The Watkins Family and the Society of Friends

This narrative consists of three sections each of which is found on a separate page:

1. Background about Quakers in Virginia [more],
2. Early Virginia Quakers with the Watkins surname (continues on this page), and
3. James and Anne Watkins, Surry/Sussex County Quakers [more].

Early Virginia Quakers with the Surname Watkins

This map shows a section of eastern Virginia and various Quaker meetings and the date when they were founded. The origin of the map is unknown, but this copy was made from the inside binding of the Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy-Vol. VI by William Wade Hinshaw. The upper highlighted area shows the location of the Curles Meeting House in which Henry Watkins of Henrico County, Virginia, and his family were active members. Another highlighted area shows the location of a very early Quaker meeting, Nansemond in 1679. The third highlighted area is Sussex County, Virginia, home of my ancestors, James and Ann White Watkins. Just to the northeast of this area is located the Blackwater meeting house where James and Ann were married in 1770. Inside the boundaries of Sussex County are two other meetings: (1) Seacock-1758 and (2) Watkins-1781.

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Following is information about some early Virginia Quakers with the surname Watkins. Nothing at this time documents any relationship between James and Anne White Watkins of Sussex County, Virginia and these earlier Watkins.

The earliest Watkins that Hinshaw mentions in relation to the Virginia Quakers was George Watkins:

In the Isle of Wight [Virginia] deed book under the date June 8, 1702, it is shown that William Scott, Francis Bridle, John Denson, John Sikes, Isaac Ricks bought an acre of land from Francis Hutchins and his son, Richard. This plot was on the Western Branch of the Nancemond River and was part of that granted by Governor Berkeley in 1664. Abraham and Robert Banks and George Watkins signed the deed. (Hinshaw, pg. 48)

Of course, this in itself does not signify that George Watkins was a Quaker.

Three other early Virginia Quakers were Henry Watkins, Sr. (1638-1715), his son, Henry Jr. (b. 1660), and his daughter, Elizabeth (b. 1669).

Henry was a “small but hardworking farmer.” (Allen, pg. 28) Henry was also a Quaker; although we do not know when or how he became one. We are told that, “In June 1684 the courts of Henrico refused his petition for a remission of fines imposed upon him ‘he not appearing himself to supplicate this Court but (as ye Court Conceives) continuing still in his Quakerism’.” Additionally, we are told, “In December, 1699 Watkins subscribed 500 pounds of tobacco towards the building of the Friends Meeting House at Curles, and in 1703 he paid 50 pounds of tobacco towards furnishing the building.”

“In 1685 Elizabeth Watkins, the daughter of Henry Watkins at the time of the tender age of sixteen years literally ‘backed down’ the august body known as Henrico Court, by refusing, ‘for conscience sake’ to swear to a deposition which she had made. A Quaker, she willingly made ‘affirmation’ to the statement contained in her deposition, but make other thereto she would not. The court ordered her imprisonment. In June she was again brought to the bar and still ‘persisting in ye same obstinacy as she pretends out of conscience sake and therefore desiring to be excused and her father also humbly seconding her request the court out of their clemency in consideration of her young years remitted her offence and releast[sic] her of her confinement.’ (Torrence, pg. 52-58)

Additionally Hinshaw said that Henry Watkins, Jr. subscribed 15 pounds of tobacco "to repair Curles MM or build anew." (Hinshaw, pg. 148). They decided to rebuild the Curles meeting house.

In 1709 Henry Watkins, Sr. was overseer of the Curles Monthly Meeting. Records of the Curles Monthly meeting reported other events in the lives of the Watkins family Quakers. Henry Watkins died November 11, 1715. (Hinshaw, pg. 216). On September 15, 1716 Henry's widow, Mary Crispe Watkins, married Edward Mosley (Hinshaw, pg. 217). A few years later, on February 4, 1720, Henry and Mary's son, John Watkins married Sarah Butler (Hinshaw, pg. 216).

In 1745 a "Thomas Watkins of Henrico being presented in Court for reflecting on the Established Church [Episcopal] saying, 'Your churches and chapels are no better than synagogues of Satan'. The fact that he was dismissed without fine or injury would imply that some agreed with him." (Hinshaw, pg. 147).

At some point as more settlers moved south of the James River, and so it follows that Virginia Quakers established units of their religious organization there as well. In particular we are interested to know about the Black Water Monthly Meeting as it was there that the marriage of James and Anne White Watkins was recorded in 1770. Hinshaw reported:

[Black Water Monthly Meeting] is one of the mystery meetings of early America. It seems to have been the same, or closely allied with the organized Pagan Creek Monthly Meeting of 1738, which sends its roots back to the very beginning of the organized existence of the Society of Friends in the Virginia colony. Old Surry Monthly Meeting (1702) was a sister meeting to those original monthly meetings of Curles, Chuckatuck, Warwick-York, Nansemond and Pagan Creek... The earliest civil record we have of the presence of Friends in Surry County, Virginia, is from a Militia List of 1687 which names [a number of people] as being Quakers and available as "horse soldiers" and "foot soldiers..." Whether this Surry Monthly Meeting was organized in or before 1672 or just prior to 1702, we know that at the time of Fox's death in 1691 there were Quakers in what is now Prince George, Surry, Isle of Wight, Sussex and Southampton Counties. We also know that in the first decade of the 18th century there was a large settlement of Friends in "Southside" Virginia -- as that section south of the James [River] is called.

For proof that Surry was merely another name for Black Water, the following is offered:1759 John Cornwell produced a certificate to Henrico Monthly Meeting from "Surry Monthly Meeting." Referring to Black Water Monthly meeting files we see this same certificate was issued by that monthly meeting...

In the tattered and torn volume of 1752 we find the family names of the early members of the meeting. They are: Briggs, Butler, Thorpe, Pretlow, Bailey, Densen, Hollowell, Sebrell, Hunnicutt, Newby, Kitchen, Watkins, Hargrave, Clary, Simmons, Peebles, Brock, Hamlin, Chappell and others... [Names in bold print are those to be found in this record of genealogy.]

Above excerpts from Hinshaw pp. 93-95

To continue and read about our Virginia Quaker ancestors, James Watkins and Anne White Watkins.

References:

1. Hinshaw, William Wade. Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy - Vol. VI. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Edwards Brothers, 1939.

2. Allen, Jane McMurtry. Henry Watkins of Henrico County: His Descendents and Their Allied Families. Baltimore, Md. Gateway Press, Inc., 1985.

3. Torrence, William Clayton. “Henrico County, Virginia: Beginnings of Its Families, Part IV,” William and Mary Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vol. 25, No. 1 (Jul. 1916).