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Do you like surprises? Well this was one of the biggest and best in my genealogical travels.
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"David Watkins first appeared in South Carolina in 1793, when on Dec. 24, he bought 320 acres of land from John McKinsey in what is now Anderson County....at the time of his death he owned more than 1,400 acres on and around Twenty-three Mile Creek.... There is...some controversy about the surname of his wife, Temperance. Some say her name was Camp and some some say it was Kemp. Those of you who have read the writings of early Americans know that at that time there was no right way to spell most words and names. In fact, President Andrew Jackson said that it took a person of low intelligence to know only one way to spell most words. Therefore, for all practical purposes, Kemp and Camp are interchangeable [my emphasis throughout]...." |
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"David's wife, Temperance is believed to be Temperance Camp, daughter of Edward Camp, a neighbor of David in North Carolina. In the census records of Tryon County, only the name of Joseph Blackwell appears between David Watkins and Edward Camp. Edward had more than twenty children, and the names of at least two are unknown....I have been told that a descendant of David living in Texas has a document listing Temperance as one of the children of Edward Camp; however, I have not seen a copy of this document. There must have been some close relationship between David and the Camp family because after David moved to South Carolina, Edward Camp followed and settled next to David in Anderson County before moving on to Georgia." [emphases mine] |
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"The Watkins family cemetery was on land that David bought in 1793....kept in the Watkins family until 1902. Members of the family were buried here from David's death in 1810, until the death of his longest lived grandson in 1900. The cemetery eventually became a part of a pasture. It was not fenced and tombstones were knocked over and broken.... In 1985, a group of descendants....decided to move all the graves in the cemetery to protect them from further damage. The location selected was a walled Methodist Cemetery on land given to Newton's Chapel....[which] no longer exists.... A total of 22 graves were located and moved to this new location....at the top of a hill on the east side of US Hwy 178....0.3 miles north of....Walker-McElmoyle Fire Station,...7.7 miles north [of] I-85. The Watkins graves are located in the back, northwest corner of the cemetery....about one mile north of the original cemetery." |
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| Pictured are Patrick's list, the right-side front entrance of the cemetery, a plaque along the front wall, and a front view with the Watkins commemorative marker halfway back (indicated by the white arrow). The Watkins plots start just beyond it. | ||||
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| Medium and close-up of the lithic which reads: "Beyond the line of this marker are graves moved in 1986 from the David Watkins Family Cemetery about 1 mile east of this place." Just behind are the David and Temperance Camp Watkins stones. A close-up of Temperance's stone (b? - d.1839). | ||||
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| Close-up of David Watkin's stone (1760-1810) and one of fourteen or so Watkins family markers inscribed 'Unknown.' A look up from the first row toward to cemetery front and a look at the back corner which contains the oldest original headstones of children and grandchildren. | ||||
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| The only standing monolith in the very back corner, and some fallen original inscribed stones unearthed after years of growth and neglect. Lastly, a serious warning of the agonizing floral arrows that await those who choose to visit the cemetery in short pants - Ouch - very ouch! [JSK] | ||||
