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| Many of you replied to my plea for Watts research for the
newsletter. Thank you so much. If you don't see your contribution in this
issue, be assured it will be in a future issue. Contents: 1. Members Lines 2. Queries 3. ROBERT WATTS AND MARY ANN RUCKER 4. REV. & MRS. JOSEPH WATTS (Immigrated from Ireland) Methodist Preacher 5. Watts Deeds in Madison Co., Virginia 6. Marriages in Spencer County, Kentucky 7. Marriages in Union County, Kentucky 8. Marriages in Wayne County, Kentucky 9. Marriages in Woodford County, Kentucky ******************************************** MEMBERS LINES From: chouse@memphisonline.com (Conrad) Thank you for adding my name to the mailing list. Here is the information that you requested. My name is Sharon House. Dorthula WATTS HUFFMAN, born 23 Mar 1881, was my husband's grandmother. She was the daughter of E.M. WATTS and Nancy OSBORN WATTS. Other children of E.M. and Nancy were: 1. Wesley Alenander WATTS--born 20 Sept 1876 in Texas County, Missouri 2. Albert WATTS--born in 1884 3. Manuel Washington (or Edward) WATTS--born 14 Feb 1886 in either Stone or Taney County, Missouri 4. Jesse Monroe WATTS--born in 1888 Sharon From: joanwatts@juno.com Dear Lori, I have reached a dead end so I thought I'd send my info again. I love the newsletter so please (foe all of us ) keep up the good work. This is my husband's family. James Michael WATTS born about 1836 at St John NB Canada but it is said his family came from england, settled in Virginia They were Tories and fled to Canada at the start of the Rev War More about him Later James Michael died about 1926 at age 87 in Winchester Ma( His Parents Samuel WATTS and wife Sarah By Canadian Census) He married Mary Ann PERRY Born about 1829 at Nashdemaick Lake NB Canada. She died 1911 at East Boston Ma. (Her Parents Daniel PERRY and wife Mary Elizabeth By Canadian Census) They had the following children: Lydia WATTS. born at ST John NB died at age 63 George WATTS born at St John NB Eliza WATTS born at St John NB died about 75 James WATTS born at ST john NB Nellie WATTS born at St John NB about 1876, died june 1939 at Somerville Hosp of pneumonia at age63 Ida WATTS born at St John NB Jun 1880, died Dec 1956 of Ca Lung at age 76 yrs 6 mo. Frederick WATTS born St John NB moves to Somerville at age 1 year Charles Westley WATTS born about 1886 at Somerville Ma died 1957 of Ca of the Bladder 197 Arlington ma. Charles married Ida Frances COX 1923 They had the following Children: plus 2 dau that are still living Irving Henderson WATTS born 23 Aug 1927 at Arlington Ma married 21 June 1949 Louisa Ann TRACEY dau of Frances D. TRACEY and Mary Ellen CALNAN Lexington MA They had the following children: James Irving WATTS (My Husband) There are 9 other siblings that are all living. more notes onJames Michael WATTS- He was a sea captain of a four masted schooner "AFTON" while they lived in Canada. He sailed to the West Indies and at least one trip to China. After coming to the states he did carpentering then later he worked in a lumber yard, and was a night watchman there. He was a great worker and swimmer and kept very active until the last few years of his life.He was a baptist and was very religious. he read the bible cover to cover several times. After the death of his wife in 1911 he went to live with several different children until his death. If any one can make the connection with his family and virginia or anywhere in the stated I would be sooooo grateful. Joan joanwatts@juno.com ******************************************** QUERIES From: growe123@jax-inter.net (Ginny Rowe) I finally got my last surname posted to my web site today, please check it out and post it to your newsletter. If anyone finds their family line there, please ask them to send the information to me so that I might add it to the Watts information for others. I will also be glad to post their e-mail address and reference to their line, if they would like to be listed at my web site. Have