Bedelia Collins (maiden name: Conklin) was born around 1836 in New York to John and Ann Conklin. Her father died on July 31, 1847, and her mother died on August 1, 1849. She married Ferdinand A. Collins, and they had at least six children: Clementine, born around 1858; Eugenie, born around 1860; Alonzo, born around 1862; Lucy, born around 1865; Frank, born around 1871; and Sara, born around 1874. They lived in Brooklyn, New York, in the early 1860s before moving to Binghamton, New York. Her husband worked as a railroad brakeman. She died in Binghamton on December 31, 1898.