Hampden Sydney College - Kaleidoscope Yearbook (Hampden Sydney, VA)

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1925 Ghz iltaleinnsrnpe 7 The ancestors of this family arriving in the Colony at its first settlement and moving westward from the sea in successive generations, surveyed the un- trodden soil, felled the forests, built the school-houses, reared the churches. and laid the foundations of the social polity of the new region-a race which stood at the cradle of Hampden-Sidney, was present at her baptism, wiped the tears from her infant face, supplied her with wholesome food, filled her halls with their offspring, guided her counsels through the dangers of the first century, and are ready to achieve for their patrimonial institution a still more glorious distinction for the century to come. Mingled with the blood of the Watkinses is that of the Mortons, descend- ants of Little joe Morton of Roanoke Bridge, friend of Samuel Davies, first elder of Old Briery Church, and chief promoter of organized Presbyter- ianism in Charlotte and Prince Edward. ln this connection it will be necessary to give a brief outline of one branch of the Dupuy family, also, for through his mother Dr. Watkins is a Huguenot. john Esten Cooke but states a fact of common knowledge when he says: The Huguenots were of the best blood of France-the flower of the nobility, the middle class, and the commons. The infusion of this element into the Anglo- Saxon stock has enriched and strengthened it, fertilizing as it were by a foreign substance the originally vigorous soil. The first of the Dupuys in Virginia was Bartholomew Dupuy, born in l652, who married the Countess Susanne Lavillon, escaped from France after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in I685, settled at Manakintown on the James River about I 700, and died there in l 743. His son was Peter Dupuy, Peter's son was John Bartholomew Dupuy, john Bartholomew's son was blames Dupuy, and james Dupuy's son was Col. Asa Dupuy, treasurer of Hampden-Sidney and Trustee 1831-I848, and grandfather of Asa Dupuy Watkins, the subject of this sketch. On the Watkins side of the house, the line of descent is as follows: Dr. Watkins' great-grandfather was Thomas Watkins, a soldier of the Revolu- tion and, possibly, a Trustee of Hampden-Sidney. His grandfather was Henry N. Watkins fb. l787, d. 18505 of Oldham, Prince Edward County, Virginia, first honor man of the Class of ISO7, Trustee l82l-l839. The wife of Henry N. Watkins was a Miss Morton-a descendant of Little Joe Morton and of his son Col. William Morton, the gallant officer under General Greene. One of the sons of Henry N. Watkins was Richard Henry Watkins, first-honor graduate of Washington College fWashington and Lee Universityj, Captain of Co. K, Third Virginia Cavalry, and long a well known lawyer of the Prince Edward Bar. Captain Richard Watkins' wife was Mary Purnell Dupuy, daughter of Col. Asa Dupuy, of Linden, and his wife, Emily Howe. Miss Howe was a New England lady from Princeton,

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6 The iiialeiuosrope 1925 Asa Dupuy Watkins, A. B., B. D., D. D. HE Hon. Hugh Blair Grigsby in his remarkable address delivered at the Centennial of Hampden-Sidney College in I876 said: For l think it may be affirmed that from the opening of the Academy in January, I776, to the present moment there has hardly been an interval of time, however small, in the life of the College, during which either the honorable office of a Trustee, or of a professor, or of a pupil, or of an active benefactor, has not been borne by some one bearing the name or the blood of Paul Carrington, the elder. The same general idea was in the mind of Dr. A. Morrison when he wrote: lt is a fact worthy of noting that hardly ever has Hampden-Sidney been without a representative of the Watkins family on its Board of Trusteesf, Much the same may be said of the families of other charter members of our Board, for in Virginia the ties of heredity are strong, and the patronage of the College has been largely drawn from the descendants of the remarkable men who were its founders. A casual examination of the records will reveal the fact that the contribu- tion of the Watkins family to Hampden-Sidney, both in numbers and in service, has been noteworthy. More than fifty members of the family have been students of the College and at least eleven have been Trustees. Lack of space necessitates a mere reference to Francis Watkins, Trustee of the Academy and of the College, I775-I8I5, from its origin the active, wise and munificent friend of the institutiong to Col. Joel Watkins, of Woodfork, brother of Francis and ancestor of the Watkinses of Charlotte County, Trustee I783-I820g to Col. William lVl. Watkins, John Randolph's Yazoo man, Trustee 1803-1835, to Henry Edward Watkins, graduate of Princeton, soldier in the War of ISI 2, treasurer of Dr. Hoge's Theological School, and Trustee 1807-1831 3 to Capt. Henry A. Watkins of the Class of I793 and Trustee I8l6-1837, to Henry N. Watkins whose diploma, still in the possession of his grandson, shows him to have been a Bachelor of Arts of the Class of l807, Trustee I82l-1839, to a second Henry E.. Watkins, lawyer and planter of Prince Edward County, Trustee I836-1853, to Francis N. Watkins, judge of the County Court, treasurer of the College, and Trustee I844-1885, to Asa Dickinson Watkins, judge and Commonwealth's Attorney of Prince Edward whose bow still abides in strength, Trustee l896 to this present year of grace.

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8 dlbe Lrtaleinosrnpe 1925 Massachusetts, who, like so many young women of that time, came to the South as a school-marm, but remained to manage and adorn a southern home. This good lady was of Puritan stock-on one side running back to the Colony of Massachusetts Bay and on the other claiming descent from the Whites of Plymouth, Pilgrims of Mayflower days. Those who remember her as teacher in the home of the Rev. Mr. Dance and as mistress of the plantation on Bush River bear testimony to the fact that in theory and in practice she ran true to form -in conscience and in character exemplifying the line traits of her New England ancestry. But enough of ancestors and the process: let us turn to the descendant and the product. though be it understood that pride of ancestry is not vanity, blood will tell. Asa Dupuy Watkins, the son of Richard H. Watkins and Mary P. Dupuy, was boin at College Farm, in Prince Edward County, Virginia, March l4, I873. That old Bush River neighborhood was a charming one then. The old families were still occupying their ancestral homesteads. The Redds, the Dupuys, the Mortons, the Lyles, the Bookers, the Watkinses, the Spencers, the Lacys, and others of the old issue gave a social flavor and a rare charm to the eastern and southern end of the county which one who did not know it can scarcely understand in this day of changed conditions. It was a day of plain living and high thinking, when men preferred io be rather than lo seem, when educational privileges were valued, and when religion somehow seemed to count for more than in these degenerate days. Amid such surroundings the boy grew into a youth, trained by parental hands and moulded by the sweet influences of a Christian home. When the time came for him to go off to school, the youth was sent to an uncle near Oxford, N. C., for one year and then spent another year as a pupil in the Danville Male Academy. This preparatory course ended, young Watkins entered Hampden-Sidney College in l890 and in due course graduated in June, IS94. The Class of IS94, first and last, had fifty-live members, four of whom have at one time or another been members of the Faculty of this College, and many more of them have served their day and generation with marked ability, faithfulness and success. Some years succeeding his graduation were spent by Mr. Watkins in teaching in Virginia. The session l894-95 he was tutor to the Wilcox boys at Flower de Hundredg in IS95-96 he was instructor in Hoge Academy at Blackstone, a school established by East Hanover Presbytery and named in honor of Dr. Moses D. Hoge, which later passed under the control of the Trustees of Hampden-Sidney College and under their management failed, the plant being subsequently bought by Col. Ligon and by him reorganized as the Blackstone Military Academy. For three years, 1896-99, Mr. Watkins was