Virginia Sanders  Mylius

<gmylius@charter.net>   ·
Birmingham, AL    



Complete notes and sources available upon request.

Watkins Family, continued (page 6)

The Children of Thomas “Chickahominy” Watkins and Frances Anderson (continued)

Notes about the Descendants of Col. Joel Watkins

4)  THOMAS WATKINS (called “Jr.”) (direct ancestor) was born about between 1738-1741, died 1778 in Henrico County, VA.     Tthe exact date of his death is unknown, but he died sometime between April and July of 1778, which court records regarding his estate prove,.   There is speculation that he was killed by Indians who were fighting with the British, but I have never seen any proof for this assertion.    Various guardians were appointed for his minor children.   

    Assuming that Thomas Watkins, Jr. was around 21 when he married Sarah "Sally" Walton on February 6, 1762, he can be given a reasonable birth date of about 1740-41.  According to information in "The Watkins Catalogue", Thomas was the fourth son of Thomas Watkins, Sr. (called "of Chickahominy") and his wife Frances Anderson, the daughter of Henry Anderson and Prudence Stratton. He had three brothers, Henry who lived in Prince Edward Co., VA, Francis who married Agnes Woodson and lived in Prince Edward Co.,VA, and Joel who married Agnes Morton and lived in Charlotte Co., VA.  Besides these brothers, Thomas had seven sisters, so he grew up in a large family.  And they must have been a close family because when he died in 1778, Thomas called on two of his sisters' husbands, his father and his brother Francis to execute his will.
     F.N. Watkins, author of "The Catalogue of the Descendants of Thomas Watkins of Chickahominy" wrote that this Thomas Watkins, Jr., grandson of Thomas Watkins of Swift Creek and son of Thomas Watkins of Chickahominy,  lived on Swift Creek in Cumberland Co., VA in the part that in 1777 became Powhatan Co.  As a consequence, he was at one time given the nickname "of Powhatan" although he apparently lived there only a short time and left the area long before the county name was changed.  Thomas Jr. assuredly was born in Henrico Co., since his father, Thomas of Chickahominy, never lived anywhere else.  Thomas Jr. died in Henrico Co. in 1778, leaving a will.
Henry Watkins, Thomas Jr.'s brother, married Temperance Hughes, Sally Walton's aunt, in the Hughes' home county of Cumberland on-------1760 and the couple moved to the Bush River area of Prince Edward Co to live.  Sally and her guardian Uncle George Walton and his wife Martha Hughes Walton also lived in Prince Edward Co.  Could it have been during a 1760 or '61 visit with his brother Henry in Prince Edward Co. that Thomas Watkins Jr. met young Miss Sally Walton, niece of Henry's wife Temperance?  However the acquaintance came about, Sally and Thomas were married on February 6, 1762 in Prince Edward Co., VA with the consent of Sally's guardian, her uncle George Walton.
      Apparently, Thomas and Sally did live in Cumberland Co. for a time after their marriage because there is a deed on page 921 in Henrico Co. Deed Book 1750-1774 dated May 6, 1765 whereby Waldegrave Clopton and Unity his wife of New Kent Co. sold to Thomas Watkins of Cumberland Co., 30 acres on the south side of Bottom's Bridge Road, adjacent to land formerly belonging to Thomas Bottom on the main run of Chickahominy Swamp and Richard Whitlock.  The Thomas Watkins of Cumberland in this deed is confirmed as the Thomas Watkins who married Sally Walton because in the terms of his will, Thomas left land in the area to one of his sons saying it included land known as Clopton's.  Thomas Bottoms was one of the witnesses of the will.  There is a patent in Virginia Patent Book 36: 776: 1 for 134 acres in Henrico Co. on the south side of Chickahominy Swamp dated July 26, 1765, that date being just a few months after the Clopton purchase, making it likely that Thomas and Sally moved their family into Henrico around that time.  A move to Henrico from Cumberland Co. in 1765, three years after their marriage, would make it likely that the first two of Thomas and Sally Watkins' children, Robert and Thomas, were born in Cumberland and that all the rest, Claiborne, George, Anderson, Mary Hughes and Isaac, were born in Henrico Co.
Examination of the Joshua Fry/Peter Jefferson 1751 map of Virginia reveals a bridge called Bottom's Bridge over the Chickahominy River just above White Oak Swamp.  Today, there is no longer an actual Bottom's Bridge but the location was where Highway 60 crosses the Chickahominy River from Henrico Co. into New Kent Co.  The bridge was used and named in military operation reports in the Revolution and in the Civil War.  Douglas Southall Freeman's work on R.E. Lee contains very interesting sketches of Henrico Co., VA battlegrounds including Chickahominy Swamp (River), White Oak Swamp (a stream) and Bottom's Bridge as well as other landmarks.  One researcher has commented that the term "swamp" in those times did not mean what it does today. It meant a kind of grassy land with streams, which made good pasture for cattle.  It is said that this area of Henrico Co. where three streams - Cornelius Creek, Four Mile Creek and White Oak Swamp- have their sources not far from one another came to be known as the "South Side of Chickahominy Swamp".
