The Watts Family

 

(Maternal ancestors of John Isaac Wills)

 

Note:  There are numerous postings on Ancestry.com about the first few generations of this family, most of them very much the same.  I found the best of them to be the Watts Genealogy and Allied Families posting by Lori Linnell which included documentation of its sources.  Another important source is the papers of Major O.T.  Wills on file in the Kentucky Historical Society in Harrodsburg, KY.

 

Thanks to C. Rote, great-granddaughter of John Isaac Wills, for sharing her research with me.

 

 

1st generation

The Immigrant Ancestor

 

Edward Watts

1620-about 1720

 

Anne Martin

b. about 1668

 

Edward Watts,  the son of Cornelius and Ann Watts, was born before 16 Oct 1620 (which is the date he was christened) in Wells, Somerset County, England, and died between 1717 and 1721 in Stafford Co., VA.[1]

 

Edward left England for Virginia 26 Nov 1640; in 1646 he was in York Co.,  VA; he returned to England, then returned to Virginia from  Bristol, England in 1664 and again in 1679.

 

He married in Stafford Co., VA, Anne Martin.

 

The listing of children differs among the various sources, but all include

 

 

Edward Watts, Sr., b. about 1650 probably in Stafford Co., VA

 

 2nd generation

 

Edward Watts,  Sr.

(1650-1728)

 

Edward Watts, Sr., was born about 1650, probably in Stafford Co., VA, the son of Edward Watts and Anne Martin.   Edward’s wife’s name is unknown, though the Wills papers say he may have married the widow of Jacob Hubbard.  Edward died about 1728 in Spotsylvania Co., VA.[2]

 

Edward and his wife had 5 children:

 

1.  Thomas Watts b. about 1690 probably in Stafford Co., VA

2.  Edward Watts b. about 1698 d. 1760

3.  David Watts b. about 1702  d. 1767

4.  William Watts b. about 1704 d. 1760

5.  John Watts b.about 1710 d. 1765

 

3rd generation

 

Thomas Watts

(1690-1748)

 

Esther (Stone) Wilkins[3]

(b. about 1690)

 

Thomas Watts was born about 1690 in Culpeper Co., VA, the son of Edward Watts.  He died in March 1748 or 1749 in Culpeper Co., VA, and his will was probated 15 Mar 1748 or 1749.  He married Esther (Stone) Wilkins who was born in about 1690-95, and they had 12 children:[4]

 

1.  Edward Watts b. abt 1712 Essex  Co., VA

2.  Thomas Watts b. abt 1715 in Essex Co., VA, d.  1796

3.  Elizabeth Watts b. about 1718 Essex Co., VA

4.  Benjamin Wattts b. 1720 Essex Co. or Spotsylvania Co., VA, d. 1796

5.  John Watts b. about 1722 Spotsylvania Co., VA d. 1796 m. Sarah Barnet

6.  Ann Watts b. about 1728 Spotsylvania Co., VA

7.  Sarah Watts b. 1729 Spotsylvania Co., VA

8.  Jacob Watts b. 19 Jul 1730 Spotsylvania Co., VA., d. 14 Apr 1824

9.  Mary Watts b. about 1732 Spotsylvania Co., VA

10. William Watts b. about 1732 Spotsylvania Co., VA

11. Frances Watts b. about 1735 Orange Co., VA

12.  Esther Watts b. about 1738 Orange Co., VA

 

4th generation

 

John Watts

1722-1796

 

Sarah (Sally) Barnett

1733-1796

 

John Watts was born about 1722 in Spotsylvania Co.,  VA, the son of Thomas and Esther Watts.   He died 20 Mar 1796 in Madison Co., KY, where his will was probated in 1796.

 

Sarah Barnett was born about 1733 in Orange Co., VA, the daughter of  John Barnett and Marran Gibbs.  She died after 1796 in Madison Co., KY.

 

John and Sarah were married before 1759 in Orange Co., VA.  They had 11 children, including:[5]

 

Julius Watts b. about 1765 in Culpeper, VA

 

5th generation

 

Julius L. Watts

1765-1848

 

Mary Eve

d. after 1840

 

Julius L. Watts was born about 1765 in Culpeper, VA, the son of John and Sarah Barnett Watts.  He married on 22 December 1785 in Orange Co., VA, Mary Eve. [6]   In a biography of his great-grandson it states, “Julius Watts was a member of the Old Stone Meeting House on Lower Howards Creek, the first church west of the Alleghenies, being erected before 1792.”[7]

 

Julius served in the War of 1812 as a Private in Captain Joseph Clark's Company, Third Regiment Kentucky Mounted Riflemen.  He enlisted 5 Sept 1812, and served until October 12, 1812.[8]

 

Julius and Mary had 12 children:

 

1.  Lucinda Watts

2.  John Tuilus Watts b. 27 Sept 1786 Culpeper Co.,  VA

3.  Nancy Watts b. 1788

4.  Frances Watts b. 1790

5.  Barnett Watts b. 1795

6.  Elizabeth Watts b. about 1795

7.  William E. Watts b. 1798

8.  Howard Watts b. 8 Oct 1798

9.  Mary (Polly) Watts b. 1807

10. Simeon Watts b. 1807

11.  Willis Watts b. 1808

12.  James Madison Watts b. 1811

 

Mary was living at the time of the 1840 census but she is not mentioned in Julius’ will, indicating she died before he wrote it.  Julius died 4 Oct 1848 in Clark Co., KY.[9]  His tombstone in the Watts Cemetery is marked “J.W. Oct. 4, 1765-Jan. 23, 1849.”

