Dr. Watt of Oktibbeha County, Mississippi

This is a brief follow-up to a previous post I wrote on members of the Watt family buried in Steele Creek ARP Cemetery in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Among the graves of the immediate family of the Rev. James Bell Watt was a gravestone for a Dr. William J. Watt who had died in 1857.  I didn't know the name, but wondered whether he could be the younger brother of Rev. Watt referred to in a biographical entry on one of Rev. Watt's sons.  I've since found some additional information on him and his possible relationship to the Steele Creek Watts.

In 1850, a "Doc" William J. Watt, whose age matches that of the gravestone at Steele Creek, is living in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi.  The name that follows his, Virginia, is evidently his wife, and the census indicates they have married within the year.  His birthplace is given as South Carolina, and if we'll recall, Rev. Watt was also originally from Fairfield County, South Carolina.  The 1860 census shows Virginia Watt as the head of household in Starkville, Oktibbeha County, as would indeed be the case if her husband had died in 1857!  Notice also that their oldest son is named James Bell Watt.  Their younger son John apparently died later that year.  His gravestone stating he is the son of "W. J. and V. C. Watt" is located in the ARP Cemetery in Starkville.  That same cemetery is full of Watts, Bells, and Montgomerys who came from the Fairfield District and were all kin to the Steele Creek Watts, including three of the brothers of Rev. Watt's first wife, Nancy Bell.  By 1870 Virginia Watt had married again, when her two surviving Watt children can be found in the household of her second husband, James P. Curry.  In 1880 she is a widow again, and lives with her Curry children.  Her son James B. Watt is enumerated just above her.  Her daughter Margaret Watt married Dr. Samuel A. Montgomery, a descendant of the Fairfield Montgomerys; further information on him can be found on page 450 of this book.  Virginia herself lived until 1899, and is buried in Odd Fellows Cemetery in Starkville, Mississippi.

Given the heavy presence of Fairfield County natives in the Starkville ARP congregation, particularly of those closely connected to the family of Rev. James Bell Watt, my opinion is that it is likely that "Doc" Watt who appears on the census in 1850 was also from Fairfield County.  I think it is also likely that he is the same person buried at Steele Creek and that he was the brother that Rev. Watt's son's biography referred to.  Of course, my investigation is still not complete and there are still offline sources I'll need to hunt down and check up on, but so far nothing found rules this particular relationship out.  Quite the contrary, what circumstantial facts we have would seem to support it.

A Tragedy at Campti

The Opelousas Courier, 12 Feb 1853

Again I'm bringing clippings from the Opelousas Courier relating to people from the Natchitoches area.  These two, which I came across while working on the post relating to deaths at Cloutierville published in the same journal, recount the story of a bizarre and inexplicable crime befalling a member of the Rachal family.  It's precisely the type of story that often gets lost or only hazily passed down among the simple aggregation of names and dates that often constitutes a genealogy.  The brief account in English is included here in the image to the right; below is my translation of the further details published the following week in the French edition of the same paper:

On the evening of 21 January [1853], a man named Samuel Summers disembarked from the steamboat John Strader at Rigolet de Bon Dieu and spent the night at the home of Mr. Cockfield.  The following day and night he proposed to spend at the home of Mr. Onézime Rachal.  In the afternoon he chatted with a person named Standish, and engaged him to go outside with him.  Standish agreed to his wishes and accompanied him outside; but they were just a few paces from the house when Summers drew from his pocket a knife and tried to cut his throat.  Standish, in resisting, received such a deep wound to his abdomen that his entrails were exposed.  A few moments after he ceased to live.

Drawn by the noise of the fight, Mr. and Mme. Rachal appeared outside; Summers, when he saw them, rushed toward them, knife raised, and inflicted several blows to the husband and wife.  The latter was mortally wounded.  The house-guests and servants, at the sight of the appalling tragedy, were seized with panic and fled.

