WIlliam Sylvester Skinner, Joseph Gustavus Watts, William Lauren
Skinner, William Skinner Watts, Annie Townsend Skinner Watts, Clark
Etheldred Watts, Barvel Haddox Watts Photo taken in 1934.
Annie Townsend Skinner was born on September 8, 1884, the third child of William S. and Amanda (Davis) Skinner in the small community of Miller, near Shiloh, Alabama. Although not as studious as her older sister Jane, she made up for that in friendliness and an ability to meet strangers readily. Townsend, called “Townie” by her brothers and sisters, knew everyone for miles around and visited often.
She married Joseph Gustavus Watts, born June 18, 1882, who was living with an uncle in the same community. They were married in the same church that her great grandfather had built in 1841.
For a short time they lived in Caledonia, Alabama, where his uncle had lived, then they moved back to the small community of Hiller where he engaged in farming. He built a home about a fourth of a mile from her father’s place. After the death of William S. Skinner in 1936, Townsend and her family lived in the home place. That house is now owned by Townie’s descendants.
Joseph died in July, 1949, from a heart attack. Townsend lived until Nov. 20, 1967, making her home with a son, but making a chain of visitations to her other children, going from one to another until she had made the rounds. It was on one of these visits to a daughter that she suddenly died with heart failure. She is buried in Laurel Cemetery.
[Annie Townsend Skinner Watts was my father’s (Clark Watts) mother] This story is from the book A Family Called Skinner produced in 1984 by my cousin Julia McLean.