Charles Watts and his sister Blanche Watts were each counted twice in the 1940 census for Searcy County, Arkansas. The first count for both was on sheet 4B of enumeration district 65-1, the city of Marshall in Bear Creek Township, Searcy County. Enumerator Blaine T. Myatt visited the Watts home on Walnut Street on Friday,…
Blanche Watts’ Application for Social Security Number
Most of the records I post here at stately Graham Ancestry can be found online, but sometimes we researchers can only obtain records an old fashioned way – by mail. I recently requested a copy of Blanche Graham’s Application for a Social Security Number, Form SS-5. Let’s take a closer look at it. Block 1,…
Draft Registration of Charles Alexander Watts
On 16 September 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940. The act established the first peacetime draft in United States history and required that men between the ages of 21 to 35 register with local draft boards. Registration in Search County, Arkansas took place one month…
Billy Wayne Watts
I learned of the passing of Bill Watts last week via Barbara Van Camp’s Watts Family forum on Facebook. Bill and his family were a big part of my childhood. In the 1970s and 1980s, they lived a couple of blocks away from us in Harvey, Illinois. Bill was my dad’s first cousin – Bill’s…
Charles & Ruby Watts
This photograph of Charles and Ruby Watts was originally taken in 1987. This is actually a photograph of a photograph – when I visited my parents at Thanksgiving my wife captured this with my iPhone. That is why it is a little blurry on Charles. The original was professionally done at a studio, like Olan…
Obituary for William M. Watts
The following obituary was published in the Marshall Mountain Wave in 1988. William Watts William M. Watts[1] of Sutter died December 9, 1988 in Rideout Hospital. He was 72. An Arkansas native, he lived in Sutter for 35 years[2] and was a retired employee of the State Department of Water Resources. He was a member…
Draft Card for Doctor Perry Watts
As a follow-up to the recent revision of Eliza Ann Graham’s article, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the 1918 draft card of Doctor Perry Watts, who was not a doctor. Card Recto Block 1 recorded his full name: Doctor Perry Watts. Most family sources refer to him as “Dock.”…
Cecil Clarence Watts
Here’s one for all of my Watts cousins out there. Cecil was the first born child of Marcus Houston Watts and Minnie Rosettie Bohannon (or Bohannan). He was born on Thursday, 1 May 1919 in the Watts community of Red River Township, Searcy County, Arkansas. 1920 On Tuesday, 20 January 1920, census enumerator Fredrick Houghton…
The Mystery of Louise
In December 2012, I published an article called 1518 Wilson Avenue that recounted how I had found William M. Watts in the 1940 census for Chicago, Illinois. Go read it now. I’ll wait. Now, as you recall (since you just read the article, right?), William was married to a person unfamiliar to me, a mystery…
1518 Wilson Avenue
And now, another tale of Chaotic Genealogy, when the records lead us into unexpected directions. Family Tree Maker recently gave me a Shaky Leaf icon for William M. Watts, a son of James Madison Watts and Sylvannia Bohannon. A Shaky Leaf indicates that FTM has found a potential record match. I clicked on the leaf…