you done any research on Moytoy? http://users.southeast.net/~growe123/index.html Moytoy was Chief of the Cherokee Nations, his daughter married John Watts (son of Thomas Watts). This is where we get our Cherokee blood. Ginny This site has some of the descendants of Moytoy... http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/h/i/c/James-R-Hicks/GENE5-0001.html From: sckc@cybertrails.com (Scott and Kathy Cotner) I am looking for information on Rueben Watts (birthdate unknown but most likely 1910-1915) who lived along the Texas-New Mexico border area. He was supposedly married to a Letha Branch in Clovis, New Mexico in the early thirties and fathered a child in 1935 by the name of Robert Rochelle Watts. He supposedly died in 1937-1938 in the Clovis area in a train accident. Can anyone confirm any of this? Does anyone know who Rueben's parents were? Any help at all would be appreciated. ******************************************** ROBERT WATTS AND MARY ANN RUCKER From: Lwattsjr@aol.com I am going to try to send you a piece I wrote about Robert W. (White) Watts who married Mary Ann Rucker, of Amherst County Virginia. I might be suitable for your news letter. It is rather newsie to me because it represents about eight years of research work. September 19, 1998 Ed Taylor (of Madison Heights, Va.) and I are members of the Rucker Family Society because we share the same Great Grandmother, Mary Ann Rucker Watts (b June 15,1811, d Dec. 27, 1989), who was married to Robert White Watts. I became aware of the Rucker Family Society only a very few years ago. I joined immediately because of my interest in the Watts genealogy. Mary Ann Rucker and Robert W. Watts were married December 24, 1835. That is well documented by a marriage bond and a news paper notice. There is little other information on either Robert W. or Mary Ann, other than some very negative information in the Amherst County Clerk of the Circuit Court's record office. There was a second Robert W. Watts (Robert William Watts) in the same record system so it is easy to have some confusion. While researching in the Clerk's Office record I found that there are many documents which indicate Robert W. Watts had some extended financial difficulties. Mary Ann Rucker's husband had some business reverses, and there are records of his having mortgaged the land and house where he lived with his family, and all his household possessions, his farm animals, all his farm tools, 10 bushels of corn, 1000 weight of tobacco, and every thing of every kind and description on the plantation. Mary Ann Rucker must have had a hard life. They were married December 24,1835, and these negative documents show up in the record of 1846, 1848, 1854, etc. I have been unable to find any record of where Robert W. Watts came from, who his parents were, his date of birth, his date of death, or where he was buried. The U S Census of 1870 shows Robert W. as the head of his household with Mary Ann as his wife, with six children at home. The youngest was Robert W.,Jr., (b September 24, 1855, d December 7, 1912) age 14, who was to become my grandfather. The 1880 U S Census indicates the youngest son, Robert W., Jr., age 25, was head of the household, consisting of Mary Ann.Rucker Watts, age 59, and Elmira, age 39, Edna, age 37, Mary A. age 35, and Victoria, age 26. My grandfather, Robert White Watts, Jr., married Ida J. Burford, June 9, 1880. I assume they provided a home for Robert W.'s mother, Mary Ann Rucker Watts from 1880 until she died in 1889. My conclusion is that Robert White Watts, Sr., husband of Mary Ann Rucker Watts died between 1870 and 1880. Mary Ann Rucker and Robert W. Watts, Sr., had another son, Joseph Bonds Watts (b Jan.3,1844, d July 3, 1931) who was married to Mary Jane Rucker (b Oct. 14, 1843, d Oct.1, 1924) in 1868. Joseph B. and Mary Jane had 6 children. The youngest child, Edna, married Robert Taylor, who was Ed. Taylor's father. The 1870 Census shows that Robert W. Watts was 59 years old, Mary Ann Rucker Watts