     In the description of the land to go to son Anderson in Thomas Watkins' will, not only is found the name "Clopton's" but also a mention of a boundary line called "Ann Gathright's line near the deep bottom" (creek).  The Gathright family were neighbors of Sally and Thomas Watkins; in fact, widow Ann Gathright's son William Gathright signed as a witness to Thomas' will.  The same William Gathright ran an advertisement in the Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg in April 19, 1770 in which he said he lived near Bottom's Bridge, 15 miles below Richmond Town.  Deep Bottom Creek today runs into the James River at a place called Deep Bottom Park but the head of the creek lies further to the north in the county.  
      In the attempt to locate Thomas and Sally Watkins' land in Henrico Co., VA, hints from deed records found on the Internet have been of value.  In 1779, a year after Thomas' death, there was a sale of two different pieces of land in the area of the Watkins' home and the described boundary lines in the deed include the Watkins name:  "One acre of land on Boar Swamp adjoining the head of the mill pond of the late Thomas Watkins, Jr." and "Five acres of land on Boar Swamp next to the estate of Thomas Watkins."  
Boar Swamp (creek) does not appear on any available map but a church named for the swamp was located on the extension of "Nine Mile Road" which ran from Richmond towards the Chickahominy following the route of the Williamsburg Road just north of it.  Since the Williamsburg Road is Highway 60, which crosses the Chickahominy at the old location of Bottom's Bridge, Boar Swamp must be in the same general area as the Watkins' land bought in 1765.  The man who bought the land adjoining the Thomas Watkins' estate was Joshua Morris who married Sally Watkins as her second husband.
     Thomas Watkins Jr. must have been a farmer but he also had a mill, according to the information in the deed record of 1779.  When he died, he left land in Hanover to his three oldest sons Robert, Thomas and Claiborne, land in Charlotte to his fourth son George, and the home farm to be divided between the two younger sons Anderson and Isaac, with his wife having life estate on that part which was to go to the youngest who was no more than one or two years old.  He left no land to his daughter Mary Hughes.  Instead, he left her money, which was to be raised from the sale of stock and cattle and invested for her until she came of age or married.  Each of the children and wife Sally were left slaves by the terms of the will.
     In the Watkins "Catalogue", Thomas is said, and correctly so, to have died during the Revolution.  That is all that is proven about his death except for the fact that he died in Henrico Co. and left a will dated April 7, 1778 with an added codicil dated April ?, 1778 (day unreadable because of damage to the will book).  The will was presented, proved and ordered to be recorded at the Henrico Co. July Court of 1778 so Thomas died between April and July of 1778. The Inventory was not made until November of 1781 and recorded in December.  Thomas Watkins, Jr.'s will was re-recorded on Jun 4th, 1787 with this note "At a Court held for Henrico County at the Courthouse on Monday the fourth of June 1787.  This attested Copy of the last Will and Testament of Thomas Watkins Junior dec'd (the Record and original of which having been destroyed by the enemy) was presented unto Court and together with the Certificate thereon endorsed, are ordered to be recorded." The "enemy" meant the British forces during the Revolution, a good many of whom, by the way, marched over the Chickahominy on Bottom's Bridge as did a good many of the American troops!
     The prime reason for re-presenting and re-recording Thomas' will was an 1787 case in Chancery Court brought by Sally Walton Watkins Morris and her second husband Joshua Morris and the six younger Watkins children versus the oldest son, Robert Watkins, asking him to agree to divide the lands in Hanover and to agree to sell some lots in Richmond City, all of which was agreed to.  The disposition of the Thomas Watkins Jr. land in the Bottom's Bridge, Boar Swamp, Deep Bottom area of Henrico Co. is not known at this time nor is that of any land of his in Cumberland Co. (later Powhatan).

