William Collier (about 1585 to 1670-1671) of Southwark, England and Plymouth & Duxbury, Mass.

William Collier was born about 1585 in England. Unfortunately his parents and birthplace are not yet known. He was a grocer, a brew house owner, an investor (a merchant adventurer) in the Pilgrims’ settlement, and became one of the wealthiest men in Plymouth Colony. From at least the time he was a teen he was of Southwark, England [then in Surrey but currently a borough of London]. William "Collyer" was apprenticed to William Russell for eight years and was entered and sworn in the Grocers' Company of London on 16 August 1609. [Hunt] His name is sometimes Collyare and Collyar in records. 

On 16 August 1609 William Collier finished his apprenticeship at St Saviour’s Parish. He paid 3s 4d to be sworn in as a freeman at the clerk’s office at Guildhall—he could now start his own grocer’s business as a citizen and grocer of London. He clearly had a determination to succeed, a good head for numbers and a natural business sense. [Cole]

William Collier married Jane (Yates) (Clarke) on 16 May 1611 at St. Olave’s, Southwark. Jane Yates was baptized 5 February 1586/7 at St. Olave’s, Southwark, the daughter of Henry and Alice (—?—) Yates. She married, first, Thomas Clarke in 1610 with whom she had four children. Thomas and two of their young children died of the plague. I have written a lengthy sketch on Jane as her strength and ability to not just survive but to thrive is incredible which you can view here. Jane and William are my 10th great-grandparents through both of my grandparents—Milly (Booth) (Davis) Rollins and Arthur (Washburn) (Ellis) Davis.

St. Olave's has been torn down, but it's turret is used as a drinking fountain
source: Wikipedia

Jane and William had thirteen children; 1-12 from Anderson; 13 from Cole (both citing parish registers for baptisms):

1. Mary Collier, baptized St. Olave’s 18 February 1611/12; married Gov. Thomas Prence 1 April 1635 at Plymouth as his second wife; had two daughters; died Eastham on Cape Cod between 1639-1645, in her 20s.
2. Hannah Collier, baptized St. Olave’s 14 September 1613; buried there 31 August 1625 age 11.
3. Rebecca Collier, baptized St. Olave’s 10 January 1614/15; married Job Cole (who worked for her father) on 15 May 1634 at Plymouth and had five children; died Eastham 29 Dec 1698 at age 83.
4. Sarah Collier, baptized St. Olave’s 30 April 1616; m. 1) Love Brewster 15 May 1634 at Plymouth who was a Mayflower passenger and son of Church Elder William Brewster and had four children; married 2) Richard Park; died 26 April 1691 at age 75.
5. John Collier, baptized St. Olave’s 18 March 1616/17; buried there 24 August 1618, age 17 months.
6. Elizabeth Collier, baptized St. Olave’s 9 March 1618/19; married Constant Southworth 2 November 1637 at Plymouth and had nine children; died after 27 February 1678/9 probably Duxbury, age 59 or older.
7. John Collier, baptized St. Olave’s 21 March 1619/20; buried St. Olave’s 7 August 1625, age 5.
8. Catherine/Catheren Collier buried St Olave’s 13 January 1621/22, no baptism found; likely a newborn.
9. James Collier baptized St. Mary Magdalene, Bermondsey, Surrey, 16 March 1622/23; buried St. Olave’s 24 August 1624, age 17 months.
10. Martha Collier baptized St. Mary Magdalene 28 March 1623/4; buried St. Olave’s 30 May 1625, age 14 months. The Collier’s were living at Bermondsey with Jane’s mother Alice during the time of James and Martha’s births.
11. William Collier, buried St. Olave’s 12 August 1625, no baptism found; likely a newborn.
12. Lydia Collier baptized St. Olave’s 8 March 1625/6; died and few days later and buried there 12 March 1625/6.
13. Ruth Collier baptized St. Saviour’s, Southwark 5 August 1627; married Daniel Cole about 1644 and had 11 children; died Eastham 15 December 1694 age 67. 

Of their thirteen children, only five survived to adulthood: Mary, Rebecca, Sarah, Elizabeth, and Ruth. Most of the children died of the plague which frequently ravaged London and Southwark in the 17th century. I descend from Mary, Sarah, Elizabeth, and Ruth. Ruth wife of Daniel Cole was long suspected and recently proven to be a daughter of William and Jane. [Cole]  I wrote about Thomas and Mary here; Love and Sarah here; Constant and Elizabeth here;Daniel and Ruth here.

