Malachi WATTS^[1]

1793 - 1873  (80 years)

• Name	Malachi WATTS
  Birth	9 Jan 1793	Anson County, North Carolina
  Gender	Male
  _FSFTID	LC3H-B4S
  _FSLINK	https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LC3H-B4S
  _UID	BB7CEADCB1944C9B903D16BE4278CCAAFA16
  Death	16 Dec 1873	Clarksville, Johnson Co., Arkansas
  Burial	MT Airy Cemetery, Ludwig, Arkansas
  Person ID	I12273	Carney Wehofer July 2025
  Last Modified	5 May 2025

  
  

  Father	Garrett Zachariah WATTS,   b. 8 Jan 1756, Bowling Green, Carolyn Co., Virginia d. 8 Feb 1838, Perry, Alabama (Age 82 years)
  Mother	Anna SELF,   b. Abt 1766, Anson County, North Carolina d. Abt 1855, Gibson Co., TN (Age ~ 89 years)
  Marriage	16 Jul 1787	Anson County, North Carolina
  Family ID	F6247	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Delila GRAY   d. Yes, date unknown
  Marriage	12 Mar 1818	Cherokee Nation, TN, Native America
  Children	1. Solomon WATTS   d. Yes, date unknown   2. Mary Deliah WATTS   d. Yes, date unknown   3. Garrett WATTS,   b. 4 Oct 1825   d. 1844 (Age 18 years)
  Family ID	F6160	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	29 Aug 2016

  
  

  Family 2	Susan Matilda TOLER   d. Yes, date unknown
  Marriage	21 Nov 1830	Gibson Co., TN
  Children	1. Fannie Mae WATTS,   b. 23 Oct 1831   d. 18 Jul 1893 (Age 61 years)   2. Mariah Louisa WATTS,   b. 17 May 1833, TN d. 24 Dec 1881 (Age 48 years)   3. Marion Jasper WATTS,   b. 23 Jan 1835, Haywood Co., Tennessee d. 6 May 1915, Ft Smith, Sebastian Co., Arkansas (Age 80 years)   4. Susan Matilda WATTS,   b. 31 May 1838, TN d. 10 Apr 1912, Muldrow, OK (Age 73 years)   5. William Jefferson WATTS,   b. 14 Apr 1840, TN d. 7 Dec 1904, Muldrow, OK (Age 64 years)   6. Margaret Ann WATTS,   b. 20 Feb 1842, TN d. 17 Aug 1873 (Age 31 years)   7. Martha Letithia WATTS,   b. 26 Feb 1845   d. 24 Jun 1914 (Age 69 years)   8. Mahala Jane WATTS,   b. 14 Apr 1847, Obion Co., TN d. 15 Jul 1926, Little Rock, Pulaski Co., Arkansas (Age 79 years)   9. Jesse Malachi WATTS,   b. 19 Nov 1849, TN d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F6169	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	29 Aug 2016

  
  

• Notes

  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

  [S857] seaton@crosswind.com, Candi Seaton.