A
Brief History of the
English
Branch of the Collins Family
The history of the Collinses of
Collinsport, Maine, USA, have been widely chronicled by many.
Therefore, I will not attempt to bore you with yet another recitation
of that family. Instead, my narrative will deal with the
English branch of the Collins family, which was founded by one
Barnabas Collins, only son of Joshua and Naomi Collins, who left
the family's home in the early days of 1796. It is with
the founder of the English Collins family that we begin our story.
- The records of the Collins family
in the late 1700s, of which only Joshua Collins' has survived,
records that his son, Barnabas Collins, departed Collinsport
for England in January, 1796. That winter had seen the
death of Barnabas' uncle, Jerimiah Collins, and also saw the
end of the lives of Sarah Collins, Barnabas' younger sister;
Abigail Collins, Barnabas' aunt; his mother, Naomi Collins; and
Jerimiah's young widow, Josette. Of these, only Jerimiah's
death occurred prior to Barnabas Collins' sudden departure for
England.
Records have been located which substantiate
the idea that there was far more to the story than that which
Joshua Collins chose to record for posterity. His records
state that Josette du Pres arrived at Collinwood in 1795 to marry
Jerimiah, when the fact is that she went there to marry Barnabas.
Historical documents discovered in a museum on Martinique, where
Josette's family lived, contain letters from Barnabas Collins
to Josette, discussing their forthcoming marriage.
It is unclear what happened upon her
arrival at Collinwood, but the facts are clear: a marriage
license, dated December, 8, 1795, confirms that Josette and Jerimiah
were married by a Reverend Fallon. Jerimiah fell ill within
days-and during my research, I discovered the reason: upon
his return to Collinwood with Josette as his bride, he was challenged
to a duel by a heartbroken, furious Barnabas Collins.
-
Jerimiah was wounded, but lingered for
weeks. Barnabas felt tremendous guilt for his part in the
duel, having been so close to his uncle, and turned to another
for moral support during this time: Josette's maid, Angelique
Buchard.
On the very night that Jerimah died,
Barnabas Collins asked Angelique to become his wife. The
family was shocked by the idea of the heir to the Collins estates
marrying a common servant, and Joshua threatened to disown his
only son if he continued on his present path. The family
moved into the "new house", which became the Collinwood
that is known today. The other house-or the "Old House",
as it began to be called, was left empty and abandoned.
Until the decison by Barnabas to marry
Angelique in spite of his father's attempts to prevent it, that
is. When Joshua disinherited his son, Naomi, not wanting
Barnabas to be forced to leave Collinsport, gave Barnabas the
deed to the Old House-which was in her name.
So Barnabas and Angelique were married
on January, 2, 1796, by the Reverend Brand, of the Collinsport
Community Church. The marriage license was kept in the
hands of Barnabas Collins, and was discovered in his papers when
they were catalogued in 1960 by one of his descendants.
Unfortunately, many of the papers mentioned in this article were
destroyed in a fire which also destroyed the seat of the Collins
family in England. But we are getting ahead of ourselves.
Barnabas found that making a living
for himself and Angelique was nearly impossible, as his father
used his greater influence to keep him from finding employment
around the area. As a result, Barnabas became more morose
and depressed every day, a problem which was not aided by the
fact that since Josette was now a widow, he felt that he might
have married her, if he had waited. Adding the intense
jealousy of Angelique into the equation, we find that the situation
in Collinsport must have become untenable, and after a brief
illness, he departed Collinsport in late January 1796, alone,
intending to send for his wife later, once he had secured employment
a place to live.
He landed in England, with the jewels
that his mother had given to him to help him get a start in his
new life, and was joined by his wife in the winter of that same
year. Their marriage was intense, marked by arguments and
anger, but Angelique bore him two children: Julia Hoffman
Collins, was born August 20, 1805. She became the apple
of her father's eye, and a target of her mother's still intense
jealousy. As a result, Julia and her mother never got along
well. Julia, having inherited none of her mother's beauty,
was instead a bright, questioning child, who convinced her father
to allow her to become far more educated than most women of the
day. She was ten when Angelique gave birth to her second
child: Barnabas Collins II, born December 18, 1815.
