Earnest Bilbe Collins (19 July 1873 – 28 September 1967) was an American politician who served in the Alaska Territorial House of Representatives and senate as a member of the Republican Party. He also served as the 1st speaker of the house from 1913 to 1917 and as mayor of Fairbanks from 1934 to 1938.[1]
Early life
Earnest Bilbe Collins was born in Farmland, Indiana on 19 July 1873 to William John Collins and Elizabeth Robbins. He graduated college in California in 1896 and read law at an attorney's office in Chico from 1896 to 1904.[2]
He married May Imogene Kimball (1872-1934) on 26 November 1900 in California and went on to have a daughter: Margaret Henshaw (1901-1998). Following the death of his wife in 1934, Collins remarried on 23 January 1936 to Jenny Swensen Larson.[2]
Alaskan life
Earnest Bilbe Collins moved to Alaska in 1904 following the news of possible gold discoveries in the territory near Fairbanks. Collins went on to engage in small scale mining ventures from 1904 to 1918, while in the meantime studying and practicing law, ultimately passing the Alaska bar in 1915.[3]
Political career
Earnest Bilbe Collins was elected as a representative from the 4th district to the First Alaska Territorial Legislature in 1913. He also became the 1st speaker of the house on 3 March of that same year. On 14 March, Collins introduced House Bill No. 2, also known as the Collins Women's Suffrage Bill. The bill proposed the right of women in the territory of Alaska to vote in all elections held within the territory. The bill passed the territorial senate by 18 March and was signed into law by Territorial Governor Walter Eli Clark shortly afterwards, marking Collins' first major legislation success. Collins won re-election to his seat and the speakership in 1915 and served those roles until 5 March 1917.[4]
Collins served a third term in the Alaska Territorial House of Representatives from 1919 to 1921. At the end of his term, he was elected to the Alaska Territorial Senate for the 4th district and took office on 7 March 1921, before resigning on 5 May 1921. In November 1921, Collins was appointed as U.S. Attorney for the 4th Judicial District, a job which he would fulfill until his resignation in 1933 in order to co-found the law firm Collins and Clasby.[3]
He was elected as Mayor of Fairbanks and served from 1934 to 1938. During his time as mayor, Collins owersaw some notable advances to the interior Alaska gold-mining community. After his mayorship came to an end, Collins was again elected to the Alaska territorial senate for the 4th District in 1947 and served as Senate President until 1951.[3]
Later life and death
Earnest Bilbe Collins decided to retire from Territorial Legislature before the 1952 elections, yet still went on to serve as a delegate to the Alaska Constitutional Convention in Constitution Hall on the campus of the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. Collins held the chair of the Committee on Direct Legislation, Amendment, and Revision and was also a Member of the Committee of Rules. He served as a delegate from 8 November 1955 until 6 February 1956, after which he retired from public life and moved to Sitka in 1961 before returning to Fairbanks in May 1967, where he died on 28 September of that year. He was buried in Birch Hill Cemetery in Fairbanks.[3]
