European Watts Family

The Richard Watts Family of Virginia and Kentucky is part of the same families that came from the East Coast of England to Virginia in the 1600s and spread out from Tidewater, Virginia (Jamestown, Norfolk County, Nanesmond County, Isle of Wright County , Elizebeth City County, North Eastern North Carolina) to Charles City County, James City County, York County, Spotsylvania County, Lancaster County, Lunenburg County, Westmoreland County, and More.

What is more their is historial documentation and DNA results of marriages, cohabitation, and births of European Watts Family members out of African and Native American unions.

The European Watts Families were slave owners in the early American Colonies and the African American and Native American Watts Families their offsprings lines born in the 1600s, and 1700s in Virginia and North Carolina are all part of those orginal European Watts families (Fathers, Sons, Brothers, and Cousins of the same family). Even the Native American Watts Families in Western Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, and even Oklahoma are all distant relatives from that orginal set of European Watts Families. (DNA Connected)

RICHARD WATTS FAMILY OF VIRGINIA AND KENTUCKY

Marilyn Watts Vance McGaughey
November 2009

PAGE 1.

I will begin this part of our family history with the family stories that have been handed down for several hundred years. These stories have been handed down principally by the William Russell Watts Sr., William Russell Watts Jr. and James Thomas Watts line. Family stories are notoriously unreliable. However they often contain a grain of truth or may be merely distorted. I will attempt to evaluate the stories through documentation and DNA information.

1. Three Watts brothers Peter, William and Gideon came from Culpeper Co. Virginia and brought their nephew William Russell Watts with them.

Peter Watts, Gideon Watts and William Watts are listed on the tax list of Mercer Co. KY in 1789. A Richard Watts appears in the Wilkes Co. NC census in 1790 and then a Richard Watts Appears in Mercer Co. KY in 1794. In the early 1800’s William Watts was excused from paying taxes in Mercer Co. KY because of old age. As it turns out William and Eliza Watts were in all probability the parents of Peter Watts. When Peter Watts was in Guildford Co. NC he served as attorney in fact for William Watts of the State of North Carolina, Guildford Co., selling 128 acres in St. Mark’s Parish in Culpeper Co. Va. to Reuben Doggett of Culpeper Co., adj. Amelia Road, Watt’s Branch, John Megannen. Dated 7/20/1782 recorded 9/16/1783. There is no evidence that Gideon or Richard Watts are the sons of this William and Eliza Watts. It appears now that Richard is a nephew of William Watts and Eliza, a cousin of Peter Watts and in all probability a cousin of Gideon Watts.

 

2. The Watts family were originally trappers and not farmers when they came to Kentucky. That is why they passed up the lush flatter land of the Lexington, KY area and came to the more hilly Mercer Co. area. This story was told to Emery Willis Watts by his grandfather William Russell Watts, Jr.

In the circuit court records of Mercer County KY in 1985, Roselyne Watts Jones, a descendant of Richard Watts found a suit of Peter Watts against a man (unnamed) for 40 weight of good clean beaver fur. She also found a suit by Peter Watts against the estate of Simon Fisher with whom he had a partnership to take produce down the Mississippi River. When Simon died down river and did not return, Peter tried to get his part of the partnership money from Simon Fisher’s estate. Peter Watts was also hired by a man in Mercer Co. KY to be his lawyer and conduct business for him in Natchez, MS. These records were all in boxes and had not been opened for years if one could judge by the dust and dirt according to Roselyne.

3. Peter and Gideon Watts took William Russell Watts to Danville, KY to a tavern where a fight erupted between the Tories and Whigs. The brothers put their young nephew behind the counter so he would not get hurt. The brothers wore knives strapped to their upper backs so they could reach back and pull them out quickly. After the fight Gideon placed two human heads on the counter. This is a story told by Bob Horn, son of Naomi Watts Horn to Roselyne Jones.

The Watts On-Line Issue # 64 July 1, 1999 lists the following for Gideon Watts of Mercer Co. KY. The Kentucky Gazette reported that” Gideon Watts was in jail in Danville for stabbing an unknown man to death”. A court paper in the possession of Wade Watts of St. Louis, MO calls for the arrest of Gideon Watts for assault and battery of various sorts including biting off the right ear of Edward McKinney. In another case according to Wade Watts, Gideon Watts was accused of blasphemy, etc for exclaiming “ Goddamn the rain!” and Goddamn the cliffs of Kentucky and the mason that made them”. Roselynne Jones saw the suit against Gideon for biting off the ear of Edward McKinney.

It is difficult to see how William Russell Watts could be with Peter and Gideon if he were not related to them or at least know them. Since Peter Watts and Richard Watts appear on a court case together as defendants, according to Wade Watts, they did know each other. This incident could have occurred and if William Russell Watts was 10 years old as stated by Bob Horn, it is likely to have been somewhere after 1796 when Richard Watts first appears on the Mercer Co. KY tax list. Since William Russell Watts was born in 1789 it is most likely that if the incident did occur it would have been around 1799-1800.

4. A direct Watts ancestor participated in the French-Indian War.

I could find no documentation of a Watts ancestor of this branch of the family participating in the French-Indian War. However the second wife of William Russell Watts Sr. filed for a pension based on his participation in the War of 1812. In this petition he is said to have fought in the Battle of the Thames in which he saw the American Indian leader Tecumseh dead. Could this have been what was referred to in the family story?

5. There is a final story that was passed down that this branch of the Watts family was part Cherokee, which is not too uncommon a story in Southern families. This story was known but not openly discussed (unless asked) by Mary Watts, daughter of William Russell Watts Jr. and some of the children of James Thomas Watts his son.

Beatrice Watts Vance, daughter of James Thomas Watts and Gillie Thomas Huff Watts, had her DNA Print done by Familytreedna in 2003 and her ancestry profile is Indo-European 73% and Native American 27%. Her daughter, Marilyn Watts Vance McGaughey also had her profile done, and the results were Indo-European 72%, East Asian 5% and Native American 23% indicating that her father, Hugh Lewis Vance, was also of mixed blood descent which corresponds with his family documentation.

In addition William Russell Watts Jr., according to his grandson Emery Willis Watts, had a trunk full of American Indian objects, such as leather pants and shirts, moccasins etc from his days as a Pony Express rider delivering mail in the west. William Russell Watts told his grandson that he would often spend the night in an Indian village and trusted his Indian friends more than he did white people. Told by Emery Willis Watts to his niece Marilyn Watts Vance.

Richard Watts Connection to Culpeper County Virginia

There is a strong connection for Richard Watts of Kentucky to Culpeper County Virginia as seen in the will of a Thomas Watts.

Culpeper County, Virginia, Will Book A, 1749-1770
Abstracted and compiled by John Frederick Dorman
Publisher: Washington, D.C. : Dorman 1956

5 January, 1760 (Will written)
19 April 1764 (Will recorded)
pp. 365-366 of original source
In the name of God Amen. I Thomas Watts of Culpeper County and in the Parish of St. Marks being of perfect mind & memory and known the uncertainty of this Mortall life and recommending my soul to Almighty God begging Pardon for my sins when I shall live Mortall life and I do dispose of my Personell Estate in Manner and form as followeth. Item I give and bequeath unto my son William Watts won Iron bound chest and won hundred and twenty five acres of land joining with the South prong of my Wife Eliz. Watts. Likewise to Richard Watts the son of William Watts on Smith bore gun. I likewise give and bequeath unto my son Thomas Watts one hundred and twenty five acres of land adjoining to the plantation wareon he now lives to him and his Haires lawfully begotten of his body but not to be fully possest with till the Decease of my wife Eliz. Watts. I likewise give to my Brother William Watts won hundred acres of land lying on the west side of the Pattin and the west side of the Malee Road Joyning to the Plantation Whereon he now lives. I likewise give unto my beloved Wife Elizabeth Watts to hold during her life my plantation stock good chattels and all my possessions acknowledging her to be my whole and sole Execr. & Administrator of this my last will and testament. I give unto my daughter Elinor Cox fivety acres of land Joyning to the North East corner as the lone goes to her and her heirs forever lawfully begotten of her body. Item, I likewise give unto my son William Watts the plantation whereon I now live after the decease of my wife Elizabeth and after her decease the goods and chattel and stock and whatever shall be pertaining after her decease to be equally divided among the five children.

I do hereby acknowledge this to be my last will and testament making all other wills that hath been here made Voide and of none affect but this to be my last Will & Testament and in Witness whereof I have sealed hand and seal this Twenty fiveth day of January in the year of our Lord Seventeen hundred and Sixty and the first year of the Ragne of our Soverin Lord George the Third Witness my hand and seale.
Presence Henry Bennet Thomas Watts
Thomas Watts (X), Joel Watts

At a Court for the County of Culpeper on Thursday the 19th day of April 1764.
The last Will and Testament of Thomas Watts decd was exhibited to the Court by Elizabeth Watts the Executor therein named and was proved by the oaths of Henry Bennet and Joel Watts Witnesses thereto and ordered to be recorded and on the motion of the said Executors certificate is granted them for obtaining a Probate til in due form she having sworn to the same and given Bond & security according to the Law. (The spelling has been left as recorded. Spelling was not standardized until much later)

The Richard Watts mentioned in the will is considered to be the son of William Watts the son of Thomas Watts who wrote this will and therefore the grandson of Thomas and Elizabeth Watts of St. Marks Parish, Culpeper County, Virginia.

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PAGE 2.

A direct male descendant of Thomas Watts, the son of Thomas Watts who wrote this will, had his DNA done and is a match with the direct descendant of Richard Watts of Mercer and Washington Counties Kentucky the subject of this book. This indicates that they are related and share an MRCA (Most Recent Common Ancestor) which according to the documented paper trail is in all likelihood The Thomas Watts who wrote the will cited above.

They are both a match for the descendant of a Robert Watts born 1750 in Somerset England and his wife Phoebe. This descendant has been in England all his life. The descendant of Thomas Watts died 1764 and the descendant of Robert Watts b 1750 in England both share a MRCA born prior to at least 1700.

Before we leave Culpeper Co. VA I need to mention another family. Richard Watts married a Sarah “Sally” Stubblefield. Her parents have never been identified and it is uncertain whether she and Richard Watts were married in Virginia or elsewhere. However it is interesting that there are wills for two Stubblefield males who were apparently brothers.

Will of Edward Stubblefield of St Marks Parish, Culpeper Co. VA 1750
Mentions wife Eleanor, daughter Ann and brother Thomas
Proved March 17, 1750
Will Book A 1749-1770
Culpeper Co. VA
Library of VA
Reel 31, pages 31-32

Will of Thomas Stubblefield of St Marks Parish, Culpeper Co. VA 1757
Mentions wife Ellin, eldest son George Stubblefield, son James Stubblefield and younger children unnamed.
Proved 16, Feb 1758
Will Book A 1749-1770
Culpeper Co. VA
Library of VA
Reel 31, pages 174-177
Note that both wills are recorded in St. Marks Parish in Culpeper Co. VA which was a small parish.

Other wills related to the Thomas Watts family are the following: Will of Joel Watts Dated and recorded 1781 (CCWB B-440) mentions wife Isabel, son Frederick and daughters Lettie Brown and Barbara Thomas. Joel was a witness to the will of Thomas Watts. Will of Thomas Watts son of Thomas Watts and Elizabeth (CCWB D193) Mentions wife Ann, sons Aron and Robert, daughter Eleanor Morriss and granddaughter Prissy Watts. Dated 4/22/1796 rec 12/19/1796. Inventory (CCWB D242) 1799. Marriages Culpeper Co VA Robert Watts m Susanna Lewis 5/5/1788 (Reg 1-93) by Nathaniel Sanders, Baptist Minister.

