Life History

Notes

• Some genealogies lack documentary sources but seem to present credible family information, though details are missing.  For instance, the following gives us his birth place in Carmarthenshire, Wales.
  
  Thomas William Watkins
  Birth abt 1803 in Carmarthenshire, Wales
  Death Unknown
  Spouse Hannah Wife Watkins b 1801, Death Unknown
  --  Snyder, http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/1701851/person/6098380426
  
  A marriage record is found in Carmarthenshire.
  
  London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921
  Thomas Watkins
  Spouse Name: Hannah Finch
  Marriage 28 Nov 1824 Newington St Mary Parish, Newington, Southwark
  Solemnized by Arthur Cyril (?) Rector
  Witnesses W, Williams, James Mason
  St Mary Newington Marriage Book p 229
  
  New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957
  Arrival Manifest, Ship: Brig Elizabeth Clark
  Departure: Swansea, Wales
  Arrival 5 Nov 1831 New York, New York
  Thomas Watkin 28 Farmer From Great Britain Moving to United States [b abt 1803]
  Hannah Watkin 30 His Wife From Great Britain Moving to United States [b abt 1801]
  Athiren Watkin [Catherine Watkin] 1 His Daughter From Great Britain Moving to United States (abt 1830)
  
  According to the birthday reported in other sources, July 1929, Catherine should be 2 years old, not 1.  In the 1850 census, we find they were enumerated in the Clifford Township.
  
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  I have read about the Watkins in Clifford history as he was the first Welsh settler on Elk Mountain, noting that they came in 1831 and provides an interesting read. [Source text follows below.]  Your Thomas sounds like he was a very large man.
  
  There is a misprint on this particular reference as it lists David not Daniel Moses which is what is in the original text. Daniel was my ggg-grandfather who lived in this community from about 1834-1843. These people certainly had many hardships, and it is hard to fathom what they went through.
  --  Jean Luigi, Ancestry Messaging to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 25 July 2016
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  THE WELSH must have the credit of clearing up most of the slopes of Elk Mountain and making the substantial improvements now to be seen in the northwestern part of the township. They have here proven themselves an honest, industrious class of people, capable of the highest citizenship.
  
  The pioneers among them were Thomas Watkins and wife, Hannah, natives of Carmarthenshire, South Wales.  They left that country in 1831, and after a voyage of two months landed in New York.  The following spring found them at Carbondale, where Mr. Watkins obtained work in a coal-mine, but on the 10th of May, 1833, they came to Clifford, where they located on a tract of land near the southwest base of the South Knob of the Elk Mountain.
  
  With the exception of a small clearing below him, everything was a dense woods, with a heavy undergrowth, which afforded hiding-places for deer, elk and many noxious animals, which were so bold that it made the work of protecting domestic animals difficult.  The work of clearing progressed slowly, but Mr. Watkins was a man of strong constitution (being full six feet high and measured nearly four feet around the chest), and the forests at last yielded to his efforts.  Before his death, in May, 1870, he had cleared up a large farm, which is still in possession of Hannah Watkins (now in her eighty-eighth year), and one of her sons, Watkin W. Watkins.
  
  Another son, John, lives in the same locality.  For more than a year the Watkins family was deprived of the society of its countrymen, but in 1834 a number of Welsh families located around them and made permanent the Welsh settlement, which, with the families living in Gibson and Herrick, now numbers more then three hundred souls.
  
  Those coming in 1834 were Zachariah Jenkins, David Reese, Wm. P. Davis, David [Daniel] Moses, David Anthony, Rev. Thomas Edwards, David Edwards and Robert Ellis and their families.
  
  --  Centennial History of Susquehanna County, Rhamanthus M. Stocker 1887, Chapter L, Clifford Township, Page 792, accessed 5 August 2016, http://dsdata.com.au/genealogy/nepa/stocker_clifford2.html
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  The story is corroborated here with a few additional details added.
  
