Collins, James Darwin

James Darwin Collins, born in Rhea County, Tennessee, on October 30, 1843, was a progressive educator and legislator of rugged Colonial stock who shaped early educational standards in Fresno County, California. Despite enlisting in the Confederate Army at age eighteen and spending eighteen months in a military prison, he moved west after the Civil War to settle in California. He began teaching in 1870, first at Wagy’s Mill in Tulare County before establishing a landmark school on Dry Creek later that fall. This specific schoolhouse attracted numerous pioneer families to Upper Dry Creek and directly inspired the founding and naming of the town of Academy. He continued his teaching career at Academy and in the Mississippi school district until 1880, earning the lifelong gratitude of many early area pupils.

Beyond his notable educational achievements, Mr. Collins served one term in the State legislature after his election in 1876 and later spent two four-year terms as county sheriff starting in 1898. As sheriff, he demonstrated uncommon honesty and candor by asking supervisors to reduce his prisoner boarding allowance to match only actual costs. He married Tennessee native Ann Caldwell on December 15, 1869, and together they raised a large family of eleven children, including surviving members Mary E., William A., Catherine, White, Clinton Darwin, Robert F., Annie, and Joseph P. Following his public service, he focused his time on managing his vineyard and orchard near Lone Star while serving as a long-time steward for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at Academy.