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'''Antoine Collins''' (possibly also known Also seen documented as '''Antonio''' and '''Anthony''') was an early resident of territorial Florida during the [[antebellum period]] who operated the [[Collins Hotel]] along with his wife and served as [[Escambia County Sheriff]] from [[1847]] to [[1851]]. He also served on the city's [[Board of Aldermen]] in [[1834]], [[1847]] and [[1848]].<ref>[http://www.flgenhistonline.com/counties/escambia/people/aldermen.htm List of Aldermen]</ref>

==Family==Antoine Collins was born 1780approximately 1785<ref name=age>[His age in the 1850 census is listed as 63, in 1820 it is 40, and in 1860 it is 67 . His age on the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania death record states his age is 80 in 1865.Year: 1850; Census Place: Pensacola, Escambia, Florida; Roll: M432_58; Page: 131A; Image: 257,Year: 1860; Census Place: The Country, Escambia, Florida; Roll: M653_106; Page: 418; Image: 423; Family History Library Film: 803106,Ancestry.com. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Death Certificates Index, 1803-1915 [database on-1785 line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.Original data:"Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Death Certificates, 1803–1915." Index. FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2008, 2010. From originals housed at the Philadelphia City Archives. "Death Records."]</ref> in Mississippi Territory, West Florida, Spanish Territory. It is not clear when he emigrated to Pensacola, Florida (likely with Francisco Collins, another resident of the city, who names a son Antonio). By 1810 he had married Mary Pyburn,<ref name=jen> [This information is obtained from two sources. It Mary's maiden name is listed as Paiban in the 1821 1820 Spanish Census of Pensacola, as transcribed by Coker, William S. "Spanish Census of Pensacola 1784-1820". It is also found in an article in the Pensacola Journal, April 2nd, 1905, Second Section, in an article by I. E. Allen http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87062268/1905-04-02/ed-1/seq-9/;words=Pyburn+Marie+Marys?date1=1836&date2=1922&searchType=advanced&lccn=sn87062268&proxdistance=5&rows=20&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=&andtext=mary+pyburn&dateFilterType=yearRange&index=1]</ref> the daughter of Tensaw settlement pioneers Jacob and Frances Pyburn.<ref name=jen2> [Baptism of Mary Pyburn at home of her mother Francis Pyburn, American Nov 5, 1788. Records at Archdiocese of Mobile. Date of birth September 1784.] </ref> Her father, Jacob Pyburn signed an oath December 1784 to the Spanish King <ref name=jen3> [Holmes, Jack D. (1971) "The Alabama Historical Quarterly, Vol33 No. 2" pp87-97, Birmingham:Alabama Historical Society http://digital.archives.alabama.gov/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/quarterly&CISOPTR=1069&REC=6]</ref> and is listed as a resident on the 1785 and 1786 Spanish Censuses for Tensaw.<ref name=jen4> [Feldman, Lawrence H. "Angloamericans in Spanish Archives", Genealogical Publishing, 1991. Lists residents for 1785 under Louisiana Tensas]</ref> and his wife is found in the 1787 and 1789 Spanish Census for the areas, as well as in the American State Papers, Volume 1, for a land claim under the name of Francis "Fanny" Steele. Frances Pyburn, nee Mullis married William Steele November 22, 1798. <ref name=jen5> [Records at the Archdiocese of Mobile, Mobile Alabama.] </ref>

Antonio Antoine Collins purchased Phoebe Turvin's land shortly after it was affirmed in 1831 by the United States Government.<ref name=jen8> [Spanish land grants are digitalized online at http://www.floridamemory.com/collections/spanishlandgrants/ Spanish Land Grantsand indexed by name. The information is also in Volume 3 of the American State Papers, Land records, available in most libraries, which is also indexed (available online)Chelsea Title and guarantee company, 2 pages, Land Commissioners to Phoebe Turvin, Phoebe Turvin to Antonio Collins.]</ref>. The location of his plantation, and that of Phoebe's is north of the city of Pensacola. The term the Antoine Collins and Phoebe Turvin Grant is still used to refer to the geographical areas of the original land patentsand is located near the modern day town of Molino. <ref name=land>[The land that Phoebe Pyburn Turvin sold to Antonio Collins was bordered by the Francisco Collins grant and if further north. Both the Antonio Collins Grant and Francisco Collins Grant have GNIS coordinates.]</ref>

