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Aaron Sherman WATKINS, D.D., Ph.D., LL.D[1] 1863 - 1941

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• Suffix	D.D., Ph.D., LL.D
  Birth	29 Nov 1863	Rushsylvania, Logan County, Ohio   [2]
  Gender	Male
  Living	6 Jul 1870	Rushsylvania, Logan County, Ohio   [3]
  	Something wrong with the census as it shows Aaron as being 62 and a retired farmer
  Living	5 Jun 1880	Rushcreek Township, Logan County, Ohio   [4]
  Misc	17 Jul 1908	Chicago, Cook County, Illinois   [5]
  	Nominated to run for Vice-President
  	Read about his nomination!
  Occupation	1909/10	Wilmore, Jessamine County, Kentucky
  	President, Asbury College
  Misc	3 Aug 1920	Germantown, Allen County County, Ohio   [6]
  	Running for President
  	Read this human interest story!
  Occupation	Between 1926 and 1927	Waynesville Methodist, Waynesville, Auglaize County, Ohio   [7]
  	Methodist minister
  Died	9 Feb 1941	Rushsylvania, Logan County, Ohio   [8]
  	Read his obituary!
  Buried	Aft 9 Feb 1941	Equality Cemetery, Rush Creek Township, Logan County, Ohio   [9]
  Person ID	I108	Watkins
  Last Modified	09 Apr 2010

  
  

  Father	William White WATKINS,   b. 13 Oct 1825, Jefferson Township, Logan County, Ohio ,   d. 1 Nov 1897, Rushsylvania, Logan County, Ohio
  Mother	Rebecca John ELLIOTT,   b. 9 Oct 1821, Stark County, Ohio ,   d. 14 May 1886, Logan County, Ohio
  Married	22 Apr 1847
  Residence	23 Sep 1850	Perry Township, Logan County, Ohio
  	Farmer
  Family ID	F33	Group Sheet

  
  

  Family	Emma Laura DAVIS,   b. Jul 1857, Ohio ,   d. 1950
  Married	8 Nov 1892  [2]
  Residence	28 Jun 1900	Edgerton, Williams County, Ohio   [10]
  	Methodist Minister
  Residence	18 Apr 1910	Wilmore, Jessamine County, Kentucky   [11]
  	President, Asbury College
  	Emma was a Dormitory Matron at Asbury College.
  Residence	8 Jan 1920	Germantown, Montgomery County, Ohio   [12]
  	Teacher at Miami Military Institute
  	Address: 32 South Plum Street
  Residence	11 Apr 1930	Lima, Allen County, Ohio   [13]
  	Methodist minister
  	Address: 1105 St Johns Avenue
  	Market Street Methodist Church
  Children	1. Willard Merrill WATKINS,   b. 19 Aug 1898, Ohio ,   d. 14 Mar 1958
  Family ID	F419	Group Sheet

  
  

• Photos		Aaron Sherman Watkins and Emma Davis Watkins Taken at a reunion of the family of William White Watkins and Rebecca Elliott Watkins about 1884.
  		Aaron Sherman Watkins Prohibitionist Candidate for President of the United States
  		Aaron Sherman Watkins 1912 Vice Presidential Candidate of the Prohibitionist Party

  
  

  Documents		Presidential Candidate Watkins Makes Sure His Wash is Dry
  		Ticket Named by Prohibitionists Aaron Watkins chosen as Vice Presidential Candidate

  
  

  Headstones

  Rev. Aaron Sherman Watkins and Emma Laura Davis Watkins Aaron (1863 - 1941) Emma (1857 - 1950) Status: Located

  
  

  Histories		WATKINS - Aaron Sherman Watkins Teacher, Methodist Minister, Vice-President of Ohio Northern University, Lawyer, Prohibition Candidate for Ohio governor, US Vice President and US President.
  		WATKINS - The Nine Each year the descendants of William White Watkins and Rebecca Elliott Watkins hold a family reunion in Logan County, Ohio on the second Sunday in August. This poem was written to commemorate nine of William and Rebecca's surviving children at the time of one of the reunions.

