Sarah (Sallie) Hurt, daughter of James Mann Hurt, Sr. (1797-1873) and Patsy Marshall (1799-1876) was born in Carroll County, TN on 7 April 1837. She died in Gibson County, TN on 15 April 1908. She married on 20 December, 1860, Elisha Abner Collins, son of William Price Collins and Sophia (Sarah) Ford of Henderson County, TN. Sarah Hurt, Elisha A. Collins and Sophia Ford Collins are all buried in the Collins family plot, Oakwood Cemetery, Milan, Gibson County, TN.

Sarah, the tenth of twelve children, was raised on her father’s farm in Carroll County, TN. On his farm, near McLemoresville, TN, James Mann Hurt Sr. raised tobacco, corn, wheat and hogs. Before the civil war, he owned a number of servants. He ran a tan yard and a shoe shop and built the first ice house in the area. He was a pioneer Baptist preacher at McLemoresville and at Shady Grove in Gibson County, TN. Sarah, therefore, was raised in a religious family, successful in many endeavors.

In 1860, she married Elisha Abner Collins. His father William Price Collins was a missionary Baptist preacher, successful planter and merchant, and was viewed as “probably as well off in this world’s goods as any man in his vicinity”. By 1861 Sarah Hurt Collins and Elisha Abner Collins had moved to the fledgling town of Milan, TN where he became one of the leading merchants of western Tennessee. Along with Sarah’s father, James Mann Hurt, Sr. and others, E.A. Collins founded the Milan Baptist Church in 1866. He helped organize Milan College in 1868 and in 1873 founded the Banking House of E. A. Collins, the first bank established in Gibson County (its modern name is Milan Banking Company). In 1876 Sarah and E. A, Collins moved into their new home in Milan (now on Park Avenue and often called “Milan’s Monticello”). Equipped with running water and electricity, it was the most modern home of its time.

In 1873, her father, James Mann Hurt, Sr. died. In his will stated that his “daughter Sarah Collins wife of E. A. Collins” should share in the “general distribution of the residue of my estate which shall take place immediately after the death of my said wife: Shall all heir equally: Share for Share”

Children

1. Sophie Marshall Collins (b. 30 November 1861, d. 21 May 1862). Buried in McLemoresville, Carroll County, TN.
2. Fred Collins (b. 5 January 1865, d. 13 January 1921). Married 1) Mayme Hutcherson 3 October 1885, children: Carmen Collins and Doris Collins; Married 2) Myrtice Rhodes about 1908, Child: Felix. Fred Collins was a cashier at the Milan bank his father founded in Milan before joining the bank of Commerce in Memphis.
3. Bessie Collins (b. 24 June 1871, d. 21 October 1946) Married Felix E. Walker (b 8 June 1867, d. 22 May 1950. Felix Walker was a successful businessman in Milan. No children.