Willy Collins came to Holyoke, Massachusetts with his parents somewhere between 1885 and 1887 at about the age of seven. Amanda Gagnon immigrated to Holyoke, Massachusetts as a single young woman in 1904 at about the age of 19. They married within two years of Amanda’s arrival in the United States. As a young man, Willy worked as a painter, but he would eventually invest in two apartment buildings on Franklin Street in Holyoke through a loan obtained from his father. Willy was a man of many talents, but perhaps the master of none. When he first met Amanda, he was a milk deliverer. Over the years he worked as a baker, doing castings at a foundry, and at various types of farming in both Granby and Westfield, Massachusetts. In the 1910 U.S. Census Willy and Amanda are residing in Granby, Massachusetts where he is running a general farm. Over the years, Amanda would give birth to seven children but only four would live beyond infancy. In the 1910 census we find that Willy and Amanda are living with their one-year-old son Charles, but it is noted in the census records that Amanda had given birth to two children but only one remained alive.

In the 1920 U.S. Census records we find the growing young family on Olen Street in Chicopee, Massachusetts. Willy is working as a moulder for a knitting company. Amanda is at home with their four children: Charles, age 11; Cecile, age 9; Germaine, age 6; and Andre, age 4. In the 1930 U.S. Census records we find Amanda living on Canal Street in Holyoke, Massachusetts with three of her children: Charles, age 21; Germaine, age 17; and Andre, age 14. Amanda works at home as a laundress and Charles works in a tool shop as a wrapper. Cecile is no longer at home. She married 18 June 1928 John Elmer Dean and they live on Main Street in Holyoke, with their nearly two-year old son Douglas and John’s mother Lillian Spenlinhauer Dean. We find Willy (William) Collins, age 51, residing alone on Water Street in Holyoke. His occupation is listed as painter, odd jobs. 

Not much is known of Willy’s life. The records reveal little other than a man who was continually changing jobs and eventually living apart from his family. According to his eldest grandson, he never met his grandfather until he was around ten years old and then never saw him again until toward the end of his life when he would visit him occasionally at his ramshackle chicken farm in Westfield, Massachusetts. Willy claimed that he only went to school one day of his life and decided from then on that it wasn’t for him. He never learned to properly read or write. Willy spent the latter years of his life in Westfield, Massachusetts where he raised roosters for cock fighting. He died there 20 October 1946 at the age of 67 from a carcinoma of the esophagus. He is buried at Saint Mary Cemetery, Westfield, Massachusetts.

Children of Joseph Welly Ernest Collins and Marie Amanda Gagnon:

1. Guillaume Robert Collins; baptized 5 July 1907 Holyoke, Massachusetts; died 28 July 1908 Massachusetts;

2. Charles Gerard Collins (Charlie); born 22 September 1908 Massachusetts; married Viola Diagneault, daughter of Hilaire Daigneault and Florida Henault; died 24 April 2002 at Chicopee, Massachusetts;

3. Cecile Carmelita Mary Margaret Collins; born 4 June 1910 at Granby, Massachusetts; married 18 June 1928 at Holyoke, Massachusetts John Elmer Dean, son of Herbert Dean and Marie Madelaine Wilhelmine (Lillian) Spenlinhauer; died 21 February 1992 at Holyoke, Massachusetts;

4. Germaine Alice Collins; born 15 March 1913 at Granby, Massachusetts; married 18 April 1936 at Holyoke, Massachusetts; Henri Leon Blain (Leo), son of Adelard Blain and Odile Labonte; died 12 October 2007;

5. Gerard Andre Collins (Andrew, Andy); born 30 November 1915 at Holyoke, Massachusetts; married 26 November 1936 at Holyoke, Massachusetts Delia Guibault, daughter of Odelie and Joseph Guibault; died 3 February 1981;

6. Beatrice Henriette Collins; baptized 1 September 1918 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, Holyoke, Massachusetts; died 1919 from diphtheria; buried South Hadley, Massachusetts;

 7. Ernest Collins; born 1920; died 1921.