was 54 years old, and their oldest son, Joseph B., was not living at home, so the assumption is that Joseph and Mary Jane married before 1870. The U S Census of 1900 indicates they married in 1868. Therefore Joseph B. had his own family when his father, Robert White Watts, Sr., died some time after 1870. Joseph B. Watts was 11 years older that Robert W. Watts, Jr., my grandfather. The Obituary for Joseph B. Watts, dated July 7, 1931, shows he was survived by three daughters, Miss Mary F. Watts, Mrs. R. W. (Edna) Taylor, and Mrs. Flem (Lillian) Taylor: three sons, W. R. Watts, and J. T. Watts, Amherst County, and N. C. Watts, Alexandria. There were sixteen grandchildren and five great grandchildren (in 1931). Robert W. and Mary Ann Rucker Watts had a daughter named Rebecca (b Sept. 1, 1852, d Mat 7, 1939). She was the child born before my grandfather, Robert White Watts, Jr. Rebecca married George W. Higginbotham on May 20, 1874. His recorded age was 24 and hers was 21. Rebecca Watts Higginbotham was survived by two daughters, Mrs. W. H. Tucker, Forest, Va., Mrs. W. S. Martin, Lynchburg.: and two sons, J. H. Higginbotham, and D. N. Higginbotham. It was in the obituary of Rebecca Watts Higginbotham that the name of my great grandfather Robert W. Watts was written as Robert White Watts. Prior to my starting my Watts genealogical research in 1990, I was under the impression that my great grandfather was named Robert C. Watts. My father, Lawrence A. Watts, and his brother, Harry S. Watts, had told their children that their grandfather was named Robert C. Watts. My father told me his grandmother was named Mary. My Father was born in 1893 and his grandmother died in 1889. His grandfather had died or disappeared after the 1870 U S Census was taken. Had it been 1871 it would have been 22 years before my father was born. Old church records indicate Mary Ann Watts attended Ivy Hill Methodist Church in 1858 to 1864. Ivy Hill Methodist Church is ten miles from where the Isaac Rucker farm was located on the South Fork of the Buffalo River. Her father, Isaac Rucker and his second wife, Mary Wingfield, were buried at Mt. Horeb Methodist Church, not far from his old home where he died. Mary Ann Rucker Watts, her husband, Robert W. Watts, and two of her brothers and their wives, sold 160 acres of land, devided on both sides of the South Fork of the Buffalo River, near Mr. Horeb Church, to Elizabeth Turpin, wife of Jeremiah Turpin on Nov. 18, 1848. There are a large number of Turpin grave stones in the Mt. Horeb Cemetery today. On May 7, 1844, Mary Ann R. Watts, Robert W. Watts and Thomas Rucker, Nathan Rucker, (Mary Ann's two brothers) and other Rucker family members, joined in a deed to give a triangular tract of land to the Methodist Church Conference. This land is very much like the size and shape of the present Mt. Horeb Methodist Church property. I visited the Mr. Horeb Methodist Church and Cemetery on September 17, 1998, and inspected the land area along the South Fork of the Buffalo River where the Isaac Rucker farm must have been located. My impression of the terrain is that it would be impossible to make a crop of tobacco or corn, on that land today, and it must have been a very marginal farming operation back in the 1830's and 1850's. It is located so far to the northwest of Amherst County Courthouse that in 1850 it would take all day or more to travel from Mt. Horeb Church to Amherst. I found visiting this area a very humbling experience. The Isaac Rucker family must have been a very deprived family by 1850 standards. The area near Ivy Hill Methodist Church is just the opposite. It is beautiful land and would be very productive today. I assume that after Robert W. Watts, Sr., lost his wife's dowager land along the South Fork of the Buffalo River he went bankrupt. He moved his family to the Ivy Hill area and continued to work as a farmer, as a tenant on someone else's land. I tell you all of this because I would like very much to ask your help in finding more