There appear to be at least two Watts families in Culpeper Co VA who are genetically unrelated according to the DNA results reported on the Watts Family surname Project of FamilyTreeDNA. This second Watts Family appears to be the one related to Thomas Watts who died 1749. His will dated 12/22/1746, rec 3/15/1749 mentions wife Esther, sons Edward, John, Benjamin, Thomas, Jacob and William, daughters Ann, Elizabeth, Sarah, Esther, Mary and Franky(Frances). Will Book A, p.10.

The Thomas Watts of 1749 appears to be the one who received a land grant along with his father Edward. This family also appears to have had property that was centered in the vicinity of Black Walnut Run a tributary of the Rapidan River on its North side and in Bromfield Parish as reflected in Culpeper Co VA land deeds. (CCDB) Edward and Elizabeth Watts of Orange Co. to William Johnson of Culpeper Co, land where Johnson now lives, adj James Barbour, part of a patent to Thomas Watts, dec, and willed to Edward. Dated and recorded 10/15/1761.

Deeds reflecting the property of the Thomas Watts died 1764 family: (These deeds seem to reflect property on Potato Run, a tributary of the Rapidan River and Amelia Rd. all within St. Mark’s Parish. (CCDB A-415, 416) Lease and release from Jacob Kindrick to Joel Watts, both of Cul. Co. 52 acres in St. Marks Parish in the Great Fork of the Rappahanock, adj. to Bloodworths old land, Cabler of the Amelia Rd. Wit. Thomas Watts, John Hackley, Thomas Doggett. Dated 2/5/1752, recorded 5/21/1752.

The Three Richard Watts

There is not a record of a Richard Watts until the 1780’s. However during that time and in the 1790 Federal Censuses (VA census destroyed but recreated from tax records) there are three Richard Watts listed – one each in Bedford County Virginia, Pittsylvania County Virginia and Wilkes County North Carolina. Although there is no evidence to connect any of these Richard Watts to Culpeper Co. VA or Mercer Co. KY, I will discuss each one starting with the Richard Watts of Bedford County Virginia.

Richard Watts of Bedford County Virginia is often cited as the Richard Watts who went to Mercer County KY and is the ancestor of the Watts families of Mercer, Boyle and Washington Co KY families. In 1790 he is listed as having 10 people in his household. After much research he is found to have been born in 1740, married an Elizabeth Townsend, and to have had nine children. He died and is buried in Georgia. There are records showing that his descendants wound up in the State of Georgia. A direct male descendant of his had his DNA done and does not match the descendant of Richard Watts of Culpeper VA and Mercer Co. KY, indicating they are not related in any genealogical time frame. Some of the descendants of Richard of Watts of Culpeper Co VA and Mercer Co. KY have joined the DAR based on the misinformation that their ancestor was this Richard Watts in Bedford Co. VA who was a surveyor in the Revolutionary War.

Richard Watts of Pittsylvania Co. VA is listed in the 1782 State Census. His household included 10 whites and in 1785 11 whites. In 1787 Richard is listed in The Pittsylvania Co VA tax rolls along with Edmund King, Seaton Beadles and William Russell, people who were involved with the Richard Watts family in Kentucky. In his manuscript on the descendants of Thomas Watts of Stafford Co. VA, Edward C. Watts of Arlington, VA adds more information to make his case. While this information, gathered by Edward C. Watts of Arlington, Virginia is compelling and I both admire his reasoning and agree with many of his conclusions, I prefer another conclusion which involves a Richard Watts who is found in the Wilkes Co. NC 1790 Federal Census.

Since I wrote this paragraph I have corresponded with a Carolyn Watts Lambert who is descended from a Greenberry Watts in Pitttsylvania VA. She mentions this as being the family of Richard Watts with 7 males and 5 females. The males names are Richard, John, Joshua m. Sarah Wright, Greenberry m Elizabeth Law, Levi m Betty Ragsdale, Martin and Marshall. The females are Nancy m Jarrett Boling, Elizabeth, Catherine m John Wright, Sally m Daniel Wright, and Patsy m James Wright. In the Watts Familytreedna family surname projects this family is R1b1 Family #1 and does not match either Richard Watts of Bedford Co VA descendants or our Richard Watts family descendants. So therefore we have three genetically distinct families descended from three different Richard Watts in Virginia as demonstrated by DNA results and genealogical documentation.

Richard Watts and Sally Stubblefield of Wilkes Co. NC

Wilkes Co. NC was formed in 1777 from Surry Co. Until 1779 when Ashe Co was created from Wilkes Co, the northern border of Wilkes was the Virginia state line. Regular, ongoing disputes took place between North Carolina and Virginia as to where the state line actually lay, and individuals living anywhere within 20 miles of the present day state line might live in Virginia one year, North Carolina the next and Virginia the following year. A side effect of this dispute was that whenever possible, residents attempted to convince tax collectors from both states that they had paid taxes to the other. In a number of cases they were successful, meaning that in many years individuals might go unrecorded on the tax lists of both Virginia and Surry Co., North Carolina.(Index to Combes &c. of Wilkes Co., NC)

The Expedition to Ramsour’s Mill – a Battle of the Revolutionary War.
17 June – August 20, 1780
William Lenoir, Capt.
Men who served under this Captain
Richard Watts – 4 days
Thomas Stubblefield – 4 days
From William Lenoir’s unpublished manuscripts on file at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

In the Wilkes Co. NC Tax List for 1787 in Captain Carrel’s District we find Richard Watts with 250 acres and 1 Poll (One person old enough to vote), George Stubblefield with 100 acres and 1 Poll, and Thomas Stubblefield with 468 acres and 1 Poll. There is also an Anne Stubblefield listed in the same district. She is the mother of George and Thomas Stubblefield listed in the same district and the widow of Robert Stubblefield who died in 1775 in Guildford Co. NC, the same county in which William Watts, his son Peter Watts and Gideon Watts were living during the same time period (Peter Watts enlisted as a private for one year in the army under Capt. John Nelson and Col. Thomas Polk Guildford Co. NC May 1776). Anne owned property on Bugaboo Creek in Wilkes County and died there on 1 March 1787. Her two sons, George and Thomas Stubblefield lived next to her. In the 1790 Federal Census in Wilkes Co. NC we find in the Seventh Company Richard Watts with one white male over 16, two white males under 16 and five females. Thomas Stubblefield in the same Company has three white males over 16, four white males under 16 and six females. There are also a William Russell and a William Watts listed. Whether these men have any relationship to Richard Watts is unknown. We need to note however that according to records obtained by Edward Watts that Richard Watts parents, William Watts and wife unknown, had another son William Watts who appears with them on the 1787 personal property tax rolls of Culpeper Co. VA. At that time William, Richard’s supposed brother was between 16 and 21 years old. After 1787 there is no record of him in Virginia. A William Watts is listed next door to Richard in the Wilkes County, NC census in 1790. Could this William Watts be Richard’s brother?

There are several points that can be made here along with questions. According to research done within the Stubblefield family, George and Thomas Stubblefield, the Stubblefield males listed in Wilkes County, NC are the sons of Robert Stubblefield who is the brother of the Thomas and Edward Stubblefield whose wills were written and filed in St. Marks Parish, Culpeper Co. VA, the same parish that Richard Watts appears to be from. If Sarah Stubblefield is one of the unnamed children in Thomas Stubblefield’s will, then she is the cousin to George and Thomas Stubblefield of Wilkes Co. NC and the wife of Richard Watts. Also the Robert Stubblefield who died in 1775 in Guildford Co. NC, the brother of Thomas and Edward Stubblefield of Culpeper Co VA, had a son John who was born 1730 in Spotsylvania Co VA and died1783 in Surrey Co VA. Could Sarah Stubblefield be the daughter of this John Stubblefield and the granddaughter of Robert and Ann Parker Stubblefield. This could explain why Richard and Sarah Watts are in Wilkes Co. NC and perhaps how they got there. Could this explain the name of their first born son – John Stubblefield Watts?

The children of Richard and Sarah Stubblefield Watts just prior to leaving NC are:
Elizabeth Watts b. 21 May 1777 NC
John Stubblefield Watts b. 1778 NC
Nancy Jane Watts b. 08 Nov 1779 VA
Sarah Watts b. 1781-1784 TN
William Russell Watts b. 21 May 1789 VA
Frances Watts b. 1794 KY

We can see that Richard and Sarah Watts had children born in three states – NC, VA, and TN prior to their move to Kentucky. This corresponds to the situation described above with the state borders and the formation of the free state of Franklin which was right next to Wilkes County, NC. It is quite possible and highly probable that Richard and Sarah Watts never moved in NC but that the border moved and they took advantage of it.

According to the Bible of John Stubblefield Watts, son of Richard and Sarah Watts, his father Richard Watts was born in Virginia 29 August 1758. This is prior to the writing of the Will of Thomas Watts of Culpeper Co. VA. (Personal communication from John S. Watts’ descendant, Marian Franklin).

If the Richard Watts in Wilkes Co. NC is our Richard Watts, then he would have been 19 years old when his first child Elizabeth was born and 22 years old when he participated in the Battle of Ramsours Mill. In 1790 he was 32 years old and five of his six children would have been born. The Federal census of 1790 lists him with one male over 16, two males under 16 and five females. This corresponds with the known makeup of the family that our Richard Watts would have had at that time except for one extra female. This extra female could have been a daughter who died young, or another related female.

Also the name of Richard and Sarah’s son William Russell Watts is interesting. There was a well known Officer in the Revolutionary War who lived in Culpeper Co. VA who was named William Russell. At one time he was the Sheriff of Culpeper Co. VA. His son William Russell born 6 March 1758 in Culpeper Co. VA was also an army officer and wound up living near Lexington, KY at the time Richard and Sarah were living in Mercer Co. KY. As we have noted there was a William Russell in Wilkes County NC in 1790.

I could find no further records for Richard Watts until he appears on the tax records in Mercer Co. KY in 1796 at age 36. However since his daughter Frances Watts is said to have been born in Kentucky in 1794, it is probable that he and Sarah were in Kentucky by that time. Also the obituary for John S. Watts, the son of Richard and Sarah Watts, who was born in North Carolina and died in Mariposa Co. CA states that he moved to Kentucky in 1794 (Mariposa Gazette). This corresponds with the timing of the birth of Richard and Sarah’s daughter Frances in Kentucky.

In Early Tax Records from the Register of the Ky Historical Society 1984, pages 174, 175 we find in the 1789 list Gideon Watts, Peter Watts – slaveholder, and William Watts listed. At that time there were 153 taxpayers above the age of 21, 176 slaves, 2 ordinary licenses, 4 carriage wheels, and 6 stud horses. List taken by Wm. Green, does not include all of Mercer Co. At this time James Harrod lived in the part of Mercer Co. that became Boyle Co.

In the 1795 tax list p.187, Wm. Watts is listed as having 3 cattle, no slaves, no horses and was a person exempt from tax. P.191. Peter Watts is listed as having 3 slaves, 8 horses and 20 cattle. P.191. Gideon Watts is listed as having 1 slave, 3 horses and 10 cattle. The list on P. 191 was done by Wm. Gaines. The list on P. 187 was done by Gabriel Slaughter.

Gabriel Slaughter was born 12, December 1767 in Culpeper Co. VA and moved as a young child with his family to Kentucky. He was a farmer until 1795 when he obtained an appointment as the Mercer County Justice of Peace. In 1803 he joined the Kentucky Militia as a Lieutenant Colonel and participated in the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812. On 14 October 1816 Governor George died and the then Lt. Governor Gabriel Slaughter became Governor of Kentucky. When he died 19, September 1830 he was buried in the family graveyard in Mercer County.

