Carney & Wehofer Family
 Genealogy Pages


Print Bookmark
Garrett Zachariah WATTS

Garrett Zachariah WATTS[1]

Male 1756 - 1838  (82 years)


Personal Information    |    Notes    |    Sources    |    All    |    PDF

  • Name Garrett Zachariah WATTS 
    Birth 8 Jan 1756  Bowling Green, Carolyn Co., Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    MilitaryService 16 Jul 1782  Hillsborough, Orange, North Carolina Find all individuals with events at this location  [2] 
    MilitaryService 
    NationalId   [2] 
    NationalId 
    Name Garrett Zachariah Watts  [3] 
    Name Garrett Zachariah WATTS  [2] 
    Residence 1830  Jefferson, Alabama Find all individuals with events at this location  [2] 
    _FSFTID G5LN-5PT 
    _FSLINK https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/G5LN-5PT 
    _UID 0C04D692AD9E420BB99744A9FF073FFB8D4F 
    Death 8 Feb 1838  Perry, Alabama Find all individuals with events at this location  [2] 
    Person ID I12446  Carney Wehofer July 2025
    Last Modified 5 May 2025 

    Father "Trader" John WATTS, "Forked Tongue",   b. Abt 1724, Bowling Green, Carolyn Co., Virginia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 4 Mar 1771, Willstown, Fort Payne, Alabama Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 47 years) 
    Mother Gi-Yo-Sti-Ko-Yo-He BIRD CLAN,   b. Abt 1736, Cherokee Nation East, North Carolina Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 15 Nov 1825, Cherokee Nation, Alabama Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 89 years) 
    Family ID F5910  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Anna SELF,   b. Abt 1766, Anson County, North Carolina Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Abt 1855, Gibson Co., TN Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 89 years) 
    Marriage 16 Jul 1787  Anson County, North Carolina Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
     1. William Jefferson WATTS,   b. 1787, Anson, North Carolina Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1845, Mississippi Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 58 years)
     2. Garrett WATTS,   b. 1788   d. Yes, date unknown
     3. Annis M. WATTS,   b. 1789, Anson, North Carolina Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 25 Dec 1898, Crockett County, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 109 years)
     4. Nancy Ann WATTS,   b. 1790, Anson Co., North Carolina Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Abt 1816, Haywood Co., Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 26 years)
     5. Steve WATTS,   b. 1790, Huntsville, Madison County, Alabama Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Yes, date unknown
     6. Jonathan Zachariah John WATTS,   b. 1791, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Bef 1857, Jones, Georgia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 65 years)
     7. Malachi WATTS,   b. 9 Jan 1793, Anson County, North Carolina Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 16 Dec 1873, Clarksville, Johnson Co., Arkansas Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 80 years)
     8. Vincent WATTS,   b. Abt 1795   d. Yes, date unknown
     9. Solomon WATTS,   b. Abt 1795, Anson, North Carolina Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Abt 1870, Pontotoc, Mississippi Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 75 years)
     10. Thomas WATTS,   b. 1799   d. Yes, date unknown
     11. Malinda WATTS,   b. Abt 1803, GA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Yes, date unknown
     12. John WATTS,   b. Abt 1804, Anson, North Carolina Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Yes, date unknown
     13. Malissa Malinda WATTS,   b. 1805   d. Yes, date unknown
     14. Vincent WATTS,   b. 12 Jan 1805, Anson, North Carolina Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 10 May 1879, Van Buren, Crawford, Arkansas Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 74 years)
     15. Mary H. WATTS,   b. 1806, Jefferson County, Alabama Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1870, Gibson, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 64 years)
     16. Annie Annis WATTS,   b. 9 Jan 1806   d. Yes, date unknown
     17. Clinton WATTS,   b. Abt 1808, Georgia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1861, Pontotoc Co., Mississippi Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 53 years)
     18. Garrett WATTS,   b. 1812   d. Yes, date unknown
     19. Thomas WATTS,   b. Abt 1814, , Jackson, Georgia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Yes, date unknown
     20. Jefferson WATTS,   b. 18 Nov 1815, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1871, Alabama Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 55 years)
     21. Soloman WATTS,   b. Jan 1819   d. Yes, date unknown
    Family ID F6247  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 13 Dec 2022 

  • Notes 
    • Information obtained from Louise Evans, Ancestral File, and Waymon Griffin.