Thomas Watkins married Sarah “Sally” WALTON, who was born 8 Oct 1745; died 20 Nov 1805 in Kentucky; the daughter of Robert Walton and Mary Hughes.    She was the sister of George Walton, Georgia signer of the Declaration of Independence.     After Thomas Watkins’ death, she remarried to Rev. Joshua Morris.  

Thomas & Sarah Walton Watkins had the following 7 children:

A)    Col. ROBERT WATKINS * (b.1763/1764-Cumberland County,Virginia d.17 Aug 1805-Bath,SC)
 | sp: Elizabeth Martha * WALTON (b.1772-Georgia m.22 Jun 1785 d.3 May 1809-Rosney Plantation,GA)
B)   Lt. Col. Thomas (IV) WATKINS (b.Abt 1765-Virginia d.Feb-June, 1797-Richmond County,GA)
 | sp: Sally or Sarah BENSON OR PARRIS
C)   Claiborne WATKINS (b.Abt 1767-Virginia d.16 Mar 1804-Abingdon,VA)
 | sp: Elizabeth CRAIG (b.24 Jan 1775-Lancaster,PA m.15 May 1794 d.29 Aug 1831)
D)    Maj. GEORGE WATKINS (b.1769-Virginia d.16 Oct 1829-Greensboro,(Greene Co),GA)
 | sp: Mary "Polly" EARLY (b.Abt 1775-Madison,VA m.26 Dec 1801 d.1839/1840-Athens,GA)
E)    Dr. Anderson WATKINS of Augusta, GA (b.28 Aug 1773-Virginia d.16 Sep 1828-Scott County,KY)
 | sp: Catherine EVE (b.12 Mar 1787 m.26 Jan 1804 d.1869-Athens,GA)
F)    Mary "Polly" Hughes WATKINS (b.22 Jul 1775-Virginia d.15 Sep 1830-Scott County,KY)
 | sp: Lewis NUCKOLS (b.4 Jun 1766-Louisa County,VA m.11 Mar 1790 d.28 Feb 1834-Fayette County,KY)
G)    Major ISAAC WATKINS (b.10 Apr 1777-Virginia d.13 Dec 1827-Pulaski Co.,Ark)
   sp: Paulina THURSTON (b.11 Jun 1780-Campbell County,Virginia)
   sp: Maria TONCRAY (b.13 May 1795 d.21 Mar 1874)