We can see from these records that by 1796 William Watts, his son Peter, and Gideon Watts as well as cousin Richard Watts were all in Mercer County Kentucky, having all gone from Culpeper County to North Carolina and then to Kentucky. Many Revolutionary War soldiers as well as others came over the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap to Kentucky to receive land either by grant for service in the war or to buy land for a small fee. The states often could not pay soldiers in full or at all but were able to reward them with land that was available to the states. The great move westward continued. It is quite likely that our Watts family followed the Wilderness Trail through the Cumberland Gap from North Carolina to Kentucky.

The land that became Kentucky was a part of Virginia until after the Revolutionary War. However as early as 1767, James and Samuel Harrod came to Kentucky looking for furs. The Harrods returned to the Pennsylvania border country and recruited 31 men to come to the Kentucky region with them. They came down the Ohio River to the Kentucky River. They left the river at Harrod’s Landing and proceeded to the area in what is now Mercer County and laid out Harrodstown on 16, June 1774. The men were each given 1⁄2 acre on the main street and 10 acres on the outer limits of the town. They built temporary log and brush buildings to live in. After raids by the Indians and Dunmore’s War against the Indians in which the men from the Kentucky settlement participated, the settlers returned to find their homes flooded and ruined. They decided to build a log fort on the hill to be safe from floods and the attacking Indians. The settlers were confined to the fort for most of 1777.

However after the Battle of Blue Licks in 1782 there were no more Indian attacks and by 1784 there were 6 grist mills in operation as the production of corn and other grains increased. By 1808 the current site of Pleasant Hill was cleared and log houses were being built for the elders of the Shaker religion to come to Kentucky from their original settlements in the East. Today there are many historic sites preserved for all to see and Pleasant Hill is a community that demonstrates the Shaker way of life even though there are no more Shakers. ( KY History On-line)

In 1800 Richard Watts appears on the tax list for Mercer County KY. In July 1801 Richard and Sarah were accepted as members in the Shawnee Run Baptist Church. This church is located on the road between Burgin and Pleasant Hill (Shaker Town) in eastern Mercer Co. just west of the Kentucky River. Although I have been unable to find a land deed for Richard this early, I assumed that they lived somewhere close enough to the church to reach it by horse and buggy. After I read the minutes of the church I realized that Richard Watts asked numerous times for permission to start a church in his area where he lived. Permission was never granted. It is quite possible then that he lived on the Salt River from the time he came to Mercer County until he left. The church still exists on the same site with the accompanying old cemetery with headstones bearing the names of early members. It is set amidst the rolling hills of Mercer County with beautiful views over the bluegrass countryside. On the Kentucky River were warehouses to store grains and hemp for transport down the rivers. Shipping by river was the most important way to ship goods and from the Kentucky River one could go downstream to Natchez, MS and New Orleans to sell one’s crops, furs and goods. Shaker Landing, a shipping port was on the river near Pleasant Hill (Shakertown).

John Rice, the founder and first pastor of the Shawnee Run Baptist Church, is believed to be a native of North Carolina and was born in 1760. He was among the earlier settlers of Lincoln County Kentucky. He was a member of the Gilberts Creek church of Separate Baptists, where he was ordained to the gospel ministry in 1785 and was probably the first preacher ordained in Kentucky. Soon after his ordination he settled on Shawnee Run in Mercer County. Here he preached to the few settlers that occupied the beautiful valley of Shawnee Run, till he gathered Baptists enough to constitute the first church which had any permanence in Mercer County. He was immediately installed as its pastor and continued to minister to it more than fifty-four years. Besides Shawnee Run, Mr. Rice preached statedly to Stony Point, Salt River (after the death of John Penny) and several other churches at different periods. He also preached in Barren County in 1812. He died 19 March 1843 and was buried in the Shawnee Run Baptist Church cemetery. (A History of Kentucky Baptists by J. H. Spencer, 1885)

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It would be good now to list Richard and Sarah Sally Watts children again, as their family was completed after they moved to Kentucky with the birth of their daughter Frances.
Richard and Sarah Sally Watts
Children
1. Elizabeth “Betsy” Watts born 21, May 1777 North Carolina
2. Nancy Jane Watts born 8 November 1779 Virginia
3. Sarah “Sally” Watts born 1780-1784 Tennessee
4. John S. (Stubblefield) Watts born 1786 North Carolina
5. William Russell Watt 21 May 1789 born Virginia
6. Frances Watts born 1794 Kentucky

According to Edward Watts in his book Thomas Watts of Stafford County Virginia and his Descendants, Richard Watts appeared on the tax rolls of Mercer County through 1809. The tax records indicated that Richard owned 15 acres and 10 horses in August 1803. Tax records from 1806 to 1808 reveal that Richard had 260 acres near the Salt River and that in 1809 he had no taxable real estate.

The Salt River is further west in Mercer County going toward Washington County.
Book C 1815-1818 P. 403 Washington Co. KY
Made July 3, 1809 between John Roberson and Ann Roberson Mercer Co. and Richard Watts of same. To them paid 5 shillings by s’ Watts, land in Washington Co KY on Chaplain Fork being part of John Morland tract of 2200 acres of same. John Roberson
Ann Roberson

We can see from these records that Richard Watts and family probably moved from Mercer County KY to Washington County KY in 1809. From here on the story of my direct line in the Watts family is intimately tied up with the Chaplin River. The valley of the Chaplin River is a fertile area particularly good for growing grains. Our Watts family has lived along the banks of this river from Perryille, KY in Boyle County, to Cornishville, Ky in Mercer County and in Washington County. The Watts family were changing from hunters for furs to farmers. They had probably been doing both since they lived in Culpeper County VA. Of our other ancestors, Beverly Williams farmed and had a grist mill on the Chaplin River and three generations of the Huff family - Richard, James and Tilford Marion Huff farmed on the Chaplin River. Tilford Marion Huff wrote an article for many years for the local newspaper, The Harrodsburg Herald, entitled “On the Banks of the Chaplin”.

Before going on with our Watts family to Washington Co. however, let’s take a look at what was going on in Mercer County. In 1800 in Mercer Co. KY we have Peter Watts and Richard Watts. Gideon Watts has moved to Henry Co. KY. There is a William Watts in Shelby Co KY. In 1785 before there was a Mercer Co., Peter Watts married Margaret Fisher in Lincoln Co. KY on 11 November. Margaret Fisher’s parents Adam Fisher and Elizabeth Garr were from Culpeper Co VA. In 1790 William Watts gave consent for the marriage of his daughter Nelly (Eleanor) to Turner Rogers in Mercer Co. At this wedding Gideon Watts was the bondsman and Peter Watts was a witness. Gideon Watts married Sarah Reed 9, February 1795. Consent was given by the bride’s stepfather and mother John Rian and Sarah Rian. On 16 September 1800 Bettsey Watts and Joseph Garshwiler were married. Edmund King certified the bride was 21. This was the eldest daughter of Richard and Sarah Watts. Peter Sheafor and Sally Watts were married 24 November 1802. Bondsman was Cornelius Vanarsdalen and the bride’s father was Richard Watts. Beverly Dickerson and Nancy Watts were married 9 May 1804. Bondsman was Joseph Garshwiler who certified the bride’s age and consent was given by Richard Watts. Witness was Peter Sheavor . These marriage records were copied by Roselynne Jones.

During the early 1800’s both Peter Watts and Richard Watts were buying land, although I have found no transactions between the two. However Wade Watts states Peter and Richard were defendants in a law suit in Mercer Co KY.

Richard and Peter Watts families apparently went in different directions after about 1809 when Richard Watts, his wife and remaining children moved to Washington Co KY. Peter’s father William Watts died in 1797 in Woodford Co KY and he and his wife Elizabeth are buried near Spring Station in Woodford Co Ky. Peter had two sister’s Mildred Watts who married Abraham Gregory and Eleanor (Nelly) who married Turner Rogers. Mildred and her husband are buried near Spring Station in Woodford Co KY. Peter Watts and his wife Margaret moved to Shelby Co KY probably after 12 December 1815 when he signed consent for his daughter Ann to marry Ezekial Fisher in Mercer Co. KY. Peter Watts, born 10 July 1756 in Culpeper Co VA, was a Revolutionary War Veteran and served as a Captain in the War of 1812. He died 5 May 1833 in Shelby Co KY and is buried near Simpsonville, KY in a family cemetery which is located on the Rutledge dairy farm. His will lists children William, Ann F., Mary Gill, Mildred Waller, Abraham Gregory Watts, Simeon Watts, and George W. Watts. Some of Peter Watts descendants may still be in KY but others have scattered throughout the United States. Some of Peter’s sons went to Missouri and a descendant Dr. Wade Watts currently lives in St. Louis, MO.

We have seen the marriage records for three of Richard and Sally Watts daughters in Mercer Co KY. Elizabeth (Bettsey) Watts, the eldest child, married Joseph Garshwiler on 16, September 1800. She was age 23 at that time. In July 1810 the estate of Joseph Garshwiler Jr. was settled and David G. Cowan was appointed guardian for his heirs John and Furnata Garshwiler. So Bettsey Watts was a widow by age 33. Elizabeth Watts Garshwiler married Seaton Beadles 30 April 1817 in Mercer Co. KY. On 12 September 1826 two Garshwiler couples and Elizabeth and her husband Seaton Beadles sold 55 acres near Danville, KY on the northwest side, adjoining the road from Danville to Harrodsburg to James J. Miles. Mercer Co. Deed Book 14, p. 112. They moved to Johnson Co. IN where Seaton Beadles died in 1829. Elizabeth and Seaton Beadles also had children. Elizabeth Watts Garshwiler Beadles died on 31 January 1847 at age 69 in Johnson Co IN.

Nancy Jane Watts was received by experience at the Shawnee Run Baptist Church in Mercer Co. KY on 1 January 1802 according to the Minutes for 1799 through 1907 p.76. As we have seen she married Beverly Dickerson 9 May 1804 at age 23. Joseph Garshwiler her brother in law provided surety, her father Richard Watts gave consent, Peter Shaver her brother in law and Joseph Garshwiler were witnesses. Beverly and Nancy Dickerson owned land in the forks of the Chaplin River and the Deep Creek areas both near each other in westernmost Mercer Co KY. The Dickerson’s were listed in the Federal Census in Mercer Co KY in 1840. Nancy Watts Dickerson died 18 November 1866 10 days after her 87th birthday. She and her husband Beverly Dickerson are buried in the Dickerson family cemetery in Jenkinsville, Washington Co. KY.

Sarah Watts married Peter Shaver (Sheafor) 2 December 1802 in Mercer Co. KY. On 15 October 1806 their son Miranda was born. On 12 March a son Lorenzo Stubblefield was born to them. A daughter Amanda was born 10 March 1810. Peter Shaver (Sheafor) was on the tax list in Mercer Co KY 18 August 1813, however they must have moved to Butler County Ohio shortly afterward as their son Hayden was born in Butler County Ohio in 1815. After Peter Shaver died Sarah married Joseph Compton in 1822 in Butler Co. OH. Joseph Compton died in 1841 and there is no record of Sarah Compton after 14 March 1842 when she received the last payment allowed her from the estate of Joseph Compton. She was about 60 years old.