  

6th generation

 

John Tuilus[10] Watts

1786-1876

 

Nancy Lawrence

1789-1876

 

John T. Watts was born 27 September 1786 in Culpeper Co., VA, the son of Julius Watts and Mary Eve.   Nancy Lawrence was born 17 September 1789 in Louisa or Goochland Co., VA, the daughter of Henry L. and Elizabeth Parrish Lawrence.

 

John and Nancy were married 12 September 1806 in Clark Co., KY.[11]  They  had 12 children, as listed in their family Bible:

 

1.  JohnsonWatts 12 May 1808-23 Nov 1895, m. Jincy Ballard

2.  ElizaWatts b. 7 May 1810, m. David Dawson Haggard

3.  Cynthia Watts b. 22 Sep 1812, m. John Burgess

4.  HenryWatts b. 15 Nov 1814, m. Nancy G. Wilson

5.  Sally Watts b. 22 Jun 1817, d. 10 Mar 1910, m. Jackson Gordon

6.  Mary “Polly” Watts 4 Apr 1819-6 Jun 1894, m. (2) Tilman T. Wills

          (2) Daniel Rupard   (see WILLS)

7.  Howard E. Watts b. 30 May 1821, m. Lucinda Adams

8.  Julius N. Watts 17 Mar 1823-4 Oct 1843, did not marry

9.  William R. Watts b. 25 May 1825 d. 8 Feb 1902, m. Sally Ann Adams

10. John T. Watts, Jr.  b. 8 Nov 1827, d. 8  Feb 1829

11. Nancy Ellen Watts b. 18 Mar 1829, d. 23 Jan 1898, m. Wiley

           Brookshire

12.  Telitha Ann Watts b. 19 Feb 1832, m. Allan Griggs

 

John and Nancy appear in the census as follows:

 

1850 Clark Co., KY census, Ancestry.com image 59:  John T. Watts 63, Nancy 60.

 

1860 Clark Co., KY census, Ancestry.com image 62:  John T. Watts 73, Nannie 71.

 

1870 Clark Co., KY census, Ancestry.com image 32:  John T. Watts 83 VA, Nancy 80 VA.

 

In his will written 12 May 1870, John T. Watts wrote, “Lay off at least ¼ of an acre of my property to serve as a family graveyard.”[12]

 

The Watts Cemetery tombstones tell a story:

 

John T. Watts 27 Sept 1786-20 Feb 1876

 

Nancy Watts, 17 Sept 1789-26 Feb 1876 

 

She survived him by only six days.

 

End Notes

[1] Lori Linnel’s posting on Ancestry.com cites sources of information as the Will of Cornelius Watts published in the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, June 1906,  Vol. 13, p. 307; Thomas Watts of Stafford Co., VA and His Descendants by Edward C. Watts, 1999, pp. 8-10.  Papers of Maj. O.T. Wills on file in Harrodsburg Historical Society does not give a last name for Anne.

[2] Lori Linnell’s Ancestry.com posting cites sources of information as Watts Families Descended from Early Immigrants Who Settled in the Tidewater Counties by Charles Brunk Heinemann, a non-published book, 1940, pp. 42, 54-56; Will of Ann McPherson in Stafford Co., VA Will Book M, pp. 314-315.  Also, Wills papers.

[3] Numerous Ancestry.com postings showed this woman’s name as  Esther (Stone) Wilkins; however, many others including Lori Linnell’s  and the  Wills papers showed her name only as  Esther.

[4] Lori Linnell’s Ancestry.com posting cites sources of information as Watts Families by Heinemann, pp. 54-56; An 18th Century Perspective: Culpeper Co., VA by Mary Stevens Jones, pp. 129-132; Will of Thomas Watts (1749) Culpeper Co. Will Book A, pp. 10 and 29.

[5] Lori Linnell’s Ancestry.com posting cites sources of information as Will of Thomas Watts, Culpeper Co., Will Book A, pp. 10 & 29; Will of John Barnett, Orange Co. Will Book 2, p. 145.

[6] Family history papers of Major O.T. Wills on file in Kentucky Historical Society; Lori Linnell’s Ancestry.com posting cites Orange Co. Marriage Book 1, p. 132.

[7]  Biography of Howard Roberts Watts on file in Kentucky Historical Society.

[8] Kentucky Soldiers of the War of 1812 from Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Kentucky, Frankfort, KY, 1891.

[9] Will of Julius Watts of Madison Co., KY, Will Book II, page 470, Clark Co., KY, probated Feb 1849.

[10] Lori Linnell’s Ancestry.com posting gives his middle name as Tuilus.  Every record I have seen just has the middle initial T.

[11] Watts family Bible gives birth and marriage dates of John and Nancy, apparently written by Nancy, as well as birth dates of all their children, marriages of most, deaths of some.  Transcript on file in KY Historical Society.  Also, Lori Linnell’s Ancestry.com posting cites information sources as Watts Families Descended from Early Immigrants by Heinemann, p. 150.

[12] Family history papers of Major O.T. Wills on file in Harrodsburg Historical Society

 

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