  "At the lower corner (the southeast) of the county is the agricultural district of Dundaff, or Clifford, under and on the slopes of a low hill called Elk Hill, and on one side and about Round Hill, and on the banks of Round Pond, and all the way to South Gibson. It is only 12 miles west of Carbondale. The land is hilly and wooded. Mr. Thomas Watkins (a miner from Carbondale) was the first Welshman to settle there; on May 10, 1833 he bought 50 acres of wooded land for $3 an acre. After that came David E Thomas, David Edwards, William Jones, David J. Thomas, Secariah Jenkins, David Rees, Daniel Moses, David Anthony, Robert Ellis, and other to live there."
  --  Hanes Cymry America (A History of the Welsh in America) by the Rev. R. D. Thomas (published 1872), translated by Phillips G. Davies, RootWeb Archives, http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/PASUSQUE/2001-04/0988340466
  
  1850 Federal Census, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, 6 November, Clifford Township, page 709 (scan 358), Hse #224, Fam #239
  Thomas Watkins 47 M Farmer No Real Estate value rptd b Wales [b abt 1803]
  Hannah Watkins 50 F b Wales
  
  In the 1860 census, Thomas is listed as William, seeming to give us his fullname William Thomas Watkins.  The name order may be Thomas William Watkins.  The name given on Find-a-Grave memorials for his son John is given as Thomas W Watkins.  I have not seen a definitive record giving both names.  I later found one or more genealogies that do present his name as Thomas William.
  
  1860 Federal Census, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, 17 July, PO Dundaff, Clifford, page 131 (scan 468), Hse #1011, Fam #997
  Wm Watkins 57 M Farmer $4200 Real Estate $1100 Personal born Wales [b abt 1803]
  Hannah Watkins 59 F born Wales [b abt 1801]
  Walter Watkins 25 F born Pennsylvania
  Mary Watkins 22 M born Pennsylvania
  Evan Watkins 21 M born Pennsylvania
  John Watkins 18 F born Pennsylvania
  R Jones 12 M born Pennsylvania
  - page 132 -
  B Jones 8 M born Pennsylvania
  
  Thomas died before the 1870 census.
  
  U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules, 1850-1885
  Thomas Watkins
  Death May 1870 Susquehanna County PA
  Age 67 [b abt 1803, Birth Wales
  Occupation FARMER
  Cause of Death ASTHMA

Sources

• 1. 1860 Federal Census, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania
  • 17 July, PO Dundaff, Clifford, page 131 (scan 468), Hse #1011, Fam #997
• 2. Ancestry Trees
  • Snyder, http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/1701851/person/6098380426
• 3. U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules, 1850-1885
• 4. Ancestry Trees
  • Mistretta, http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/16919/person/464416984?ssrc=&ftm=1
• 5. New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957
• 6. 1850 Federal Census, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania
  • 6 November, Clifford Township, page 709 (scan 358), Hse #224, Fam #239
• 7. Centennial History of Susquehanna County
• 8. History of the Welsh in America
• 9. London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921
• 10. 1900 Federal Census, La Crosse County, Wisconsin
  • 23 June, Bangor, District 59, page 11B, Hse/Fam #218
• 11. Find a Grave Memorial Registry
• 12. History of LaCrosse County, Wisconsin, 1981, p 834
• 13. 1870 Federal Census, La Crosse County, Wisconsin
  • 7 July, Bangor, PO Bangor, page 28, Hse #183, Fam #199
• 14. Find a Grave Memorial Registry
  • Memorial #172428, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=172428
• 15. 1880 Federal Census, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania
  • 1 June, Clifford, District 120, page 6, Hse/Fam #57
• 16. 1870 Federal Census, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania
  • 6 July, Clifford, PO Uniondale, page 16, Hse #131, Fam 119
• 17. U.S., Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863-1865
  • Susquehanna and Luzerne Counties
• 18. U.S., Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863-1865
• 19. Find a Grave Memorial Registry
  • Memorial #35804194, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=35804194
• 20. 1880 Federal Census, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania
  • 1 June, Clifford, District 120, page 6, Hse #60, Fam #61