As we have seen, Richard Watts moved to Washington County KY in 1809. His wife Sarah “Sally”, daughter Frances and sons John Stubblefield Watts and William Russell Watts moved with them. On 12 November 1810 Richard and Sally’s daughter Frances Watts married Alexander Murray in Washington County KY. In 1819 they bought land in Barren County KY and appeared in the Federal Census in 1820 with 5 children – 3 males under 10 and 2 females under 10. This family appears again in the Barren Co KY census in 1830 but in 1840 the Murray family appears with an adult male and female ages 50-60 and one male 15-20 in Hart Co. KY.

The 1810 Federal Census for Washington Co. KY shows Richard Watts listed with 2 males 16-26, one male over 45, one female 16-26 and one female over 45. Next door is a William Watts with 2 males under 10, one male 26-45, 2 females under 10, 3 females 10 to 16 and one female 26-5. It is unclear who this William Watts is but he could be the William Watts who married Sally Devine 9 July 1794 in Mercer Co. KY. This William was the son of Aaron Watts of Washington Co. KY who died and left orphans William and Aaron Watts as well as a daughter. He was also a possible cousin of Richard Watts. This however is unproved at this point.

Richard and Sally Watts joined the Bethel Baptist Church in Washington County KY after their move there. The minutes from 1817-1875 reflect that Richard was quite active in church affairs. Very little is mentioned about women in the church records.

Dec. 13, 1817 minutes
Met acc. To appointment & after prayer proceeded to business. Bro. Joseph Whitehead chosen moderator & Richard Watts chosen Deacon. Bro. Wm. Prather chosen clerk. Rules of decorum was read and received by the church and then adjourned in order.
Joseph Whitehead Mod.
Wm. Prather CLK

June 13, 1818
Met acc. To app. & after prayer proc. To business a door was opened for reception of members. A letter was read and received. Messengers chosen to bear this letter, Bro. Watts, Bro. Royalty, Bro. Prather to bear the letter to the association & then adjourned in order.
Joseph Whitehead Mod.
Wm. Prather CLK

Apr 10, 1819
Met acc. To app. & after prayer proc. To business a door was opened for the reception of members. Then came Bro. Thomas Royalty Sr. & gave a statement of his misconduct & the church forgave him. A motion was made by Bro. R. Watts & seconded. Then the church took into consideration the conduct of sister E. Bowe. A motion was made and seconded to defer the case of sis Bowe till the next meeting in course. A motion was made and seconded to send to Unity Church of Hilsborough for help in this case. The bro. clerk is instructed to write a letter to each sister church & then adjourned in order.
Same as other

Aug. 7, 1819 Brother R. Watts messenger to bear letter to association.

Dec. 11, 1819 Bro R. Watts seconded motion that Bro. Jonathan Royalty make report to church.

Feb. 12 1820 Next meeting to be at Bro. Wattses.

July 8, 1820 Bro. Watts and Bro. Prather app. To bear letter to assoc.

Jan 13, 1821 a charge was exhibited against sis. Mary Graham for the sin of adultery by Bro. R. Watts. She is no more with us.

Aug. 12, 1821 Bro R. Watts, Bro D. Waughner, Bro. W. Prather to bear letter to assoc.

Aug 10, 1822 to bear letter Bro R. Watts, Bro. D. Waughner & Bro A. Darnel
R. Watts Mod.
W. Prather Clk.

June 14, 1823 App by church Bro R. Watts to view a place to build a meeting house.

Aug 12, 1824 R. Watts to bear letter.

We can see from the records that Richard Watts was not only an active member of the Bethel Baptist Church but was a Deacon and then later became Moderator. During this period he and the family members living with him lived on the property that Richard had bought from the Robersons on the forks of the Chaplin in Washington County in 1809. He apparently added to this land tract when he bought 305 3⁄4 acres on the north bank of the Chaplin River in Washington County in 1814. (suit by son John S. Watts against the heirs of Isaac Cox claiming his father Richard Watts was shortchanged by Isaac Cox in acreage at the sale.) On October 3, 1825, John S. Watts and his wife Polly sold a tract of land on the waters of the Chaplin fork in Washington Co. which they stated was bounded on a part of the line which Richard Watts deceased had purchased from Isaac Cox. Therefore we can tell that Richard Watts died sometime between August 12 1824 and 3 October 1825.He was then approximately 66 or 67 years old. We do not know when Sarah “Sally” Watts died nor where either of them are buried. Records of burial at the Bethel Baptist Church or tombstones recorded in the Bethel Baptist churchyard reveal no record of Richard and Sarah Watts. ( Land sold by John S. Watts and his wife Polly in which it is stated that Richard is deceased made October 3, 1825 and recorded October 27, 1828 Book J 1827-1829 p. 232. Washington County KY.) One possibility is that Richard and Sally Watts are buried in a family cemetery near where they lived on property owned by the family.

Deed Book S 1851-1853 p. 59. William R. Watts and Jane his wife sell to Benjamin Bull, all of Washington Co. KY, land on Glenn Creek mouth of Graves Branch, 62 acres out of which boundary is reserved one acre square around and to include the graveyard, which is not to be sold. Wm. R. Watts
Jane Watts
William R. Watts and Jane Schooling Watts are Richard and Sally Watts son and daughter-in-law.

Richard and Sally Watts had two sons John Stubblefield Watts and William Russell Watts. When Richard, Sally, their daughter Frances and two sons moved to Washington Co. KY from Mercer Co. KY in 1809, we find that on 10 May 1809, John S. Watts was listed on the personal tax list of Mercer Co. with one white over 21 and one horse. So he moved shortly thereafter with the family to Washington Co. Frances married Alexander Murray 12 November 1810 in Washington Co. KY and this left John S. Watts and William Russell Watts at home with their parents. John S. and William R. appeared to be close if one looks at the land dealings they had together and the fact that after they joined the same unit of the Kentucky Militia in the War of 1812, participated in the same battles and returned home, they married sisters Mary (Polly) and Jane Schooling, daughters of James Schooling, a Revolutionary War Veteran and Mary Hardwick both of Virginia. The Schooling family had moved to Washington Co. KY after the Revolutionary War.

In 1850 William Russell Watts applied for bounty land for which he stated he was entitled due to his service in the War of 1812. On 14 April 1871 at age 82, William Russell Watts applied for a pension for having served in the War of 1812. He states he enlisted in Captain Samuel Robertson’s company, Colonel Rennick’s regiment, King’s brigade, Shelby division of the Kentucky Militia on 08 August 1813 in Springfield KY and was honorably discharged in November 1813. He stated that he “was at the Battle of the Thames on the 5th of October 1813, saw Tecumseh as he was identified by the prisoners and also Col. Whitely as they laid near to each other and from all the circumstances was satisfied they killed each other. We crossed Lake Erie by order of General Harrison”.

On 03 April 1878, William Russell Watts’ second wife Martha Ann Burnham Watts appeared before the Clerk of the Court of Washington Co. KY. She declared that he had served in the War of 1812 as a Private in the Company commanded by Captain Samuel Robertson of the Kentucky Militia. She stated that he was 5 foot 10 inches, had a fair complexion and black eyes. His brother, his niece and three of his brother’s grandchildren were said to have had black eyes. (Watts-Hayes Letters by John S. Watts’ daughter Margaret Watts Hays). Martha Ann Watts states that her husband’s first wife was Jane Schooling. She states that she is a widow and that both her husband and his first wife died in Washington Co. KY. Her stepson, William Russell Watts Jr., signed as a witness.

These documents give us a good picture of the experiences of William Russell Watts and his brother John Stubblefield Watts during the War of 1812. John enlisted in the same unit and participated in the same battle that His brother William did.

Upon the brothers return from the war, John married Mary (Polly) Schooling on 3 August 1814 and William R. married Jane Schooling on 15 April 1815. The Schoolings were sisters and daughters of James Schooling, a Revolutionary War veteran, and Mary Hardwick. James Schooling is listed as bondsman at both weddings. According to Edward Watts, Washington Co. KY tax records indicate that John S. Watts owned 250 acres along Chaplin’s Fork in 1817. He owned 507 acres along Chaplin’s Fork in 1819-21 and 300 acres in 1825. As we have seen previously, John S. and his wife Polly sold 25 acres on 3 October 1825 which bordered on land previously owned by Richard Watts now deceased. On 3 October 1828, he and Polly sold 135 acres on waters of the Chaplin Fork and Bee Run. Both transactions are in Deed Book J p. 232, p. 236 Washington Co KY. In addition to land dealings, an order of the court directed the clerk of said court to bind out Vardiman Bolds an infant orphan age 17 to John S. Watts to learn the art of blacksmith Made 14 June 1824. Book I 1823-1827 p 28. Washington Co. KY.

Polly Schooling Watts and John Stubblefield Watts had ten children, but only five survived to adulthood. These children were Mary E. Watts 1820-1845, Leticia Stubblefield Watts 1821-1910, John S. Watts Jr. 1827-29-1901, Dewitt Clinton Watts 1829-about 1894, Cleon Bolivar Watts 1831-unknown. Mary (Polly) Schooling Watts died in 1835. Her place of burial is unknown.

On 21 December 1835 John Watts married Elizabeth Yocum a widow with several children. On 14 November 1838 John S. Watts and his wife Elizabeth E. Watts of Callaway in the State of Missouri sold to John Peters of Washington Co. KY 96 1⁄2 acres in Washington Co. on waters of Glenn Creek bounded by a tract formerly owned by Joseph Schooling deceased etc for the sum of $600.75. Deed Book N 1836-1840 p 503 Washington Co. KY. This gives us an approximate time for John and Elizabeth’s move to Missouri. In October of 1841 the Watts and several male Yocum family members appointed Jesse Yocum as their lawyer for the purpose of selling all their land in Washington Co. KY. Deed Book O 1840-1842 p 467 Washington Co. KY.

John S. Watts and Elizabeth Ewing Berry Yocum Watts had the following children: Margaret Jane Watts 1836-1873, Sarah L. Vaughn Watts 1837-1892 and Andrew Jackson Watts 1838-1894.

John S. Watts led wagon trains to California and wound up remaining in California. He settled in Mariposa California and became a magistrate. He died 26 April 1860 at age 73 of apoplexy (stroke). His obituary indicated he was well revered and admired in his community. His funeral services were held in the Methodist Church in Mariposa California. (Watts-Hays Letters)

William Russell Watts, the son of Richard and Sally Watts and brother of John Stubblefield Watts, upon his return from the War of 1812 as we have seen, married Jane Schooling. She was the daughter of James Schooling a Revolutionary War veteran and Mary Hardwick as well as the sister of Mary (Polly) Schooling, the wife of John S. Watts. Edward Watts cites Washington Co. KY records which indicate that in 1817 William had 160 acres on Glenn Creek. In 1818 he was granted permission to build a grist mill on Glenn Creek. William resigned as constable in 1818 but was reappointed in April 1823. As we have seen earlier, William and Jane sold 62 acres along Glenn Creek in October 1851 except for one square acre reserved for a cemetery. Glenn Creek appears to originate in Jenkinsville, KY in Washington Co. Jane Schooling Watts died on 26 January 1855 at approximately age 58 and is buried in the Gillespie Cemetery in Jenkinsville, KY Washington Co.

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PAGE 4.

William Russell Watts and Jane Schooling had eight children.
1. Thomas Jefferson Watts born 1828 married Julia Ann Harmon 26 April 1855. Roselyne Watts Jones who did much of the research quoted in this book is descended from Thomas Jefferson and Julia Ann. Thomas Jefferson Watts died 9 November 1902 age 74 and he is buried in the Gillespie Cemetery.

