| A. J. Collinsworth is a son of B. F. and Elizabeth R. (Mason) Collinsworth, and was born in what is now Crockett County (formerly Gibson) in 1844. He is one of three surviving members of a family of twelve children. The father was of Irish ancestry, born in Davidson County, in 1803. His father, Edward Collinsworth, was a North Carolinian, and came to Tennessee when Nashville was nothing but a fort. B. F. Collinsworth was married in 1824, and in 1828 moved to Gibson County, and settled in what is now the Fourth District of Crockett County. He is yet residing in that district, and in 1835, was elected magistrate. His wife was born in Rutherford County in 1804, and died in 1878. A. J. Collinsworth was educated in the common schools, and in 1862 enlisted in Company I, Forty-seventh Tennessee Infantry, and was severely wounded while on picket duty at Corinth in May, 1862. He returned home on furlough, and was soon after captured by the Federals and paroled, and did not again enter the service. In January, 1871, he married Ella Robinson, and by her became the father of eight children, five of whom are living; John A., Benjamin F., Jr., A. Dean, A. Marvin and Morris J. (twins). Mrs. Collinsworth died in November, 1884, and in January, 1886, Mr. Collinsworth married Bettie, daughter of E. B. and M. A. Raines. Mr. Collinsworth resides on a good farm of 100 acres; beside this he owns 340 acres in other tracts, and 2,000 acres in Texas. In 1878 he was elected sheriff of the county, and was re-elected in 1880. Since that time he has devoted himself to the interest of the farm. He is a Democrat, and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. His brother, James M., served in the Confederate Army, and was taken sick at Madrid Bend, and died at Tiptonville in September, 1861. Another brother, Benjamin F., also served in the Southern Army, and was wounded at Perryville, KY., and in twenty days died from the effects of the wound. |