Where Julia was her father's daughter, young Barnabas felt closer
to his mother, and is reported to have been devastated by her
death as a result of a riding accident when he was ten.
Julia also left England that same summer, having received an
unheard of invitation for a female: the opportunity to attend
a small medical college outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
to train as a physician. She knew she would most likely
never be able to actually practice medicine, since women were
barred from that profession, but she was determined to make the
attempt. She left the family's home in northern Wales,
where her father had taken partnership in a shipyard concern,
leaving her brother to continue his upbringing in the care of
his father, to whom he had never been very close. The two
did not get along well, had very poor communication, and young
Barnabas found himself looking forward to the infrequent letters
from his sister in America.
The elder Barnabas died in 1837, just after
his son's marriage to Valerie du Bois, who was the daughter
of Barnabas' late business partner. Barnabas chafed within
the arranged marriage, unwilling to accept that the young woman
he had married loved him for himself and not for his money, since
her father had died almost penniless.
In 1840, Barnabas wrote a letter to his sister,
telling her that he could no longer stand to remain at the Hall,
as the family's manor house was known, and that he wanted to
come to America to see her. He suggested that they meet
in Collinsport, and introduce themselves to the branch of the
family still there. Julia, while not a student of family
history, agreed to the plan, since she was anxious to see her
brother again.
Barnabas and Valerie set off from England,
making landfall in New York, where Valerie found herself unable
to leave after falling ill with a mild fever. To keep from
disappointing Julia, Barnabas left her with friends there and
made his way to his ancestral home of Collinwood.
Julia and Barnabas' reunion was a delight
for both. Upon his arrival, Julia introduced him
to the sister in law of the current master of Collinwood, Quentin
Collins. The young woman, Roxanne Drew, developed a deep
affection for Barnabas, and he for her. Here was the young
woman that he had always known he would meet. But knowing
that he was married, he tried to maintain a simple friendship
with the young lady.
Valerie arrived, and Barnabas discovered,
to his concern, that his wife could be just as jealous a woman
as his mother had been. Before things could become further
complicated, however, Roxanne died of a mysterious illness, for
which Barnabas blamed his wife in some way.
The troubles at Collinwood in 1840/41 are
also documented elsewhere, so I will concentrate here on those
events directly involving Barnabas, Julia, and Valerie Collins
during those events. While defending his cousins, Quentin
and Desmond Collins, on charges of witchcraft, Barnabas made
a surprising discovery: his wife, Valerie, was the reincarnation
of Miranda du Val, who had testified at the trial of one Judah
Zachary in the late 1600s. It had been Miranda's testimony
which convicted
the warlock and resulted in his beheading. Valerie recalled
enough of Miranda's life to be terrified of what was happening
at Collinwood, and begged her husband to take her away from Collinwood.
To take her home to England. Barnabas refused, insisting
that he had to stay and help Quentin and Desmond. That
her inability to understand and consider the needs of others
made their marriage impossible to continue.
Valerie made an attempt to clear the convicted
cousins, going so far as to admit to being a former witch herself.
It worked, as the history books claim. Quentin and Desmond
were released to live long and happy lives. But Valerie's
future was still uncertain. She was questioned and released
by the judges about her witchcraft, and returned to Collinwood,
uncertain if she would remain a Collins for much longer.
She was just beginning to discuss that issue
with her husband when Lamar Trask, the local undertaker, son
of well-known witch hunter the Reverened Trask, and former fiance
of Roxanne Drew, burst into the room, accusing Valerie of being
a witch and shooting her at close range. Barnabas chased
Trask through the house, finally cornering him in the East Wing.
He stabbed Trask with the man's own knife, after suffering a
wound himself. Thinking Trask dead, he left the body to
return to that of his wife, admitting at last that he had indeed
loved her, and had been unable to admit it to himself.
Trask's body was never found, and it was believed that he had
crawled off to look for help, probably dying from loss of blood.
