1674-4 John Collinswhen drained, as the very best for sugar cane production. This report
was concurred in by A. J. Greif, of Morton, New York, who was vice-
president and general manager of the Haytian-American Sugar Company.
He also secured the services of B. M. Hall, of Atlanta, Georgia, who is one
of the greatest American hydraulic and drainage engineers, who pro-
nounced that the lands can be drained effectively and economically and
that when drained they will be of the highest class sugar cane land.
In the life record of Captain Jaudon is a creditable military
chapter. In 1895, while a resident of Orlando, he joined Company C,
Florida National Guard, and was promoted from the rank of private to
that of corporal and then to that of sergeant. On May 1, 1900, he became
one of the organizers of Company L, Second Battalion, Second Infantry,
in Miami, and was appointed sergeant of this troop, winning promotion to
the rank of first sergeant in 1901 and to that of second lieutenant in the
following year. On December 5, 1903, he was commissioned captain and
served for four years, during which time he took his company to Manassas
and participated in the national maneuvers at that place. In 1911 he helped
to organize Company M, Second Battalion Infantry, and was made captain
and commander of Post Miami, N. G. F., serving until July 5,. 1912, when,
at his own request, he was retired.
Captain Jaudon married, November 22, 1911, Maude Coachman, of
Miami, a daughter of Richard Alden Coachman. Fraternally he is affili-
ated with the Masons, the Knights of Pythias,. the Odd Fellows, the Elks,
the Maccabees and the Loyal Order of Moose. There are few citizens of
Dade County more widely and favorably known than Captain Jaudon,
whose enterprise, energy and ability have carried him forward into im-
portant business relations and who in social, military and political circles
has won a high and honored place and left an impress for good upon the
community.
JOHN S. COLLINS
The history of Dade County will long bear the impress of the indi•
viduality and the constructive ability of John S. Collins. As a pioneer
developer of Miami Beach his activities there have touched and affected
practically every important phase of its later development. He was the
first to visualize the possibilities of that favored section and his operations
there antedate the foundation of the community. His construction of,
the Collins Bridge and the Collins Canal, engineering projects of great
magnitude, would alone entitle him to a large place in community his-
tory, but he has other important achievements to his credit. As a
planter and grower of tropical fruits on a large scale he has demon-
strated the practicability of horticultural development in this section
and given tangible proof of the opportunity that is here offered.
Mr. Collins is a native of Moorestown, New Jersey, born December
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29, 1837.. He is a son of Isaac and Sarah (Stratton) Collins, both of
whom were also natives of Burlington County, New Jersey. The father
was a New Jersey farmer who lived and died in that State. John S.
Collins acquired a public school education in the schools of his native
community. When a young man he engaged in the fruit growing in-
dustry. When he was twenty years of age his father gave him one-
fourth of an acre of land and he planted one-half of this in strawberries,
harvesting therefrom the following year one thousand and eighty quarts
of berries. He has been identified with the fruit growing industry ever
since. He established the Pleasant Valley Nurseries at Moorestown, New
Jersey, now conducted under the name of Collins & Son ; his son, Arthur,
being in charge and owner. They grow strawberries, apples, peaches,
pears and all kinds of fruit. Mr. Collins first came to Florida in the
early nineties, before the railroad was built to Palm Beach. After the
railroad was completed he came on to Miami. In 1907 he bougi a on -
half interest in ex en mg rom Jupiter to the Norris Cut, em-
bracing about forty-five hundred acres, and in 1909 he bought the other
half interest in some seventeen hundred acres. This gave him sixteen
hundred and seventy acres, extending four and a quarter miles along
the ocean and one mile on the bay. He later sold to the Fisher interests
two hundred acres, extending one mile from the bay to the ocean. About
1909 he constructed the Collins Canal and in 1913 finished the Collins
Bridge across Biscayne Bay at a cost of eighty thousand dollars. He
engaged in the cultivation of tropical fruits on an extensive scale and
developed one of the finest orchards in the South. He planted over ten thou-
sand mangoes and avocadoes from 1908 to 1912, becoming the largest
shipper of avocadoes in this locality. His interests have been taken over
by the Miami Beach Improvement Company, a corporation, of which Mr.
Collins is president.
Mr. Collins married, January 17, 1861, Rachael A. Rogers, who died
September 12, 1914, after over fifty-five years of wedded life, leaving
five children: Mary, Arthur J., Irving and Lester, of Moorestown, New
Jersey, and Katharine, who is the wife of Thomas J. Pancoast, of Miami
Beach. On September 16, 1916, Mr. Collins married Ida K. Horner, of
Camden County, New Jersey. Mr. Collins is the only living charter mem-
ber of the New Jersey Horticultural Society. He is also a charter mem-
ber of the Burlington County (New Jersey) Grange. His life labors
have indeed been a serviceable factor in the world's work, his influence
being ever on the side of progress and improvement. In all that he
undertakes he is actuated by a spirit of enthusiasm that has been and
is an inspiration to others. His genial qualities, his social disposition
and his genuine worth have gained him many friends who recognize his
ability and appreciate his worth.
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