Source Text:
ABOUT 1700 Estimated date of birth. Exact date and location unknown. LDS Ancestral File ver H 4.12, 10 Dec 93 shows birth "about 1700". LDS ver 4.11 of 10 Feb 94 shows birth as l7l3, but this seems late in view of age of sons. Parents thought to be Peter and Mary Griffith Watkins, listed in 1716 will of her father, David Griffith but definite proof not yet established.
ABOUT 1725 Estimated date of marriage to Mary (?). Exact date and location unknown. Estimate based on birth dates of children.
ABOUT 1729 Estimated date of birth of son Thomas. Exact date and location unknown. LDS Ancestral Files ver 4. 11 and ver 4.12 show birth as 1739, but Father's 1764 will mentions "my eldest son, Thomas, deceased" and sons David and Peter were born in early 1730s.
ABOUT 1731 Estimated date of birth of son David. Exact date and location unknown. Based on listing first in father's 1764 will. LDS Ancestral Files ver 4. 11 and ver 4.12 show birth as 1743, but purchase of land in 1756 indicates birth at least before 1735.
1733 Birth of son Peter. Location unknown. Data from Alabama Genealogy Register, v. 1, "History of St. Clair County, Alabama", pp. 28-30, "Watkins and Allied Families".
ABOUT 1736 Birth of daughter Jean. Exact date and location unknown. Based on LDS Ancestral Files ver 4.ll and ver 4.12. Listed first in names of daughters in father's 1764 will
ABOUT 1738 Birth of daughter Ann. Exact date and location unknown. Based on LDS Ancestral Files ver 4.ll and ver 4.12. Listed second in names of daughters in father's 1764 will.
LATE 1730s Earliest mention of Watkins Ferry, in "The Great Wagon Road", by Parker Rouse, Jr. (McGraw-Hill, 1973) p. 34:
"Accordingly, the family pulled up stakes in the 1730s, loaded their horses with the family goods, and started south over the Warriors' Path toward the cheaper lands in Virginia. Crossing the Potomac River by Williams' or Watkins Ferry, near the later site of Williamsport, they followed the narrow footpath along the Shenandoah River. " Also see Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch article July 14, 1991 on "The Great Philadelphia Wagon Road".
"by 1736, Pennsylvania approved the improving of the Great Road from the Susquehanna to the mouth of the Conococheague." (Berkeley Journal, Issue Two, Fall 1970, Berkeley County WV Historical Society, p. 39.)
In his Shenandoah Valley Pioneers and Their Descendants--A History of Frederick County Virginia", 1908, p. 66, K. Carhnell writes: "..no such ferries (across the Potomac River) existed as early as 1736 "
ABOUT 1740 Birth of daughter Eleanor, probably at Watkins Ferry, Frederick County, Va. Exact date unknown. Based on LDS Ancestral Files ver 4.11 and ver 4.12. Listed last in names of daughters in father's 1764 will. Although the first official listing of Watkins Ferry was in 1741, it is believed the family came to the area earlier.
AUG 27, 1741 Orange County, Va. Court ordered a road be laid out from "Evan Watkins ferry upon Potomack". This is the first record found of his operating a ferry on the Potomac River at the mouth of Conocoheague Creek. (Orange County VA Order Book 2, p. 461.)
"In 1741, a road was ordered to be opened from Evan Watkins's ferry by a course of marked trees to the head of Failing Spring and over the Tuscarora branch, thence to Opequon Creek, thence to Spout Run, by the King's road leading by Joist Hite's to a fall in the same near the Sherrando ford". (A History of Orange County, Virginia", by W. W. Scott, Richmond, Va, 1907, p. 31.)
Berkeley Journal, Issue One, Berkeley County WV Historical Society, Spring 1968, pp. 13 and 21, mentions the road. Issue Two, Fall 1970, pp. 38-43, has an article on 'Maidstone-On-The-Potomac", home of Evan Watkins.
FEB 26, 1742 Orange County, Va. Court received report (ordered Aug. 27, 1741) from viewers to layout a road from Watkins Ferry. (Orange County VA Order Book 3, pp. 105-6.)
NOV 11, 1743 At first Court held in Frederick County, Va., served as one of two Securities for Elizabeth McNamee, "Exectrix of the Last Will and Testament of Bryant McNamee, deceased", the first will probated in the new county. (Frederick County was created in 1738 from part of Orange County, but did not function as a separate political unit until the first Court on November 11, 1743.) (Shenandoah Valley Pioneers and Their Descendants --A History of Frederick County, Virginia, by TK. Carhnell, pp. 17-20.)
MAR 5,1744 License granted by Frederick County, Va. "to keep ferry over Potomack River from his landing to Edmund Wade's land in Maryland' (Frederick County Va Order Book l, p. 264.)