Julia decided to return to England with her
brother, who was now a heartbroken, pitiful shell of the man
he had been. Once back at the Hall, Julia found herself
fighting daily to prevent Barnabas from becoming a total recluse,
at last reminding him that as the only male Collins, the line
would die out if he didn't marry and have a son. The appeal
to his sense of family duty worked, and in 1846, he married the
daughter of a neighboring landowner, one Victorine Prescott,
only child of the Earl of Prescott, lately deceased. Victorine
was only twenty, a shy, quiet brunette, the exact opposite of
the type of woman that Valerie had been. But the marriage
endured until the death of Victorine during the birth of her
only child: James Collins, born in late 1847. After
the death of his second wife, Barnabas became wholly concerned
with his business, leaving Julia the task of rearing young James.
As a result, the child had a very lonely childhood,
surrounded by older adults almost without exception. He
was well educated, and was quick to learn his father's business
upon the death of his father in 1867. James married Virginia
Hemphill in the fall of 1868, and a year later, their son was
born. James, at his Aunt Julia's request, named his son
Barnabas. James and Virginia were killed while at sea,
in 1880, leaving Barnabas in the care of his seventy-five year
old great aunt Julia.
Julia died in the summer of 1895. Barnabas was devastated
by the loss of his aunt, having grown up listening with rapt
attention to her stories about the family, especially about Collinwood,
and the family there.
All alone in the world, he made the decision
to pay his cousins in America a visit -and reluctantly agreed
to take his fiancee-named, oddly enough, Angelique du Bois, along,
with the hope of convincing her that they weren't suited.
He distrusted her for so many reasons: her name, the fact
that she strongly resembled the woman who had been his grandfather's
first wife, knowing that she was fascinated with the black arts,
and the knowledge that he didn't love her. They had met
soon
after his aunt's death, and she had, in his opinion, trapped
him into asking her to marry him by creating a compromising situation.
Upon their arrival in New York, she met some
old friends, and suggested they remain in the city for a time.
But Barnabas saw his opportunity to arrive at Collinwood without
her in tow, and told her that she was free to follow him when
she decided she was ready, and left her to travel north.
Upon his arrival in Collinsport, Barnabas
found himself the victim of a kidnapper, who bore a remarkable
resemblance to himself. The man kept Barnabas locked up,
returning upon occassion to ask questions, then would leave again.
Barnabas spent many months in captivity, until one day, he found
a way to escape. Weakened and ill, he found someone to
help, only to be treated with fear and loathing. The kidnapper
had done some terrible things to people, and although he had
apparently been caught and destroyed, there were some of the
family who weren't as certain of that fact, so Barnabas was forced
to prove his identity.
Welcomed at last, he discovered that Angelique
had arrived and had broken off her engagement to him-or rather
the imposter, and was planning to marry one of his cousins.
This suited Barnabas quite well, because he had met a young woman
who was staying at Collinwood as the guest of Edward Collins.
She was the widow of the Earl of Hampshire, Katherine Soames,
or, as most called her, Lady Kitty.
Barnabas fell deeply, irrevocably in love
for the first time in his life. He knew that Edward wanted
to marry Kitty, but he met with her secretly, tried to convince
her that their meeting was fated to happen. She bore a
resemblance to the portrait of the woman that his ancestor,
Barnabas, had brought from Martinique to become his bride and
never married -Josette du Pres Collins, and this Barnabas felt
that it was indeed a sign that they were meant to be together.
After much confusion
and uncertainty, Lady Kitty was forced to agree that he was right,
and the two of them left Collinwood together, marrying
on the ship that took them back to England.
They returned to the Hall, and in 1900, Kitty
gave birth to James. Sarah was born in 1905, and in 1910,
Richard was born. Kitty's death in 1922 sent Barnabas into
a black pit of depression from which he never escaped until his
own death three years later, in 1925. Sarah died a year
later from diptheria, an event with deeply affected her younger
brother, Richard. He resented James' high handedness when
it came to trying to run his life, and left the Hall on his twenty
first birthday, in 1931, to join the army, leaving behind his
childhood sweetheart, Evelyn Carrington. Richard
didn't return to the Hall until 1835, to tell his brother that
he was going to the Far East, and with the intent of asking Evelyn
to marry him if she was still unattached. She wasn't. Evelyn
had married James a year previous to Richard's return.