  
  

• Notes

  VP candidate in 1908 and 1912 and our candidate for President in 1920 (his official campaign photograph, taken in 1907). Reprinted from the 1941 issue of the magazine of the Ohio Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Aaron Sherman Watkins was born in the Quality community, near Rushsylvania, November 29, 1863, the youngest of ten children born to William White and Rebecca J. (Elliott) Watkins. All of the family have preceded him in death and are William Jasper, Charles Wesley, Nancy Elizabeth, James Hamilton, Joseph Milton, Mary Melissa, Eliza Jane, Isaac Newton, and Harriet Adaline. November 8, Rev. and Mrs. Watkins commemorated their fiftieth wedding anniversary. The wife, Emma Laura (Davis) Watkins, of Middleburg community; son, Willard Merrill Watkins, and grandchildren Willard Dean Watkins and Norma Jean Watkins, in the Rushsylvania home. In early manhood he became a member of the Walnut Grove Methodist Protestant Church, and later held Ohio pastorates in the Methodist Episcopal Church at Continental, Ottawa, Edgerton, Delta, North Baltimore, Van Wert, Columbus Grove, Germantown, Linwood and Winton Place in Cincinnati; Waynesville, Wesley, in Lima and Cairo. His long service as an educator included the one-room school, principal, and superintendent at Quincey, instructor at Miami Military Institute at Germantown Ohio, during the World War, where he held the rank of Captain, head of the English Department and Vice-President of Ohio Northern at Ada, and President of Asbury College at Wilmore, Kentucky. Prior to his ordination as a minister, he was associated with his brother, Judge Charles Wesley Watkins, as an attorney-at-law. During his long service in the cause of temperance, he became a candidate on the Prohibition Party ticket for many public offices, including: Attorney-General, Secretary of State; and Governor of Ohio in 1905 and 1908. In 1908 and 1912 he became candidate on the National Prohibition ticket for Vice-President of the United States, and in 1920 he was selected as candidate for President of the United States. He was honored with collegiate degrees of Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, Doctor of Laws, Doctor of Divinity, Doctor of Humane Letters, and Doctor of Philosophy. It was his privilege to have been associated with national figures, including William Jennings Bryan, Carrie Nation, Col. John Sobieski, Eugene W. Chafin, D. Leigh Colvin, Clarence Darrow, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Typical and almost prophetic of his full and useful life was his graduation oration at Ohio Northern University in 1886. It was titled, ³The Increasing Purpose.² It is in one a pleasure and a challenge to pay adequate tribute to one we have known, and loved, so well. For half a century Dr. Aaron S. Watkins had been accustomed to answering the call of the church bell on Sunday mornings, so it seemed quite fitting that it should be on a Sunday morning that he should answer that last great call to enter the ³temple not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.² On Sunday morning about 5:30, February 9, 1941, Dr. Watkins died with the final statement that ³I have had a very happy life, ³and could well have added a very useful one, for his many ministrations he was teacher of our Brotherhood class and often gave the message in absence of the pastor. The pastor used as his text Genesis 25:8, ³The Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years: and was gathered to his people,²which illustrates the ³increasing purpose² of his life. Special music included: ³Safe in the Arms of Jesus² and ³One Sweetly Solemn Thought.² The visiting ministers sang, ³Rock of Ages.² After retiring from the active ministry he settled in Rushsylvania, near his birthplace. He was especially appreciated by his last pastor as a wise councilor and friend.




• Sources

  [S1] Imported GEDCOM file. [S27] Watkins family genealogy, Page 20. [S113] 1870 Federal Census. Rush Creek Township, Logan County, Ohio Page 13 of 44 [S114] 1880 Federal Census, Rush Creek Township, Logan, Ohio Page 10 of 47. [S24] Miscellaneous, Coshocton, Ohio newspaper 7/17/1908. [S24] Miscellaneous, Lima [OH] News 8/3/1920. [S92] Website. http://www.mlcook.lib.oh.us/ministers_serving_waynesville_me.htm [S153] The Prohibition Party. [S91] Gravestone. [S111] 1900 Federal Census, St. JosephTownship, Williams County, Ohio ED 113 Page 13. [S110] 1910 Federal Census, Wilmore, Jessamine, KY ED 40 Sheet 3A. [S52] 1920 Federal Census, Germantown Village, Montgomery, OH ED 214 Page 2B Dwelling 62. [S114] 1880 Federal Census, Lima, Allen, OH ED 2-31 Sheet 11A.