As the news of what had happened spread throughout the neighborhood, many inhabitants armed themselves in haste and went in pursuit of Summers.  They found him after half an hour in a field belonging to Mme. Metoyer, two miles from the Rachal residence, but he had attempted suicide, for he had a large wound to the throat and three others to the abdomen.  He was taken to the prison and succumbed there during the night.  It is thought that Summers was a madman escaped from some hospital.  It is indeed impossible to conceive of such a crime on the part of a man capable of reason.

I searched the Natchitoches books I have copies of to try to determine who Onezime Rachal's parents were, without any luck.  I don't own a copy of every published Natchitoches record book that exists, though, so it is possible I may yet find him the next time I consult one of those in a library.  The 1850 census contains an entry for an "Onizieme Rachal" with a wife named Amelia.  The 1832 baptism of Marie Aimée Liegue Brevel, daughter of Jean Bte. Brevel and Marie Euphrosine Lestage, was sponsored by Onézime Rachal and Marie Aimée Lestage, "Mrs. Onézime".  Baptisms in the 1840s that Onézime sponsored are sometimes co-sponsored by either Emelie Lestage or Emelie Rachal.  Are Emelie and Aimée the same person, or is Emelie a second wife?  Is Amelia a census enumerator's anglicization of her name?  And is Emelie Lestage the Mme. Onézime Rachal who was killed at Campti?

Sources:
The Opelousas Courier, 12 February 1853 <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83026389/1853-02-12/ed-2/seq-2/>
Le Courrier des Opelousas, 19 February 1853 <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83026389/1853-02-19/ed-1/seq-1/>
Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009.
Riffel, Judy. Natchitoches Baptisms, 1817-1840: Abstracts from Register 6 of St. Francis Catholic Church, Natchitoches, Louisiana. Baton Rouge: Comite Des Archives De La Louisiane, 2007.
Riffel, Judy. Natchitoches Baptisms, 1841-1849: Abstracts from Register 9 of St. Francis Catholic Church, Natchitoches, Louisiana. Baton Rouge: Comité Des Archives De La Louisiane, 2010.

The Burton Free School

These photos, from the application packet for the 2013 historic site designation for the public schools in Burton, Texas, show Burton students ca. 1910.  Of those identified, I have spotted several names familiar to me from my research of this area.  The child identified as Bill Bryan in the photo on the left and the bottom photo on the right is my great-grandfather, and the others with the same surname are his siblings.  Additional relatives in these photos are the Watts, McCains, and Burkes, who were their cousins.

The associated historical marker reads:

Burton Public Schools opened in 1874, and by 1926 nine grades were offered. In 1938, construction on Burton’s first high school began. Funded through the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA), the building was completed in 1940. Designed by architect Travis Broesche and built by local contractor Will Weeren, the school exhibits international and rustic architectural style. Features include abutting two-story rectangular blocks, a curved wall near the entrance, and a native field stone veneer.

Source:
Texas Historical Commission. [Historic Marker Application: Burton Public School]. The Portal to Texas History. http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth491853/. Accessed July 5, 2015.

Revolutionary War Patriot Ancestors

Happy 4th of July!  Today I'm sharing a list I've compiled of my DAR-eligible patriot ancestors.  The numbers and abbreviations following the names are the numbers as indicated by the DAR Patriot Index and the state served.  Lineage through my paternal or maternal line is indicated by a (P) or (M).