Furious, Richard tried to make her admit that
she still loved him, and even kidnapped her for a few days, hiding
her away in an old abbey in which they had often played as children.
When James caught up with them, he threatened to see Richard
in jail, but Evelyn convinced him that no harm had been done,
and Richard left the Hall, never to return. He was killed
when his aircraft crashed in early 1936. Evelyn gave
birth to a son nine months after her kidnapping by Richard.
Barnabas was
offically the son of James Collins, but a letter left by Evelyn
Collins, and an almost obscured entry in her personal Bible,
all give the name of Barnabas' father to be Richard. When
the letter and entry were discovered upon her death by her own
hand in 1940, James was furious, and as a result, relations between
himself and Barnabas were never what they should have been.
Evelyn's sister, Edith, came to the Hall to
take care of Barnabas, trying to escape a bad marriage.
Her husband broke into the Hall one evening, attacking her, and
was shot by James. Edith discovered that she was going
to have a child by her dead husband, and James made the decision
to marry her to quiet the gossips in the village close to the
Hall. Adam Collins was born in 1941, was raised as Barnabas'
brother for the first eighteen years of his life, but upon Edith's
death in 1959, James began to constantly remind the two that
while Barnabas would one day inherit the entire Collins estate,
Adam would get nothing-since he wasn't really a Collins at all.
Barnabas tried his best to make Adam understand that James wasn't
well, that Edith's death had somehow affected his mind, but Adam
only became angry and hurt. Barnabas convinced his father
to allow Adam to learn the business, making him assistant general
manager, under Barnabas, and everyone seemed to be happy.
James decided that it was time Barnabas marry, and arranged a
marriage that would be financially advantageous-the recently
orphaned daughter of another shipyard owner, Leah Compton.
While Barnabas didn't feel that he was ready
for marriage yet, he did agree to become engaged to Leah in 1961,
in the belief that he would come to care for her. She was
a sweet, quiet, obediant girl, just turned twenty, quite a suitable
choice to be the wife of the heir to the Collins fortune, and
who hated living at the Hall. She insisted it was haunted,
that she had seen ghosts in the mists when the fog rolled in
from the sea. In 1962, while on a business trip to London,
Barnabas was introduced to a woman he would later describe as
"the most beautiful creature I have ever laid eyes
on".
Angelique Bouchet was a rising young model,
blonde, blue eyed-every bit as exciting as Barnabas had always
thought that the Angelique whose portrait hung at Collinwood
must have been. He was so infatuated that he ignored his
father's threats of disinheritance and eloped with Angelique
to Gretna Green in 1962.
Upon their return to the Hall, James showed
his son a report he had done on Angelique, a report that inferred
that Angelique was a fortune hunter, only looking for a wealthy
husband, with possible connections to the black arts. Angelique
tried to explain to Barnabas, to tell him that the report was
mostly lies, but Barnabas was suspicious. James kept forcing
Barnabas into Leah's company, constantly pointing out what a
perfect couple his son and the girl made, angering Angelique.
After another arguement with Barnabas about
Angelique, James suffered a mild stroke that left him bedridden,
and left Barnabas with a load of guilt. He began to spend
less time with his wife, and more with Leah. Adam became
Angelique's only friend at the Hall during those days, her confidant,
her secret admirer.
Angelique decided to try and confront James,
and was in his room when he had another attack. Barnabas,
finding her in the room, and his father near death, ordered her
out of the Hall, saying he would see the marriage ended.
