old photos

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.

Another in the list of relatives from the excellent family history “A Family Called Skinner,” this documents my great grandfather’s life (my dad, Clark Watts’ grandfather on his mother’s side). (I’ll admit, I’m getting a little carried away with the genealogy stuff right now…)

William, better known as Bill or Billie, was the oldest son of Thomas Hosea and Martha Olivia (Perkins) Skinner. He was born April 26, 1854 at Shiloh, Alabama. His mother died when he was seven years old and his father married secondly, Martha’ Louise Tucker. The children of his first and second wives were most agreeable, and love between them was outstanding. The older children looked upon the children of the second wife as their own brothers and sisters. There was also a wonderful relationship between the older children and their stepmother.

When William was about 16, he left home to go to a boys school, “Lower Peach Tree Academy in Alabama. There he studied the Blue Back Speller., and Bullion’s Practical Grammar. William was a mischievous boy and a few quips and notations are penciled in the margins of the pages.

William married Amanda Antoinette Davis, born January 24, 1858. She was the daughter of Captain Stephen and Julia Antoinette (Scranton) Davis of Brooklyn, New York, who had moved from Brooklyn to Shiloh, Alabama, shortly after the War Between the States.

William had erected a two-room house about four miles from Shiloh where he took his bride. They went on their honeymoon to Mobile, going by boat on the Tombigbee River, which usually took from two to three days.

William set up a saw mill in Marengo County, and had a commissary to provide for the mill hands. On his farm he raised cotton which he shipped in bales to Mobile.

William loved sports, and at every opportunity he would go fishing or hunting, as well as when there was no opportune time. On some occasions when he was getting well up in years, some of the family went fishing with him but were pushed to keep up with him for none could keep up the rigorous pace and accept the accommodations that he could survive. He went to the same Presbyterian Church at Laurel that his grandfather had built in 1843, and was from time to time, a deacon or elder.

He was an avid reader, especially interested in history. He was excellent in math and often was called upon to work out an equation that some teacher had failed to get. He was a champion checkers player and played with people.

He was a faithful member of the Order of the Masons and for many years he was Worshipful Master of his lodge. He was a Justice of the Peace for many years, and his children remember him performing many marriage ceremonies at his house. If it was warm he performed the ceremony on the porch; if it was cold, he invited them into the parlor.

Another in the series of stories about my relatives. My Aunt Gladys Watts Waddell, whose husband was Edward Waddell (also great and frequently mentioned as the man with the camera!) was awesome. She never had children, but she treated us like grandchildren. She and Uncle Edward were the best. At left, my aunt and uncle stand in front of their house in Linden, Alabama (sometime, I suspect in the early 1970’s) after moving from Huntsville, Alabama, (correction, my sister Suzanne explained that the house shown in the picture is actually their house in Huntsville–and I was just thinking that they had aged amazingly well) where they lived from the late 1950’s after moving from Alaska. One of the many, many things my Aunt Gladys did was make the most amazing chocolate chip cookies. So wonderful they were that I managed to get a story about them in one of the Southern Living Christmas cookbooks.  I only wish that the original story that went with it was still there. The basic story was that I’d hide my box of wonderful cookies and dole out one or, if they were very, very lucky, two cookies to my sisters. Then, the box would disappear in my room, hidden carefully to avoid detection.

Later, this little story of her life will certainly have to be updated, but for now, here it is:

Gladys Antoinette Watts: Received a diploma from State Normal School at Livingston, Alabama which was at that time, a two year college. She received a B.S. degree from the University of Alabama. In 1935 she went to Alaska and taught at Kodiak, a territorial school; Akiachak, an Indian Service School on the Kuskokwun River; Eklutera, a boarding school for Eskimos and Indian children; and Tanana on the Yukon River. Later she taught in the Anchorage City Schools. While in Alaska she married Edward Waddell, nephew of the Superintendent of Education in Alaska. They left Alaska in 1956 and lived in Huntsville, Alabama, where Edward worked for NASA and Gladys taught school. Upon retirement, they moved to Linden, Alabama. She lived in Linden until her death in 2003. As she aged, she broke a hip and had several other ailments, finally moving into the Linden nursing home. Several years before the move to the nursing home, she was asked if this was really hard. Her answer: “I made it through many winters in Alaska, eating frozen fish and dog sledding to my teaching job. This is nothing compared to an Alaskan winter.”