JOHN ELBERT COLLYAR               GRAVESTONE PHOTO                      

Biographical information provided from the research of Margaret E. Haynes

and Vernon Manion, who is  a decendent of this vallant soldier.

COLLYAR, JOHN ELBERT  (believe he is buried as J. E. Collier at Greenwood Cemetery)

  First an explanation of the history of the spelling of his name.  His ancestors in North Carolina apparently spelled it with one “L” as COLYAR, and continued that after their move to Ohio about 1807.  One part of the COLYAR family moved from there to Indiana and then to Jasper Co., Iowa.  You will find members of this part of family that served in the C.W. from Indiana and Iowa and they spell their name as COLYAR.  And one part of the family moved from Ohio to Michigan in the Cass Co. area, this was parents of John Elbert COLLYAR as he was born in Ohio and moved with parents to Michigan.  According to John Elbert COLLYAR’s son, Jonathan Pearson COLYAR’s biography, several of his Michigan cousins served in the C. W.

  While in Michigan, the name apparently stayed in COLYAR spelling.  It should be noted here that the Ohio area and the Michigan areas where they located, were very remote, espec. Michigan.  I really don’t know if the parents knew how to read and write but I do know that many of the descendants did not.  When John Elbert COLYAR married and left Michigan for Missouri right after 1850, the spelling of his name changed in records to the one having 2-“L’s” or COLLYAR.  We have found as many as 20 different spellings of their name so it has taken some concentration to find them.  To date, it is unknown to us if John Elbert COLLYAR (alias John COLLIER) could read or write or if he changed the spelling himself or if it was changed by record keepers.  We do know that his son, Jonathan Pearson COLYAR, retained the old spelling.  But for the most part, his line have spelled it COLLYAR since 1850, many of them are in Oklahoma and scattered as far as California.

   In 1853, John Elbert COLLYAR was in Jasper Co., MISSOURI, and in 1860 he brought his family to Neosho Co., Kansas, in the Tioga Township area.  I was a bit surprised to read in the Adjutant General’s report that he enlisted on Christmas Day 1862.  I didn’t think they would be having enlistment offices open on that day?  When he was age 45 years old, he enlisted Dec. 25, 1862 in Humboldt, Kansas, in Co. G of the 9th Kansas Vol. Cavalry.  According to the Adj. Gen.’s report, he was discharged for deafness on June 10, 1862.  His son’s biography states that his father was discharged due to deafness, caused by artillery fire or explosion.  He is on the census of Neosho Co. from 1860 to the 1880.  In the 1880 census I believe he is listed, living with a relative, as J. E. Collier, the age (63 yrs), birthplace of himself and parents all match.  He was living with the sister of his son Jasper’s first wife and her family in the Big Creek Township area of Neosho Co.  We believe he died before 1895.  (I am currently trying to find him on the 1885 KS State census.  I have not found him on the 1895 KS State census index.)  And I believe that he is the J. E. Collier buried at Greenwood Cemetery with the military marker “J. E. Collier, Co. G, 9th KS CAV”

COLLYAR, JOHN ELBERT  (believe he is buried as J. E. Collier at Greenwood Cemetery)

First I must make an explanation of the history of the spelling of his surname.  His ancestors in North Carolina apparently spelled it with one “L” as COLYAR, and continued that after their move to Ohio about 1807.  One part of the COLYAR family moved from there to Indiana and then to Jasper Co., Iowa.  You will find members of this part of family that served in the C.W. from Indiana and Iowa and they spell their name as COLYAR.  And one part of the family moved from Ohio to Michigan in the Cass Co. area, this was parents of John Elbert COLLYAR as he was born in Ohio and moved with parents to Michigan.  According to John Elbert COLLYAR’s son, Jonathan Pearson COLYAR’s biography, several of his Michigan cousins served in the C. W.

          While in Michigan, the name apparently stayed in COLYAR spelling.  It should be noted here that the Ohio area and the Michigan areas where they located, were very remote, espec. Michigan.  I really don’t know if the parents knew how to read and write but I do know that many of the descendants did not.  When John Elbert COLYAR married and left Michigan for Missouri right after 1850, the spelling of his name changed in records to the one having 2-“L’s” or COLLYAR.  We have found as many as 20 different spellings of their name so it has taken some concentration to find them.  To date, it is unknown to us if John Elbert COLLYAR (alias John E. COLLIER) could read or write or if he changed the spelling himself or if it was changed by record keepers.  We do know that his son, Jonathan Pearson COLYAR, retained the old spelling.  But for the most part, John Elbert Collyar's line have spelled it COLLYAR since 1850, many of them are in Oklahoma and scattered as far as California and elsewhere.

The Obituary I wrote for John Elbert Collyar:

JOHN ELBERT COLLYAR

John Elbert Collyar was born July 22, 1817, in Logan County, Ohio, the son of Samuel and Margaret (Pearson) COLYAR.  He died 1880-1885 in Neosho County, Kansas, and he was buried in Greenwood Cemetery, in Tioga Township, Neosho Co., Kansas.  He was first married about 1834, in Michigan, to Hannah Reams, their son Jonathan Pearson Colyar survives and lives in El Dorado, Kansas.  After the death of his first wife, John Elbert Collyar married the second time on April 7, 1848, in Cass Co., Michigan, to Mary (her maiden name unknown) Cathers, a widow with children from her first marriage. Mary was born about 1819, in Pennsylvania; and died prior to June 1869 in Neosho County, Kansas.  John Elbert and Mary Collyar had four children of their own, all living in Neosho County, Kansas, James Newton Collyar, Jasper Collyar, Hannah (Collyar) Romine and Jesse Judson Collyar.

John Elbert Collyar was born in Ohio and moved with his parents to Cass Co., Michigan, where he was married and had a family including his son Jonathan Pearson Colyar.  When his first wife died he married a second time and they had a son, James Newton Collyar who was born in Michigan.  John Elbert Collyar moved his family to Jasper County, Missouri about 1850 where he farmed and where two of his children were born (Jasper Collyar and Hannah Collyar) and later a son Jesse Judson Collyar was born in Iowa.  Just after 1860, John Elbert Collyar moved his family to Neosho County, Kansas in the Tioga Township area near Chanute.  In those times, in the beginning of Neosho County, for this area the Post Office address was Humboldt in Allen County.

The Border wars at the Kansas-Missouri state lines began in the late 1850's and may have been the reason for their move from there.  Then came the sacking and burning of Humboldt, and raids all along the state line which we are sure had great bearing on so many signing up about the same time in Humboldt, which was an Army recruitment office.  John Elbert Collyar signed up in Company G, of the 9th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry on December 25, 1861, in Humboldt, Kansas.  He was mustered in on January 16, 1862.  We know his company served along the border between Kansas and Missouri and at locations in Kansas, before he was discharged due to deafness from artillery and cannon fire on June 10, 1862, in Easton, Leavenworth Co., Kansas.

After his discharge, he returned to Neosho County, Kansas, where his family was and returned to farming, and he remained in Neosho County until his death.

--------------