Angelique left, saying that she would be glad to see the last
of the Hall and the Collins family. She used the money
that Barnabas gave her to hire a solicitor who advertized that
he specialized in quiet, discreet, divorces. By the end
of 1963, the marriage was apparently ended, and James insisted
that Barnabas and Leah marry as soon as possible. Barnabas,
still hurting from the failure of his marriage to Angelique,
agreed to set a wedding date for June of that year. He
saw Angelique during a visit to London, and suggested they remain
friends, and Angelique agreed to the suggestion, wished him well
on his forthcoming marriage. Before Barnabas returned to
the Hall, Leah recieved a telephone call from Angelique, informing
her that the real reason Barnabas had ended the marriage
was that he needed a blind to his father from discovering the
truth. That she and Barnabas were still seeing each other,
and that the divorce had been necessary for Barnabas to inherit
the estate. Angelique told Leah that Barnabas was only
marrying her because it was what James wanted him to do, and
that once James was dead, he would send Leah packing -or find
some way to be rid of her-and then bring Angelique back to the
Hall, where she belonged.
Upon Barnabas' return, Leah questioned Barnabas
about where he had gone and who he had seen in London, finally
asking him if he had seen Angelique. He tried to lie, but
Leah could see the truth, and was devastated by the knowledge
that the man she adored and trusted above all others could use
her in such a horrible fashion. James took a turn for the
worse, having his final, fatal stroke in April, 1963. Now
in control of the Hall and the remainder of the estate, Barnabas
set aside a trust for Adam, since James had indeed treated his
second legal son as no better than an employee or servant in
his will. Leah became more frightened by the day, expecting
Barnabas to toss her out in favor of Angelique, except that she
discovered that in order to be in full control of the estate,
he had to marry Leah within a year of his father's death.
On the eve of her marriage to Barnabas, Leah accidentally
picked up the telephone and intercepted a telephone call
from Angelique to Barnabas. Although the call was a quite
innocent one, the idea was planted in Leah's mind that she was
being used, and to her mind, there was only one means to prevent
that from continuing. Death. Barnabas, having realized
that Leah had overheard part of the conversation with Angelique,
followed her out to the cliffs near the Hall, and was trying
to reason with her, to reassure her, when she lost her footing
and fell to her death.
Barnabas confronted Angelique with the story
that Leah had told him before she fell, and she was forced to
admit her part in the girl's death. Barnabas was furious,
said he could never forgive her for what she had done.
But Angelique was too deep in his blood for that statement to
ever become truth. In 1965, the Hall was struck by lightning
during a particulary fierce storm, and was burned to the ground.
Barnabas set up a household in London's Kerdogan Square, seeing
no reason to try and
rebuild the family estate. Adam remained nearby to oversee
the operation of the family's business interests in the area.
While in London, Barnabas recieved a visit from Angelique, who
told him how sorry she had been to hear about the Hall, and apologizing
for her part in Leah's death. His anger abated, Barnabas
accepted her apology, and suggested again that they remain friends.
Angelique again agreed, and he informed her that he was going
to America, to meet his cousins there, perhaps to settle in the
Old House, to which family still held the deed-one of the few
papers of the first Barnabas Collins to escape the fire.
Angelique promised to write him, and they went their separate
ways. Barnabas went to visit Adam, informing him of the
decision to go to Collinsport, telling Adam that he was needed
there in England to take care of the business, and that, perhaps,
in a year or so, Adam could come to Collinsport for a visit if
Barnabas decided to stay on there.
Unfortunately, Barnabas had fallen into his
father's habit of not thinking about Adam as a true Collins,
so he felt that Adam would have no need to get to know the American
cousins. They were cousins on their mothers' side rather
than brothers, for all having been raised as siblings.
Adam was the poor relation, having no money save that which Barnabas
saw fit to give him, and he began to chafe at the restriction
his position placed upon him, his anger and resentment
growing worse every day.
Barnabas arrived at Collinwood in 1966, and
found himself immediately beset by a strange illness that had
seemed to strike all male members of his family at some point
during their lifetime. It was marked by an inability to
tolerate sunlight, keeping them confined to the indoors during
the day, coupled with a strange lethargy during those hours,
which caused them to sleep all day and be wide awake at night.
