Collier, Erasmus Giles (1802–1858)

Erasmus G. Collier, Texas legislator, was born about 1802 in Virginia, son of Edmund and Judith (Hicks) Collier. By 1825 Collier relocated to Washington County, Alabama, where he married Olivia Livia Harrison, a Tennessee native. The couple produced seven children. Collier served as a circuit court clerk in 1831.

Collier moved to Texas before 1848 when he was elected to serve as sheriff of Montgomery County. Collier resigned from that post, but he seems to have served in many other capacities. From 1850 to 1858 Collier was appointed by the Montgomery County Court to appraise estates; he also served as coroner and justice of the peace. Erasmus Collier was the Montgomery County representative to the Fifth Texas Legislature from 1853 to 1855. As a private citizen Collier appears to have earned his living as a hotelkeeper in Montgomery County. In 1852 Collier was additionally listed among the incorporators of the Lake Creek Bridge and Turnpike Company which was charged with building a toll road from Montgomery to Houston.