Journeying with Jacque

Unknown Influence

Grand-aunt Winifred Watkins had a photographic memory. My dad was a bit in awe of her. I don’t know if she truly had a photographic memory or if that is something she convinced her younger brother, my grandfather Donald, of. Regardless, she was smart, poised, confident, and paid attention to detail.

Winifred was born on May 6, 1897, 58 years and 2 days before me. She was born in Neal, Kansas, the oldest of nine children. Her parents were John Calvin Watkins and Lavina Clark.

“Neal was named for a minor official of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. It gained a post office in June 1882. In the beginning, Neal was but a flag station on the railroad, but a depot was built in the town in 1883. Situated within the Bluestem region of Kansas, where cattle have been fattened every spring for decades, this began during the wild days of the Texas cattle drives, from 1866 to 1885 (Neal, Kansas Legends of Kansas).” In 1900, Neal had a population of 150. In the 2020 Census, it had a whopping population of 37.

According to the 1910 Census, when Winifred was just 12, she was living with her grandmother, uncle, and unmarried aunt in Polk County, Arkansas instead of in Plum Grove, Kansas with her immediate family. (Her younger brother, Charles, was born in Polk Country in 1917.)  Have you ever seen the movie, Shooter, starring Mark Wahlberg? It’s based on the book Point of Impact, part of the Bob Lee Swagger series by Stephen Hunter. The main character was inspired by “Vietnam War sniper and U.S. Marine Corps legend, Carlos Hathcock (Point of Impact).” The main character in these books is from Polk County, Arkansas.

Winifred was a career woman. She primarily worked as a clerk, bookkeeper, or in accounting. In the 1920 Census it states that Winifred was a lodger in the home of Harry and Blanche Adams and was a clerk in the Wichita Casket Company which was very well known and considered a “Wichita Institution.” In the 1925 Kansas Census, she was 27 and lived in Wichita with her parents and seven of her brothers and sisters. Winifred met and married Charles Walker who also worked at the Casket Factory. Winifred was 28 when she married.

Wichita was breaking gender barriers in broadcasting at KFH Radio in both the artistic side and the business side of the business. Winifred was part of this endeavor. The Wichita Eagle highlighted many of the “success stories” that evolved from this station.

I only met Grand-Aunt Winifred a couple of times, but immediately felt that we had a connection. When I was about 19, Winifred and one of her sisters and one of her brothers drove to Coffeyville, had lunch with us, and spent several hours just chatting. I immediately connected with her. She shared some family stories (oh how I wish I had asked more questions and taken notes so that I remembered what she divulged.) One of  the special stories that she disclosed was a story about my great grandfather, John Calvin Watkins. I wrote about this story in my blog on July 15, 2021.

As I stated in this blog, “My grand-aunt, Winifred Watkins Walker, told me that her father, my great grandfather, John Calvin Watkins, shared the story with his children of him joining a cattle drive at the age of 12 as he headed west to Kansas. She didn’t tell me if she believed it. (A dry sense of humor seems to be a shared family trait; this was certainly true with my grandfather, my father, and my brother.) In the 1790s there were cattle drives from Tennessee to Virginia, but I could find no evidence of any cattle drives between West Virginia and Kansas. According to Wikipedia, between 1850 and 1910, “27 million cattle were driven from Texas to rail yards in Kansas for shipment to stockyards in Louisiana and points west.” By 1890, “the long trail drives increasingly became more difficult because the open range was divided up with barbed wire fences (www.cowboysindians.com).”

While visiting us, Winifred wanted to make sure that I was aware of health issues common in the family (pernicious anemia, narcolepsy, and heart issues). She also told me that she was really glad that someone finally inherited Grandma’s red hair. (Okay, I had a little help…I had the lead role in the Philadelphia Story and Tracy Lord {the role Katharine Hepburn made famous} had red hair so I used a bit of artificial enhancement to accentuate my hair (when my dad grew a beard it was red so the genetics were always there). I’m not sure which grandmother had the red hair but it was either Susanna Osborn (1824-1911) or Rebecca Frances Parsons (1852-1914).

Winifred influenced me in ways that there was no way she could have known. I appreciated her intelligence, diligence, determination, and creativity. Winifred never had children and I hope that I have channeled some of her outstanding qualities into my life and so have been able to honor her. I have definitely been able to identify with her.

Sources

“Neal, Kansas.” Edited by Kathy Weiser, Legends of Kansas, Nov. 2020, https://legendsofkansas.com/neal-kansas/.

“Neal, Kansas.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 6 May 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal,_Kansas.

“Point of Impact (Stephen Hunter Novel).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Feb. 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_of_Impact_(Stephen_Hunter_novel).

“Polk County, Arkansas.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Jan. 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polk_County,_Arkansas.

Confused Yet?

Francis Warman (1697-1743) married Frances Hanslep (1701-1750) and had a daughter, Frances Hanslep Warman (1765-1787) who married Stephen Watkins (1735-1828) and they had a son, Joseph Hanslep Watkins (1786-1870), my 3rd great grandfather. But oops! The dates don’t work.

As I began researching Joseph Hanslep Watkins and his father Stephen Watkins who was in the American Revolutionary War, I discovered many Franci(e)s Warmans and many Stephen Watkinses. It became very hard to sort the various people out. Many of the various Francises and Stephens became interchangeable and putting the correct facts with the correct individual was challenging. In addition to direct lineage, there were siblings, cousins, nephews, and children with actual documentation very limited. When I looked at the information in other people’s trees it was just a mix of facts added very haphazardly without coherent thought concerning those facts (and the reality was that there were indeed many people with the same name).

According to the dates that I had, Frances Hanslep Warman who was born in 1765 would have had to have been born after both of her parents died. I obviously skipped a generation. I also skipped a generation with her husband, Stephen Watkins (1763-1838). Many people added facts about Stephen and his father Stephen interchangeably. Again there were siblings, nephews, cousins, and children also named Stephen Watkins. I was able to sort the various Stephens out by using the Daughters of the American Revolution information. DAR verifies the information. Of course this is also where I discovered more confusing information: there were two John Calvin Watkinses who were first cousins. I was confident of the details concerning my great grandfather, John Calvin Watkins, father of my grandfather Donald, so I was easily able to differentiate the two.

My ancestry tree now reflects that Francis Warman (1697-1743) married Frances Hanslep (1701-1750) and they had a son, Stephen Warman (1722-?) who married Ann? and Stephen and his wife had a daughter Frances Hanslep Warman(1765-1787). There is very little information on this Stephen Warman and even less on his wife Ann so I will continue to look for more facts. Frances Hanslep Warman married Stephen Watkins (1763-1838) who was the son of Stephen Watkins (1735-1828) and Elinor Boyd (1738-?). Frances Hanslep Warman (1765-1787) and Stephen Watkins (1763-1838) had a son, Joseph Hanslep Watkins (1786-1870) who was my 3rd great grandfather.

Now just to add to the confusion a little, Stephen Warman (1670-1740) and Sarah Warman (1679-1700) are the 2nd great grandparents of Joseph Hanslep Watkins on his paternal side. But wait…Stephen and Sarah are also Joseph’s 2nd great grandparents on his maternal side. Mary Warman (who married John Elfreth Watkins) was the sister of Francis Warman who married Frances Hanslep. I created a colored coded chart showing the connections (this is why Joseph is listed twice as well as his parents).

Ah, genealogy research is definitely not linear. And the research continues.