G. W. Watson

Wes Wicker, Vennie Watson Wicker
Louise Wicker Long 1922

My mother never met her grandfathers:  one died before her father was born and one died when her mother was very young.  John Wicker left behind nieces and nephews who  told us a few stories, but with G.W. Watson we had nothing---no relatives that we knew of.  We only knew that he died from a horse accident (as did John Wicker), he was of Scottish descent, he was buried near Alton (Grandma remembered going to his funeral) and he had only one child who lived to maturity---my grandmother Vennie. We didn't even know when he died but it had to be between 1906-1910.  Oh, we also knew Grandma had Native American, but we didn't know if it was through her mother or her father.

From 1976 until 2018, all of my research only turned up a marriage certificate in Dunklin County, Missouri. September 2, 1894 G. W. Watson married Mattie Silas (sic) in Malden.  Mother thought his name was George. I had my DNA done but the task was complicated because my grandfather's great grandmother was also a Watson.  So, I had to weed out all of the Watson DNA matches in Kentucky and Tennessee.  I finally found a woman whose grandmother had also lived in Southeast Missouri and her name had been Malvina (Vinnie) Watson.  What really caught my eye was her mother's name was Manurva Prince.  My Aunt Billie had once told me that Grandma's name was originally "Minerva Lou".  I had found Grandma in the 1910 census (with a widowed mother) and her name was listed as "Louvinia".  So I had high hopes that I had found G. W.'s parents:  Arthur Watson and Manurva Prince in Dyersberg, Tennessee.

With that information, I was able to find the family in 1860 census in White County Illinois.  His name was George Watson and he was born in 1857.  So far, that is the only census I have been able to find him in.  I haven't found the family in the 1870 census, George would have been 23 in 1880 census and probably living in a boarding house.  The 1890 census was destroyed and I haven't found him in the 1900 census yet.  This was obviously a family that didn't have roots.  Arthur was born in North Carolina, lived in Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee and Missouri.

No Civil War records, and census records were not found.  The only story we had was he died riding a horse.  Mother told the story often that both of her grandfathers died riding horses "those were the automobile accidents of the day."  She implied that they were probably racing as young men like to do.  I decided to try to find G. W. / George in the newspaper---maybe there was a record of his death somewhere.  So I went to newspaper.com, entered "G.W. Watson" and "horse".  After some research I found a G. W. Watson who was a harness racer between New Orleans and St. Louis.  He raced in Kinloch and Delmar Tracks (both in St. Louis area) in 1903 and in New Orleans in 1909 with a horse named "Kitty".

New Orleans 1909

This was very interesting since I'd known my grandfather had been a jockey, but my grandmother's father has been a jockey, too?  I don't have any real proof that the jockey G. W. Watson was my great grandfather but I do know that I'm 5'1" and my grandparents often went to "the races" in Illinois.  Recently I did the math on G. W.  If he was born in 1857 and died in 1909,  he was 52 years old. If he died racing horses, he was a little old to be drag racing with his friends as mother implied.  But, a man earning a living by racing horses makes more sense.

My DNA and genealogy held more clues to G. W. Watson.  I've known since a child that I had Native American (doesn't everyone) and we naturally assumed it was Cherokee (doesn't everyone).  The first time we had DNA done we had mitochondrial, the maternal line, examined.  We wanted to know what Vennie's mother's line was.  My siblings and I placed bets on what we would find.  My sister thought Romany (gypsy) since Grandma Vennie read tea leaves.  My brother was rooting for Native American because he wanted to claim some casino money (just jokingly).  I, on the other hand, believed there was African.  The DNA results came back. . ..Irish.  We were all a little disappointed since we believed Grandma (who grew up in foster care) had more exotic roots.

The refinements in DNA over the years have given us more information. My brother and I have both had our DNA analyzed---they are a little different but we both have about 98% European.  We are a little different in what the 2% is.  His is more Native American and mine is more African.  The amount of African DNA puts it in Colonial America and Sub-Saharan----slave.

Working on G.W.Watson's genealogy, I came across the name David Solomon Collins, Arthur's great grandfather and G. W.'s great-great grandfather.  My 5th great grandfather was born in 1750.  For some reason, I decided to google him, not really expecting to find anything.  I was wrong.  I should not have been surprised, but he was Melungeon which explains a lot.

Prince Family

Dolly Cates and Vennie Watson (standing)

Searching for my grandmother's family has been my quest for 40 years---DNA has done more in the past few years than all of my years of microfilm reading, trips and research.  Her father died when she was small and her mother was in a mental institution so she was in foster care with the Cates family.

First, I found her mother's family (well, not  Mattie's  parents so much as her grandparents and further back).  We had been searching Silas but the name was Sollis.  At least I'd known Mattie's name and death date.  Her husband, Vennie's father, was more of a mystery.

