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PAGE 6. 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. 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) 3.. Zerilda E. Watts (daughter John Miller Williams and Elizabeth Sweeney) 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 William Davenport m Sarah Comfort Fisher Beverly Williams m Keziah Martin Thomas Huff m Elizabeth Isham Moses Sweeney m Elizabeth Johnson Zachariah Shackelford m Dolly Embree ANCESTORS WHO WERE IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR 1. Levi Baldock served in VA 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 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 The Three Richard Watts Families Richard Watts of Culpeper Co. VA R1b1 Family #8 Thomas Watts (died 1749) Family of Culpeper Co. VA son of Edward Watts (the other Watts Family of Culpeper Co VA) R1b1 Family #9 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 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 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 Gillespie Cemetery, Jenkinsville, Washington County, KY South Fork Separate Baptist Church South Fork Ridge, Liberty County, KY Williams Cemetery Dixville, Mercer County KY Bruner’s Chapel (Baptist Church) Dixville Road, Mercer County, KY Springhill Cemetery, Harrodsburg, Mercer County KY 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.
go back to Richard Watts Family of Virginia and Kentucky, pg. 1 back to Watts Hays Letters Home Page (NOTE: If you have stories to contribute from your branch of one of these families, please email Marian Franklin. mfranklin@wattshaysletters.com.)
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