The Tabler lineage has been quite well researched and documented back to Germany. Many of their family settled in Frederick Co., Maryland and figure prominently in that county's history books [39]. Catherine Tabler was born in Frederick Co., Maryland. Polly Phillips has been our contact person on the Tabler family. In Memphis and Henderson, Tenn., descendents of the Tabler family helped trace it.
In January 1975, Mary Emma Watlington Sieger, a student at Lambuth College, compiled our Watlington Family Genealogy Historical Notes[3] in loose leaf form. Much of this material is incorporated in this book. The Alabama Watlingtons are tracing their history also and share materials with us. Many of them are also descendents of William Watlington through a sister of George W. who was also in Knox Co., Tenn., 1810-1825. Nothing has been published as yet but two families are working seriously at their documentation. Some from this family migrated to Texas, Colorado, North Carolina and Georgia. The Bermuda Watlingtons published their story in March 1980 in a large expensive volume by Hereward Trott Watlington entitled Family Narrative[4]. It contains genealogical charts going back to Sir Robert de Watlington, 1135 A.D. The town of Watlington, Oxfordshire, England dates back to the 6th Century (500-600 A.D.) The earliest known mention of the name ``Watelingtone'' was in a land grant of 880 A.D.
The labors of Hereward T. Watlington resulted in the recognition that the Bermuda Watlingtons are descendents of this ancient lineage that reaches back to the 12th century in England. We do not have the documentation but have ever increasing evidence that William Watlington of Dinwiddie is also a descendent of the Bermuda Watlingtons. Thus far it is only ``oral tradition'' but we persist in searching for the evidence and proof of this connection.
The 1989 booklet of Mary Watlington Wolford
, Watlingtons
of Dinwiddie Co., Va., and Madison Co., Tenn.[2] gives
guidance for the continuing search and serves as an intermediary
volume between the Bermuda Watlingtons and the West Tennessee
Watlingtons. We thank her for her years of labor related to our
family heritage.
Other collections of materials are in progress on the Daniel,
Anderson, Chappell, Parchman, Hammond, Jameson, Craig and Hale
families (see the Bibliography). We invite the interchange of materials
on these and other allied families. Genealogy is a collective effort
and part of the joy is sharing bits of information with other
seekers. We expect the Jackson-Madison Co. Library to be the central
repository for records of our West Tenn. Watlingtons.