Judith Timbrook

  General Notes:

This is a transcript of a newspaper article dated 11 March 1885 was receivedabout the Watkins and Timbrook families, and it contains some great stories about the early family members: ==================================== Mrs. Judah Watkins was the daughter of John and Elizabeth Timbrook and was born January 25, 1797 in Hampshire County, Virginia, near Romney at the foot of the mountains. Her mother was a daughter of Lt. Lane, a soldier of the Revolution. Mrs. Lane was one of the ladies who strewed flowers in the pathway of Washington when he passed through New Jersey on his way to Washington(*1). When theirparents lived in Virginia, General Washington, who was a great friend of Lt.Lane, visited the family and would recount the struggles through which theyhad past, and fight the battles anew by the light of the cheerful blaze thrown out by the light of the Timbrook fireside. The Timbrook farm nestled at the foot of a dreary and wooded ridge of mountains, from which the winds that swept over evolved from the night stillness the wild cry of the panther and the hungry howl of the wolf. When the latter were unable to find enough to sustain life they came down in packs and ravaged field and plain, and woe to themthat met them where relief was not close at hand. On one such occasion whenthe evening was settling down in Little Capon valley where the Timbrooks lived, little Judah was returning from an errand to their nearest neighbors, a quarter of a mile distant, when the howling wolves, close at hand sent terrorthrough her heart, the animals attracted by the carcass of a cow near by, hadscented a more delicious feast and followed on her tracks with blood curdling sounds. The child ran along the water, run to kill the scent of her flight,but her screams as she ran were enough for the wolves. Her father and brother heard the childs cries of anguish and fear mingled with the cry of the wolves and with crowbar and gun hurried to the rescue. The whole pack of wolves retreated. The mother who died in her 91st year, 1857, had five children, William, John, Judah, James and Rebecca. All dead except Mrs. Watkins. William died in Fort Wayne, Ind. aged 86. John died on the Daniel Noel place in 1840. John was this writers great great grandfather(*2). Judah was his sister. James died in the suburbs of Portsmouth in 1865. Rebecca who married Samuel Briggs, died in 1840. In the fall of 1815 Judah Timbrook married Thomas Bates Watkins, a farmer of moderate circumstances in the Old Dominion. In the winterof 1820-21 they concluded to remove to Iowa, a point to which the tide of emigration was tending. In March they loaded their belongings in a two-horse wagon and began their long journey over the mountains. There was Watkins, hiswife, her mother, children Rebecca and James, and two watch dogs under the wagon(*3). Arriving at Brownsville, PA, Watkins purchased a boat for which hepaid 18 dollars, and on that they started down the Ohio on their journey to the great west. The way down the river was made more pleasant by the addition of two travelers, a rollicking Irishman and a happy go lucky Englishman, and to quote Mr. Watkins, "We had a high old time on the way down." They laid upat night and got late starts in the mornings because of the difficulty of getting the dogs on board. They brought provisions with them and were well prepared for cooking, baking light bread and having fine roast beef. They stoppedat Pittsburg and Marietta an hour each. All along the river on both sides itwas almost one unbroken forest, varied occasionally by the lone cabin of thepioneer. They reached Portsmouth in the month of April 1821 about 9 o'clock in the morning, anchoring somewhere near the foot of Chillicothe St. They wereunable to keep their boat in the channel to pass Portsmouth owing to the high winds, and for two or three days the wind rag

Judith married Thomas Bates Watkins on 20 Nov 1815 in Hampshire Co, West Virginia. (Thomas Bates Watkins was born in 1778 in Virginia and died on 16 Nov 1864 in Portsmouth, Scioto Co, Ohio.)