What became of Judge Thomas Lamar Sowell’s gold watch?

Judge Thomas Lamar Sowell

What became of Judge Thomas Lamar Sowell’s gold watch?

I could not help but ask myself this question earlier this week when I ran across an unusual story that was published in the Jan. 21, 1915 edition of The Monroe Journal. Originally published in The Jasper Eagle newspaper, the story appeared in The Journal under the headline “Judge Sowell Owns Interesting Watch.” Sowell was born in Monroeville in 1858 and moved to Jasper in 1887.

According to the story about his watch, Judge Thomas Sowell owned a “handsome gold watch,” which he prized “very highly.” This timepiece was not only a “splendid time keeper,” but it was also a family heirloom with an “interesting history.” Sowell’s father, William Calvin Sowell, bought the watch during a trip to New York City in 1847.

Eighteen years later, in April 1865, during Union General James H. Wilson’s raid through Alabama, William put the watch and some other valuables in a glass jar and buried the jar in the woods near his home in Monroeville, where “they were safely kept for three months, notwithstanding the fact that the federal soldiers took possession of his home and made a thorough search of the premises.”

Thomas was just seven years old when this took place but remembered seeing the Yankee soldiers “going about the place, sticking their bayonets in the ground in search of valuables.” Federal troops burned William’s drug store and took 1,000 bushels of corn that belonged to him. After the Yankee raiders moved out of the county, William dug up the watch and the other valuables that he’d hidden in the woods.

Fast-forward to Feb. 24, 1879 – Thomas’ 21^st birthday – the day when William presented Thomas with the watch, which Thomas was still using at the time of the 1915 article in The Jasper Eagle. The watch was originally wound with a key, but sometime between 1895 and 1900, it was converted to a stem-winder.

Although the watch had been in use since 1847, the engravings on it were still “perfectly plain” in 1915. The engravings said the watch was made in Liverpool, England. There was also an eagle engraved on one side of the case and “an anchor and cornucopia on the other side, representing English commerce.”

During his life, Thomas Sowell became a widely-known Alabama lawyer and at the time of his death, he was the senior member of the law firm, Sowell & Gunn. He studied law under Monroe County native C.J. Torrey in Mobile and was admitted to the bar at the age of 24. After moving to Jasper, he went on to serve in the state legislature, as Walker County’s solicitor, state auditor and as Circuit Judge.

Over 100 years have passed since the publication of the 1915 article about Judge Sowell’s storied watch. One cannot help but wonder if the watch still exists today and who might own it. It would be interesting to know because the present-day owner may know very little about the history of the watch in their possession.