Charles Collins and his wife Louisa were members of the Shiloh Community from as early as the summer of 1879, when they bought a 5 ⅞ acre parcel of land from E. E. Hardy. This made Charles and Louisa Collins one of the few families in the Shiloh Community who did not purchase their land directly from Montraville Patton. After the Civil War, Patton began selling large tracts of the land that he inherited to other local, wealthy, and white residents, including J.F.E. Hardy, a physician who claimed ownership of 40 people on the 1860 slave schedule. His son Edwin E. Hardy inherited some of the land, and he in turn sold part of his inheritance to Collins.
In 1877, Hardy left part of this acreage to his son, Edwin E. Hardy.
E.E. Hardy further subdivided his inheritance and sold the remaining land by the 1890s, the Collins being one of the buyers.
Image of Charles Collins from Atlanta Constitution Article, “This Negro Defies Vanderbilt’s Wealth,” The Atlanta Constitution, August 18, 1901.
Later, Charles Collins and his family achieved considerable fame because they were the only residents of Old Shiloh who chose not to sell their land to Charles McNamee, a lawyer working on behalf of George Vanderbilt buying up land to be the location of Vanderbilt’s Asheville estate.
“Views of Western North Carolina/Island near Best/Class B/Beauties of the Swannanoa River” ca 1880s. Best was the name of the area south of downtown Asheville that includes the present day Biltmore Estate and the surrounding area before it became Biltmore Village, and eventually incorporated into Asheville. Image courtesy of Buncombe County Special Collections.
Charles Collins and his wife Louisa lived in a small wooden cabin on their land and maintained a large household. Louisa and Charles raised seven children, all of whom attended school, likely at the Shiloh A.M.E. Zion Church, where Charles Collins was on the board of trustees.
On the 1870 census, Charles and “Laura” - presumably a misinterpretation of Louisa - Collins were listed as being in a household with 6 children and 2 additional adults.
Due to the nature of the 1870 census, there is no description of how these household members were related to Charles and “Laura,” although it would be a safe assumption that the children were indeed their daughters and sons. The 2 adults, Mary Wilson and Billy Collins are more of a mystery, however. Billy Collins was listed as 70 years old, therefore it is possible that he was Charles’ father, or another older relative.
On the 1880 census, Charles Collins was employed as a gardener and Louisa, like many of her women neighbors, was employed as a laundress. Also within this census, the Collins household included 3 daughters and 2 sons. The two youngest sons in the Collins family, James and Charles J, aged 13 and 11, worked as farm hands even though they also attended school in the same year.
In addition to 5 children, the 1880 census also lists 3 additional members of the Collins household as being servants. The Collins family are the only Shiloh residents to list servants in their household. Two of the three people identified as servants on this census also have the last name Collins, which implies a familial relationship, suggesting that perhaps the living and working situation was not a traditional servant arrangement.