Genea-Bucket List

A new first tonight--responding to Randy Seaver's "Saturday Night Genealogy Fun" challenge as detailed on his Genea-Musings blog at http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/06/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-your-genea.html

What's on my genealogy bucket list?
1. Connect my 3g grandfather, Henry W. COLLINS (1802-1852), to his parents & siblings.
2. Connect my 4g grandfather, Joseph BROOKSHIRE (1764-?) to his parents & siblings.
3. Organize my notes and photos so that they can be easily accessed by my and by others.
4. Publish my genealogy findings in a way that will interest my kids and cousins.
5. Take a leisurely research trip to central and eastern Tennessee, northern Georgia, and southwestern Virginia (NOT during the summer!).
6. Take a trip to Sweden and Finland to visit places both my early ancestors (1600s) and my husband's more recent ancestors (grandparents) lived.
7. Make a presentation at a national or large regional (SCGS Jamboree). So far, my proposals have been totally ignored.

Hmm, that's definitely more than Randy's "3 or more" requirement!

Robert H Collins in Idaho & Oregon

I've been reviewing my notes about dear ol' great-great-grandfather Robert Henry Collins (see previous post) and refining my timeline of his life. I don't have a clue where he was between April 1882 and April 1892, but he wrote back to the local newspaper in Hickory County about once a year from 1902 until about 1914. He moved around a LOT during that period of time, to wit:
12/17/1903     Weiser, Washington Co., Idaho
1/24/1905       Doniphan, Blaine Co., Idaho
1/25/1906       Wood River, Blaine Co., Idaho
9/27/1906       Moscow, Latah Co., Idaho
2/21/1907       Nyssa, Malheur Co., Oregon
1/1/1909         Hailey, Blaine Co., Idaho
1/28/1909 -- 5/?/1909   Hickory Co., Missouri
10/1/1901 -- 1/1/1914   Galata, Toole Co., Montana
11/26/1914      Hailey, Blaine Co., Idaho
11/30/1917      Camas Co., Idaho
3/27/1919 -- 4/6/1924   in or near Weaubleau, Hickory Co., Missouri

I know that his favorite uncle, Jacob BARTSHE (his mother's brother) moved with many family members to Hailey, Blaine Co., Idaho in 1890. In reviewing my BARTSHE records, I see that a number of Susannah Bartshe COLLINS' siblings migrated to the Northwest, including the following:
George Bartshe    died Nov 1916 in Moscow, Latah Co., ID
Jacob Bartshe      died Jan 1918 in Moscow, Latah Co., ID
James Bartshe     died Oct 1919 in Caldwell, Canyon Co., ID
Salma Sarah Bartshe BROOKS     died Sep 1897 in Camas Prairie, Blaine Co., ID
Rebecca Bartshe COOK     died Mar 1931 in Hailey, Blaine Co., ID

In addition, there were many other assorted relatives living in Idaho, including William Early HEARD, whose mother was a sister of R H's first wife's first husband, lived in Hailey and Moscow, Idaho, and married one of Jacob Bartshe's granddaughters. I've found letters between my great-grandmother, Nancy Collins, and William Heard's mother, with Nannie calling her "Aunt Mary", so they were presumably pretty close.

Lots of potential connections! Hopefully I'll find information in the local papers about R H Collins visiting his relatives while looking for work.

Tracking Down Robert Henry Collins

I have been researching my great-great grandfather, Robert Henry Collins, for many, many years, but still can't complete a timeline for him. His father died when he was about 4 years old and his mother was left with Robert plus 6 older children. She then married twice more (outliving all her husbands), each time to men with children. And she had 9 children with her second husband (who brought 9 children to their marriage after his first wife died). The families moved around quite a lot during Robert's childhood, living in Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri (at least).
Robert was born in August 1849 in Benton Co., MO. Census records I have for him are as follows:
1850: Alexander township, Benton Co., MO (with parents)
1860: Sulphur Springs township, Benton Co., AR (with mother & stepfather)
1870: NOT FOUND; not living with mother
1880: Montgomery township, Hickory Co., MO (with wife & children)
1900: Joplin, Jasper Co., MO (with 2nd wife & her kids)
1910: NOT FOUND
1920: Collins, St. Clair Co., MO (living alone)
I've spent years reading the local Hickory Co. newpapers trying to track this guy down. His notes that accompanied his subscription payments were often published, indicating that he spent considerably time in Idaho, Oregon and Montana (homesteaded 1910-1914).
Family stories say that after his first wife died in April 1882, Robert dumped his three surviving children and a stepson on various "kin" in Hickory Co., MO, and took off. He resurfaces in Hickory Co. in 1892 when he signs an affidavit for his stepdaughter's pension file, then disappears again. He returns in 1896 and marries a widow with 4 children, with whom he lives until 1902 in Hickory and Jasper counties, Missouri. Starting in 1903 there are intermittent newspaper reports that Robert Collins was living in Weiser, Doniphan, Wood River, Moscow and Hailey, Idaho; Nyssa, Oregon; back in Hickory Co. (1909), and then homesteading near Galata, Toole Co., Montana (1910-1914). He returned to Hailey, ID in 1914 and was living in Camas Co., ID in 1917. By March 1919 he was back in Hickory Co., MO and apparently stayed near his eldest daughter (who lived in Weaubleau, MO; my great-grandmother) until his death in 1924.
I will be heading to Boise, ID in a couple of weeks for a couple of days and am hoping to find mentions of R H Collins in newspapers for the various localities. Hope springs eternal!