Individual Details

"According to family tradition, Matthew was a boatman on the Ohio River and on the ocean as well. He was "lost at sea" but survived on an island with one other and returned home after several years, appearing at the door in the middle of the evening. No documentation for this story." per Robert Haag

Charles D. Prouty also remembers being told of a Prouty ancestor who was a "Shipping Captain on the Great Lakes" As no ancestor with the surname Prouty researched so far has any connection with shipping, this story could refer to Matthew Watkins, his great grandmother's father.

A letter to M.P. Alderman, Gloucester, MA dated Aug 6, 1889 from Malvina M. Phillips, New England, Athens Co., OH said that after Lucy (Alderman) Watkins died her daughters lived with Eli Alderman's father (Hosea Alderman) until they were grown up.

The following family stories were found in letters written by Thomas H. Blakemore to his cousin Maud :
.... Mathias Watkins was one of his (Jonathan's) sons and mine and your grandfather. Mathias Watkins married twice. His first wife is buried in Athens. From this union was born William, Elizabeth and Esther. Uncle William married a lady named Martha. Both are deceased and without issue. Uncle William was sheriff of Bond County, Illinois for a number of years and lived in Greenville. He afterwards moved to Vandalia and erected what is still called the Watkins Block and ran a tavern there. Here Mathias Watkins (our grandfather) spent his last days and his remains are interred there... After Grandfather's first wife died he married our grandmother (Lucinda Bodwell, an English woman). I say she was English. I will qualify that. I do not know whether she was born in this country or England but I know she claimed that her mother was an English Countess and eloped to America, so I suspect Grandmother was born here.
Grandfather was a plantation and slave owner at one time, residing in Kentucky, where I understand all the children but Uncle Will and your father were born. He was also the first pilot on the Ohio River (so Aunt Ann said). Aunt Ann told me some things of your grandfather and her early life but I always felt that her statements would bear some salt taken with them. The union born of Mathias and Lucinda Watkins resulted in Rhoda Ann, John, Jimmy, Eliza, Mary (Aunt Mollie), Martha, William Wallace and Cyrus. I seem to remember Aunt Ann speak of an Aunt Jane but I am not clear on the subject....

...John Wing wrote me a letter and I can add a little more to what I wrote about the Watkins family. It seems grandfather's name was Matthew, not Mathias. He was a pilot on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, running to New Orleans; had a number of slaves at one time and was captain on the ocean-going vessels. He was a great swimmer and at one time (so the story goes) was shipwrecked and it was supposed all on board perished, but it seems grandpap managed to swim a mile or two to an island with a boy he had grasped. Grandmother mourned him for dead about 2 or 3 years but they were rescued by a passing ship and one night about 8 or 9 o'clock appeared on the scene, and I suppose it was just like getting married over again."
Tom Blakemore also wrote in a letter to Mary Louise Marlay:
"By the way, Grandfather Watkins was veteran of the War of 1812..."
(Letter contents shared by Robert Haag)

Birth	9 Sep 1795
Marriage	10 Apr 1817	Ames Township, Athens, Ohio, United States - Lucy Alderman
Census (family)	1820	Homer Township, Athens, Ohio, United States - Lucy Alderman
Tax List	1825	Millfield, Athens, Ohio, United States
Marriage	25 Jul 1825	Athens, Ohio, United States - Lucinda Bodwell
Census (family)	1840	Cincinnati, Hamilton, Ohio, United States - Lucinda Bodwell
Death	15 Sep 1868	Vandalia, Fayette, Illinois, United States
Burial		South Hill Cemetery, Vandalia, Fayette, Illinois, United States

Spouse	Lucy Alderman (1796 - 1824)
Child	William Watkins (1819 - 1877)
Child	Esther "Hester" Watkins (1821 - 1851)
Child	Elizabeth Watkins (1823 - 1851)

Spouse	Lucinda Bodwell (1809 - 1881)
Child	Rhoda Ann Watkins (1826 - 1917)
Child	Sarah Jane Watkins (1828 - 1850)
Child	John Watkins (1830 - )
Child	Eliza E "Lyde" Watkins (1833 - )
Child	James "Jimmy" Watkins (1835 - 1855)
Child	Mary B "Mollie" Watkins (1839 - 1907)
Child	Martha T Watkins (1842 - 1869)
Child	William Wallace Watkins (1843 - 1926)
Child	Cyrus E. Watkins (1846 - 1894)

Father	Jonathan Watkins (1758 - 1843)
Mother	Elizabeth Haning (1772 - 1824)
Sibling	Mary "Polly" Watkins (1792 - 1852)
Sibling	Daniel Watkins (1794 - 1831)
Sibling	Margaret Watkins (1798 - )
Sibling	Jonathan Jr. Watkins (1800 - 1861)
Sibling	Elijah Watkins (1803 - 1877)
Sibling	Elizabeth "Betsey" Watkins (1805 - )
Sibling	Elisha Watkins (1806 - 1876)
Sibling	Anna Watkins (1808 - )
Sibling	Isaac Watkins (1809 - 1845)
Sibling	James Watkins (1811 - )
Sibling	Joseph Watkins (1814 - )
Sibling	Thankful Watkins (1820 - )

Notes