information on Mary Ann Rucker Watts, and her husband, Robert White Watts. Is there anyone in the Rucker Family Society who would know any descendants of Mary Ann and Robert W., or the descendants of Joseph B. Watts or Rebecca Higginbotham, who might have the key to finding the answer to the riddle of the origin of Robert White Watts, Sr., who married Mary Ann Rucker? Please notify me at P. O. Box 3194, Greenville, N. C. 27836 or call me collect at telephone number 252-758-6330 if you have any ideas what-so-ever. Is there anyone who might know where the Isaac Rucker home place was located? I thank you for sending me any information you might have! Contributed and Written by Lawrence A. Watts, Jr. ,Greenville, N. C. ******************************************** REV. & MRS. JOSEPH WATTS (Immigrated from Ireland) Methodist Preacher From: TLynn165@aol.com I am attaching a document that was given to me from some Watts in Ringgold, Ga. I do not connect with them, however, I keep trying. I also found a web page that belongs to Ginny Rowe who shows the lineage of John "Young Tassel" Watts. He starts on page 12. http://www.familytreemaker.con/users/r/o/w/Gina-A-Rowe/index.html His line goes through page 23. I am hoping to connect to his son Levi Watts, however, the dates seem to be wrong. I don't know where my Levi Watts came from. I can't fine my great grandfather as a child in the census, his name is Calvin Leander "Lee" Watts. He was born in 1868 in Marietta, Ga. Should be simple but I can't find him. Has anyone seen him? Thanks, Tanya Watts Lynn January 9, 1984 Genealogy of Watts Family Waymond Nathan Watts & James Robert Watts (Aug. 4, 1949) (Aug. 12, 1951-Aug. 22, 1951) Parents: Robert Thomas Watts (1921) & Margaret Augusta Morgan Watts (1919) Parents: James Melvin Watts (1874) & Avie Ann Williams Watts (1884) Parents: John Berry Watts & Lilly Ann Pitner Watts Parents: Rev. & Mrs. Joseph Watts (Immigrated from Ireland) Methodist Preacher. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Children of James Melvin and Avie Ann Williams Watts: Ray Dean Watts Eddie Lee Watts Robert Thomas Watts Harry Edward Watts Mary Addie Watts Mitchell James William Watts --------------------------------- Children of John Berry Watts & Lilly Ann Pitner Watts: Howard Watts Harvey Watts Bethenia Watts Lowery James Melvin Watts Maggie Watts Howard Gordon Watts. (Half brothers by Grandfather a second marriage after Lilly Ann's death) Clemons Watts Willie Watts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Children of Rev. Joseph Watts: Lewis Watts John Watts John Berry Watts & possibly others Lilly Ann Pitner Watts came from Dalonega, Georgia. Her sisters were twins Bethenea Pitner & Trisenea Pitner. Another sister was Mrs. Prater, the mother of Mr. Prater that Prater's Mill was named for. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avie Ann Williams Watts Parents William Harvey Williams (Uncle Bill) & Mary Addie Seabolt Williams His Parents: Harvey Williams & Mary Ann Bryan Williams (she was an orphan raised where Danny Jones lives now by Judge & Mrs. Harris) (1827-l884) (1828-1912) Buried Wood station Cemetery His parents: Mr. & Mrs. Lewis Williams (Moon Cemetery) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Parents of Mary Addie Seabolt Williams; McKinsie Seabolt & Matilda Arnold Seabolt (Micheals). After McKinsie Seabolt was killed in the Civil War as a Confederate Soldier his widow married Bill Michaels. They lived in Guthrie, Oaklahoma until her death. At her death, Bill Michaels shipped Mary Addie Seabolt Williams a large box containing dresses, pillows, feather beds, hats, dishes, linens and many other nice things. It was believed that she owned considerable oil land. However, her daughter (apparently only child) did not share in the inheritance of the property. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- McKinsie Seabolt's parents immigrated from Holland and spoke broken English. They are buried in Gladden Cemetery near the Obe VanHorn place on Highway 151. Matilda Arnold Seabolt Michael: Parents were: Billy Arnold & Nancy Mills Arnold. Their children were; Bill Arnold, and Matilda Arnold Seabolt Michaels. During the Civil War, Grandmother Seabolt (Matilda) had a fine mare named Snip. She hid the mare in the forest near Taylor's Ridge. Gatewoods Scouts (Yankees) found out about the mare and threatened to burn her house it she didn' t get the horse for them, She called her father to bring the mare but told the Yankees that she would ride her own horse. They said that they were taking the mare to headquarters at Calhoun, Georgia. It began to get daylight and the Yankees rode off and left her for fear that she would recognize them. She turned and rode Her mare Snip back home. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mrs. Headrick, a neighbor to the Arnolds during the Civil War told the Gatewood Scouts that Uncle Billy Arnold was a bushwhacker. They believed her as he had a bad scar on his lip where he had had a cancer removed. It seemed that Mrs. Headrick was trying to detour the Yankees away from her food and grain that she didn't want stolen. Aunt Winnie Arnold told the Yankees to remove the rope from Uncle Billy Arnolds neck. She told the Yankees that if they hung Uncle Billy that she would kill old lady Headrick if it was the last thing that she would do. The Yankees let Uncle Billy Arnold go free. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Aunt Winnie Arnold never married. She was quiet prosperous. She owned between 600 and 700 acres of land and several houses. She gave Mary Addie Seabolt Williams her home place. Avie Ann Williams stayed with her a lot and it was here that James Melvin Watts first saw her. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Harvey Williams and Mary Ann Bryan Williams were quiet prosperous. During the Civil War they lived in Wood Station where he was a wagon maker for the Confederate Army and later Northern Army. After the war they bought a farm at Catlett and shipped grain, meat, lard, and other farm products by rail at Ringgold. They owned over 1000 acres of land, many slaves, horses and cattle. Their favorite slave was named Jane. They raised two brothers of Gordon Woods. One day while one of the Negro boys was playing on the smokehouse roof he fell off on a piling fence. One of the pilings stuck into his stomach. Grandmother Williams sewed the child up with silk thread, and he recovered. When Mary Ann Bryan was a young girl in WoodStation she ate Connie Hannie with the Cherokee Indians. They held an annual Pow Wow across the road from Jim McIntire's home. At this Pow Wow they danced, ate and had a good time. The Connie Hannie was served on corn shucks. It was made from corn, squash, pumpkins. spices, and whole rabbits and squirrels with only the fur removed. This was all stewed up together in a large washpot, Rev. Joseph Watts was a Methodist Minister and immigrated from Ireland in the early 1800's about the time of the Irish Famine. He was Scotch-Irish. The name Watts seemed to have originated in Scotland. Apparent his people fled Scotland during the religious persecution since he was a protestant. After going to Ireland, they intermarried with the Irish people. When Joseph Watts sailed for America from Ireland he crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a sailboat. While out at sea the boat hit a calm in the ocean and drifted for weeks since there was no wind to blow against the sails of the boat; food became scarce and rationed to one soda cracker and one cup of water per person per day for several days. One day Grandfather Watts spotted a sea gull and shot it. They were so hungry that he gave his friends the intrals, head and feet to dress it for him. They ate the bird raw. In a few days they landed on the coast of North Carolina. From here he came to Union County, Georgia where he lived his life farming and pastoring churches. In the late 1800's he ran a week Revival at Bethel Methodist Church at Wood Station. Bethel