      Mary Watts has marriage date 16 Jul 1787

      Information following from his son's petition to be recognised as Cherokee, the judge found that although he had no doubt Malachi had a 'smidgen' of Cherokee blood, that didn't entitle him to Cherokee citizenship;

      As related in Sober's work, for the Watts admission into the Cherokee Nation, Watts completed a pamphlet which contained "a sketch of the life of Malachi Watts, father of William Jefferson Watts ands 11 other children of two marriages."

      [Malachi] Watts was reportedly born in Georgia about 1790. He moved to western Tennessee about 1820 and lived in Gibson County until 1853. That year the family moved west, 'aiming to come to the Cherokee Nation, but they stopped in Johnson County, Arkansas, where they resided until January 1871." According to the author of the sketch, Malachi was 'a Cherokee and spoke the language fluently' and was known as 'the best trader in West Tennessee.... Watts included a variety of other documents intended to prove the rights of claimants to Cherokee citizenship with its accompanying monetary and property privileges.... Through the years other information concerning Watts's claim emerged.... During Watts's trial a great mass of evidence was presented; much of it inadmissible. Affidavits from deceased persons, including one from Malachi Watts, were offered. Thomas Ragsdale, a slave in the Cherokee Nation before removal, testified in Watts's behalf but Ragsdale's daughter refuted his statements, saying that Ragsdale had been offered money and that he was not very truthful. Malachi Watts was described in testimony as looking like a 'half-breed Cherokee.'

      George Still and a man named Robbins swore that Malachi Watts was a white man who lived outside the Cherokee Nation in the southeastern United States but often visited within the Nation. Mrs. Paris, a Cherokee witness called by the tribe, claimed that she had known the Watts family before the removal and that none of them claimed to be Cherokees. All of the witnesses claimed to have known Malachi Watts. The attorney for the Cherokee Nation charged that W J. Watts had 'secured the friendship of Judge Vann' to obtain his citizenship.

      The case was decided against Watts on 23 August 1878.11... On 18 October 1880, William A. Phillips, special agent and attorney for the Cherokee Nation, gave additional information concerning the Watts family in his letter to Assistant Attorney General Joseph K. McCammon. Phillips stated that Malachi Watts 'lived just outside the limits of the Old Nation in the State of Georgia.' For nearly 50 years Malachi Watts had traveled as a peddler among the Cherokees and on one occasion worked as a laborer under a permit, staying a year or two in the Nation. He married a French woman and neither he nor his sons were ever married to Cherokee women. His name was not on the census roll of the tribe made at the time of the removal in 1838- 39 nor on the rolls made after the Treaty of 1846. According to Phillips, the Watts family members seeking citizenship in the Cherokee Nation in the Indian Territory did not claim kinship with any of the persons on the census rolls, nor was there any evidence
      ________________________________________ 11Edward P. Smith to Ingalls, 30 Jan. 1875, NARG 75, M234/865/589-91; John Q. Smith to Thompson, 8 Dec. 1876, Cherokee Intruders (Tahlequah) File, 1859-1877; John Q. Smith to Chandler, 6 Feb. 1877, NARG 75, M348/28/512-18, Cherokee Advocate, 7 Sept. 1878, NARG 75, M234/869/339-43.

  • Sources 
    1. [S857] seaton@crosswind.com, Candi Seaton.

    2. [S1160] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch Family Tree (http://www.familysearch.org), ((http://www.familysearch.org)), accessed 13 Dec 2022), entry for Garrett Zachariah WATTS, person ID LB24-9K7. (Reliability: 3).

    3. [S1160] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch Family Tree (http://www.familysearch.org), ((http://www.familysearch.org)), accessed 15 Apr 2024), entry for Garrett Zachariah WATTS, person ID LB24-9K7. (Reliability: 3).



This site powered by The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding v. 15.0.3, written by Darrin Lythgoe © 2001-2025.

Maintained by Jim Carney.