The Oral Tradition came principally from Mack Rob Watlington (b. 1853) who as a child lived during the short school terms in the Billie Watlington home with George W. and Catherine Tabler, his grandparents. Catherine died in 1865 and George W. in 1866. Other early sources of information are:
.)
Grace Peal Foy
of Memphis, Tenn. and Polly Phillips were working on our
Watlington-Daniel and the George W. Watlington descendents in Knox
Co. and East Tenn. in the 1930's. They have continued as health
permitted. They were some of the first to organize some materials and
documents. Grace worked with a cousin, Elizabeth Daniel Spears of
Austin, Texas, on the Ralph W. Daniel descendents. Polly Phillips is
a descendent of James W. Watlington, a brother of George W. Watlington
of Madison Co., and has worked on ancestral lineage and Watlingtons in
Tennessee. She was active in the Knoxville Genealogical Society and
did very careful work.
In 1937, William F. Watlington, Sr., wrote some autobiographical notes
on his life and family. Excerpts from these are found on page
.
After Elton and Janice Watlington started writing down and organizing the available materials on the Watlingtons in 1951-53, there was a chain reaction that resulted in James L. Watlington doing some research locally, including oral history from Will and Mable Stephens, his parents, Ulrich Watlington and checking cemeteries. He also made contact with Polly Phillips, H. Sterling Watlington in New York City, Grace Peal Foy and Mary Watlington Wolford (Oklahoma) who were beginning to gather Watlington data seriously. James Watlington also initiated early contacts with the Hereward T. Watlington family in Bermuda, and Watlingtons in Mississippi and other areas. Uncle Will Stephens, after celebrating 50 years of marriage to Mable Watlington got out the family Bible in 1953 and wrote a fine tribute to the Mack Rob Watlington family but revealed the lack of basic knowledge common to all of the family. At first nearly all of our efforts served mainly to ``reveal our ignorance'' concerning the Watlingtons.
Two persistent truths stood out: 1) the Watlingtons had come ``thru Bermuda from England'' 2) Mack Rob had the lineage and the names of many of the first three generations of Watlingtons in West Tennessee. He had not written it down. He knew his father was born in Virginia and his mother in Maryland. It was in his memory and in the family oral tradition. He knew the Watlington-Tabler connection in East Tennessee also. In cooperation with Mary Watlington Wolford and genealogical friends in Oklahoma City it was Lucy Hildred Watlington Walker (Mrs. James C. Walker) of Selmer, Tenn., the third child of Boneparte Frank Watlington and Lessie Pearl Haynes who first established the needed documentation of our George W. Watlington as the son of William Watlington of Dinwiddie Co., Virginia, who in turn had served as a Deputy Commissary of Provisions for the Revolutionary Army in March, 1781 in Brunswick County, Virginia. She registered her documents with the Daughters of the American Revolution[51] and then more searching began in Virginia records for knowledge of William Watlington of Dinwiddie Co. Mrs. Mary Watlington Wolford has pursued this and her discoveries are recorded in her 1989 booklet[2]. The Bermuda connection is stronger than ever, but evidently much earlier: it may be that the ancestors only came through Bermuda in the early 1600's (ca. 1610-1660), rather than at the time of George W. in the late 18th Century. The search continues for our origins, and for the trail across Tennessee between 1810 and 1997.