Henry Watkins Collier, governor of Alabama, was born in Lunenburg county, Va., Jan. 17, 1801; son of James and Elizabeth (Bouldin) Collier; grandson of Cornelius and Elizabeth (Wyatt) Collier, and of James and Sally (Watkins) Bouldin; and great-grandson of John Collier of Little York, Va., who was either a native of England or the son of an Englishman. Soon after his birth his parents removed to Abbeville district, S. C., where he received his primary education, and in 1818 removed with the family to Madison county, Ala., was admitted to the bar in 1822, and practised law at Huntsville until 1823, when he located in Tuscaloosa. He was married in 1826 to Mary Williams Battle. In 1827 he was elected a representative in the state legislature. In 1828 he was elected to the supreme bench and in 1832 was continued on the circuit bench. He was appointed associate justice of the supreme court of the state in 1836 and became chief justice in 1837. In 1849, upon his election as governor of Alabama, he resigned from the bench. He was re-elected governor in 1851, almost without opposition. He died at Bailey's Springs, Ala., Aug. 28, 1855

The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans 1904

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