James Collins tall clock waiting for you as you open the front door.

James Collins is interred in Wolcottville, Indiana, where his gravestone remains. The gravestone records his birth as August 8, 1801, and his death as December 8, 1882. Collins was born in Goffstown, New Hampshire, to Stephen Collins. He married Lucy Knight of Hancock, New Hampshire, who was the daughter of clockmaker Elijah Knight. It is believed that Collins received some clockmaking training from his father-in-law. Reports indicate that Collins traveled periodically to Ashby, Massachusetts, and Providence, Rhode Island, likely for clock-related business. Ashby was a small town, notable primarily for the wooden works clockmaking families of Edwards and Willard. Hundreds of wooden movement tall clocks were produced there. In Goffstown, Collins is listed in various town deeds as a "Husbandman, Yeoman, Silversmith, Jeweler, Watchmaker, and Clockmaker." Collins appears to have left Goffstown in the mid-1840s following Lucy's death in 1844, then relocated to Illinois, possibly Michigan, and later to Fort Wayne, Indiana. A few of his clocks have been identified. Documented examples include Tall Clocks, a New Hampshire Mirror clock, and a full Striking Banjo Clock. The New Hampshire Historical Society holds an example of his work in its collection. Charles Parsons, author of New Hampshire Clocks & Clockmakers, resided in Collins's former house for several years.