Polk County ArArchives Biographies.....Watkins, William E. 
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Robert Sanchez http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00027.html#0006574 July 14, 2009, 11:44 pm

Author: S. J. Clarke (Publisher, 1922)

WILLIAM E. WATKINS.
    Wiliam E. Watkins, a lumber dealer and hardware merchant of Mena, actuated
by a spirit of enterprise and progressiveness in the conduct oŁ his commercial
interests, was born uear Birmingham, Alabama, November 29, 1868, and is a son of
Wiley M. and Amanda (Inzer) Watkins. The father, who was born in Tennessee in
1830, died in 1904, while the mother, who was born in Alabama iu 1843, now makes
her home in Mena. The Watkins family was early established in South Carolina,
where Daniel Watkins was born, but about 1802 he removed to Alabama and there
followed farming through the remainder of his days. The Inzer family came from
Georgia, the maternal grandfather being Lafayette Inzer, who was born in that
state and cast in his lot with the pioneer residents of Alabama. The marriage of
Wiley M. Watkins and Amanda Inzer was celebrated in Alabama, where he followed
farming during the greater part of his life, but also engaged in the charcoal
business. He was in sympathy with secession and served in the Confederate army.
His early political allegiance was given to the democratic party, bnt at the end
of the Civil war he became a stanch advocate of republican principles. He
belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church, of which his widow is also a member.
They were parents of five children, four of whom are living: Martha D., the wife
of William R. Goode, a coal miner of Birmingham, Alabama; William E.; D. M., who
is engaged in the hardware business in Mena, and Nancy J., the wife of J.
Spencer Kelley, a real estate man of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

    William E. Watkins, having pursued his education at Birmingham, Alabama,
took up the occupation of fanning in young manhood and later turned his
attention to railway contracting. He assisted in building the Georgia Pacific,
now the Southern Railroad, and was engaged in construction work of this
character for about eight years. In 1896 he removed to Mena and established a
cold drink stand, which he conducted for three months. He afterward opened a
grocery store and later extended the scope of his commercial activities by
joining with his brother, D. M. Watkins, in founding and conducting a hardware
business. Later the brothers were associated in the conduct of a sawmill,
planing mill and lumber business, and today they manufacture a general line of
lumber and molding. Recently they have organized a casket company and are
manufacturing caskets. They are likewise engaged in merchandising at Hatfield,
where for seven years William E. Watkins was owner of a lumber yard. He came to
Mena with practically nothing, but has been very successful and has constantly
broadened the scope of his activities until he is now at the head of extensive
and important interests. In addition to the business affairs already listed, he
is a director and the vice president of the Planters State Bank and is a
stockholder in the First National Bank. He and his brother own considerable land
and also a substantial amount of city real estate. He personally undertakes the
management of the mill and lumber business, while his brother has charge of the
hardware store. The hardware business is incorporated with a capital stock of
thirty thousand dollars, and the general store established at Hatfield is
incorporated for twenty-five thousand dollars, William E. Watkins being the vice
president of the Watkins Hardware Company and the president of the Watkins
Lumber & Mercantile Company at Hatfield.

    On the 30th of June, 1909, Mr. Watkins was married to Miss Maude Rachael
Gardner. who was born in Minnesota, but was reared in Iowa, She is a daughter of
Edwin Gardner, who was a railroad engineer for a number of years and is now
farming near Mena. Mr. and Mrs. Watkins have four children: William E. and
Marion Edwin, both in school; Maude Rachael, four years of age, and Emma
Caroline. Mrs. Watkins is a member of the Presbyterian church and Mr. Watkins
belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, having passed through all of the chairs in the latter lodge. In
politics he is a republican and is interested in all matters of general concern
to the community and the commonwealth. He rankd not only with the most
progressive, alert and energetic business men of Polk county, but as one of the
most thoroughly alive citizens, ever watchful of the best interests of his
ccmmunity, and he is honored and respected not alone by reason of the success
which he has achieved, although he is now one of the wealthy men of the county,
but also owing to the straightforward and honorable business policies which he
has ever followed.


Additional Comments:
Citation:
Centennial History of Arkansas
Volume II
Chicago-Little Rock: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
1922


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