Sutter-Yuba County Biographies


This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm



 
JOHN S. COLLINS
 
An enterprising leader in the Northern California industrial world is John S. 
Collins, the proprietor of the busy Empire Foundry & Machine Works, at 426 F 
Street, Marysville.  He was born at Clunes, Victoria, Australia, on June 6, 
1863, the son of Henry Collins, who was a native of Cornwall, England, and 
emigrated to Australia, where he was a pioneer miner at Clunes and Ballarat, in 
the Province of Victoria.  He was married in Australia to Jane Ewans, a native 
of London, England, who had come to Australia with her parents.  Grandfather 
Robert Evans was an Englishman and served as a commissioned officer in the 
Queen�s Own Regiment until he resigned to move to Australia, where he spent the 
rest of his life.  In 1868 Henry Collins brought his family to California, and 
followed mining in Grass Valley, later removing to Virginia City, Nev.  There he 
was a miner on the Comstock lode, continuing there until he passed to his 
reward, in 1888.  His widow survives him and makes her home with our subject in 
Marysville, where she is surrounded by her children.  Now in her eighty-third 
year, she is still hale and hearty, and a devoted member of the Episcopal 
Church.
The oldest of a family of eleven children, seven of whom are now living, John S. 
Collins came to California when a lad of five years.  His youth was spent at 
Grass Valley and at Virginia City, Nev., where he received his education in the 
public schools.  So it came about that in Virginia City, with all its 
interesting traditions, John Collins learned the trade of foundryman, at which 
he worked until he came to San Francisco, where he was employed in the Union 
Iron Works and also in the Risdon Iron Works.  He came to Marysville in 1900, 
and was foreman for the Empire Foundry for ten years.  In 1910 he bought the 
plant, its business and good-will, and has been both proprietor and manager ever 
since.  This foundry is one of the oldest in the State, having been established 
in 1858 by Mr. Hosking, who was the inventor of the Hydraulic Giant made in his 
foundry and used in pioneer days, and named after the inventor, the Hosking 
Giant.  The foundry passed from one owner to another before it came into the 
possession and management of Mr. Collins, who has made great improvements, 
building a new shop fronting on F Street, and installing a modern and up-to-date 
machine shop, after which he changed the name to the Empire Foundry & Machine 
Works.  The Empire Foundry is one of the oldest industries in the city, and is 
known from one end of the world to the other.  He still manufactures the 
Hydraulic Giants, and the foundry�s products have been shipped to South Africa, 
Mexico, South America, Australia, Alaska, Siberia and Siam.  The Empire Foundry 
and the old Marysville Woolen Mills are known wherever man has mined for gold 
and have done more to place Marysville on the world map than any other of the 
city�s industries.
Owing to the industrial importance of his enterprise, Mr. Collins has filled an 
important place in Sacramento Valley�s commercial and financial activities; and 
both town and county have found in him one of the most enthusiastic �boosters� 
for the locality in which he lives and prospers.  He is interested in the 
historic past, and is committed to a faith in the promising future of this part 
of the Golden State; and it is safe to say that both he and his ever-interesting 
establishment will continue to play a more and more prominent role in the 
development of California.
Fraternally, Mr. Collins is a member of the Elks, belonging to Marysville Lodge, 
No. 783; and he is also affiliated with the Woodmen of the World.
 
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p 1035