| abstract
| - In 1795, he met Victoria Winters and agreed to allow her into his home as the governess to his daughter, Sarah. Joshua never suspected that Vicki was actually from the far distant future, but his sister Abigail was certain that Vicki was in fact a powerful witch (a mistaken suspicion that escalated due to the machinations of Angelique). Over the course of several months, Joshua underwent immense suffering as he watched each of his family members die off one by one. First, a bullet felled his younger brother, Jeremiah, during a duel with Barnabas (384). Joshua was grieved by the scandal surrounding his brother's death and published the story that Jeremiah had been cleaning his pistol when it accidentally went off—this was the first time Joshua altered history for the sake of the family's honour (392). A short time later, young Sarah passed away from a sudden illness (415). Abigail died very suddenly afterwards (432), followed by his wife Naomi (458). The most tragic loss however, was Barnabas himself. Joshua watched his son wither away and die from a mysterious illness (406-409), only to learn that Barnabas had been resurrected as one of the undead (428). While the vampire curse destroyed many of the people around him, Joshua was spared from the wrath of Angelique because he was unable to love his own son (Angelique's curse specified that Barnabas was fated to destroy those who loved him). Unable to end his son's torment once and for all, Joshua instead sealed Barnabas inside a coffin in a secret antechamber in the Collins family mausoleum (460). Following the deaths of his family, Joshua resolved to adopt the orphaned Daniel Collins and care for the now-insane Millicent Collins the best he could. He hoped he would make a better father to Daniel than he ever had to his own natural children. Prior to his internment, Barnabas gave his blessing to this plan. After Barnabas was interred in the family mausoleum, Joshua read the cursed book that Victoria Winters brought with her which she claimed was from the 20th century. He found the inaccuracies to be very disturbing, but at the same time they gave an account of family history that did not mention some events, such as his wife's suicide or the marriages of Barnabas Collins to Angelique or Millicent Collins Forbes to Nathan Forbes. Joshua decided to have Ben Stokes destroy the book, but first he was going to write his memoirs using the version of the family history delineated in the book, hoping to save his family from further shame (623). Little is known of Joshua following this event, but he lived on until finally passing away in the year 1805, when his adoptive son Daniel became his heir (Millicent being insane). Joshua's remains were interred next to those of his wife and daughter inside the Collins family mausoleum at Eagle Hill Cemetery. His cousin/adoptive son Daniel bore a striking resemblance to Joshua when he grew up. Although cold and distant when first conceived in the show, there is strong evidence that Joshua did indeed truly love Abigail, Jeremiah, Naomi, Sarah, and even Barnabas. He also gave Ben Stokes his freedom and some land to start a new life at his son's request.
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