APR 18,1744 Birth of son Evan at Watkins Ferry, Frederick County, Va. Based on gravestone in Evan Watkins Family Cemetery, near Smithfield, Henry County, Ky. (Son identified as "Evan, Sr." in later records after birth of his son, Evan, Jr.)
SEPT 1744 Act of Virginia General Assembly, Chap. XT17II "for appointing several new Ferries ", includes: "On Patowmack river, from Evan Watkins's landing, opposite to the mouth of Canagochego creek, to Edmund Wade's land, in Maryland, the price for a man, three pence, and for a horse, three pence" (Henning's Statutes at Large (Virginia) v. 5, pp. 249-50.) See photographs of "Watkins Ferry" roadside sign erected at West Virginia end of Potomac River bridge, marking location of ferry and 'Maidstone-on-the-Potomac, home of Evan Watkins'. Also see Parker Rouse, Jr. "The Great Wagon Road", pp. 69 and 97, for comments re Evan Watkins and his ferry.
OCT 12, 1744 Defendant in suit by Thomas Cressap. Court ruled that "suit be dismisd & that the Def (defendant) recover of the plt. (plaintiff) his Costs about Defence... expended to get her with seven Shillilgs & Six pence for an Attorneys fee." (Frederick County VA Order Book 1, p. 209.)
OCT 12, 1744 Served on jury hearing three court cases in Frederick County, Va. (Frederick County VA Order Book 1, pp. 211-12)
MAY 10, 1745 Frederick County, Va. Court awarded him attachment against Thomas Cressap's estate 'for fifty pounds & Costs". (Frederick County VA Order Book l, p. 366.)
JUN 7, 1745 Frederick County, Va. Court Evan Watkins vs. Thomas Cresap "Deft (defendant) not appearing & Sherif having return'd on Attachment Ordered last Court nothing to be found, at plt's (plaintiff's) motion Ordered Attachment be Continued returnable next Court to which suit Continued " (Frederick County VA Order Book 1, p.390.)
OCT 8, 1746 Answered complaint of John White in Frederick County, Va. "having acknowledged his Error, he is at the desire of said John White discharged from the same, paying Costs. " (Frederick County Va Order Book 2, p. 186.)
OCT 8, 1746 Won suit in Frederick County, Va. Court against Roger Turner when subscribers "agreed in Award that the Deft shall pay the Plt Six pounds Ten Shillings Pensilvania money or the value in Virginia Currency, each paying their own cost of suit." (Frederick County Va Order Book 2, p. 186)
OCT 27, 1748 Act of Virginia General Assembly, Chap.XII7 'for the Settlement and Regulation of Ferries... specifies "that ferries be constantly kept at the places hereafter named and that the rates for passing the said ferries be as follows, viz, Under heading "Potomack..... From Evan Watkin's landing, opposite to Canagochego creek, to Edmund Wade's land in Maryland - for man 0 s 3 d; for horse 0 s 3 d" (Henning's Statutes at Large (Virginia), v. 6, pp. 13-23.)
FEB 26, 1748 Estate of Simon Moon, Deceased, includes listing of "Evan Watkins account... I L; 7 sh; 9 p ". (Frederick County VA Will Book 1, pp. 282-3)
MAR 1, 1749 Letter from Thomas Cookson to Governor of Pennsylvania reports that "Lord Fairfax was laying out a Town At Watkins's Ferry on Potowmack". (Pennsylvania Archives v.1l, pp. 42-4)
MAY 2, 1749 Listed as Creditor in Inventory of estate of Richard Beeson, Decd. (Frederick County VA Will Book 1, pp. 2 76- 7.)
OCT 12-DEC 12, 1749 Mention of Watkins Ferry in Diary of Leonhard Schnell and John Brandmeuller covering their trip from Bethlehem, Pa. to Virginia and return. (Virginia Historical Magazine, v. XI, 1904, pp. 115-31 and V.XII, 1905, pp. 81-2)
1751 Watkins Ferry is shown on "A MAP of the most INHABITED part of VIRGINIA, and containing the whole PROVINCE of MARYLAND with Part of PENNSYLVANI4, NEW JERSEY AND NORTH CAROLINA" , Drawn by Joshua Fry and Peter Jefferson 1751. (See separate file of maps.)
NOTE.- Chapter 8- Mapping the Great Mountains, pp. 65-8 of Rouse: 'The Great Wagon Road" describes the background of the Fry and Jefferson maps.
OCT 3, 1754 Involved as plaintiff in Frederick County Court case against Thomas Cresap. Case was dismissed when the Plaintiff failed to appear. (Frederick County Va Order Book 6, p. 123.)
Note:
It is interesting to note that two of his children were named Ann and David, perhaps after grandparents Ann Nuthall and David Griffith.
