collins was born on august 26, 1846, in stonington, connecticut the son of sarah quinn and daniel webster collins. his family immigrated to american from kent, england before the american revolution. his grandfather, daniel collins was a lieutenant in a connecticut regiment during the revolution. he attended yale university, but the death of his father in 1862 forced him to leave school for financial reasons. in 1863, he moved to jersey city and studied law under jonathan dixon (who was appointed an associate justice of the new jersey supreme court in 1875). collins began practicing law in jersey city in 1869. on january 2, 1870, he married harriet kingsbury bush of jersey city. a republican, collins unsuccessfully ran for the new jersey senate in 1880. on march 25, 1884, collins was nominated for mayor by the independents of jersey city. he was also later nominated by the republicans. in the election, collins easily defeated democrat john d. mcgill by a 3,250 majority in the heavily democratic city. he served one term and was succeeded by democrat orestes cleveland.