G. W. Watson was all I knew of his name (mother thought it might have been George).  The only document I had was his marriage certificate to Mattie "Silas" in Malden Mo. He died when grandma was a baby from a horse riding accident. One of the problems was the name Watson---I was already a Watson on my grandfather's side.  Finally, through DNA,  I found a woman whose great grandmother was from the family of Arthur Watson and Minerva Prince.  It sounded very promising since her great grandmother's name was Vinnie which was similar to my grandmother Vennie.  Also, my aunt had told me that Grandma's name was Minerva Lou at one time.  So, Grandma maybe had a grandmother named Minerva and an aunt named Vinnie. They were from Dyersburg, TN which is where Mattie Sollis was also from. Sounded very promising.

From there, I decided to see if there were any Princes I was related to.  And, YES, I found a Prince family in Tennessee who had a Sirilda Minerva Prince!

While we believe Grandma's grandmother Minerva to be Sirilda Minerva's first cousin, we don't know who Minerva's parents were.  However we believe Thomas and Jonathan Prince to be uncles (based on DNA where we can tell what generation our common ancestors are)  This is from a book that Robert Layton wrote on the Prince family.  He has given me permission to re-print the stories and notes.

Thomas Prince and family moved to Pike Co., MO ca 1842 where he was  supposedly murdered ca 1847, after which Rebecca took the kids and went with her brother (J.C. Davis) and family to Oregon Terr. (1849). 

Thomas and JE’s  sister Eleanor Prince married Jonathon C. Davis (“C” for “Carson “), Rebecca’s brother.

Here are some notes from the book written in the ‘80’s :

• “...our Prince roots go well beyond the second decade  of nineteenth century Tennessee.  Research has, however, been  complicated  by recurring erroneous recording of "Prince"  as  "Price",  by early clerks and census takers,  and by the lack  of  marriage records and wills for pre-1840 Tennessee.   As a  result,  the extensive work by the author,  Ina Layton  Lane,  Ivy  Whited Koher,  and others has thus far failed to turn up  more than the following series of coincidences:
• ·  the PRINCE name does not appear on census or tax records for White County, Tennessee prior to 1835. both OUR Thomas Prince and a Jonathan E.  Prince turn up  in  the  same  year in the same tax  district  of  White County, Tennessee
• ·  this Jonathan E. Prince married the daughter of Augustus Davis's neighbor, William Irwin.
• ·  descendants  of  this Jonathan E.  Prince note that  his mother was born in Tennessee and his father in  Virginia ?? remember  that our Thomas and Eleanor Prince's mother was also born in Tennessee and their father also born in Tennessee.
• ·  descendants  of  this Jonathan E.  Prince note  that  he "...had a brother by the name of Thomas who headed  West and  was  never heard from again.   They thought he  had gone  to join the Mormons"  letter dated  November  2, 1982 from Mr. Ralph Prince of Gladewater, Texas. 
• His mother  was  born  in  TN,  father was born in VA according to  the  1850,  1860, 1870, and 1880 census for Ellis County, TX.
• Referring to Jonathan E. Prince, Miller Prince wrote that "My  grandfather,  I  am told,  was either Holland Dutch or German  and was named Prinz.   He came to the U.S.  as a boy, grew to  manhood  in Virginia,  migrated to North  Central  Tennessee,  married  a half breed Cherokee Indian girl and came to  Texas  in 1837 or 1838.”
• The following account by Amanda Prince was provided by Mrs. Marjorie Rogers. "Thomas was a cabinet builder, furniture maker and horse trader. About July 1846, when his daughter Rebecca Jane was two months old, he left home with a load of furniture and some horses. After he was gone for a while, two men came and told Rebecca, his wife that they had found Thomas Prince laying in a spring dying. He became conscious long enough to tell them who he was and to give them her address and sent her $75 for a horse he had sold. The money for the furniture was never heard of. They told her they had buried him and marked the grave so she could find it. She always thought he was murdered and the money and load of furniture taken. She never thought for one moment that these two men were guilty. They were explorers. She sent two men to investigate and the grave was found just as the strangers had told her. She knew it was true. This happened in Mexico." The Mexico referred to in this account was probably Mexico, Missouri  - - county seat of Audrain County, which borders Pike County on the southwest. It should also be noted that some historians claim that Thomas died while enroute to Oregon with his family in 1849.
• NOTE:  I have remained somewhat skeptical of the account of Thomas's death in light of the fact that in 1850, a Thomas Prince shows up in Howard County, Missouri (dwelling 7, family 7, p. 142/283), age 38 (born Virgina) with wife Mary A. age 27  (born Missouri) and have speculated that Thomas may have simply left Rebecca and his "first family" for another.  -  RWL.   
• "Thomas was a happy good natured man with blue eyes and brown hair."
• In another account written by Amanda Prince, we are told, "Thomas Prince was English, a very large man, blue eyes, brown hair and of a very jolly disposition. Rebecca Davis was half English and half Irish, more of a serious disposition..."

Edited in 2022:  Some have suggested the name was originally Prinz (a German name), but recent DNA shows my mother to have had no German.