Southwark Cathedral, formerly St. Saviour's

William partnered with James Monger to open a brewhouse in Southwark. That William Collier the grocer and William Collier co-owner brew house are the same man is shown in minutes of the Court of the Brewers' Company at Guildhall, London and Records of the Grocer's Company of London at Grocers' Hall. [Hunt]

The Collier’s residence was at the intersection of Globe Alley and Deadman’s Place in the Bankside area Southwark, almost adjacent to their brewhouse the Globe Tavern. It was close to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre so he would have interacted with actors or perhaps the Bard himself! In June 1613 the Globe Theatre caught fire during a performance and burned to the ground, something the Collier family was sure to have witnessed. [Cole] They must have been fearful the fire would spread to their home and business. 

Bankside Map (Source: Wilkinson's Theatrum Illustrata)

William Collier appears on the 1626 list of merchant adventurers in Gov. William Bradford’s Letter Book. Bradford also records that Mr. [Isaac] Allerton "in the first two or three years of his employment, he had cleared up 400 pounds and put it into a brew-house of Mr. Collier's in London..." [Bradford’s Of Plimoth Plantation]

In England the 1630s were a time of political turmoil and the return of persecution of Puritans. In 1632 John Lathrop, who preached puritan faith in Southwark, and 42 members of his congregation were arrested. A terrible February 1633 London fire was close to the Collier’s neighborhood, burning buildings on London Bridge which was the access from Southwark to London over the River Thames. William likely helped in trying to extinguish the flames. More than 40 shops were destroyed, something Puritans would have seen as God’s wrath. It did not cross the bridge into Southwark; the Collier’s home and the brewhouse were safe. [Cole]

Even though William Collier was successful in England, certain events were likely contributing factors in their momentous decision to move to Plymouth— plagues, political unrest, economic uncertainty, and imprisonment of a Puritan leader. Also Southwark was not a family-friendly place—there were raucous crowds after plays in the local theatres, blood sports like bear baiting on the streets, rough watermen, pickpockets, drinking, and prostitution. Additionally Jane’s son Thomas Clarke immigrated to Plymouth in 1623.

William, Jane, and their daughters immigrated to Plymouth in 1633 on the Mary and Jane. [Willison; a 24 June 1633 letter from adventurer James Sherley. mentions the ship the Collier’s sailed on.] Also with them would have been Job and John Cole; their brother Daniel was to come later.

Jane and William were first at Plymouth, where William quickly became involved in colony government. They moved to Duxbury after 1639 where there ocean-front property was in the North Hill area near Morton's Hole on what is now Bay Road. They were between the homesteads of Job Cole and Jonathan Brewster. [Healy]

Rebecca and Ruth Collier married Cole brothers who worked for their father William. They lived near each other in Duxbury and then went to Eastham on Cape Cod where they were early settlers. Job and Daniel’s brother Zaccheus was also an associate of William Collier’s as he called him a loving friend in his 1630 London will, which William and “Jeanne” Collier witnessed.  [TAG 42:119] Zaccheus had been an apprentice to a man who was once William’s apprentice. John Cole died at Plymouth about 1637 and named Elizabeth Collyer, his sister Rebecca, and “each of Master Collyer’s men” in his will. I wonder if he would have married Elizabeth if he didn’t fall ill, although she soon married another man.

Early on the Duxbury settlers were only allowed to stay there in summer to farm as they were too important to Plymouth to lose them permanently. William also had land west of North Hill (granted in 1635) and a tract called Billingsgate. [Winsor] 

William was admitted a Freeman 1 January 1633/34 [PCR 1:4, 21]. He is in the Plymouth section of the Freeman list of 1639 where his name is crossed out and re-entered in the Duxbury section.  [PCR 8:173-4] He is in the Duxbury section of Freeman lists of 1658 and 29 May 1670; in the latter his name is crossed out and marked “deceased." [PCR 5:274, 8:198]