2. James Marion Watts was born 25 March 1829 in Washington Co. KY. James Marion moved to MO where he married Janders Trimble on 13 March 1855 in Gentryville, Gentry Co. MO. They had seven children – John William Watts, Sarah Belle Watts, Victoria Kaye Watts, Jefferson Davis Watts, Eugene Marion Watts, Robert Lee Watts, and Charles Thomas Watts. James Marion Watts served in the Missouri State Military Cavalry Co M, 1st Regiment, Union Army from 13 June 1861 to 12 July 1865 and was discharged at Benton Barracks MO. ( I found a picture of an unnamed man in my grandmother’s trunk. The photograph was labeled Springfield MO on the front and on the back was a penciled note to my grandfather James Thomas Watts which said –You wanted a picture of me, Jimmy, and here it is JMW. I am trying my hand at carpentering now). I looked in the Missouri census for the relevant years and contacted Marian Franklin. She told me that this was James Marion Watts, the son of William Russell Watts and Jane Schooling. This meant that he was the brother of William Russell Watts Jr. and the uncle of William Jr.’s son James Thomas Watts my grandfather. The picture strongly resembles Lee Watts the brother of James Thomas Watts and Emma Watts a descendant of William Russell Watts Sr. and his second wife. James Marion Watts died 2 December 1909 at age 81 of gangrene. He had been living in Southwest City, MO just prior to returning to Webb City. He injured his foot in a small accident in the cornfield in Southwest City and thought nothing of it. After his return to Webb City the sore refused to heal and grew worse. He was finally sent to the Salvation Army Hospital where he died from gangrene. He was survived by six children-two daughters and four sons. (Information from Marian Franklin).

3. Letitia Frances Watts was born in 1832 married William Henry Best

4. Martha Jane Watts was born 30 April 1833. She married (1) William K. Bottom (2) Elijah Gabbart.

5. Sarah Watts was born 1834 married Thomas Powell.

6. William Russell Watts Jr. was born 2 January 1836 and married Zerilda Ellen Williams,the daughter of Dr. John Miller Williams and Elizabeth Sweeney, on 9 July 1861. William Russell Watts Jr. died 7 December 1925 at age 89. Zerilda Watts was born 21 May 1838 and died 17 March 1914 at age 75. They are both buried in Bruner’s Chapel Cemetery in Mercer County KY just west of Rosehill KY on the road to Springfield KY.

7. Mary Catherine Watts was born 2 July 1838 and died 1 June 1915 age 76. Married Pleasant William Bottom

8. Elizabeth Ann Watts married John Cornish 1849.

William Russell Watts Sr. married second Martha Ann Burns on 2 October 1856 at age 67. He and Martha Ann Wilham Burns, the widow of Smith Burns had the following children: Emma Watts married Henry Gabbart, John Wayne Watts married Luvena Matherly, George W. Watts married Margaret Black. Martha Ann Watts, the second wife of William Russell Watts, died on 28 February 1905 and is buried in the Deep Creek Baptist Church cemetery.

On 04 January 1859 William R. Watts and his wife Martha of Washington Co. Ky sold to William H. Best 33 1⁄4 acres on Deep Creek in Washington Co. KY for $332.00. Recorded 19 May 1859 Deed Book V 1858-1860 p.449 Washington Co. KY William H. Best was in all probability the son in law of William R. Watts and the deceased Jane Schooling, and married to their daughter Letitia Frances.

This is probably a good place to discuss the Watts-Hays letters. This is a collection of letters written by the John Stubblefield Watts family to each other-mostly however by Margaret Watts Hays, the daughter of John S. Watts by his second wife. These letters were written between 1849 and 1876 and had been handed down through the generations relatively intact. They have been preserved and placed online with notes and comments to place them in a historical context and explain the references contained in the letters. They are extremely interesting and give a wonderful insight into the life and times of our family. This website was created and is maintained by our cousin Marian Franklin, a descendant of John Stubblefield Watts. This site contains much information of interest and value, and is well worth exploring.

I will only comment on a few of the letters which refer to William Russell Watts Sr. and Jr. and also the eye and skin color which will become relevant later in our discussion of our Watts family.

In Letter 1. 18 July 1849, John S. Watts writes his family from Albuquerque, N.M. and asks someone to write his brother William R. Watts and let him know “how we are”.

In Letter 7, Nov. 1856, Margaret Watts Hays writes to her parents that Uncle Bill Watts is married to a young widow.

In Letter 15 22 November 1858, Margaret writes to her Parents that Uncle Bill’s children has all married off excepting one.

In 1859, Margaret writes to her brother John S. Watts Jr. that Uncle Bill Watts’ youngest son William is out near Pleasant Hill (Cass Co. MO). He has been there all summer but have not been to see me yet.

In May of 1859 Margaret wrote that two sons of William R. Watts were in Missouri (Thomas Jefferson Watts and William Russell Watts Jr.). She also said that Uncle Bill’s first wife’s children has all left him.

In her letters Margaret Watts Hays states that her first born child, John Nathan Hays (named for her father and a family friend) had dark skin and looked like her father (John S. Watts). She later talked about all three of her children and said all of them (Betty. John and Elfreda) had black eyes. Betty and John’s were blacker than their mothers’ and Elfreda had black hair and eyes. William Russell Watts Sr. was said to have had black eyes and fair skin as stated by his second wife in her petition for a pension.

We can see from these letters that the Watts families in Missouri and California not only kept in touch with one another by mail but visited back and forth as difficult as travel must have been in those days. My mother has often told me that her father, James Thomas Watts, talked frequently about wanting to move to Missouri. I wondered why but never knew until I read these letters and did the research for this book. My grandfather had two uncles (James Marion Watts and Thomas Jefferson Watts) and a father (William Russell Watts Jr.) who had been to Missouri as well as a great uncle (John Schooling Watts). However unfortunately for him, by the time my grandmother agreed to leave Kentucky after the death of her mother, he moved to Mississippi and then to Louisiana probably because more land was available or he thought the land was capable of helping him make more money.

I think this would be a good place to discuss what can now be said about the story told by William Russell Watts Jr. to his grandson Emery Willis Watts that he rode in the pony express as described in the family stories. The Pony Express was started by a William H. Russell and two business associates in Missouri to deliver the mail from the town of St. Joseph Missouri to Sacramento California. The Pony Express operated from 3 April 1860 until late October 1861. William H. Russell also had another pony express type operation that operated between St. Joseph Missouri and Denver Colorado briefly starting in May 1859. Although William Russell Watts Jr. does not appear on any pony express list (they are admittedly incomplete and records often lacking) in the Watts Hays Letters it is stated that he was in Missouri in May 1859 and in a letter dated just 1859 to have been in Cass County MO. In June 1860 Margaret Watts says that he stayed with her “last night”. St. Jo Missouri in Buchanan Co., Jackson County Mo where Margaret Watts Hayes lived and Cass County where W. R. Watts Jr. was in 1859 are all close together and on the Kansas border. Although we cannot prove that William Jr. rode for the Pony Express, it seems that he was in the vicinity of the pony express businesses at the appropriate time and that his participation in this exciting activity is quite likely-just the kind of thing a young male in the Watts family would do. After all this was the time of wagon trains going westward, the gold rush, fights between Indians and people moving westward to displace them, the developing turmoil of people with slaves and those without trying to keep the West like the land they came from, and above all people trying to make money.

We had left William R. Watts Sr. and his wife Martha in 1859 when they had sold property to William’s daughter and son-in-law. Roselyne Watts Jones, the descendant of Thomas Jefferson Watts wrote to me many years ago about some of her findings in the records of Washington Co. KY and what she had concluded. I will present these and add some information we now have. Roselynne could find no will for William R. Watts Sr. but she did find that his land had been sold at auction by the Sheriff presumably for nonpayment of taxes. The land was bought by William R. Watts Jr. and his wife Zerilda Williams Watts. On 14 November 1865, while William R. Sr. was still alive, William R. Watts Jr. and wife sold the house and 6 acres of land back to Martha Watts, William Sr.’s wife and children-Emmaline, John and George. They kept the rest of the property that had been attached to the house when they originally bought it at the auction. Roselynne concluded that William Sr. was unable to deal with business affairs at this time and I would agree. In 1865 William Sr. was 76 years old. There had been some mention also much earlier that he was having problems with his eyes. Trachoma was a widespread problem and major cause of blindness in Kentucky according to Marion Franklin (John S. Watts descendant) and so blindness was another possibility. William R. Watts Sr. died on 26 December, 1876 at age 86. As stated earlier in her widow’s application for a pension, his wife Martha said that he and his first wife both lived in Washington Co. KY until they died. However she states further down in the application that he died in Mercer Co. KY at his son’s home. William R. Watts Sr.’s death certificate states that he died 26 December 1874 in Mercer Co. KY, was 86 years old, a widower, born in VA and was the son of Richard and Sally Watts both born in VA. This information is confirmed in the Mortality Schedules for Washington, Mercer and Anderson Counties, Kentucky for 1850-1860-1870-1880. He was said in these documents to have died from old age.

William R. Watts Sr. is buried in the Gillespie Cemetery next to his first wife Jane Schooling Watts. A descendant, Hazel Watts Swartz, said that she saw both tombstones. However at two different times, Roselynne Jones and I both visited the cemetery and could see only the tombstone of Jane Watts. The stone of William R. Watts Sr. has disappeared. It has either been broken, removed or has sunk into the ground. We know then that William R. Watts Sr., his wife Jane Schooling Watts, their son Thomas Jefferson Watts, his wife and child (a son) are all buried in the Gillespie Cemetery. As stated earlier, William R. Watts Sr.’s second wife, Martha Ann Burns Wilham, was buried in the Deep Creek Baptist Church Cemetery. Her tombstone states that she was the wife of William Russell Watts Sr.

William Russell Watts Jr. must have been a very caring person. He bought his father’s land when his father could no longer keep up his financial obligations or take care of his financial affairs, he sold back (for an unnamed price) the same house with some land to his stepmother and half siblings so that the family would have a home. He and his wife Zerilda apparently took care of his father when he became old and ill until his father’s death.

We have seen William R. Watts Jr. (Billy) through the Watts Hays Letters as a young man who appears to be adventuresome, daring and energetic but who kept in touch with his family. Upon his return from Missouri, he married Zerilda Ellen Williams, the daughter of Dr. John Miller Williams and Elizabeth Sweeney on 9 July 1861 in Mercer Co KY. John M. Williams was the son of Beverly Williams from Halifax Co. VA and Keziah Martin Williams who was said to have been born in KY. Their farm was on the Williams Road in Dixville, Mercer Co KY. and the Williams Cemetery is on their property. It contains the graves of many of their descendants. Elizabeth Sweeney was the daughter of Edmund Sweeney and the granddaughter of Moses Sweeney a Revolutionary War veteran from Northern Ireland who moved from Virginia to Lincoln Co. KY. William R. Watts Jr. and Zerilda Williams Watts had the following children:

1. John Miller Watts born July 22 1862 died September 28 1863 age14 months. He is buried in the Williams Cemetery.
2. Almida Watts died the day she was born July 13, 1865. Buried in the Williams Cemetery.
3 James Thomas Watts born November 17, 1863 died December 1, 1938 age 75.
4. Mary Williams Watts born January 23, 1867 died February 14, 1961 age 94.
5. Elizabeth Katherine Watts born March 31, 1869 died December 10, 1951 age 82.
6. Martha Jane Watts born December 18, 1870 died July 2, 1957 age 87.
7. Henry Leon (Lee) Watts born November 26, 1872 died January 25, 1960 age 88.
8. Naomi Frances Watts born July 3, 1874 died November 16, 1967 age 93.
9. John Hart Watts born October 20, 1876 died May 9, 1960 age 84.
10. Pleasant (Petty) William Watts born February 24, 1879 died December 21, 1951 age 72.