It was a remnant of a curse which had supposedly been placed
on the first Barnabas by his wife just prior to his departure
for England. She eventually removed the curse, but not
comepletely. Each succeeding male generation was
forced to endure the same symptoms -temporarily, and for differing
amounts of time for each person. It seldom lasted more
than a year, and usually required the care of a doctor to ensure
that the anemia, which was another symptom, didn't become fatal.
Barnabas was able to continue to function,
just barely, but was falling victim to other, less acceptable
-and terrfying- symptoms of the illness, when he had the good
fortune to meet Dr. Julia Hoffman, the eminent hematologist and
psychiatrist. She was visiting Collinwood to research the
family history, and the two met through their shared interest
in that subject. Dr. Hoffman, once she discovered Barnabas'
illness, began to work on trying to help him, albeit secretly,
since Barnabas did not wish to alarm his American cousins about
his illness. In 1967, Dr. Hoffman, with the assistance
of Dr. Eric Lang, acheived a remission of the illness, which
Dr. Hoffman had discovered to be a strange virus in the bloodstream,
which would remain dormant until something triggered it.
She surmised that something at Collinwood had set it off, like
a switch turning on a light. Also in 1967, after his offer
of marriage to the governess of his youngest Cousin had been
refused, Barnabas made the decision to return to England.
He wrote Adam, telling him that since he was returning to England,
Adam would be more than welcome to visit Collinwood.
Adam, seeing this as an acceptance of his
status as a Collins, was delighted, and began to make plans to
leave England. But on the very eve of his departure, Barnabas
called, informing him that he had decided to remain in Collinsport,
and that Adam would need to stay in England after all.
Adam's disappointment led him to lose his temper with Barnabas,
something he had never done before, and he informed his "employer"
of exactly what he could do with the position Adam held, then
vanished from sight. There was no trace of Adam Collins
anywhere, and Barnabas was concerned, hiring an investigator
to try and locate him.
The only lead anyone had was a strange, scarred
young man who appeared from nowhere one day, begging food at
the Old House. He seemed to have no memory, couldn't even
speak, and looked -except for the scars- almost exactly like
Barnabas' cousin Adam. He began fear that Adam had had
an accident, and had come to him out of instinct for assistance.
Barnabas even called the man by his cousin's name. He and
this "Adam" had a falling out, becoming more enemy
than friend, and after several months in which "Adam"
learned how to talk and survive on his own, with no trace of
his memory returning, "Adam" vanished as quickly and
thoroughly as Barnabas' cousin in England had done. The
investigator was let go when he failed to turn up any hard evidence
regarding the location of either man, and Barnabas decided that
he would simply have to live with the mystery of his cousin's
disappearance.
During that same summer of 1967, Barnabas
received a cryptic note from Angelique, which informed him that
her twin sister and brother might be en route to Collinsport
to try and suceed where they believed she had failed, warning
him to be careful, especially of her brother. Her sister,
Cassandra, arrived at Collinwood as the new bride of Barnabas'
cousin, Roger Collins. Barnabas confronted her privately
on several occassions, informing her that he was aware of who
she was and that he would be watching her closely. Afraid,
Cassandra left Collinwood without a word, and during her absence,
her brother, Nicholas Blair arrived. Cassandra returned,
only to leave again a few weeks later, after realizing that her
brother's plan to force Barnabas to fall in love with her was
not going to work. Nicholas was furious, and sent for Angelique.
She refused to come at first, insisting that Barnabas was a lost
cause. Nicholas told her he had another plan, and she came-only
to discover that his plan entailed her hiding in the house he
had rented and falling victim to the same illness that had afflicted
Barnabas upon his arrival at Collinwood. She very nearly
forced Barnabas into a relapse of his own illness before Julia
Hoffman was able to get him away from Collinwood and to her private
clinic, Wyndecliffe Sanitarium, some miles from the village.
Angelique and Nicholas left Collinsport, Angelique having found
a way to end her illness and thus freeing herself from her brother's
hold over her. She swore never to have anything to do with
him or Cassandra again, writing Barnabas to that effect.