William was well-educated, based on the offices he held. It is clear that the Colony leaders depended on him in matters of finance, war, diplomacy, and even legal matters. He was an Assistant Governor 1635-7, 1639-51, elected for a whopping 27 terms. [MA Civil List 37-39]. His service was considered so significant that when in 1659 “by reason of age and much business on him,” he could no longer “attend the countreyes business att Courts but with great difficulties,” the court ordered the treasurer “to procure him a servant, and doe allow him for that purpose the summe of ten pounds.”  He  was able to regularly make the journey between Duxbury and Plymouth with the provided assistance for another seven years, retiring at about age 80. [Baker]

 He was Plymouth Commissioner to United Colonies, 1643 [MA Civil List 28];  committee  to assess colony taxes [PCR 1:26]; committee to lay out highways for "Duxbery side" 1 Oct 1634 [PCR 1:31]; committee to view farm land 2 March 1635/6 [PCR 1:39]; committee to set bounds for Scituate 6 March 1637/8 [PCR 1:80];  committee to view North Hill and set bounds 4 February 1638/9 [PCR 1:112];  committee to develop a treaty with Massachusetts Bay 7 March 1642/3, 10 June 1650 [PCR 2:53, 159]; Council of War 27 September  1642, 10 October 1643, 1 June 1685 [PCR 2:47, 64, 3:139];  Coroner Jury 2 June 1646 [PCR 2:101]; committee to draw up the excise 7 July 1646 [PCR 2:106]; committee for the letting of trade June 1649 [PCR 2:144]; Auditor 3 July 1656 [PCR 3:104]; committee to review the laws 3 June 1657 [PCR 3:117]. In addition to all the work he was doing for the Colony, he also ran a tavern in Duxbury, on what is now Tremont Street. [Healy]

Nothing I’ve found speaks directly to William’s religious beliefs. I believe his major motivation in coming to Plymouth was for the survival of his family and secondarily for a new business venture. He was also likely a religious dissenter. He was quickly embraced by the Pilgrims and some of his daughters married into the most religious families, so it seems logical that he would have shared their Separatist religious beliefs.

That he was one of the wealthiest men in the colony is based on his being taxed the highest amount. He and Edward Winslow were both assessed 2 pounds 5s on 27 March 1634. [PCR 1:27] That he had men who worked for him is seen in several records including the Plymouth tax list of 25 March 1633  when “Mr Collier's men" were assessed 18s. [PCR 1:11] 

William also had indentured servants, as seen in these records: 

• William Morris, of Royston, in the county of Hertford, butcher, having been indentured 4 April 1637 to William Collier, gentleman, for five years, agreed to switch his service to Love Brewster of "Ducksborrow" at court 6 Aug 1637. [PCR 1:64] Love was William’s son-in-law by this time. 
• On 20 Dec 1648 John Balden bound himself to "Mr. William Colliar of Duxburrow" for a term of five years, in return for which Collier was to give him "meat, drink and clothes, lodging and washing, and at the end of four years' service...a heifer of two years old.” [PCR 12:164]

Not surprisingly William was a large land holder. 

• In the allocation of mowing ground on 1 July 1633, reference is made to ground "that Mr. Collier hath.” [PCR 1:14]
• On 5 July 1635 Mr. Willam Collier was granted a parcel of land in the wood called North Hill, with some "tussicke march ground.” [PCR 1:35]
• In 1645 William Collier was one of the Duxbury men who were original proprietors of Bridgewater, but he did not move there. [Winsor]
• On 6 March 1649/50 William "Colliar" made over his right to a ten acre parcel of upland in "Duxborrow" to "my kinsman William Clark.” [PCR 12:182] Perhaps his step-grandson as Thomas Clarke had a son named William.
• On 2 Dec 1661 Wm Collier of Duxbury, gentleman, with the consent of Mrs. Jane Collier, sold all his house and land that he was living on in Duxbury to Benjamin Bartlett, who was not to enter into possession until the death of both William and Jane Collier. [Anderson]
• On 3 Oct 1662 'Mr. Collyare" complained that the records of his grant at the North Hill were lost and could not be found, and the court ordered that the land be viewed and the report of it be recorded. [PCR 4:27, 39]
• On 2 July 1667 the court agreed to a grant of 30 or 40 acres of land for Mr. William Collyare's grandchild, "that grand child who is not servicable unto him.” [PCR 4:159]
• On 2 March 1668/9 the court granted him 50 acres in the tract of land at Namassakett. [PCR 5:14]

