Vinson Allen Collins

Vinson Allen Collins
Member of the Texas Senate
In office
1910–1914; 1916–1917
Personal details
Born (1867-03-01)March 1, 1867
Hardin County, Texas
Died July 5, 1966(1966-07-05) (aged 99)
Dallas, Texas
Resting place Livingston, Texas
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s)
  • Elizabeth (Lizzie) Hopkins
  • Nannie Kuykendall
Children 6
Parents
  • Warren Collins
  • Eboline Valentine Collins
Alma mater Sam Houston State Normal College
Occupation Schoolteacher, lawyer, politician

Vinson Allen Collins[1][2][3] (1867–1966) was a Texas politician.

Early life

Vinson Allen Collins was born in Hardin County, Texas near Honey Island on March 1, 1867. He was the seventh child of Warren Collins and Eboline Valentine Collins. The Collins family had moved to Texas from Mississippi in 1854.

He graduated from Sam Houston State Normal College (now part of Sam Houston State University) in 1893.

Career

He started his career as a schoolteacher in Big Sandy Independent School District in Polk County, Texas while studying the Law. He was admitted to the State Bar of Texas in 1901 and opened a law practice in Beaumont, Texas.

He served three terms in the Texas Senate (1910–1914, 1916–1917) as a Democrat. He sponsored the law that established a workers' compensation system in Texas and established the Texas Industrial Accident Board, and the law restricting work to eight hours a day. In a race for the United States House of Representatives, he was defeated by Martin Dies, Sr.. In 1924, his campaign for Governor of Texas against Felix D. Robertson and Miriam A. "Ma" Ferguson was unsuccessful and Ferguson was elected.

He was a supporter of prohibition and of women’s suffrage.

Personal life

He was married twice, first to Elizabeth (Lizzie) Hopkins and later to Nannie Kuykendall. He had six children. Carr Collins, Sr., son of V.A. Collins and Lizzie Hopkins, was an insurance executive and philanthropist.

Death

He died in Dallas, Texas on July 5, 1966[4] and is buried in Livingston, Texas.

References

  1. ↑ Texas State Historical Association biography
  2. ↑ Johnson, Frank White, A History of Texas and Texans, 1916
  3. ↑ Norman D. Brown, Hood, Bonnet, and Little Brown Jug: Texas Politics, 1921–1928 (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1984).
  4. ↑ Obituary: Dallas Morning News, July 6, 1966
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