1. Baker, Thomas - #A005106 VA (P)
2. Bell, William - #A008824 SC (M)
3. Buchanan, Alexander - #A016383 NJ (P)
4. Bullock, Micajah - #A016885 NC (P)
5. Cheatham, William - #A202873 VA (P)
6. Clay, Charles, Sr. - #A022833 VA (P)
7. Clay, Jesse - #A022850 VA (M)
8. Dalby, John - #A029356 VA (P)
9. Ford, Nathaniel - #A040933 SC (M)
10. Guyton, Joseph -  #A048677 SC (P)
11. Hickerson, John - #A111186 VA (P)
12. Hurt, Moses - #A088208 VA (P)
13. Kelsey, Samuel, Jr. - #A064394 SC (P)
14. Kelsey, Samuel, Sr. - #A064398 SC (P)
15. Lemoine, Charles – not in patriot index but was in Natchitoches Militia LA (M)
16. Montgomery, Charles - #A078960 SC (M)
17. Morgan, Nathaniel - #A034848 VA (P)
18. Rachal, Julien - #A200189 LA (M)
19. Stone, Micajah - #A109702 VA (P)
20. Thaxton, William - #A113929 VA (P)
21. Turner, James - #A117084 VA (P)
22. Waters, Joseph (Watters) - #A122240 NJ (M)
23. Wright, Robert - #A130983 VA (M)
24. Young, Hugh (Yongue) - #A015655 SC (M)
25. Young, James (Yongue) - #A015654 SC (M)

My grandmother was a member under #10 in this list, Joseph Guyton, which means if I didn't want to compile all the documentation for a full application under another ancestor, I could apply using a short form and my grandmother's info.  This would piggyback my application onto hers, and the only documentation I would need to provide would be documents proving my relationship to her.  Finding a relative you can short form apply from is an avenue well worth exploring if you find the documentation of a full application a bit daunting!

Sources:
DAR Patriot Index - go on, have a look for your ancestors!
SAR Membership Project for Creole Families - source for Charles Lemoine

Watts in Steele Creek Cemetery

Back when I wrote up a short biography of my 4th-great grandfather, Rev. James Bell Watt, I had cited as one of my sources a history of the Steele Creek church where he was pastor.  What didn't make it into my earlier post was that along with a history of the church, the book also contains a full listing of the burials in the Steele Creek cemetery alongside the church, up to 1976.  The listing is actually very helpful, because the compilers provided a chart showing the layout of the cemetery and grave locations via a grid division of the chart.  The number and first letter correspond to the grid location, while the W or E that follow indicates whether the grave is on the west or east side of the cemetery.  I have broken up the listing of Watt burials located in Steele Creek and grouped them by their locations as provided in the book rather than by the straight alphabetical listing it provides.  In doing this I hope to give a clearer picture of the specific groupings within the family as a whole for reasons I will clarify below.

7FW - immediate family of Rev. J. B. Watt
Watt, Fannie - d. 12 Jun 1851 (aged 18 months) "Daughter of Rev. J. B. Watt"
Watt infants - "Two nameless babes, children of Rev. and Mrs. J. Bell Watt"
Watt, Reverend James Bell - 4 Apr 1820 - 16 Sep 1860 - "Pastor of Steele Creek"*
Watt, Louisa Angelina - 6 Dec 1835* - 8 May 1917 - "Wife of Rev. James Bell Watt"
Watt, Mary Caroline - d. 20 Aug 1838 (age 4 months) - "Daughter of J. B. Watt"
Watt, Mrs. Nancy M. - d. 10 Apr 1854 - "Wife of Reverend J. B. Watt"
Watt, William J. - d. 4 Feb 1857 (age 34 years)
(*I have corrected Louisa Watt's birth year from the book's printed date of 1865, which would be impossible as her husband died in 1860, to the correct year of 1835.  Rev. Watt appears in the full alphabetical list in 11DE, clear across the cemetery.  but a list of pastors buried at Steele Creek that precedes the full list places him in 7FW, with the rest of his family.  I have chosen to use that location for my list, but note the discrepancy.)

8GW - immediate family of Rev. Watt's youngest son, Walter
Watt, Elizabeth Reed - 4 Jun 1870 - 7 Jul 1937 "Wife of Walter W. Watt"
Watt, Walter W. - 27 Sep 1860 - 5 Nov 1941

11AE - family of William Franklin Watt, son of James Bell Watt Jr and grandson of Rev. Watt
Watt infant - 8 Jan 1917 - 8 Jan 1917 "Son of Mr. and Mrs. W. F. Watt"
Watt infant - 18 Dec 1918 - 15 Feb 1919 "Son of Mr. and Mrs. W. F. Watt"
Watt, William Franklin - 17 Jun 1886 - 23 Jun 1964
Watt, William Franklin Jr. - 13 Feb 1914 - 11 Jan 1973