In 1970, while searching for a painting, Julia
Hoffman discovered that Angelique was now married to Sky Rumsen,
and living just up the coast from Collinwood. During a
family crisis, she was forced to tell Barnabas about this fact,
and Barnabas, still trying to help his cousins, paid Angelique
a visit. Rumsen was unaware of the prior marriage of his
wife to Barnabas, and Barnabas didn't tell him about it.
He asked Angelique's help, and she reluctantly gave it-until
she discovered that the man
responsible for her new husband's business success was none other
than her brother, Nicholas. Upon Nicholas' arrival, she
left Sky, returning to Barnabas, seeking solace in her rekindled
feelings for him. But Barnabas sent her to Collinwood,
and became even more deeply embroiled in the family's troubles.
During this time he experienced a recurrance
of the illness that Julia had believed finished, and she began
to work to bring about another remission. After the family's
troubles were resolved, Barnabas took a short trip to England
to sell his business concerns there, and when he returned, Angelique
had left Collinwood to resume her modeling career.
In early 1971, Barnabas, in remission once
again, purchased and reopened the local shipyards, and one day
while reading the London paper, he discovered that the solicitor
which Angelique had hired to obtain their divorce had been revealed
to be a charlatan, taking money from distraught women and pretending
to file the necessary papers, even going so far as to create
false documents, while pocketing the money. Barnabas was
still legally married to Angelique, and he saw it as a second
chance for them to try again. He began a search for Angelique.
A letter from her arrived, informing him that she had decided
that this would be her final missive, that she was going to put
her past totally behind her and start a new life. She asked
that he not try to contact her or see her ever again. The
idea of that was unacceptable to Barnabas, and he decided to
do just the opposite: he made plans to go to the Paris
address that was on her letter.
But on the eve of his departure, he received
word that Angelique had been killed in a hotel fire in Rome.
He was devastated by the news, and Julia, now his best friend
and confidant, was forced to admit him to Wyndecliffe for his
own protection. While there, Barnabas met young Amy Jennings,
the thirteen year old sister of a friend of his. Amy's
brother and wife had met sudden, violent ends, and she was being
treated for shock. Seeing Barnabas was the best medicine
in the world for the
child, and for Barnabas as well. He had given his word
to Amy's brother to take care of her if it ever became
necessary, and so he became Amy's legal guardian. The two
of them returned to Collinwood, with Amy living at the Old House,
which she quickly renamed Collins House, but taking her lessons
at the main house with young David Collins.
Barnabas Collins and his ward, Amy Jennings,
are presently residing at Collins House on the Collins estate
in Maine.. Barnabas has no current plans to remarry.
-
- NOTE: This article was compiled from
papers and information provided by Barnabas
- Collins, and his assistance is greatly appreciated.
Collins
Family
English
branch, established 1796
m.1796
|
Barnabas-----Angelique Bouchard
b.1770
| b.1774
d.1837
| d.1825
_______|______
m.1836
|
|
|
Julia
Barnabas-----Valerie du Bois
b.1805
b.1815
b.1820
d.1895
d.1867
d.1841
m.1846
--|--Victorine Prescott
| b.1826
| d.1847
|
| m.1868
| |
James-----Virginia Hemphill
b.1847 | b.1848
d.1880 | d.1880
|
| m.1897
| |
Barnabas-----Katherine (Kitty) Soames
b.1869 | b.1873
d.1925 | d.1922
|
m.1834
|
____|___________|____________________________
|
|
|
James-----Evelyn Carrington
Sarah
Richard
b.1900 | b.1912
b.1905
b.1910
d.1963 | d.1940
d.1926
d.1936
|
| m.1962
| |
Barnabas-----Angelique Bouchet
b.1936 b.1942
Barnabas' ward-Amy Jennings
(Father- d.1971 (unconfirmed)
b.1958
Richard)
m.1942
|
James ------Edith Carrington Blake
(2nd | b.1915
wife) | d.1957
|
Adam Blake Collins
b.1942
(Father-George Blake)
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