William R. Watts Jr. and Zerilda lived in Mercer Co. KY after they moved from Washington Co. KY. They had a farm on the Chaplin River between Bruner’s Chapel Church and Cornishville, KY on Brewer’s Mill Road. They attended Bruner’s Chapel Baptist Church but apparently did some shopping in Cornishville – one of their photographs was taken there, and they also went into Harrodsburg to conduct business (the widow’s pension application of Martha Watts that they witnessed was filed in Harrodsburg). Their house was down a rather steep hill and was made of wood with cedar shakes on the roof (Emery Willis Watts).

We can see from the births and deaths that William and Zerilda had a difficult time. The births and deaths of the first and third children were close together, with the birth of the second child, James Thomas in between. James Thomas was evidently premature, judging from his size – he was said to have been very small and was carried around in a basket on the head of one of the slaves of the Williams family when he was a newborn. His parents, apparently shocked by the death of two children, were said to have spoiled James Thomas. This was discussed by his brothers even in their adulthood. Also this was a fearful time with the Civil War and a battle (the Battle of Perryville) practically occurring on their doorstep and marauding, foraging soldiers from both sides roaming through the countryside stripping citizens of any goods they could take or use.

After the Civil War the William R. Watts Jr. family grew and prospered. There were eight living and healthy children who survived. Zerilda’s father Dr. John Miller Williams had died 29 July 1859 at age 56 and was buried in the Williams Cemetery. Her mother Elizabeth Sweeney Williams died on 3 June 1870 at age 62. She is buried beside her husband in the Williams Cemetery. It was on 26 December 1876 that William R. Watts Sr. died in the home of William Jr. and his wife Zerilda. At that time they had seven children, the youngest one two months old. They were a caring, busy couple who appeared to do whatever they could to help others. Although Willliam Jr. and Zerilda had many grandchildren, I will list the marriages of their children and only elaborate on my own line which descends from their son James Thomas Watts.

Mary Williams Watts married Douglas Matherly. Aunt Mary lost the sight in one eye and my grandfather felt very protective of her. I remember seeing her when she was in her nineties. She was small and lived with several of her daughters in the family home on the Perryville Road just outside the current city limits of Harrodsburg. My mother Beatrice Watts used to spend many nights with her female cousins in this family before her family moved to Mississippi in 1918. Mary and Douglas Matherly had a large family consisting mostly of girls.

Elizabeth Katherine Watts married Henry White. I know very little about her except that after she became a widow she lived and kept house for several of her siblings somewhere between Bruner’s Chapel Church and Cornishville. She was said to be perky and energetic like all the Watts family. I do know that my mother visited her when we went to Kentucky in the summers and that the rest of the family that lived there visited her often.

Martha Jane Watts married W. C. Matherly. I know very little about her.

Henry Leon Watts married Bertha Lee White. He was called Uncle Lee and was the uncle who closely resembled his uncle James Marion Watts, the son of William Russell Watts Sr. and Jane Schooling.

Naomi Frances Watts married William Horn. Aunt Naomi was a petite lady who was very sweet and kind. I also remember her daughter Frances who lived to be 101 years old. I also remember her sons John Will Horn and Bob Horn. Bob Horn was particularly close to his Watts cousins and knew lots of family stories. We often visited him and his wife Beulah when they lived in town in Harrodsburg. They were both delightful people and spent a lot of time doing kind deeds for others who needed help.

John Hart Watts (Uncle Johnny) married Annie White. They lived for some time in the Perryville KY home once owned and lived in by James Thomas Watts and his family.

Pleasant Williams Watts (Uncle Petty) remained a bachelor. It was said that he wanted to marry a girl that his parents disapproved of and when they refused permission for him to marry, he just refused to marry anyone. He lived with his father after his mother died and continued to take care of him until his father’s death.

James Thomas Watts married Gillia Thomas Watts daughter of Emily Shackelford Huff and James Huff. Emily Shackelford and James Huff had two children, Sarah and Nickless who died in infancy and four surviving children – Tilford Marion Huff, Mary Ellen Huff, Nancy (Nan) Huff and Gillia later know as Gillie. Tilford Huff married twice and had eleven children, Mary Ellen Huff married a Jackson and had one child, a daughter named Maude who married a Graves. Mary Ellen died at a young age. Nan died apparently from a virus when she was about 16. Gillie married James Thomas Watts and they had 12 children, all of whom survived to adulthood. James Huff died when Gillie was 16 but her mother Emily played a very important part not only in her life but in the lives of Gillie’s husband and children. After Emily became a widow, she ran the family farm with the help of her children and hired hands. After her daughter married James Thomas Watts, he consulted her on many business deals and highly respected her opinion. Later she came to live with the Watts family and visited with her son Tilford’s family. She would sit beside the stove in the kitchen to keep warm in the Watts home in Perryville, KY. She smoked a small clay pipe on occasion.

James Thomas Watts and Gillie Thomas Huff met at the Deep Creek Baptist Church in Mercer Co. KY. It is located on the border with Washington Co to the west of Mercer Co. Although Gillie and her mother were members of the Benton Baptist Church located on the New Dixville Road near where they lived at the bottom of Irish Ridge in Mercer Co. KY, they were visiting at Deep Creek Church. James Thomas Watts invited them to his home for supper and thus began the romance between the two. They were married at Gillie’s home on 26 March 1885 and the wedding was witnessed by S. H. Graves, Mike McCristal and other friends.

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PAGE 5.

James Thomas Watts was an industrious man. He was a school teacher early on, on the School Board as well as the Board at the Bank, was a farmer and became a miller. After their marriage, he and Gillie lived in Perryville, KY with his aunt Mary Hart who was the widow of Dr. John Hart. (Mary Williams Hart was the sister of Zerilda Williams Watts, the mother of James Thomas Watts). I believe at that time he taught school. Their son Emery Willis was born in Boyle County on 27 February 1886 while they were living with Aunt Mary Hart. The couple then moved to Washington County KY near Jenkinsville. James had a mill there and probably farmed also. The couple had the following children:

1. Emery Willis Watts born 27 February 1886 died February 28 1976 age 90.
2. Zerilda Emily Watts born 26 February 1888 died 12 November 1977 age 89.
3. Gillie Thomas Watts born 25 February 1890 died 02 May 1972 age 82.
4. Lillie Leon Watts born 25 February 1890 died 20 March 1979 age 89.
5. James William Watts born 28 June 1892 died 30 August 1951 age 59.
6. John Charles Watts born 05 June 1894 died 26 February 1976 age 81.
7. Tilford Marion Watts born 23 October 1896 died 26 June 1966 age 69.
8. Fay Watts born 07 February 1899 died 12 April 1989 age 90.
9 Marie Watts born 11 April 1901 died 12 April 1980 age79.
10. Reid Beckham Watts born 08 February 1903 died 21 November 1970 age 67.
11. Margie Schooling Watts born 28 July 1905 died 27 September 1997 age 92.
12 Sarah Beatrice Watts born 22 July 1908 still alive at the present time-101 years old.

Note the name Schooling given to the daughter Margie Schooling Watts, a surname that reappears after three generations. Also we can see that all of the children lived to adulthood and many lived to an advanced age.

After the move to Washington County where they lived for some time, James Thomas and Gillie moved with their family back to Boyle County just outside of Perryville. They bought the “Old Duggan Place”. This farm which originally had 500 acres is located at what is now 3945 Webster Road. The home is a beautiful two story white home and has been lovingly restored by the current owners Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Cook. James Thomas Watts farmed and owned a mill in the outskirts of Perryville. The farm had a creek, large barn, a large vegetable garden, an apple orchard, pastures and fields for growing grain etc.

My mother has many fond memories of her life in this home where she was born. She and I have spent many hours talking about her family and their lives. Mother was born here on 22 July 1908. That evening several of her sisters had dates and mother was dressed in a long dress and brought out on a pillow for her sister’s boyfriends to see. Her grandmother Emily Shackelford Huff was living with them at this time and had apparently been doing so since they had lived in Washington Co as she was in their home in a 1900 Federal Census there. Emma and Benny were a married African American couple who worked for the Watts family. Every afternoon, when mother walked home from school in Perryville, she would stop by Emma and Benny’s home and Emma would give her teacakes that she had baked. Mother loved Emma like a third mother. Her second mother was her sister Lillie, the identical twin to Gillie. When the twins were small, my grandfather would take them to his mill, put them on the table, tell the men who was who. Then he would ask the men to close their eyes and perhaps have the twins change places. He would then ask the men to open their eyes and tell him which twin was which. They were frequently wrong.

When they lived in Perryville, Emery and Zerilda were in college. My grandfather took Aunt Rilda to Berea College, where she didn’t want to go, so she got on the train and beat him home. He finally took her to Bowling Green to college with her brother Emery (Bowling Green is where their Sweeney-Williams greatgrandmother was from). They both became school teachers. There is a story that Uncle Emery went to Eastern Kentucky to teach in a one room schoolhouse. There were some rather large boys in the school and they had run off about 3 or 4 schoolteachers already. Uncle Emery took his pistol with him, shot some glass bottles off the fence, laid his loaded pistol on the desk and said “Now boys, we’re going to have school”. He had no more trouble after that.

Mother remembers the gathering of the crops, making sausage etc. in the fall, gathering apples and making cider, dried apples and applesauce, and helping to can the vegetables from the garden. They canned everything they ate with the exception of coffee, tea, sugar and a few other things. Grandmother made the breads, pies and cakes but the girls took care of the other chores in the kitchen. Mother washed dishes when she got big enough to stand on a stool. My grandfather evidently believed the old adage that idol hands are the devil’s workshop and so he kept everyone busy. My mother remembers also that all the canned fruits and vegetables were out in the cellar which had a trapdoor from the porch. That way an even temperature was kept all year long. She told me about the sauerkraut that was made in pottery jars with weights on top. She listed the kinds of dishes they had for meals, meat was one of them but not a big part of meals, all kinds of vegetables such as green beans, potatoes, peas and in the summer fresh tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, and cabbage. She also said that grandmother made wonderful jam cakes, green tomato pies, stack pies and vinegar pies (which taste like lemon pies). She also made elderberry wine. There seems to have been a great variety of food with no modern preservatives. To add to their diet, she gathered fresh wild greens, such as dandelion greens, in the spring and early summer. Gillie’s mother Emily Shackelford Huff, born in Casey County KY, gathered herbs with which she made medicine to treat her family, including all her grandchildren. Twenty three of her twenty four grandchildren survived to adulthood-Pauline Huff died of typhoid fever at age 10. She was my mother’s close friend and playmate as well as cousin.

In 1914, while the James T. Watts family was living in Perryville, his mother Zerilda Williams Watts became ill. He rode his horse from Perryville to his parents home near Cornishville and would stay for days. He would come home for a while to tend to the farm and other business and would return to his parent’s home. His mother died 27 March 1914. My grandfather was said to have loved his mother dearly.

Emily Shackelford Huff continued to live with the James Watts family and in 1909 a family picture was made in front of the home in Perryvile which included her, her daughter and son-in-law and all twelve children. It is a delightful and precious photograph because it does show the whole family.

My mother told me that her grandfather William Russell Watts Jr. was blind when she was a child and when he came to visit he would ask her to come to him so he could see how tall she had grown. She said he reminded her of Santa Claus with his gray beard. After the death of his wife, he and his son Pleasant William lived together in a settlement or town called Bushtown near where they had lived. They had a store there. When the house and store burned, the men took William Russell Watts outside with all the furniture and sat him on a sofa. Later he laughed when they said how bad the fire was and said “Yes, but it’s hell on those rats”.

