Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

in 1819, in the town of Skibbereen. From
very early times the O'Collinses were
eminent in church and state. In 1657
John Collins, a native of Kilfenora and a
Dominican friar, suffered martyrdom for
his faith at the hands of Oliver Cromwell's
troopers. Michael Collins, Bishop of
Cloyne and Ross, died in 1832. William
Collins, "the finest poet England has produced,"
was, though a native of England,
of Irish extraction. Of the Cork family
was the late Stephen Collins, Esquire,
Q. C, whose son, John T. Collins, Esq.,
barrister-at-law, was (1887) its chief rep-
resentative. There are now several highly
respectable families of this name and race
in the counties of Cork, Limerick, Louth,
Down, Tyrone, Dublin, Clare and Tipperary.
A few families of this name, long
settled in Ireland, are regarded as of Eng-
lish extraction. About 165 1 a cadet of
a Cornish Collins family (probably
founded in Cornwall by an off-shoot of
the family of the lords of Lower Con-
nello who migrated from Ireland in the
thirteenth century) acquired property and
settled in County Galway. His descendants
intermarried from time to time with
members of the Blake, French, Daly,
Kelly, McMahon and Fitzgerald families,
Lord Clare Fitzgerald being governor of
West Australia for eight years.
Andrew J. Collins was born November
22, 1881, in Danbury, Connecticut, and
was a son of Andrew M. and Bridget
(Keating) Collins. Mr. Collins, Sr., is
still a resident of Danbury (1921). The
education of Andrew J. Collins was ob-
tained in public and parochial schools of
his native town, and he was fitted for a
business career by a commercial course
at a business college, also in Danbury.
After completing his studies, Mr. Col-
lins learned the hatter's trade, but within
a short time turned his attention to un-
dertaking and embalming, in which he
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312
took a course of instruction. In 1904 he
organized the A. J. Collins Company and
began business as an undertaker and fur-
niture dealer in a little store 20x20 feet
on South Main street, South Norwalk.
The floor space was piled high with fur-
niture of the period, and there was about
the place an atmosphere of enterprise and
aggressiveness which contrasted with the
more conservative aspect of the older
furniture houses. Almost from the moment
of opening the doors patronage
flowed in upon the newly-established
firm. Within eight months the business
had outgrown its cramped quarters and
the firm moved to a building on North
Main street.
Since the time of this removal the A. J.
Collins Company has grown with a rapid-
ity almost unparalleled in the history of
Norwalk business enterprises, and is to-
day, in point of floor space and variety
of stock carried, the largest furniture
warehouse between Bridgeport and New
York City. Eventually, larger quarters
again became necessary and in the course
of time almost the entire block, familiarly
known as the "old Ely block," was occu-
pied. Later came the purchase of the
building, which has since borne the name
of the Collins building, and which they
sold in May, 1920, and then purchased the
Harvey block on North Main street,
which they remodeled, and it is now one
of the most attractive structures in the
city, having expansive show windows not
only on the street front, but also on the
two floors above, giving them a floor
space of 30,000 square feet. The building
is all outlined with tapestry brick, thus
producing an effect at once substantial and
pleasing to the eye. An extension on the
rear affords 5,500 additional square feet
of floor space, rendered necessary by the
phenomenal growth of this most aggres-
sive business house.