11BE - family of James Bell Watt Jr
Watt, Emma Wilson 2 Jul 1859 - 25 Apr 1935
Watt, James Bell 25 Jan 1859 - 15 Apr 1925

The one burial in the list that really caught my attention was the one I couldn't immediately identify as a member of Rev. Watt's immediate family or as a descendant - William J. Watt, who was 34 years old when he died in 1857.  This would make him about two years younger than Rev. Watt, and born in either 1822 or 1823.  The biography of Rev. Watt's youngest son, Walter, that appears on page 25 of the History of North Carolina, vol VI, mentions that Rev. Watt was the elder of two brothers.  Might this William J. Watt be his younger brother?  I have as yet found no other biographical sources of Rev. Watt that mention a brother by name, but the age and grave location suggest that William J. Watt was a close member of the Reverend's family.

Happy Flag Day!

This photo probably dates from mid-1920s and depicts my grandfather, Robert Fagan of Hazleton, Pennsylvania.

Deaths at Cloutierville - Ancestors in Neighboring Newspapers

Today's post highlights one of my favorite tips for searching for ancestors among old sources - in this case, newspapers.  What I like to remind everyone is not to assume that just because your ancestors lived in one particular location, that information on them will be limited to that location!  Since newspapers were one of the best ways to spread information about ones' friends and neighbors, newspapers located outside of the actual hometown of an ancestor may provide you with better information, since they're meant for the people who didn't keep up with that person on a daily basis.  Check surrounding towns' newspapers for mentions of your ancestors, or even the papers of the towns where their families lived in other counties or states.

Today's news clipping comes from the Opelousas Courier, a weekly paper in both French and English editions published in Opelousas, Louisiana from 1852 to 1910.  Opelousas is the parish seat of St. Landry Parish, which is located three parishes away from Natchitoches, where the people it mentions were from.  The notice is of a list of recent deaths at Cloutierville, located along the Cane River in Natchitoches Parish, and states that among the deceased are also "names who are well-known in our Parish".

• The Opelousas courier. (Opelousas, La.), 05 Nov. 1853. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83026389/1853-11-05/ed-1/seq-1/>

Of particular interest to this blogger are the names Eusèbe Deslouches, Hyppolite Rachal, and Mmes. P. S. Compère and Julien Rachal, which match names in my own family tree.  The Eusèbe Deslouches in my records was the son of Appoline Rachal and Landry Deslouches, and the nephew of Hyppolite Rachal, who also appears in the list.  Hyppolite was, like Appoline and my ancestor Cyriaque, a child of Sylvestre Rachal and Marie Rose Michel-Zoriche.  If they are the same people as mine, Eusèbe Deslouches was about 9 years old and his uncle Hyppolite was about 28 years of age at the time of their deaths.  As neither of them could be found on the 1860 census, I think it likely but not 100% confirmed.  Also here in this list is an additional corroboration for the death of my 5th-great grandmother, Mme. P. S. Compère (née Lolette Rachal, daughter of Julien Rachal and Marie Louise Brevel) who died September of 1853, according to my records, which cited her succession filed with the Natchitoches clerk of court as the source for that date.  The Compères' elder son Joseph Maximin had married Clara Dejean of Opelousas, and so their name would indeed have been familiar in Opelousas.  The name in this list that precedes Lolette's, Mme. Julien Rachal, is not her mother, who died in 1815, but is probably instead her sister-in-law, Marie Melanie Lavespere, the widow of Mme. Compère's brother, Julien Jr.  Two of their sons were also married to Dejean sisters, so the Rachals would have been known in Opelousas as well.

The next column on the newspaper page (link in the caption above) contains a letter from the bishop at Natchitoches which may be relevant to this list.  In it, he laments the devastation brought upon the communities at Cloutierville, Shreveport, and Alexandria by a recent outbreak of yellow fever.