Robert Cornelius Collins was born on March 9, 1922. He was born to R.G. Collins (1898-1968) and Cordelia Austin (1904-1966), who married very young on August 27, 1919 in Waterloo, Alabama. R.G. Collins was drafted in the first world war after their marriage, but it is unknown if he actually joined the military. Robert was born in Waterloo, Alabama, but sometime in his childhood, his family moved to Marked Tree, Arkansas. He was the oldest of 11 children, and because they were a sharecropping family, he left school in 1936, after completing third grade. Some of his siblings' names include Robert, James, Hershel, Dayle, Julian, Fay, Sarah, and Donald, according to the 1940 United States Federal Census. He was a farmer, and helped his father operate a 60-acre farm in Marked Tree, as well as planting, cultivating, and harvesting cotton, corn, and hay. They also raised livestock and poultry, often using a mule team for plowing. At an early age, he drove 1.5-ton trucks to haul different crops and machinery.
Above is a picture of Waterloo, Alabama, today.
Above is a picture of Robert Collins (left) and one of his ten younger siblings at their farm.
Marriage
Collins married Artie Mae Presley in Marked Tree Arkansas on August 31, 1943, almost a year after he joined the United States Army, when he was 21 and she was 19. Artie Mae was born in 1924 in Selmar, Tennessee. It is safe to assume, however, that Robert Collins was training or stationed in Salem, Oregon, at the time of their marriage, as it stated so in their Marriage Certificate. As acclaimed by my Aunt Peggy, who is affectionately called Aunt Sis, her mother talked about taking a train to California to visit Robert while he was training there shortly after their marriage. When asking my Aunt Sis about how Artie and Robert met, she informed me that she did not know, but they most likely met in Marked Tree before Robert enlisted, as both of their fathers were sharecroppers, and on Saturday nights, everybody would come to town and socialize.
Pictured above is young Robert Collins.
Pictured above is young Artie Mae Presley, Robert Collins's wife.