Memorial Record of Western Kentucky, Volume I and Volume II, Lewis
Publishing Company, 1904, pp. 115-117.  Lyon Co.

THOMAS J. WATKINS

     For almost forty years Thomas Jefferson Watkins has practiced law in
Eddyville, being one of the distinguished representatives of the profession
in Lyon county.  He was born October 4, 1838, upon a farm in what is now
Lyon county, his parents being Thomas G. and Nancy (Dyer) Watkins.  His
father's birth occurred in Franklin county, Kentucky, near the city of
Frankfort, September 4, 1798, and he was a son of Samuel and Mary Watkins,
the former a native of Virginia and the latter of North Carolina.  Coming
to this state they located in Franklin county, whence they afterward
removed to Maury county, Tennessee, in the year 1806.  About 1814 they
again came to Kentucky and located within the present border of Lyon
county, where they spent their remaining days, he devoting his energies to
the occupation of farming, which he made his life work.  To him and his
wife were born three sons, John, Thomas G. and Washington, all now
deceased.  There were also three daughters in the family, and they have
likewise passed away.
     Thomas G. Watkins accompanied his parents on their various removals,
and was about sixteen years of age when the family came to what is now Lyon
county.  Here he attained his majority and afterward turned his attention
to farming, which he always followed in order to provide for his family.
He wedded Miss Nancy Dyer, who was born in Trigg county, Kentucky, in 1806,
and was a daughter of John Dyer, one of the early settlers of that county.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Watkins were devoted members of the Methodist church, and
they reared their family in that faith.  The father gave his political
support to the Democracy.  He died at the home of our subject in Eddyville,
in December, 1873, and his wife passed away in Lyon county, in 1860.  There
were the parents of the following children:  John, now deceased, Mrs. Addie
White, a widow; Mrs. Alvina McDonald, who has also lost her husband; Linn
Boyd, who was a lawyer of Louisiana and rose to prominence on the supreme
bench of that state, serving in that position at the time of his demise;
Thomas J.; and Elvira, deceased.
     Thomas J. Watkins acquired his preliminary education in the public
schools, and supplemented it by study in Princeton, Kentucky, and
McLemoresville, Tennessee.  He then took up the study of law with the
intention of making its practice his life work, and was admitted to the bar
in 1865, since which time he has practiced in Eddyville, soon winning
distinction as a capable member of the bar, a position which he has never
forfeited in the least.  In 1870 he was elected on the Democratic ticket to
the position of county judge, and served continuously in that office for
twenty years.
     In Alabama, in 1861, Mr. Watkins was united in marriage to Miss Carrie
Arnold.  They lost their eldest daughter, Willie Wilson, when she was
thirty-eight years of age. Helen, the second daughter, is the wife of R.S.
Lander, of Eddyville.  Maud is the wife of Edward Robb, of Perryville,
Missouri, member of Congress from his district.  The family have an
attractive home in Eddyville, and Mr. Watkins also owns the farm upon which
he was born and which has been in possession of the family for ninety
years.  He is widely known in his native county as a leading and influential
citizen, honored because of an upright life.  The practice of law has been
his real life work, and at the bar and on the bendh he has won marked
distinction.  A man of unimpeachable character, of strong intellectual
endowments and with a thorough understanding of the law, he took to the
bench high qualification for this responsible position in the state
government, and his record as a judge was in harmony with his record as a
man and lawyer, characterized by unswerving integrity and a masterful grasp
of every problem presented for solution.

Watkins Dyer White McDonald Arnold Wilson Lander Robb
=
Franklin-KY VA NC Maury-TN Trigg-KY LA Caldwell-KY Carroll-TN AL Perry-MO

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/lyon/watkins.tj2.txt