John Cleveland WATTS

     John Cleveland WATTS, son of George Weaver WATTS and Adelia Reed, was born on 1 September 1890 in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama.¹

John Cleveland WATTS appeared on a census, enumerated 11 June 1900, in the household of his parents George Weaver WATTS and Adelia Reed in Precinct 2, Scottsville, Bibb County, Alabama. He was nine years old and attending school.²

John married Mae Leah STEWART, daughter of Virgil Albert STEWART and Jo Ella Murphy, on 25 December 1915 in Bibb County, Alabama.¹

Due to a need for men to serve during World War I, the United States instituted a draft. The first registration was for men between the ages of 21 and 31. As a result, this first registration included men born between June 5, 1886 and June 5, 1896. John filled out a draft card on 5 June 1917 in Centreville, Bibb County, Alabama. He was 27 years old and living in Centreville. He was married with one child. His occupation was logging and he was employed by the Cahawba River Lumber Company in Brent. He was discribed as stout and of medium height with brown eyes and black hair.³

John Cleveland WATTS and Mae Leah STEWART appeared in a newspaper article 27 February 1919 in the Centreville Press, published in Cemtreville, Alabama. Route Four Items-- Mr. and Mrs. John Watts and children spent Thursday with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. V. A. Stewart.

John Cleveland WATTS and Mae Leah STEWART appeared as head of household on a census enumerated 8 January 1920 in the Lomax Beat, Bibb County, Alabama. The household was listed as John C. Watts, 29, and his wife, Mae L. Watts, 20. Living with them were their sons, Marvin O. Watts, age 3 years and two months, and Albert J. Watts, age one year and 8 months. They were renting their house on the Centreville and Marion Road. John worked as a woods foreman for a lumber mill.⁴

John Cleveland WATTS died on 6 December 1928 in Brent, Bibb County, Alabama, at age 38.^5,6 He was buried in Scottsville Cemetery.