He came to New England in 1633. He lived in Duxbury. The signature of William Collier appears in the Composition with the Plymouth Colony on 15/25 November 1626. (See Arber 1897, p.321). Apparently this one of the only 42 people in England with some stake in Plymouth Plantation at the time.

He served as Assistant Governor of the Plymouth Colony. He was reported to be the "Richest Man in the Colony". He was an advocate of Religious Toleration. From Leon Clark Hills, "Cape Cod Series, Vol. II, WILLIAM COLLIER: History and Genealogy of the Mayflower Planters and first Comers to Ye Olde Colonie." Hills Pub. Co., Washington D.C., 1941: He was a Merchant Adventurer & Brewer of London, and very active in support of the New England Settlers. In fact, he was one of those to subscribe for special aid to the Plymouth colonists on Nov 15, 1626. He finally decided, like so many other merchants, to remove himself and family to America. It is not surprising to find him, his four daughters and apprentices (not servants), among whom were the brothers John, Job, and Daniel Cole, disembarking from the good ship "Mary and James," together with 190 other passengers when it arrived at Plymouth in 1633. His wife probably had died, leaving him with the children. He was an able man and soon took a high position in the Colony, especially in the matter of final settlement of acounts with the London Adventurers. He was a comissioner at the first meeting of the United Colonies in 1643, and served as Governor's Assistant from 1634 to 1665, a period of 31 years. The Court ordered a special aide for him in 1659, on account of "age and much business."

Note: he was also in on the first purchase of Dartmouth in 1652. A posting on soc.roots by Jerry.Hodges{windmill,agape}.com, 3009 47th Lubbock TX 79413, claimed that one of his wives was Jane Clark, and a dau. of their was Ruth (Collier) COLE, wife of Daniel Cole. : Jane at ,England

Source Chrisman Pedgree

COLLIER, WILLIAM
One of the few Adventurers to come to live in New England, he was praised by Nathaniel Morton (New Englands Memoriall, p. 91): "This year [1633] likewise Mr. William Collier arrived with his Family in New-England, who as he had been a good Benefactor to the Colony of New-Plimouth before he came over, having been an Adventurer unto it at its first beginning; so also he approved himself a very useful Instrument in that Jurisdiction after he arrived, being frequently Chosen, and for divers years serving God and the Country in the place of Magistracy, and lived a godly and holy life untill old Age." He was often elected an Assistant between 1634/35 and 1665, and he appeared to side with the more conservative leaders, such as in the 1645 fight with Vassal]. James Cudworth wrote that "Mr. Collier last June would not sit on the Bench, if I sate there" (Bishop, p- 176). He was on the Council for War, and he served at times as a commissioner of the United Colonies. He resided in Duxbury, and in 1649/50 he deeded ten acres of land in Duxbury to "my kinsman William Clark" (PCR 12:182).

Collier married Jane Clark at St. Olave, Southwark, 16 May 1611, and he and his wife had four daughters with them in Plymouth Colony: Sarah, who married (1) Love Brewster and (2) Richard Parke of Cambridge; Rebecca, who married Job Cole; Mary, who married Thomas Prence; and Elizabeth, who married Constant Southworth- Robert S. Wakefield, "More on the Children of William Collier," TAG 49:215 and 51:58, identified eight other children in England (all of whom had died young there), and he showed that Collier had lived in St. Mary Magdalen Parish, Bermondsey, Surrey, and St. Olave Parish, Southwark. In the St. Olave register he was called a grocer. Bradford referred to a "brew-house of Mr. Colliers in London" (Ford 2:125). On 7 June 1653 Mrs. Jane Collier made a claim on behalf of her grandchild, the wife of Nathaniel 2 Warren (MD 3:141). The grandchild was Sarah (Walker) Warren, who was baptized at St. Olave, Southwark, 10 November 1622, the daughter of William Walker (TAG 51:92). On 2 December 1661 William Collier of Duxbury, gentleman, with the consent of Mrs. Jane Collier, sold all his house and land that he was living on in Duxbury to Benjamin Bartlett, who was not to enter into possession until the death of both William and Jane Collier. Collier died before 5 July 1671, when men were appointed to administer his estate (PCR 5:68). An excellent documented narrative of various aspects of his life is given in Moore Families, P. 196-205. (See also John Cole, above, and the Hunt article shown under job Cole, above.)

Source: Plymouth Colony Its History & People 1620-1691 by Eugene Aubrey Stratton

WILLIAM COLLIER
ORIGIN: Southwark, Surrey
MIGRATION: 1633
FIRST RESIDENCE: Plymouth
REMOVES: Duxbury after 1639
OCCUPATION: Grocer (in England).

FREEMAN: Admitted 1 January 1633/4 [PCR 1:4, 21]. In list of freemen, 7 March 1636/7 [PCR 1:52]. In Plymouth section of list of 1639 (where his name is crossed out and reentered in the Duxbury section) [PCR 8:173-74]. In Duxbury section of lists of 1658 and 29 May 1670 (where his name is crossed out and marked "deceased" [PCR 5:274, 8:198].

EDUCATION: His appointment to the committee to review the laws speaks of considerable education.