In January of 1918, Emily Shackelford Huff went to visit her son Tilford Marion Huff and his family in Mercer Co. KY and caught a cold which rapidly developed into pneumonia. She died on 02 January 1915 and was buried in the Huff plot in Springhill Cemetery in Harrodsburg, KY. It was after this that Gillie told her husband that she was now ready to move anywhere he wanted to go. By this time he was ready to move to Mississippi instead if Missouri. Several of the children had married and did not go to Mississippi. At this point I will list all the children and their marriages as well as their children.

1. Emery Willis married Vests Campbell who lived in Perryville, KY. They had
Emery died as an infant
Forest married Pearl-2 sons
Thomas Campbell married Margurite -2 sons

2. Zerilda Emily married Minor Varner Lester Harrodsburg, KY They had
Varner Lester married Hazel-3 daughters
Lillie Irene Lester died age 8 months.
Mary Louise Lester married and had one son.
Helen Lester married Maurice -1 son, 1 daughter.
Horace Lester married Lucille -2 sons

3. Gillie Thomas Watts married Jordan Carpenter from Perryville, KY. They had
Irving Carpenter married Margaret – 2 sons
Rena Clay Carpenter married Wiley –1son, 2 daughters
Leon Carpenter married Marrin – 1 son, 2 daughters
Allen Carpenter married Berdinia - 1 son
Mildred Carpenter married Willard – 3 daughters

4. Lillie Leon Watts married Charles Leonard-no children.

5. James William Watts married Nevada Green. They had
Hazel Virginia Watts married Herbert –1 daughter.
Geneva Davis married Reuben- 2 daughters, 1 son.

6. John Charles Watts married Willie Mae Smith They had
Tommie Lou married David –1 son, 2 daughters
John Charles Watts, Jr. married Barbara –3 sons
Married second Cathy

7. Tilford Marion Watts married Sallie Foster. They had
Gillie Watts died in infancy.
Tilford Marion Watts married Patty – 3 sons

8. Fay Watts married Rupert Harmon they had
Stanley Harmon married – 1 son
Married second Fay – 2 daughters
LaRue Harmon married Dot- 1 son
Rupert Harmon, Jr. married Verline – 2 sons
Married second Penny
Lloyd Gaines Harmon married Mary- 1 son, 2 daughters

9. Marie Watts married Jefferson Davis Jordan They had
Marie Jordan married James- 1 son
Jefferson Davis Jordan, Jr. married Betty - 2 daughters, 1 son.
Margie Louise Jordan married James - 1 son, 1 daughter

10. Reid Beckham Watts married Russell Marksberry -no children

11. Margie Schooling Watts married Sidney Dade Cox. They had
Sidney d. Cox Jr. married Freddie-three sons, one daughter
Beatrice Lillian Cox married Glenn - 2 daughters
William Augustus Cox married Dot - 2 sons

12. Sarah Beatrice Watts married High Lewis Vance. They had
Marilyn Watts Vance married John - 1 son
Sarah Virginia married John-no children

There were thirty one grandchildren born to Gillie Thomas Huff Watts and James Thomas Watts. Twenty eight of them survived to adulthood. Of the twelve families, two remained in Kentucky-the Lester and Leonard families. The James William Watts family moved to Louisiana for awhile but returned to Kentucky to live. The Emery Watts family moved from Kentucky to Ohio. Marie and Margie married men from Mississippi and remained there, while the rest of the family eventually moved to Louisiana. John, Tilford and Reid as well as Gillie married and remained there. Beatrice married a man from Louisiana and moved to Chicago, Illinois where Marilyn was born. Shortly thereafter they moved to Atlanta, Georgia where six years later Virginia was born.

We will now resume the story of the James Watts family as they moved to West Point, Mississippi. My grandfather bought a place in Westpoint, MS and moved the family there in 1918. They left behind Emery, Zerilda, Lillie and their families. Not long after this the family moved to Columbus MS in Lowndes Co which is in Eastern Mississippi on the Tombigbee River. It is in the blackbelt of Mississippi which consists of fertile black soil and is excellent for farming. Aunt Marie went to Columbus and got a job as well as a room with a family. Grandfather Watts went after her and said no daughter of his was going to work in a store, and brought her home. After that she spent a great deal of time on the front porch in good weather crocheting and tatting. She and Margie married while the family lived in Columbus-Marie to Jeff Jordan and Margie to Sidney Cox-cousins. They had families and remained there the rest of their lives. The two families were very close and on Sundays after church had dinner together, alternating homes. My mother attended a one room schoolhouse there and her father hired the schoolteacher who stayed with the family and drove a horse and buggy to school. My mother was not overly fond of school and so she would ride her horse up under the bridge and when she heard the teacher’s buggy go over the bridge, she would come out and ride her horse around the countryside all day until time to go home. I don’t imagine that lasted too long. The family lived a fairly long distance from other families and my grandfather had a lot of African Americans working for him. The countryside, climate and living conditions were quite different from the Kentucky they had left, and when ever the family heard the song My Old Kentucky Home played, the women would cry and the men would fuss-all except my grandfather. I think he almost had a rebellion on his hands.

After a few years my grandmother, mother and several uncles went back to Kentucky for a while. After my grandfather moved to Louisiana to his other place near Tallulah, LA across the river from Vicksburg, MS the family was reunited again. The land owned by the family was next to land that had once been owned by Jefferson Davis. My grandfather raised cotton and cattle on his place and called it a cattle ranch. When the flood of 1927 came after the levee broke and water rose up to the house, my grandfather sent his cattle across the Mississippi River to Vicksburg and higher ground for safety. The family stayed in their home and the water rose up only to the top step of the porch. They were indeed lucky. My mother married Hugh Lewis Vance and moved to Chicago, ILL where I was born. When I was 18 months old we moved to Atlanta GA and when I was 6 years old my sister Virginia (Ginger) was born. We moved at that time about 6 blocks away and I went to a new school with new friends in the school and the neighborhood. It was at this time that both my grandparents died on 12 December 1938.

My grandparents had still maintained their church membership in the Benton Baptist Church in Mercer Co. KY. Their funeral however was held in the Bruner’s Chapel Baptist Church on the Mackville Road and they were buried in the Springhill Cemetery in Harrodsburg KY. It was said to be one of the largest funerals in Mercer County.

I remember my grandparents just on one visit when I must have been 5 years old. I remember my grandfather sitting on a bench in the backyard and in the breakfast room eating cornbread and drinking buttermilk. I remember my grandmother taking me out to feed the baby chickens in the chicken yard. Unfortunately I also remember I got into some stinging nettles or something and had to come back to the house. It was a fond memory anyway.

My mother told me that shortly before his death, my grandfather was told by his doctor that he had “little tumors” on his retina and that he would eventually go blind. His father and grandfather before him had been blind so he knew what that could mean for his life. There are many causes of blindness as well as many conditions of the retina that could lead to blindness. I see a retina specialist once a year to check for any reappearance of damage from Sarcoidosis and asked him about what could have been meant by such a description. He said it was impossible to say now, that it could have been due to several conditions so I think we may never know what the condition was that was being described.

After my grandparent’s death as well as before, my family visited my mother’s family every year. Most of my mother’s sibling’s lived on farms and so were not free to travel. This meant that we visited them for the most part. I always looked forward to seeing my relatives. I remember that Aunt Lillie, who lived at Rosehill outside of Harrodsburg, KY, had a dog her father had given her. His name was Frank and he was sable and white, and looked like a Collie but with a shorter face. I fell in love with Collies then. She also had another one later which was black and white. It was not until recently that I discovered that these dogs were American Farm Working Collies and were descended from sheepdogs found on the border lands of England and Scotland – Scottish sheep dogs, Cumberland sheep dogs as well as Welsh sheep dogs. They are a variable breed but are very good at herding, driving and guarding not only sheep but cattle as well as chickens and other poultry. Many years later my Uncle Emery told me that when he was farming in Kentucky that one day he took his sheepdog to another farm to get some cattle to take home. He and the dog were driving the cattle home when he met a friend and stopped to talk. Time passed and when Uncle Emery looked up the dog and the cattle were gone. When he got home, the dog had driven the cattle home, put them in the barnyard and was guarding them. What a wonderful and valuable canine companion.

During one visit to Kentucky, I visited the Hungate School aka Rosehill School on the banks of the Chaplin River with some of my Lester cousins. Aunt Lillie and Uncle Charlie had a store at Rosehill that included everything from food to clothing and farm implements as well as a post office, a place for candling eggs, and a separate voting building. Uncle Charlie had a lot of pretty cats at the store outside and some particularly pretty gray ones he said were Maltese cats. After closing on Saturday night, the family and friends would gather at the store to visit. What fun!

I used to enjoy listening to my aunt’s conversations when we were visiting, but I would often sneak off and listen to my uncle’s conversations. It was usually much more interesting and full of family stories.

As I worked on the material for this book, it brought back many memories – funny, happy, poignant and sad but I am thankful for a wonderful family that gave me each and every one of these treasured memories.

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We have followed our Watts family from Culpepper, Virginia to North Carolina, to Virginia, Mississippi and Louisiana for a period of approximately two hundred and seventy years. We have seen them in many circumstances: periods of war, prosperity and financial depressions but they have survived and prospered. The family has increased and spread all over the United States from New York to California. Many of us have been lost to each other through the centuries but thanks to the internet and an interest in reconnecting some of us have found each other. I hope you have had an interesting journey along with me as we have met our ancestors. We have had the opportunity to get to know something of what life was like for our ancestors and to be grateful for all their hard work and caring that enabled us to be here. I have developed a great deal of respect for our ancestors and the difficult, often dangerous lives they led. However they seemed to have retained a good sense of humor which stood them in good stead and allowed them to have fun and joy in life. I think we can also say that we had some loveable characters in our family. I am sure that many of you have memories in addition to mine of the family and perhaps some that are quite different. Please feel free to share your memories with the rest of us and correct any mistakes I have made.

This is not the final word on our Watts family. As new information comes to light there may be changes or confirmation of current thinking. This is an ongoing process and I hope others in the family will take up the challenge.

Marilyn Watts Vance McGaughey, Ph.D.
November 2009

FURTHER INFORMATION

DEATH RECORDS

1. William R. Watts Sr. (son of Richard and Sally Watts) Died December 26, 1874 Age 86 Cause Old Age Place Mercer Co. KY.

2. Mary Watts Bottoms (daughter Wm. R. Watts Sr. and Jane Schooling)
Died June 1, 1915 Age 78 Cause-cerebral apoplexy Place Cornishville, KY

3.. Zerilda E. Watts (daughter John Miller Williams and Elizabeth Sweeney)
Died March 22, 1914 Age 75 Cause Chronic Nephritis Place probably Cornishville,
KY.

4. W. R.. (William R.) Watts, Jr. (son William Watts, Sr and Jane Schooling) Died December 7, 1925 Age 89 Cause Uremic Coma Place Cornishville, KY

5. Emily Huff (daughter Nicholas Shackelford and Nancy Elder) Died January 2, 1915 Age 91 Cause Bronchial Pneumonia Place Rosehill, KY

6. Tilford Marion Huff (son James Huff and Emily Shackelford) Died September 29, 1928 Age 78 Cause Ulcer of Stomach Place Rosehill, KY

7. William Pleasant Watts (son William R. Watts Jr. and Zerilda Williams) Died December 2, 1951 Age 72 Cause Coronary Thrombosis Place Rosehill, KY

8. Betty Kate Watts White (daughter W. R. Watts Jr. and Zerilda Williams) Died December 10, 1951 Age 82 Cause generalized ?

