margaret, living with Dorothy and hubby Thomas Strum, both in their mid 30's, in a rented home along with two single
lodgers of Norweigen ancestry, Daisy Grimm, 22, and Esther Larson, 27. These young women were both teachers, as was Dorothy.
Thomas' trade is described as a salesman, and indicates he was a military veteran. There is no indication that they had any
children. A year later, in October, 1931, Margaret died. An interesting fact: Margaret's parents were both born in New York
state.
I've
set up a seperate page for each of Peter's children with his first wife, see main Lineage Page. I have not yet researched data on his last two children, born of his second wife, they are listed below.
NOTE! I have yet to clean up this page to include his bio page and lineage chart. I'll announce on the home page when that has been done.
* Much information for these pages comes from the excellent book McCollor/McCollough Family History and Genealogy by Clair Nelson and Kathy McCollor Stigman. I thank them profusely for writing such a thorough and helpful book. |
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Contact Irene with Comments, Corrections, or Additions for this page. |
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