The close relationship of John L., Ulrich A. and Albert Eugene Watlington has been mentioned elsewhere. They were brothers by desire and not only by blood. They enjoyed getting together, and getting their families together after they were grown. Though several hours of travel time separated John L. and his family from relatives at Jackson, Tenn., there was usually a family trip for a visit each Summer when the children were out of school. When the Louisiana kinfolk came to Madison Co., Tenn. there was a family reunion, with kin from Pinson, Jackson and Crockett County converging for a day or more. Later, when the cousins were old enough, an extended visit was sometimes planned.
But time erodes familiarity, and John and Velma moved to Angola and the distance increased, the grown children had work responsibilities and contact was principally by mail. Thru the forties and fifties the families kept in touch but infrequently.
When Edwin Watlington purchased the Istrouma Foundry in 1961 he had to hit the road to seek new customers and service better the scattered customers up and down the great Mississippi River basin. As he worked into Memphis and Arkansas he was able to telephone and visit some remembered scenes of his childhood visits around Jackson, Tenn. He sought out Ulrich A. and Albert Eugene and their families. The Watlington Brothers Construction Co. became an easy focus for visits with Sam, Mack and Herman Watlington.
John L. had died in Dec. 1955 and the ``Memory Bank'' of relatives was running out. It was time to renew contacts and memories. Edwin phoned and visited as his work schedule permitted while near West Tennessee, and some letters were shared also on family history. In the 1950's James L. Watlington and Elton Watlington became concerned to write down some family history data and seek earlier family connections. These were shared with relatives who often helped with bits of information. Mary Watlington Wolford had also been searching for family contacts from her home in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Edwin and Genie's visits to Ulrich A. Watlington, which continued into the 70's and 80's, became the principal connection and information channel for our families. Thus the Istrouma Foundry and Gravel Supply Industries and the Watlington Brothers Construction Co. became economic sources that facilitated renewed contacts of the Watlingtons. At Saltillo, Tenn., along the Kentucky Lake of the impounded Tennessee River, the Watlington Brothers built, and later purchased, a river front house that provided a vacation place for employees and especially for Watlington families. This became the rendezvous for June family reunions.
The extended years of Ulrich A. Watlington also contributed to binding the families together as he became the ``oral historian and philosopher'' of the family. He was active into his 85th year, with a clear mind and an active interest in keeping up with his growing family and kinfolks. Even later on in his better days he was helpful in recalling events, stories, and persons related to the family story. In the years 1972-75 Elton Watlington picked up the pace of search for the family history with encouragement and financial help from Mack and Sam Watlington and Ulrich A. Watlington was still able to help with visits to old home sites and friends around Jackson and Pinson, Tenn. During these years Edwin and Genie were our main contact with news of the Louisiana Watlingtons.
In 1984, when the first collected list of ``Watlingtons in America'' [19] was available, it was Edwin and the Istrouma Company who made it possible to send a letter of inquiry to all the Watlingtons on the list. Following up on this Elton, Mary Watlington Wolford, and Polly Phillips in Knoxville, Tenn., a Tabler relative, made positive identification of the south Alabama Watlingtons as the lineage of our William Watlington of Dinwiddie Co., Va.
By this time the need for delineating the descendents of George and Catherine Tabler Watlington of Madison Co., Tenn. was most evident. James Leonard, Albert Edwin, Mary W. Wolford, Hildred Watlington Walker of Selmer, Tenn., Ulrich A. and many others helped with this. Later help came from Clyde M. Watlington of Dyer Co., Tenn. and Richmond, Ca. We are now in contact with Watlingtons in fourteen or more states, and the study continues and becomes more focused.