From “Chapter XXVIII: The County of Conecuh” in “Alabama:
Her History, Resources, War Record and Public Men From 1540 to 1872” by Willis
Brewer:
The memory of John Watkins lingers in Conecuh County. He was
born within five miles of the present Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, in 1775,
and was connected with many of the best families of that state. He was
liberally educated and was graduated in medicine at Philadelphia in 1804. He
shortly after removed to South Carolina, where he practiced in the family of
Hon. J.C. Calhoun in Abbeville.
In 1813, he came to the Tombikbee settlement, and soon after
made Claiborne his permanent home. At that time, he was the only physician
between the Alabama and Chattahoochee rivers, and he was fully employed. He
represented Monroe in the convention of 1819 that framed the constitution of
the would be state, and the same year was chosen the first senator from the
county.
He settled in this county soon after it began to be peopled,
and in 1828 was elected to the senate from Butler and Conecuh. Three years
later he served Conecuh in the other branch of the legislature. In 1842-45, he
represented Monroe and Conecuh in the senate, which was his last connection
with public life.
He died in 1854, on the verge of fourscore years. He was a
man of extraordinary physical powers, and betrayed his age neither in his
faculties nor his appearance. His manners were plain, and rather brusque, but
his benevolence and hospitality were proverbial.
He never sought popularity, but the people of Conecuh and
Monroe honored him whenever he was a candidate. His literary taste and devotion
to scientific research led him to collate one of the completest private
libraries in the state, and his range of information was wide. In his 55th
year, he married Mrs. Hunter, sister to Hon. W.B.H. Howard of Wilcox, and one
of his sons is a physician and planter of Lowndes, while another fell in
defense of his country during the late war.
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