NAPIER : WADKINS : WAKINS : WATKINS : WINSTON : Genealogy Query


The Genealogy Query Database	Genealogy Query Details

Full Details for Query #79189

Commands:

	Reply to this Query

	Post a new Query

	View all queries posted by this Submitter

	Edit this query

	Is this query offensive?

Date Posted:

30-Mar-2005

Surname(s):

NAPIER : WADKINS : WAKINS : WATKINS : WINSTON

Query Text:

Dear Watkins Researchers (Tuscumbia AL) My name is Tom McKnight and presently working with the U.N. in Sudan researching my Watkins ancestry. Family origins as I know of them at present are as follows: (1) Fredrick Watkins married to Mariah (no maiden name) appearing on the 1870 Colbert County Census. Fredrick originates from TN and Mariah (VA) (Married - ??). Children: Fred Watkins (2nd generation) (born approx: 1854-1857), Seaton Watkins and Spencer Watkins (both born 1852 according to documentation and suspected to be twins).The sons were all born in Alabama. Family history lists the original Fredrick Watkins (married to Mariah) as a Cherokee Indian. As you will see below there are about 3 generations of Fred Watkins so I am not sure if the stories told and handed down was a composite of all three Watkins. 2) Fred Watkins (2nd generation) later married Sophia Watkins (maiden name Napier from Lawrence AL in 1873 and appears on 1880 Census -Colbert Country). This Fred Watkins is also known by the following names: Faith” and “Lafayette”, and had the following children: Fred Watkins (this would be the 3rd generation Fred Watkins), Jenny, Walter and Nathan. The 1910 census: lists additional children of this union with the following daughters: Sophia, Ella, Hattie (Hatti Missouri) Sally or a Sally May. All children were born in Alabama. Rev. Fred Watkins (2nd generation) became a Baptist minister, died 26 Feb 1911, and was member of the Muscles Shoales Colored Baptist Association, preached at the first colored Baptist church in Tuscumbia, Calvary Baptist Church in Sheffield, Bethel Church in Smithsonia and was elected pastor in 1901 at Bethel Lauderdale Missionary Baptist Church in Florence until his death in 1911. His funeral, attended by the following ministers: Dr. L J Green, F.J. Brawley, William Carter, S.L. Vinson, J.B. Butler, R.H.Haynes plus other ministers and elders was reported to have been as large or larger than that held for Rev. W. Northcross however I can't find anything of record about him, or his wife, Sophia. (3) Sophia's mother's name is Chaney Napier of Laurence AL, (her former maiden name is unknown but it suspected that she originally came from NC). Chaney is mistakenly listed as Jenny Naphue living in Rev. Fred Watkin's household on the 1880 census, listed as 'Faith' Watkins (other records list surname spellings of Wadkins/Wakins). Having researched this and knowing that Chaney appears in successive generations in our family history, Jenney must have been mistaken by the enumerator and heard as Chenny hence, written as Jenny. The surname Naphue is incorrect, and is Napier. Chaney, besides daughter Sophia had another daughter - Laura who I have no information. Apparently, Chaney was widowed and ended up living in the John Nance household, (according to the 1870 Lauderdale County AL census) he was about 22 years old with his family and Chaney, age 49 or 50 lived with her two daughters Sophia and Laura) until her move into Rev. Fred's/Sophia's household (1880 Colbert County Census). I have no date of death for her in during her last yeas in this household. Who ever Chaney's husband was, his origins may have been TN. I have no information this either. Listings could be either under Napier or Nopier. Chaney may have had an a son or brother, Thomas Napier (Nopier) who lived in Pleasant Hill Missouri and who died in 1901 leaving a family of 4. No information is known of this side of the family either. (4) I just recently learned that Fred Watkins' (2nd generation) brother Seaton Watkins, was also a Reverend and married a Laura Baker (25 Jan 1872). She may be the daughter of another preacher H.R. Baker or R.H. Baker. I have no information of Laura's history. One of the Fred Watkins in this linage may have been a trustee of St. Paul's Missionary Baptist Church around the area of Tuscumbia or Florence AL(his name, along with a Spence Winston appears on the wall to the church's entrance however there is no addtional information to confirm him as our Fred. Lastly, if you are a Watkins from the same clan, then l'll bring you up to date. Hattie Missouri Watkins left AL after her mother's Sophia Watkins' death in 1917and settled in Ohio; married Samuel Snyder and had three