9. James W. Watts (son James T. Watts and Gillie Huff) Died August 30, 1957 Age 64 Cause Coronary Occlusion Place Rosehill, KY

10. Maude Graves (daughter of Mary Ellen Huff and Jackson) granddaughter of Emily Shackelford Huff and James Huff Died June 7, 1966 age 87.

ALLIED FAMILIES OF J T WATTS AND GILLIE HUFF FAMILY

Levi Baldock
Daughter Tabitha Baldock m Richard Shackelford
Son Nicholas Shackelford m Nancy Elder
Daughter Emily Shackelford m James Huff
Daughter Gillie Huff m James Thomas Watts

William Davenport m Sarah Comfort Fisher
Daughter Mary Davenport m William Elder (Son of Peter Elder)
Daughter Nancy Elder m Nicholas Shackelford
Daughter Emily Shackelford m James Huff
Daughter Gillie Huff m James Thomas Watts

Beverly Williams m Keziah Martin
Son John Miller Williams m Elizabeth Sweeney
Daughter Zerilda Emily Williams m William Russell Watts Jr.
Son James Thomas Watts m Gillie Huff

Thomas Huff m Elizabeth Isham
Son Richard Huff m
Son James Huff m Emily Shackelford
Daughter Gillie Huff m James Thomas Watts

Moses Sweeney m Elizabeth Johnson
Son Edmond Sweeney m
Daughter Elizabeth Sweeney m John Miller Williams
Daughter Zerilda Emily Williams m William R. Watts Jr.
Son James Thomas Watts m Gillie Thomas Huff

Zachariah Shackelford m Dolly Embree
Son Richard Shackelford m Tabitha Baldock
Son Nicholas Shackelford m Nancy Elder
Daughter Emily Shackelford m James Huff
Daughter Gillie Huff m James Thomas Watts

ANCESTORS WHO WERE IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

1. Levi Baldock served in VA
2. William Davenport served in NC
3. Thomas Huff served in VA
4. James Schooling served in VA
5. Zachariah Shackelford served in VA
6. Richard Shackelford served in VA
7. Moses Sweeney served in VA
8. Richard Watts fought at the Battle of Ramsour’s Mill in NC but did not serve 6
Months.

All men are listed in the NASDAR Patriot Index (NASDAR is the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution)

DNA OF THE JAMES T WATTS AND GILLIE WATTS FAMILY
YDNA

YDNA is passed on directly from father to son. It is not inherited by the females in the family. By analyzing the YDNA it is possible to tell if any two males are related. It is not possible to tell however if they are actually father and son, brothers or cousins. For a discussion of YDNA please go to the Family Tree DNA site at www.familytreedna.com There you will find not only a discussion if YDNA but if you click on the family surname projects and follow to the Watts Family site you will find our family as family number 8 of R1b. If you are a direct male descendant of James Thomas Watts your YDNA is the same as his and his direct male ancestors. Your YDNA also will match that of our family on the FTDNA site for R1b Family # 8 under Richard and Sally since one of your cousins had his YDNA done and matched a descendant of the Thomas Watts (died Culpeper VA 1764) whose will you see in this book. Your direct male ancestors are:

Thomas Watts d 1764
William Watts
Richard Watts b Culpeper VA d KY
William Russell Watts Sr.
William Russell Watts Jr.
James Thomas Watts
One of his sons

The Three Richard Watts Families

Richard Watts of Culpeper Co. VA R1b1 Family #8
Richard Watts of Bedford Co. VA E1b1b1 Family
Richard Watts of Pittsylvania Co. VA R1b1 Family # 1 (direct descendant is Greenberry
Watts of TN)

Thomas Watts (died 1749) Family of Culpeper Co. VA son of Edward Watts (the other Watts Family of Culpeper Co VA) R1b1 Family #9
www.familytreedna.com

MITOCHONDRIAL DNA – MtDNA

Mt DNA is passed from the female to all her children both male and female but only her daughters can pass it on to their children. The son cannot pass it on to his children. Therefore all of Gillie Thomas Huff Watts’ children have her mtDNA but only her daughters have passed it on to their children. Also then her daughters daughters have her mtDNA. The scientists and researchers have given names to the different groups of mtDNA to differentiate between them. For a discussion of this go to www. familytreedna.com and you will find a discussion of mtDNA. Our Haplogroup is H5a1 and originated about 8,000 years ago. Our group mutated (or changed) from group H5 about that time. We are descended from a Haplogroup called H. It will be easier to understand if you read an article explaining the process. We are most closely related to people in England who probably came from the Spanish- French border to France to Germany and then to England or went directly from France to England. This journey took thousands of years according to the researchers. Your direct female ancestors are:

Sarah Comfort Fisher b Accomack VA m William Davenport b England
Mary Davenport b Surry Co NC m William Elder
Nancy Elder b Casey Co KY m Nicholas Shackelford
Emily Shackelford m James Huff
Gillie Huff m James Thomas Watts
Daughter of Gillie Huff Watts
Daughter
Daughter

THALASSEMIA ANEMIA BETA MINOR

Beta thalassemia anemia minor is an inherited genetic disorder that is apparently in the James T. Watts family. I have been diagnosed with this condition as have my sister, my mother, John Charles Watts Jr. and one of his sons. (All diagnoses were made by licensed and qualified Physicians) My father Hugh Vance was tested but was negative for this condition which means it came from my mother’s family. Beta Thalassemia anemia minor is a blood condition that is found in people of mainly Greek and Italian descent. Since the Greeks colonized the boot of Italy and Sardinia around. 500 B.C. it is likely that this form of TA originated in Greece and the Greek Islands. It is inherited directly.and does not skip a generation. If you did not inherit TA, you cannot pass it on to your children. The minor form occurs when you inherit only one gene from one parent and it can pass down through many generations silently and undetected. You may have no symptoms or may be mildly anemic or be tired on occasion. One beta chain is affected and the red blood cells are small and can be misshapen. One of their jobs is to carry oxygen throughout the body. However one of the positive effects is its ability to protect the carrier against malaria. When the malaria spirochete enters the bloodstream of the victim it enters the red blood cells to begin to mature and then multiply. Since the red blood cells are small the spirochete cannot grow to maturity but bursts the blood cell and dies, so the victim has a mild case of malaria and survives. However if an individual inherits a thalassemia gene from both parents he or she will have Thalassemia Anemia Major which has dire consequences – usually an early death although there are treatments available now. If you are concerned you can ask your doctor for a blood test that will reveal whether it is present or not as a trait (a minor case). I do not know when this might have come into the family but with the complex history of the Southeastern United States it is not unexpected.

AMERICAN INDIAN HERITAGE

Due to the stories of American Indian heritage on both sides of my family, I had my DNA Print done at Family Tree DNA. This test will give you a picture of your genetic heritage in terms of the percentages of Indo-European, American Indian, Asian and African. I also asked my mother Beatrice Watts Vance (the daughter of James Thomas Watts and Gillie Watts) to get her profile done. The results were:

Beatrice Watts Vance-Indo-European 73 per cent
American Indian 27 percent
Marilyn Watts Vance McGaughey-Indo-European 72 percent
American Indian 23 percent
Asian 5 percent

These profiles were interpreted to me by a Physician who is a DNA specialist with Family Tree DNA at the Florida laboratory where the tests were completed. She stated that the findings, given a small percentage of error found in all tests, indicated that my mother was of both European and American Indian descent and that I was also. However my father (who was deceased) had also been of European and American Indian descent and that I had gotten what she called Asian markers from him. Since my mother did not have them, I could not have gotten them from her. She said that some American Indian Tribes had evolved further away from their Asian origins than other tribes and no lomger carried the Asian markers.

I think we can safely say that our Watts family is of Indo-European and American Indian descent but I have no documentation of where or when this occurred. The DNA Profile does not give any tribal affiliation at all-that is not a possibility at least at this time.

PLACE OF BURIAL OF OUR ANCESTORS AND SOME RELATIVES

Sweeney Family Cemetery Lincoln County KY
Moses Sweeney – his wife is buried in the cemetery at Mackville, Washington County, KY

Gillespie Cemetery, Jenkinsville, Washington County, KY
William Russell Watts Sr. – Jane Schooling Watts – Thomas Jefferson Watts

South Fork Separate Baptist Church South Fork Ridge, Liberty County, KY
Levi Baldock – Comfort Fisher Davenport – William Davenport

Williams Cemetery Dixville, Mercer County KY
Beverly Williams – Keziah Williams – Dr. John Miller Williams – Elizabeth Sweeney Williams – John Miller Watts – Almida Watts

Bruner’s Chapel (Baptist Church) Dixville Road, Mercer County, KY
William Russell Watts Jr. – Zerilda Emily Williams Watts – Pleasant Watts

Springhill Cemetery, Harrodsburg, Mercer County KY
Emily Shackelford Huff - Tilford Marion Huff - Pauline Huff - Emily Catherine Huff Adams – J.D. Adams – James Thomas – Gillie Huff Watts – Hugh Lewis Vance (husband of Beatrice Watts Vance) – John S. Ward (husband of Virginia Vance) – Charles Leonard – Lillie Watts Leonard – James Watts – Nevada Green Watts - Minor Lester – Zerilda Watts Lester – Varner Lester – Hazel Lester – Emma Watts – Mary Frances Watts – Wayne Watts

I have only listed the people in our family in Kentucky and for whom I have documentation. If I have missed or overlooked anyone, please forgive me. It was entirely unintentional. MWVM

I have also included some information on the Domesday Book ordered by William the Conqueror of Normandy who conquered England in 1066. The Watts name means son of Wat which is a diminutive of Walter. As you will see a Walter was the largest landholder in Somerset England where our Watts family may have originated. Walter held the land from the king and owed him service and taxes for the land but did not own it. The king retained ownership. Is this a coincidence that our family may have originated in Somerset where Walter held most of the land? Perhaps-perhaps not. I’m fairly sure we will never know but it is interesting.

When I started doing research on our Watts family, it was before the days of computers and DNA. If you wanted to do any research you had to go to the National Archives, local courthouses, historical societies etc. where the actual records or copies were housed. Obviously it was a difficult task if your ancestors records were in another state. At this time I would like to thank my cousin Roselyne Watts Jones for so graciously sharing with me all the records she had researched pertaining to our part of the family. She also shared her questions and insights as well which kept me going. I would also like to thank our cousin Marian Franklin for sharing her vast knowledge of our family and her many insights into the many aspects of genealogical history. Our cousin Wade Watts, DDS also shared his invaluable insights on the family history based on his considerable and able research. I also owe a debt of gratitude to Jay Sweeney for sharing his vast volume of research on our Sweeney family and to Don Sweeney for taking his time to show me the area where Moses Sweeney lived, went to church and is buried. I would also like to thank my many first cousins who were kind enough to supply missing and additional information that I lacked or had forgotten. Last but certainly not least, I would like to thank my cousin, the grandson of Emery Willis Watts, who agreed to participate in the Watts Surname Family DNA Project with FTDNA. He enabled us to be able to say with great certainty which Watts family we belong to genetically. Most of all I am grateful for having such wonderful cousins. Thank you. I am also equally happy to have found cousins during this process that I did not know I had and I am so grateful I have had the opportunity to meet them. It has been not only a valuable learning experience but a very meaningful personal experience getting to know my new cousins. I have indeed enjoyed the journey.

Marilyn Watts Vance McGaughey
November 2009