In 1645 there was a Plymouth Court petition by William Vassall, one of the original Bay Colony assistants, asking for full religious tolerance for all well-behaving men. Many of the town deputies, plus Assistant Edmund Freeman of Sandwich, were in favor of the petition. Several, including Assistants William Collier and [his son-in-law] Thomas Prence were opposed, showing the early liberal-conservative split. They were both intolerant towards Quakers. [Stratton] Another of my great-grandfathers, James Cudworth of Scituate, was tolerant toward Quakers and wrote that "Mr. Collier last June would not sit on the Bench, if I sate there.” [Stratton] Cudworth, also a wealthy and influential person in the colony, was disenfranchised for his support of Quakers but was later restored to became a General and leader of the Colony forces in King Philip’s War.

Jane Collier died after 28 June 1666 when she consented to a deed made by William, probably at Duxbury. [PCLR 3:152]

William died intestate between 29 May 1670, when on the list of Duxbury Freeman, and 5 July 1671, when administration was granted on his estate. Probably at Duxbury. [PCR 5:68] 

On 5 July 1671 the court appointed Gov. Prence, Mr. Constant Southworth, Mr. Thomas Clark, and Benjamin Bartlett, or any three of them to administer the estate of "mr. William Collyare," deceased. [PCR 5:68] Prence and Southworth were his sons-in-law, Thomas Clark his step-son. Benjamin Bartlett was likely husband of his granddaughter Sarah Brewster, daughter of Sarah (Collier) and Love Brewster who was to receive the Duxbury lands in the above mentioned deed.

On 29 Oct 1671 the court ordered that "Daniell Cole" was to have all such particulars out of the estate of "William Collyare" that are extant. [PCR 5:80]

There is one surviving item known to have belonged to the Colliers. A 21.5 inch diameter pewter charger is in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The history is that was owned by William and Jane Collier and it is stamped with their initials. It was passed onto their daughter Mary, then to her daughter Judith Prence who married Isaac Barker. It is in remarkable condition, so perhaps it was only displayed or used for very special occasions. 

Collier's pewter charger source: collections.mfa.org

I feel like considering all that William Collier did for the Colony he would warrant more attention, such as places and streets named after him. Perhaps because just daughters survived to adulthood and the name disappeared from Duxbury and Plymouth, perhaps it disappeared from people’s memories as well. 

Nathaniel Morton, another of my great-grandfathers, wrote glowingly of William: “This year [1633] likewise Mr. William Collier arrived with his Family in New-England, who as he had been a good Benefactor to the Colony of New-Plimouth before he came over, having been an Adventurer unto it at its first beginning; so also he approved himself a very useful Instrument in that Jurisdiction after he arrived, being frequently Chosen, and for divers years serving God and the Country in the place of Magistracy, and lived a godly and holy life untill old Age.”

Sources:

Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins, 1995

Eugene Stratton, Plymouth Colony, Its History and People 1620-1691, 1986

Robert S. Wakefield, The American Genealogist, "More on the Children of Wm Collier,” 49:215 and 41:58

Lamont R. Healy, Duxbury: Our Pilgrim Story, “Duxbury’s Early Lands & Leaders,” Duxbury Rural & Historical Society, 2020

Susan E. Roser, Early Descendants of Daniel Cole of Eastham, Massachusetts, Friends of the Pilgrim Series Vol. 2, 2010

John G. Hunt, The American Genealogist, “Origin of Three Early Plymouth Families Cole, Collier and Clarke,” Vol 42, 1966

Nathaniel Morton, The New-England’s Memoriall, 1669, reprint Applewood’s American Philosophy and Religion Series

William E. Cole, Puritans, Plagues, Promises: Cole, Clarke and Collier in England to America, 2023

Justin Winsor, History of the Town of Duxbury, Massachusetts, with Genealogical Registers, 1849

Henry A. Fish, Duxbury Ancient & Modern, 2012, Duxbury 375th Anniversary Revised Edition, based on 1925 edition

Peggy M. Baker, Duxbury: Our Pilgrim Story, “Adventuresome William Collier,” Duxbury Rural & Historical Society, 2020