children: Sophia Elizabeth Audrey Snyder (my mother who passed last year March), Samuel Snyder Jr. and Chaney Missouri Snyder (hence the generational repeat of names). After Hattie's husband's death (Samuel Snyder Sr's in 1937 in Ohio), the family hitch hiked to New York, sought refuge in Father Divine's Peace Mission. The family was separated and no one has seen or heard of Chaney since. Dear Watkins researcher, by some miracle I am hoping that the spiritually driven promptings of my cousin that forwarded this website to me has by some miracle directed me to the right place. I provided the above information in case you may have gaps in your research and hopefully this may establish our connection. There of course is much more to report but in terms of basics, perhaps this will provide you with what you require of me and will save us much time in preliminary probes that usually occurs with such beginnings. Hoping to hear from you soon. Have a great day and warmest regards from Khartoum Sudan. Tom McKnight email: tom_mcknight@hotmail.com The following are information have been sent to other Watkins web sites and as excerpts, supplements the general picture of the Watkins linage presented above. The information below this line is newly acquired information passed on to other websites where something of interest struck me. The real story of my Watkins “My apology for having lost your website through the cut and paste attempt to send this message to you, along with others who are related to the Watkins. Grateful from your impressive website if anything of what I am sharing with your rings a bell. What I am submitting to you comes in the aftermath of another query sent to a Mr. McPherson based on another website search that revealed the existence of a Jim Lafayette Watkins, the middle name drawing my curiosity as my Great Grandfather was a Lafayette. So, by way of introduction, the rest follows in hopes that the miracle of the internet may yield some answers. Have a great day. Tom” “Though I have properly introduced myself below, an introduction that has been sent to a number of message boards in search of my family's Watkins origins, I recently came across your address while researching a grand uncle of mine Matthew Watkins of Summit, Akron, Ohio who passed in 1968 and was survived by his daughter Dorothy Watkins whom I never met and if she is still alive, has a surviving cousin, Samuel Snyder (80 years) living in NY. What prompted me to write as I was attempting to connect some of my family's genealogic dots after my mother passed away this time last year was the reference to James "Lafayette" Watkins. My Great Grandfather was a Fred Watkins and it was only recently, within the last year that I discovered that he was a Lafayette, verified by his marriage certificate issued in Tuscumbia, Colbert County Alabama. As Lafayette is a pretty common name I was wondering if by some miracle there was a connection and hence, I am writing to you for the origins as you know it of the name Lafayette with regard to the Watkins family. It sounds like something that may have been handed down over a couple of generations. I will end here as the rest of the information that follows provides as much history as I know it at this moment. The only new additions regarding the Ohio Watkins, those who left Alabama are as follows: (1) Mathew Watkins born 8 Feb 1882 Tuscumbia AL, Died: March 1968 (86 years) married to a Vernan born: 1920 - Alabama and thereafter, no more information except that they lived at 144 E. Glenwood Ave, Summit,Akron Ohio. The daughter Dorothy Watkins also married a Watkins who fell off a roof and died (about early 1940's) and may have had two sons. (2) Rosabelle, known as Belle or Aunt Bell also born Tuscumbia AL, married Marshall Winston and lived in McKinley Heights Ohio (rural areas 8 miles outside Youngstown). No other known information. (3) Maimee or perhaps a Sally, Salliemae known as "aunt May" married to perhaps a Taylor. Uncle mentioned a step son, Leroy Taylor who had a couple of sisters. Mae, divorced, moved to Chicago and married an Italian man, (no name). (4) Then there was an "Aunt Dutta", I don't know if this is a nickname, though it sounds like one. She lived for a time in Ohio, moved to Bloomington and married a blind person by the name of Dore. No further information on this either, sorry to say. All of the above were the siblings of Hattie Missouri Watkins who died in Ohio. So, that is the latest information to add to what follows below. If you are not able to assist me please acknowledge receipt of this transmission. Thank you and have a pleasant day.”