IDAHO-L Archives

From:
Subject: Henry Jolly Watts Obituary, August 8, 1968, Belmont, North Carolina
Date: 7 Jun 2005 14:54:06 -0600

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.

Surnames: Watts, Jolly, Campbell, Van Cleave, Law, Phillips, Wilson, Reeves, Tench, Stratton, Lowe, Stone, Baxter, Denney, Solts, Schultz, Barnum, Feuerbacher, Metcalf, Jones
Classification: Obituary

Message Board URL:

http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/Ee.2ADI/1173

Message Board Post:

BELMONT, NORTH CAROLINA -- Henry Jolly Watts, 77, of 1211 E. Catawba St., Belmont, Gaston County, NC, and formerly of Okmulgee and Okemah, Oklahoma died August 8, 1968 in a Sanford, NC nursing home.
THE YOUNGEST of eleven children, he was born in Pawnee City, Nebraska on November 18, 1890, and moved with his family to Indian Territory about February of 1891. His parents were pioneers William Parker Watts (a Ninth Kansas Cavalry Civil War veteran) and Melinda Percy Jolly. His grandparents were Samuel and Charlotte Campbell Watts, who were from Butler County, Ohio, and John Lowry (an Indiana infantryman who died during service in the Civil War) and Mathilda Hester Ann Van Cleave Jolly, who were from the Indianapolis, Indiana area.
MR. WATTS was a farmer, oil field worker, print shop photographer, and newspaper reporter in Oklahoma before moving to Belmont during the winter of 1936/1937. In Belmont, he worked at the National and other textile mills.
In pursuit of his primary pastime, fishing, he spent many happy hours in a small boat on the Catawba River, which was within sight of his Catawba Street home. He was well known in the area for his consistently big strings of crappies, his stories of Oklahoma, and his jokes and amusing anecdotes. He loved laughter, and he would often go out of his way to share an innocent joke or story. He also liked to read, draw, sing, and play a harmonica, which he always kept in one of his big overall pockets.
HE WAS an expert woodcutter. He regularly singlehandedly sawed blocks from big logs with a four-foot, two-man crosscut. In preparation for felling a big oak or hickory, he would place short lengths of logs in a line and drop the tree precisely on the line.
HE SPOKE reverently of God and his faith in Him and loved the old hymns such as "Amazing Grace" and "Rock of Ages." He believed deeply in the love and strength of families. He loved his country and its history and passed that love on to his children through stories about Oklahoma and his parents and other ancestors, who helped settle Ohio, Nebraska, Indian Territory, and other new parts of the country.
FUNERAL: Unity Baptist Church, Belmont
INTERMENT: Greenwood Cemetery, Belmont
SURVIVORS: Wife, Eloise Cornelia Law Watts. Children, William Alfred "Bill" Watts and wife Ina May Phillips of Okmulgee; Mildred Louise and husband William S. "Bill" Wilson of Okmulgee; Hazeline (Mrs. Jerome) Reeves of Belmont; Udell Laverne Watts and wife Dorothy of Odessa, Texas; John Henry Watts and wife Linda (Tench) of Charlotte, NC; James Charles "Bud" Watts and wife Fran (Wilson) of Charlotte; Sam Sloan Watts of the US Air Force, serving in Thailand and wife Kathy (Stratton) of Grand Rapids, Michigan; William Benjamin "Ben" Watts and wife Elaine (Lowe) of Belmont. Many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews. Former spouses Verlie Stone, Fern Baxter, and Theorsa Denney.
PRECEDED IN DEATH BY: His parents. A son, Lawrence, who died in infancy. Ten brothers and sisters, including Charlotte D. "Lottie" (Mrs. Jess) Solts (or Schultz) who's buried at Fraser, Idaho; Martha C.who died at the age of fourteen in 1886; Hester May (Mrs. George) Barnum of McCloud, OK; Matilda Ellen "Tillie" (Mrs. Joel) Wilson of Weippe, Idaho; William L. who died in infancy in 1877; Mary E. (Mrs. Paul) Feuerbacher of Austin Texas (d. @ 1955); John Larry of Okemah (never married, d. @ 1956); Violet Anna (Mrs. Charles) Metcalf of Nemaha, OK near McCloud; Samuel Parker (d. 1929, m. Mollie Jones); and Clarence C., who died as an infant in 1884.

This thread:

• Henry Jolly Watts Obituary, August 8, 1968, Belmont, North Carolina by