Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/346

 COLLINS

COLMAN

organized. From 1884 to 1891 he was chairman of the Demociatic state committee of Massacliu- setts. In 1893 President Cleveland ap^jointed him consul general at London and lie served tlirf)ugli- out the administration. He returned to Boston in June. 1897, resumed the practice of law, and in December, 1901, was elected mayor.

COLLINS, Thomas, patriot, was born in 1732. He was high-sheriff of Kent county, Del., and for fovir years a member of the council. He fought in the war of the Revolution, serving as brigadier- general of militia, 1776-83; was a member of the state assembly, chief justice of the court of common jDleas, and president of the supreme court of Delaware, 1786-89. He died near Duck Creek, Kent county. Del., IMarch 29, 1789.

COLLYER, Robert, clergyman, was born at Keighley, Yorkshire, England, Dec. 8, 1823. His early educational advantages were meagre. His boyhood and youth were spent at work in the blacksmith shop, every spare moment being em- ployed in reading. /'(T'^^'^'^^;^ He began preach-

ing in the Meth- odist Episcopal church in 1849 and early in 1850 he was married to Anne Armitage of Bradford, Eng- land. His wedding journey was a steerage voyage to America. He set- tled in Shoemaker- town, Pa., making hammers during the week and preaching on Sun- days. His theolog- ical views undergoing a change he became a Unitarian in 1859, and after preaching for several months as a minister at large in Chi- cago he was settled as the first pastor of the Unity church in that city. In 1879 he removed to New York city to become pastor of the Church of the Messiah, and in 1896 the Rev. Minot J. Savage of Boston, Mass., was made associate minister of the society. He is author of Nature and Life (1867) ; A Man in Earnest: Life of A. H. Conant (1868) ; The Life that Now Is (1871) ; Tfie Simple Truth (1878) ; Talks to Young Men (with Asides to Young Women) (1888) ; Things New and Old (1893).

COLMAN, Benjamin, clergyinan, was born in Boston, Mass., Oct. 19, 1673; son of William and Elizabeth CoLman, who had emigrated from Lon- don, England, a short time before ; and grandson of Matthew and Grace Cohnan of Satterlv, near

Beckles, Suffolk county, England He was pre- jjared for college by Ezekiel Cheever and was graduated from Harvard in 1692, taking the mas- ter degree three years later. He entered the evangelical ministry in 1693, preached for a short time at Medford, Mass., and embarked for Eng- land on July 20, 1695, on the ship Sican, which at the end of seven weeks was captured by a French privateer, and taken to France. After being imprisoned for a short time he made his way to London. He remained in England, preaching in London, Cambridge, Ipswich and Bath until 1699, receiving in that year urgent requests from his friends in New England to re- turn to Boston. He was ordained in London, Aug. 4, 1699, and arrived in Boston, Mass., Nov. 1, 1699. He was settled over the Brattle street church, where he preached during the rest of his life. He actively interested himself in securing benefactions for Harvard and Yale universities and was a fellow of Harvard, 1717-29. In 1724 he was chosen president of Harvard college to succeed President Leverett, which lienor he de- clined. In 1731 the University of Glasgow con- ferred upon him the degree of D.D. He published three volumes of sermons (1707-22). See The Life and Character of the Rev. Benjamin Cohnan, D.D., by Ebenezer Turell (1749). He died in Boston, Mass., Aug. 29, 1747.

COLMAN, Norman Jay, cabinet officer, was born near Richfield Springs, Otsego county, N.Y^., May 16, 1827; son of Hamilton and Nancy (Sprague) Colman, and grandson of Samuel Col- man. He was the son of a farmer and attended the district school and neighboring seminary, teaching school winters. In 1847 he removed to Kentucky, where he taught school, meanwhile at- tending the Louisville law school and graduating in 1849. He settled as a lawyer in New Albany, Ind., and became district attorney for the county in 1851. In 1852 he removed to St. Louis, where he purchased a country home and farm, established Col- man's Rural World, and became a leader in agricultural move- ments in the west. During the civil war he was lieutenant- colonel in the 85th regiment of the en- rolled Missouri mili- tia, and in 1865 he was elected a member of the state assenibl}- and became the leader of the Democratic party in the liouse. In 1868 he was the defeated candi-