Newspaper accounts reported nationwide the fire at the hotel run by Mary Pyburn the Collins in 1841, and then again in 1852 when the plantation also had their was a second firethis time at their home. Census records indicate that Mary Pyburn <ref name=fire>[New Bedford Register, New Bedford, Massachusetts, March 10, 1841, also in the Times Picayune, New Orleans, Louisiana, February 25, 1841, and her sonseveral others in 1841. Daily National Intelligencer, Antoine CollinsWashington, JrD.C. owned slaves, but Antoine himself did notOctober 28, 1852, picked up from the Mobile Advertiser on October 19th. The 1860 United States Census for Escambia County also shows ]</ref> In 1841 after the first fire, Mary and Antoine Collins net worth as $ 500 for private property in 1860moved the hotel to their plantation, named Live Oaks <ref name="jenny"/>, but his wife Mary had a net worth of $8000 real estate and $14000 for private propertyrebuilt the hotel. His daughter Cecelia<ref name=rebuild>[Times Picayune, New Orleans, July 29, 1858 mentions a man leaping out of a window at this time the wife of Francis NortonCollins Hotel]</ref> According to I. E. Allen, is listed with private property valued at $1500the hotel was called the St. Mary Hotel. The balls he mentioned were also carried in newspapers as far away as .

Census records for 1850 and 1860 indicate that Mary Pyburn and her son, Antoine Collins, Jr. owned slaves, but that Antoine Collins Sr. did not. The 1860 United States Census for Escambia County also shows Antoine Collins net worth as $ 500 for private property in 1860, but his wife Mary had a net worth of $8000 real estate and $14000 for private property. His daughter Cecelia, at this time the wife of Francis Norton, is listed with private property valued at $1500. Perhaps bringing truth to the words penned by resident I. A. Allen in the Pensacola Journal, that "his wife was said to be a long ways better man than he." r\<ref name=jenny>[Pensacola Journal, April 2nd, 1905, Second Section, in an article by I. E. Allen http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87062268/1905-04-02/ed-1/seq-9/;words=Pyburn+Marie+Marys?date1=1836&date2=1922&searchType=advanced&lccn=sn87062268&proxdistance=5&rows=20&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=&andtext=mary+pyburn&dateFilterType=yearRange&index=1]</ref>  The son of Antoine Collins, Antoine J. Collins, killed Charles Winters in a bar fight in October 1853. He then escaped the Pensacola jail and fled to Texas.<ref name=murder>Times Picayune, New Orleans, Louisiana, October 5, 1853, and Daily Alabama Journal, Montgomery, Alabama November 9, 1853. ==Lifetime Events of Note==Antoine Collins provided information on the British to the Americans during the War of 1812.<ref name=spy>[Jackson, Andrew; Smith, Sam B; Owsley, Harriet;Moser, Harold (1996) Tennessee:University of Tennessee, p305 and 507 http://books.google.com/books?id=lBedSM3L4qIC&pg=PA305&dq=antoine+collins+pensacola&hl=en&sa=X&ei=AHX2T8HRLsqqrQGg6ayLCQ&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=antoine%20collins%20pensacola&f=false</ref> In one anecdote, [[Wikipedia:Uriah P. Levy|Uriah P. Levy]], then commander of the war sloop ''Vandalia'', was in Pensacola and called Collins "a damned blackguard," after which Collins proceeded "to wring his [Levy's] nose severely, without [Levy] making any resistance." For this, Levy was charged with cowardice by his commanding officer.<refname= insult>James E. Vale. ''Rocks and Shoals: Naval Discipline in the Age of Fighting Sail''. Naval Institute Press, 1996.</ref>