Thomas-Colquitt-Sumter County GaArchives Biographies.....Watkins, John Ewing 1867 - living in 1913
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 19, 2004, 8:15 pm

Author: William Harden
p. 811-812

   JOHN EWING WATKINS, M. D. For twenty years an active physician in southern
Georgia, having a large practice and influential position as a citizen at
Boston, in Thomas county, Dr. Watkins is the third doctor in as many successive
generations of his family. For nearly a century the profession of medicine has
been followed from father to son, and along with professional success have come
honors in citizenship.

   Dr. John E. Watkins was born in Colquitt county, Georgia, December 11, 1867.
The family at a very early generation, probably about the time of the
Revolutionary war or soon after, emigrated from the eastern colonies into the
then west beyond the Blue Ridge mountains. From the best information obtainable,
Joel Watkins. the great-grandfather of the doctor, was born in Tennessee, and
from that state became an early settler in Whitley county, Kentucky. He married
Martha Baker, a native of Virginia and a daughter of General Baker, who held a
commission as an officer in the continental forces during the Revolution.

   Hon. Baker Ewing Watkins, M. D., the grandfather, was born in Whitley county,
Kentucky, in 1800, was reared and educated in his native state, and during his
active career combined the professions of physician and a minister of the gospel
for the Methodist church. In 1847, having sold his interests in Kentucky, he
moved to Alabama, buying land in Coosa county and living there until 1859, when
he sold out and came to Georgia. It was in this way that the family, planted in
the west during one generation, was returned to the Atlantic slope during
another. After two years in Webster county the grandfather bought a plantation
in Terrell county, again selling this in two years, and finally bought an
improved farm in Colquitt county, where he lived in the quiet pursuits of the
country and in the practice of medicine until his death in 1877. He always took
an interest in public affairs, and in 1825 served as a member of the Kentucky
legislature. He married Sally Berry, who was born in Kentucky and died in middle
life, leaving thirteen children, whose names were: Willis, Emily, Adaliza,
Crittenden, Elizabeth, Jackson, Virginia, Clark. Gideon, Harrison Lee, Sally,
Harriet and Ruth.

   The father of Dr. John E. was Harrison Lee Watkins, who was born in Whitley
county, Kentucky, September 30, 1840, and was in his nineteenth year when the
family came to Georgia. About that time he turned his attention to the study of
medicine, but his course of preparation was interrupted by the outbreak of the
war, at which time he entered the service of the Confederacy as hospital steward
and remained until the end. He was in Atlanta during the siege, but at the fall
of the city made his escape to Columbus. Though not yet a graduate in medicine,
after the war he began practice in Colquitt county, and in 1869 settled at
Tallokas, in Brooks county. He soon afterward entered the Southern Medical
College at Savannah, where he was graduated M. D. with the class of 1873.
Continuing his practice at Tallokas until 1881, he then returned to Colquitt
county, and in 1887 removed to Thomas county, which remained his home until his
death on August 22, 1906.

   Dr. Harrison L. Watkins married Frances Miller. She was born in Sumter
county, Georgia, a daughter of William H. and Amanda (Birdsong) Miller, her
father being a native of Talbot county, this state. Her grandfather, William
Miller, was a native of Ireland but of Scotch ancestry, and on coming to America
became a pioneer settler in Talbot county, where he spent the remainder of his
days. He married a Miss Simmons, who long survived him, dying at the extreme age
of ninety-eight. William H. Miller removed from Talbot county to Sumter county,
where he bought land and was engaged in farming and merchandising until his
death, which occurred in middle life. Amanda Birdsong, his wife, was a daughter
of James and Sally (McCoy) Birdsong, the latter a native of Upson county. James
Birdsong was for many years a farmer in Talbot county, but removed from there to
Alabama, where he spent the last years of his life. Mrs. Harrison L. Watkins
(the mother) is now residing on the home farm in Thomas county with her son
William Lee and family. The late Harrison L. Watkins was an influential
Democrat, and represented his county in the state legislature during 1884-85.

   During his boyhood John E. Watkins attended school in Brooks county, and at
Boston, and then began his studies for his profession under the direction of his
father and also under Dr. J. T. Culpepper. He afterward entered Atlanta Medical
College, where he was graduated and received his degree of M. D. in 1891. After
a brief practice in Climax, Decatur county, he came to Brooks county, practicing
at Tallokas and Dixie until 1906, since which date he has attended to a growing
business in Boston and vicinity.

   Dr. Watkins was married in 1892 to Miss Olive Whaley, who was born in Thomas
county, a daughter of Jarman Howell Whaley. The doctor and wife are the parents
of the following children: Howell Lee, Frances, Elliott, Elizabeth, Merriam,
Gaulden Mclntosh and Olive. Dr. Watkins and wife are members of the Methodist
church South, and he is a Democrat in politics, and a member of Horeb Lodge No.
281, F. & A. M., Boston.


Additional Comments:
From:

A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA
BY
WILLIAM HARDEN

VOLUME II
ILLUSTRATED
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
1913

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