The Collins Families came to America as indentured servants around 1690. They earned their freedom and lands by bringing more relatives to the colonies as indentured servants through Charleston, Carolina Colony (present-day South Carolina). While settling the Carolinas, they joined the local militia to protect the colonies against the Indians and the British army. They flourished and prospered by fighting at Kings Mountain, gaining property around Greenville and Tazewell, Tennessee as payment for their military service during the Revolutionary War. Again, they joined the local militias to protect against Indian raids as John Sevier's reports indicate. Like many long hunters and pioneers, they settled down and had big families. Some of them stayed on their Carolina properties and some migrated westward to and through St. Louis, Georgia, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, California, Wyoming, and beyond.