previous up next index
Previous: Serena Avenant Davis Watlington Up: Watlington-Daniel Family and Relationships Next: Jennie Sophronia Hammond Watlington

Ulrich Armstrong Watlington

  

 		b. June 18, 1885

bp. near Pinson, Tenn.

m. August 28, 1907, Jennie Sophronia Hammond,

(b. September 9, 1887, d. August 13, 1941)

d. March, 1981

pb.Ebenezer Cem., Malesus, Tenn.

 

After their marriage, Mack Rob and Eula Watlington evidently farmed near relatives of Pinson. Eula's father, Ralph (Rafe) Daniel, had a farm there adjoining the larger holdings of Paulin Anderson and his children. Mack Rob had many relatives on that side of Pinson, extending to near Jack's Creek, but he probably began his farming on his cousin Billy Houston's place in District 1, west of Pinson, known as the McHaney Place, where he was at the time of the 1880 U.S. Census. The census taker found the young couple with a nine month old baby girl, Mable Lee. Papa--Ulrich Armstrong Watlington--was born five years later, on June 18, 1885.

Papa's Itinerary, 1885-1974

Papa's earliest memories are that as they traveled from their farm home, they ``traveled the road by cousin Obe's house,'' south of Five Points. The Rafe Daniel Place adjoined cousin Obe's Place. Papa does not remember seeing his grandfather M. C. Watlington (d. 1887), or his grandmother America Daniel (d. 1888). His memory of his grandfather ``Rafe'' Daniel was of a rheumatic old man sitting in his rocking chair. He believes that they visited ``Rafe'' Daniel at his home before they went to Texas in 1889 or 1890. Some dates in the following are tentative, but the order is believed to be correct. In most cases it is from memory with little documentation.

1889

Mack Rob and Eula lived for some months on the Murphy Place, near Murphy's Mound, behind the Saul home where Johnny Sauls now lives, while preparing to go to Texas. Sterling Sauls was a double cousin of Mack Rob. John L. was born here Jan. 5, 1889.     

1890-1892

Ulrich accompanied his family to Red River County in Texas and continued his farming experience when they returned to Tennessee and farmed near Pinson. Some of his early experiences at school were in the Bear Creek Community west of Pinson during the 1890's. By the time he was eleven years of age he was expected to do plowing in the farming operation as he was the oldest son of the family.  

1903

Special events mark this year on the Frank Davis Place. Frank, a son of Richard (Dick) Davis, had gone to Texas so Mack Rob moved to his place for a crop. Mable, the oldest girl married William A. Stephens, a farmer and merchant of Pinson. On July 23, 1903, Eula Daniel died and was buried at Big Springs Cemetery.    Ulrich A. Watlington left for Red River Co., Texas in the Autumn of 1903 to visit Aunt Wynona Daniel Rodgers, because of trouble with a neighbor. He went by train, and stayed through the Fall of 1904, working as a farm laborer. 

Serena Avenant Watlington was married to B. Sanders Davis on August 8, 1903 and at the end of the year went to Red River County, Texas, where they made a crop in 1904. In the Fall of 1904, they returned to Tennessee where they lived and farmed on the McHaney Place where Mack Rob was until Serena died July 1905. A girl, Willie Lee Davis, was born to them in Texas, July 1, 1904.    

1904-1905

From Bear Creek, M. R. Watlington moved to the Hubert Mays Place for one crop, then to the McHaney Place for a year. Hubert Mays' wife was Sallie Swink, a sister of Ella Swink Pacaud. Grandmother Fredonia Watlington came to live with them some months at the McHaney Place.    

1906

After the McHaney Place the family moved to the Pacaud Place, adjoining the Orson Ward Hammond Place, about eight miles north of Pinson and five miles south of Jackson. Mrs. James W. Pacaud was the former Ella (Ellen) Britton Swink from south of Pinson (Mt. Pisgah), and a sister of Mrs. Hubert Mays. Papa thinks that Mack Rob and Mrs. Pacaud came to know one another while they worked the Mays farm. They made one crop here, and Mack Rob married the Widow Pacaud at the end of 1906 or early 1907.          

This move to the Pacaud place made them neighbors to O. W. Hammond, good friends of the Pacauds, and Ulrich came to know the three Hammond daughters, the eldest of whom was Jennie Sophronia. Ulrich hired out at times to help Mr. Hammond on the farm. After Mack Rob married the Widow Pacaud and moved in with her, Ulrich moved to the Hammond farm and boarded and worked there.  

1907

On August 28, before the crops were harvested, Ulrich Armstrong and Jennie Sophronia were united in marriage by the Rev. J. B. Pearson, and left for Crockett and Dyer County where the Daniel kinfolk helped them get acquainted with the country and neighbors. Uncle Charlie Daniel came in a wagon to move them to their new home in Dyer County. Papa went to work in the harvest season with Mr. Seth Sorrell, who had land on both sides of the Forked Deer River, making it in both Dyer and Crockett counties. Papa worked that fall in Dyer County and lived in the outskirts of Dyersburg. In the winter months they moved into Dyersburg and made plans to farm the next year with a Mr. Hilliard on Mr. Lauderdale's farm. Money was very scarce that winter and Papa remembers that the Dyersburg merchants were using ``script'' for exchange purposes.       

1908

During the winter months Papa and Jennie lived about three hundred yards from the Lauderdales, and Papa milked his cow for them, and did other chores, taking milk as a part of his pay. While still living in the town, Jennie gave birth to twin girls whom they named Mary Frances and Mable Lee. Though apparently healthy, they survived only a few weeks and were buried in a church cemetery to the north of Dyersburg, where the Lauderdales attended. This may have been the old Neely's Chapel Methodist Cemetery, which is still in use, but the church building burned and was never replaced. During the crop year they moved to the farm which was adjoining the city limits on the north side, and made a share crop with Mr. Hilliard. Papa also worked sometimes for a Mr. Chandler inside the city limits.    