OFFICES: Plymouth Colony Assistant, 1635-37, 1639-51, 1654-65 [MA Civil List 37-39]. Plymouth Commissioner to United Colonies, 1643 [MA Civil List 28]. Committee to assess colony taxes [PCR 1:26]. Committee to lay out highways, for "Duxbery side," 1 October 1634 [PCR 1:31]. Committee to view farm land, 2 March 1635/6 [PCR 1:39]. Committee to set bounds for Scituate, 6 March 1637/8 [PCR 1:80]. Committee to view North Hill and set bounds, 4 February 1638/9 [PCR 1:112]. Committee to treat with Massachusetts Bay, 7 March 1642/3, 10 June 1650 [PCR 2:53, 159]. Council of War, 27 September 1642, 10 October 1643, 1 June 1658 [PCR 2:47, 64, 3:139]. Coroner, 2 June 1646 [PCR 2:101]. Committee to draw up the excise, 7 July 1646 [PCR 2:105]. Committee for the letting of trade, June 1649 [PCR 2:144]. Auditor, 3 July 1656 [PCR 3:104]. Committee to review the laws, 3 June 1657 [PCR 3:117].

ESTATE: "Mr. Collier's men" assessed 18s. in Plymouth tax list of 25 March 1633 [PCR 1:11]; "Mr. Will[iam] Collier" assessed £2 5s. in list of 27 March 1634 [PCR 1:27]. In allocation of mowing ground on 1 July 1633, reference is made to ground "that Mr. Collier hath" [PCR 1:14] On 5 July 1635, Mr. William Collier was granted a parcel of land in the woods called North Hill, with some "tussicke march ground" [PCR 1:35]. On 3 October 1662, "Mr. Collyare" complained that the records of his grant at the North Hill were lost and could not be found, and the court ordered that the land be viewed and the report of it be recorded [PCR 4:27, 39]. On 6 March 1649[/50] William "Colliar" made over his right to a ten acre parcel of upland in "Duxborrow" to "my kinsman William Clark" [PCR 12:182]. On 2 July 1667 the court agreed to a grant of thirty or forty acres of land for Mr. William Collyare's grandchild, "that grand child who is now servicable unto him" [PCR 4:159]. On 2 March 1668/9 the court granted him fifty acres in the tract of land at Namassakett [PCR 5:14]. On 5 July 1671 the court appointed Gov. Mr. Constant Southworth, Mr. Thomas Clarke, and "Benjamine Barlett," or any three of them to administer the estate of "Mr. William Collyare," deceased [PCR 5:68]. On 29 October 1671 the court ordered that "Daniell Cole" was to have all such particulars out of the estate of "William Collyare" that are extant [PCR 5:80].

BIRTH: By about 1585 based on date of marriage. At court 7 June 1659, "In regard that Mr. Collyare, by reason of age and much business on him, cannot attend the country's business at courts but with great difficulties, the Court have appointed the Treasurer to procure him a servant, and do allow him for that purpose the sum of £10" [PCR 3:166].

DEATH: After 29 May 1670 (in list of Duxbury freemen) and before 5 July 1671 (administration granted on estate).

COMMENTS: John Hunt demonstrated that William "Collyer" was apprenticed to William Russell for eight years and was entered and sworn in the Grocers' Company of London 16 August 1609. John Arnold, dyer, and William Hurdman, pewterer, were sureties for William Collyer for two years beginning 15 August 1612. He became a partner in Southwark with "Mr. Monger" and was sworn a free brother of the Grocers' Company 3 March 1627/8 [TAG 42:120-21].

William Collier appears on the 1626 list of adventurers in Bradford's Letter Book [Bradford LB 26]. Bradford records that Mr. Allerton "in the first two or three years of his employment, he had cleared up £400 and put it into a brew-house of Mr. Collier's in London, at first under Mr. Sherley's name..." [Bradford 239].

Edward Winslow called "Mr. Collier" "my partner" in a 1643 letter to John Winthrop [WP 4:452]. Winslow also reported that "Mr. Collier [was] ... absent to our grief" at the vote over liberty of conscience in Plymouth Colony in 1645 [WP 5:56].

William Morris, of Royston, in the county of Hertford, butcher, having been indentured 4 April 1637 to William Collier, gentleman, for five years, agreed to switch his service to Love Brewster of "Ducksborrow" at court 6 August 1637 [PCR 1:64].

William Collier subscribed to the 7 November 1639 agreement between the inhabitants of "Duxborrow" and George Pollard "late inhabitant of the town of Stokeclere, yeoman" and William Hiller of New Plymouth, carpenter" [PCR 12:72-73].

On 20 December 1648, John Balden bound himself to "Mr. William Colliar of Duxburrow" for a term of five years, in return for which Collier was to give him "meat, drink and clothing, lodging and washing, and at the end of four years' service ... a heifer of two years old" [ PCR 12:164].

The court of 5 June 1651 agreed that payment should be raised for Mr. "Collyar" for his service as magistrate [PCR 2:169]. They were still going about raising this money 29 June 1652 [PCR 3:14].

He was one of the fifty-eight Purchasers [PCR 2:177].

At court 6 December 1659, "Josepth Prior" was summoned to answer the charge of Mr. William "Collyares" that Prior was guilty of "pilfering and purloining practices, and other unworthy carriages relating thereunto, viz. in alluring a young maid, a kinswoman to Mr. William Collyares, to help him ... to sundry things pertaining to the said Mr. Collyare, without knowledge of or leave from Mr. Collyare or Mis[tress] Jane Collyare, his wife" [PCR 3:177]. Mr. Collier was called to the next court to prosecute the case.

SOURCE: The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-33