Their children will be discussed in greater detail on subsequent pages

Notes on Thomas Watkins and Sarah “Sally” Watkins

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5)  Susanna Watkins was born about 1744; she died about 1814 in Charlotte County, Virginia.    The Catalogue states of “Susan:”   She married Col. Wm. MORTON, (27 Nov 1743-29 Nov 1820)  of Staunton River, Charlotte, on the 29th October 1764.   This excellent woman is still remembered with great veneration and affection by the old people of the country, and was beloved for her devoted piety, uniformly exhibited during a long and consistent life.   Distinguished for the "meek and quiet spring," which so beautifully adorned her life, her virtues shone most conspicuously at home, and to her husband and children she was of priceless value.   But if Mrs. MORTON had been a woman of no marked and distinctive character, the alliance with Col. Morton brought much honor to her name.   He must have been an extraordinary man.  He seems to have held some office, while a young man, which called him occasionally to Williamsburg, the then seat of government of Virginia.  On one of these journeys, he called at the residence of Thomas Watkins of Chickahominy, and the acquaintance with his daughters resulted in their marriage.   He settled on the Staunton River, at the plantation now (in1852) occupied by his grandson.   He enlisted in the patriotic service of his country, and exhibited much gallantry at the battle of Guilford C(ourt) H(ouse).    He was afterwards a faithful and useful Justice of the Peace in Charlotte County; and on one occasion refused to vote for the nomination to the Executive of Virginia, for a militia officer to be commissioned as a major.  The officer demanded his reason;  Col. M. told him "that when he ran at Guilford from the enemy's fire, he (Col. M.) thrashed him back into the lines."   A personal difficulty was apprehended by the friends;  and when someone asked the Colonel if he did not feel some apprehensions for his safety, in making so grave a charge, he promptly replied, "No, I thrashed him once, and can do it again if necessary."    The charge caused a lawsuit;  the Colonel had some difficulty in obtaining the proof of the alleged slander, but when he was fully sustained by an old soldier who witnessed the scene, the prosecution of the suit was abandoned.   Few men were held in higher veneration and regard, by all, young and old, than Col. Morton;  and mainly for his piety and benevolence, and for all these high and ennobling virtues which make up and complete the character of the "good citizens."   As an evidence of his exceeding kindness of heart, no love of profits could induce him to sell corn to the poor beyond the lowest market price, during a season when, from great scarcity in the country, corn was commanding a very high price.   And at such times he liberally supplied the wants of the extremely poor, without price.   In the development of wonderful sagacity of mind, Col. M. exceeded any man of whom I have ever heard;  and especially in ferreting out crime.  He was emphatically a "terror to evil doers."     The various and authentic anecdotes of his skill, at tracing others by 'tracking' them, are most wonderful.   Among the many facts which are told of him in this particular, I mention one.   A riding horse was stolen, while the congregation was engaged in public worship, on some occasion at Briery Church.   Col. Morton followed the track of the horse into North Carolina;  the thief evidently designed to prevent pursuit, if practicable, by often leaving the direct road;  but he could not evade the Colonel.  He pursued him, by following the horse's track, and without aid, he apprehended him.  The thief was brought back to Virginia, and convicted and punished.   The Presbyterian church had few more useful, consistent, and zealous, and wise members than Col. Morton;  he was, for a long period, a Ruling Elder of the denomination.    Mrs. Morton died some years before her husband.  Very numerous descendants survived them;  their children and grandchildren are among the most honorable and respected in the commonwealth, whose useful lives illustrated the benefits of the examples and counsels of their excellent ancestors."

Susanna Watkins & William Morton had the following 12 children:
A)   Fannie MORTON
 | sp: Robert  WATKINS
B)  Agnes MORTON
 | sp: Benjamin MORTON of Halifax (m.5 Nov 1787)
C)   Nancy MORTON
 | sp: Rev. W. HILL D.D. of Winchester (m.15 Oct 1792)
D)  Henry MORTON (d.1796)
E)  Betsey W. MORTON
 | sp: John MORTON of Charlotte (m.30 Dec 1800)
F)  Mary (dau of Col. Wm.) MORTON
 | sp: Richard S. VENABLE of Prince Edward
G)  Lucy (dau of Col. Wm) MORTON
 | sp: Capt. George HANNAH of Charlotte
H)  Joseph (son of Wm & Susannah) MORTON
 | sp: Elizabeth "Betsey" Woodson WATKINS (m.21 Dec 1809)
I)   Martha Watkins (dau of Col. Wm) MORTON
 | sp: Capt. Henry EDMUNDS of Halifax
J)  Mildred (dau of Col. Wm) MORTON
 | sp: Edwin EDMUNDS
K)   Susan (dau of Col. Wm) MORTON
 | sp: Thomas THROCKMORTON of Kentucky (m.15 Feb 1797)
L)  Jane (dau of Col. Wm) MORTON
   sp: James H. MARSHALL of Charlotte

Notes about the Descendants of Susanna Watkins & William Morton

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