1909

Ulrich moved in the Fall of 1908 to Covington, Pemiscot County, Missouri. There he worked a crop year with Sam Cross, who ran the post office, store and gin, and had many families working for him. Clara Mai was born there on May 30, 1909. Mrs. Cross had relatives in Dyersburg and while visiting there invited Papa to go see the farm and work for them. He drove the Cross family horse and buggy to Covington to see the place, crossing the Mississippi River by ferry at Cottonwood Point. Howard Pacaud was visiting in Dyersburg and accompanied him.        

Papa has always considered this year with Sam Cross as a time of great opportunity for him. Mr. Cross needed cotton farmers capable of leadership--and wanted Papa to continue with him to help run the plantation. But living conditions in the low-lands of the Mississippi River were tedious and even dangerous in 1909, and Mrs. Hammond wanted her daughter back closer to her. Though less than a hundred miles from the Hammond farm, Covington, Missouri was a long way off psychologically and there was no ready, fast, transportation between the two. The young family turned again home, traveling by train to Memphis, then by another railway to Jackson.  

1910

The next year Papa worked with the West Tennessee Experimental Station at Jackson, Tennessee. This was as a hired hand, not share-cropping this time. Without much formal education, Papa learned much in such a practical situation, and the experience opened him up to changing concepts of farming.  

1911

Papa returned to Crockett County, where Charlie Lee Daniel and Luther Williams, who had married Ludie Emma Daniel, lived. These were his mother's people, brother and sister to Aunt Wynona Daniel Rodgers with whom he had lived in Texas. He worked a crop near Uncle Luther Williams near Friendship, Tennessee. He just raised one crop there, but it was a good one. Mack was born here December 24, 1911, in their house very near the Friendship School of that time.          

1912

He moved to nearby Sorrell's Chapel in Dyer Co., to work again for Mr. Seth Sorrell. This time the work was on the south side of the Forked Deer River. He recalls that the farm north of the river was just three miles from the Railroad Depot in Dyersburg; so the south end of it would have been closer to Dyersburg also. During the spring flood season they rafted some corn across the river from one end of the farm to the other to avoid the long haul around the roads. Grandpa Watlington helped him harvest his crop on the Sorrell place this year, and then helped him move by wagon back to the Hammond farm near Malesus. They moved in cold winter weather in two wagons, one of them loaded with corn. It took them more than a day, stopping overnight at one place. In the winter of 1912-13 they cut logs and hauled them to the saw mill, where they were prepared for building. By spring there was enough lumber to build the first two rooms of their new home on the Hammond place and by fall they moved into the new house and Grandpa Watlington came to live with them.          

1913

Mrs. Mary E. Hammond was declining in health. Mr. Hammond, who had married late in life, was now sixty-six years of age, and the farm needed to be worked. Papa said that so little of it was cleared and drained that in those first years ``you couldn't grow a flat grain of corn on it.'' Papa was willing to return to the farm provided they could live in separate housing, therefore the rush to build the little house across the creek from the Hammond home. Though the farming was done cooperatively, Papa and his growing family never moved in with Mr. Hammond. They continued working the farm and dairying on a small scale until after the death of Mr. O. W. Hammond, July 16, 1930, at eighty-four years of age. Kenneth was the first child born to them in the new house, December 27, 1913, and before moving to the ``big house'' in the fall of 1930, Betty Juanita, the last of thirteen children was born. Eleven of the thirteen lived to adulthood, and eight were still alive in 1989. Papa continued to live and farm on the Hammond Place until ill health forced his retirement in the 1960's. After Jennie died in 1941, her sister, Emma Mai Hammond, continued to keep the family and home together as housekeeper and foster mother to the younger children.        

 

Rotary Honors U. A. Watlington

 

Ulrich A. Watlington of Pinson, ``civic leader and devoted father of an outstanding family,'' was presented a certificate of recognition by the Jackson Rotary Club during the group's regular noon meeting today.

The award came as a complete surprise to Watlington and his nine children, who were attending the meeting as guests of the club during a program entitled ``What makes America Great.''

The program began with a brief talk by George Foster, 4-H Club leader from Knoxville, on the American home. He explained that the home is the foundation stone on which America's greatness has been built.

At the conclusion of his talk, Madison County Agent Tom Hillsman, a member of the Rotary, presented Watlington and his family as an outstanding example of the typical American home.  

At that point the surprise ``Certificate of Recognition'' was presented to him by William Nixon, club president. The certificate reads as follows:

This is to certify that Ulrich A. Watlington, civic leader and devoted father of an outstanding family...all leaders in their communities and in their walks of life--is hereby honored by the Jackson Rotary Club.

His contributions as a father, a civic worker in his community, and his faith in God and the American way of life merit this recognition.

The certificate is signed by William Nixon, club president, and Hugh Harvey, club secretary. U. A. Watlington was recommended for the honor by Hillsman and Shelby Roberts, both long term acquaintances. Roberts had charge of the program, which was sponsored by the International Service Committee of the Rotary Club. George Axelrad is chairman of the committee.

U. A. Watlington and the late Mrs. Jennie Sophronia Hammond Watlington were the parents of eight sons and three daughters. Ten of the children are still living. They are:

-- Copied from ``The Jackson Sun,'' Feb. 27, 1958
 


previous up next index
Previous: Serena Avenant Davis Watlington Up: Watlington-Daniel Family and Relationships Next: Jennie Sophronia Hammond Watlington

Copyright © 1997, Elton A. Watlington (Note)
watlington@wnm.net