Methodist Church is now Wood Station United Methodist Church. Written by Robert Thomas Watts as told by my parents During the Civil War John Berry Watts was a resident of Elijay, Georgia. He enlisted in the Georgia 6th Confederate Calvary. During the Battle of Chickamauga he was Sergeant Major and was the recognizance officer for the Confederate Army. He rode his horse to the top of Missionary Ridge at Rossville Gap and met the Yankee Armies head on. He immediately turned his horse and spurred him back toward the Southern Lines. As he was hugging his horse and ridding down the ridge he could hear the mini balls whine over his head. After ridding the Confederate lines announcing that the Yankees were coming he took up a firing position in a log cabin. It was here that his buddy thought that he was dying from a stomach wound to only learn later that he had a blister on his stomach burned by a hot bullet that had ricocheted from one of the logs of the cabin. Contributed by: Tanya Watts Lynn ******************************************** WATTS DEEDS IN MADISON COUNTY, VIRGINIA These abstracts were researched by Ann Miller of Virginia and found in the Watts Family Folder in the Orange Co, VA Historical Society. MCDB 3, pa. 483 Richard and Elizabeth Jarrell to James Sebree, all of Madison Co., 66 acres in Madison Co., adj. Howard Watts (formerly Jarrell), James Duff, Cave's Road, Benjamin Johnson's Tract, Joshua Willis; Dated and rec. 20 Jan 1804 the mention of Cave's Ford Road and Benj. Johnson's Tract, this land would be approx. 1 1/2 miles north of the Orange-Madison border at Liberty Mills. Cave's Ford Road is modern Rt. 620 and 616 (south part) which dead ends now near the Rapidan. MCDB 4, pa. 16 James and Mildred Sebree to Zachary and Thomas Shirley, all of Madison Co. 66 acres (same as above), adj. Howard Watts, James Duff, Cave's Road, Benjamin Johnson's Tract, Barnett Watts, and Joshua Willis. Dated 29 Feb 1804, rec. 23 Aug 1804 MCDB 7, pa. 58 Richard and Lydia Sebree (sig. Richard Jr.) of Owen Co., KY to William Bradley of Orange Co., undivided interest in tract of land willed to Lydia by her father, Barnett Watts, who purchased the land from Benjamin Quinn, adj. Phillip P. Barbour, Reuben Smith, (land in Madison Co., ) Mentions William's wife, Nelly Bradley. Dated 12 Nov 1819, rec. 6 Dec 1819 MCDB 14, pa. 473 Reuben and Jane Sebree (no place of residence given) to Joseph Early, interest in the estate of Barnett Watts, dec., father of Jane Sebree. Howard Sebree, their Att'y-in fact, signed for Reuben and Jane. Dated 7 May 1841 MCDB 14, pa. 483 Reuben and Jane Sebree (late Jane Watts) of Boone Co., KY, appoint their son, Howard Sebree of the same county and state, their att'y-in-fact to act "for us and in our names all our business with the Execution or Administration of the estate of our deceased ancestor, Barnet Watts of the County of Madison and State of Virginia" Dated 24 Mar 1841, rec. 27 May 1841 ******************************************** Marriages in Spencer County, Kentucky Watts, Mary Ann Spouse : Alexander, William H Marriage date : 8 Feb 1838 Watts, Thurman Spouse : Dowden, Martha Jane Marriage date : - - Marriages in Union County, Kentucky Watts, Elizabeth Spouse : Cecil, A T Marriage date : 24 Apr 1838 Watts, Lepina Spouse : Hall, John Marriage date : 30 Mar 1835 Marriages in Wayne County, Kentucky Watts, John Jr Spouse : Ross, Polly Marriage date : 18 Jan 1808 Watts, Polly Spouse : Marcum, Marvil Marriage date : 5 Nov 1808 Watts, Sally Spouse : Tabor, Davidson Marriage date : 2 Feb 1832 Marriages in Woodford County, Kentucky Walts, Jeremiah Spouse : Sano, Susan Marriage date : 16 Feb 1796 Walts, Jermiah Spouse : Sane, Sousan Marriage date : 16 Feb 1796 Walts (Watts), Jeremiah Spouse : Sano (Gano), Susa Marriage date : 16 Feb 1796 ******************************************** Watts' On-Line: Compiled from e-mail and other sources Distributed by Lori Watts Linnell lwlinnell@aol.com
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