Alonzo W. Collins was born around 1862 in New York to Ferdinand A. Collins and Bedelia Conklin. His father earned a living as a railroad brakeman. He grew up and attended school in Binghamton, New York, and by 1880, he was working as a cigar maker. He married Elizabeth Hickey on October 31, 1888, and they had at least two children: Delia, born around 1889; and William, born around 1892. He moved to Owego, New York, in the late 1800s. His wife probably died in the early 1900s, and he returned to Binghamton in the 1910s. He died sometime after 1920.