Tutorship of the minor children of James C. Watts and Catharine A. Bryan of Bienville Parish, Louisiana

The Oath of Catharine A. Watts, Natural Tutrix - 21 August 1867

These documents were a part of the ten-page succession of James C. Watts.  The record was requested and received from the County Clerk's office in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. 

This transcription was added to my Rootsweb Freepages website in 2005. Ancestry, who now owns Rootsweb, is retiring the pages in 2024. When and if they are returned, the pages will be static and I will not be able to make changes or additions. I am adding them to this blog along with new information and photos. 

Tutorship

Similar to a guardian, a tutor is a person appointed or qualified by a court to act as guardian of a minor’s property. In every tutorship, there is an under-tutor who shall act when the tutor is unable or whenever the interest of the minor is in opposition to the interest of the tutor. These terms appear to be unique to the laws of Louisiana.

James C. Watts and Catharine A. Bryan

James C. Watts, the husband of Catharine Amanda Bryan, was the son of Richard I. Watts and his wife, Sarah. James served as a hospital nurse in the Bienville Blues - Company C of the 9th Louisiana Infantry during the Civil War. Although there were statements in his compiled service record telling that James was discharged in 1862 as he was over 35 years of age, his record clearly showed that he was serving in Virginia in 1863. And a Pierson family letter states that he was wounded in Virginia in 1864. James died in 1867. His burial place is unknown. 

Catharine Amanda Bryan, sometimes seen as "Manda," was the daughter of Reddick Bryan and Elizabeth Regan. Following the death of James C. Watts, Catharine Amanda married G. B. Thomas in 1873. It is assumed that this marriage was short-lived as by 1875, she appeared on documents as Mrs. Watts. Catharine Amanda was said to have died in 1903.

Note that Catharine spelled her name with an "a" following the "h." In many documents, her name was spelled as Catherine; however, Catharine's signature on the above document and also on her father's succession records indicate that she used the less common spelling Catharine. 

Tutorship of the Minor Children of James C. Watts

PART 1 - FRONT AND BACK

Transcribed by Diana Bryan Quinn, May 28, 2005.

Tutorship of the minor children of James C. WATTS desc

Letters 

Original

Filed August 21st 1867

J. G. NOLES  Clerk DC 

The State of Louisiana

Parish of Bienville               11th District Court

 Whereas, Catharine A. WATTS has been appointed and confirmed by the District Court, in and for said parish, Natural Tutrix of the minor children of James C. WATTS late of said parish and State, deceased; and taken oath as described by law.

 Now, therefore, the said Catharine A. WATTS is hereby fully authorised and empowered to do and perform all and singular the duties incumbent on him by law in said capacity.

 In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of my office, this 21st day of August A.D. 1867.

           [signed] John G. NOLES     Clerk, DC

 

PART 2 - FRONT AND BACK

Tutorship of the minor children Jas C. WATTS 

Oath of Catharine A. WATTS

Natural Tutrix 

Filed August 21st 1867

J. G. NOLES  Clerk DC 

The State of Louisiana

Parish of Bienville 

I , the undersigned, Catharine A. WATTS, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent on me by law as  Natural Tutrix of Edmund Bryan, Alice Elizabeth, Sarah Catharine and Martha Caldwell WATTS minor children of James C. WATTS late of said state and parish deceased according to the best of my knowledge and ability - SO HELP ME GOD. 

                Sworn to and subscribed on this the 21st day of August A.D. 1867

before me, [signed] John G. NOLES Clerk Dist Court        [signed] Catharine A. WATTS

 

PART 3 - FRONT AND BACK

James Bryan was a half-brother
to Catharine Amanda Bryan Watts.
Born in North Carolina, he was the
oldest son of Reddick Bryan
 and his first wife.  James was
married to Alice Mary Wimberly.

Tutorship of the minor children of Jas C. WATTS

Oath of James BRYAN

Under Tutor

Filed August 21st 1867

J. G. NOLES  Clerk DC 

The State of Louisiana

Parish of Bienville 

I , the undersigned, James BRYAN, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent on me by law as under tutor of Edmund Bryan, Alice Elizabeth, Sarah Catharine and Martha Caldwell WATTS minor children of James C. WATTS late of the aforesaid state and parish deceas

according to the best of my knowledge and ability - SO HELP ME GOD 

                Sworn to and subscribed on this the 21st day of August A.D. 1867

before me, [signed] John G. NOLES Clerk  Dist Court     [signed] James BRYAN

                        

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Children of James C. Watts and Catharine A. Bryan

Edmund B. Watts, also seen spelled Edmond, was the son of James C. Watts and Catharine Amanda Bryan. He was born on 7 February 1853 and, in 1870, married Martha Elizabeth "Lizzie" Wimberly, daughter of John Lawson Wimberly and Sophanny Ann Frances Nix. It was said that Edmund died of pneumonia at the age of thirty-three, leaving six children and one not yet born: Frances Amanda Watts, James C. Watts, Sarah Catherine Watts, Lucy Watts, John Lawson Watts, Harriet E. Watts, and Eddie Bryan Watts. Edmund and Martha Elizabeth are buried in the Wimberly Cemetery in Bienville Parish. 

Martha Elizabeth "Lizzie" Wimberly, wife of Edmund Watts and their 
three youngest children: Harriet Elizabeth Watts, John Lawson Watts, and 
Eddie Bryan Watts. 

Alice Elizabeth Watts was born in about 1859.  The first daughter of James C. Watts and Catharine Amanda Bryan, she married Green H. Huckabay Jr and remained in Northwest Louisiana.  They are known to have children Amanda D., Joe, Denson, Fannie, John L., Lizzie, and Bryant. Alice Elizabeth and her husband are buried in Old Castor Cemetery in Bienville Parish. 

Sarah Catherine Watts was the daughter of James C. Watts and Catharine Amanda Bryan. I am not certain about the spelling of her name as I have seen it as Sarah spelled also as Sara and her middle name spelled as Catharine, Catherine and Katherine. In a letter dated 1914, written by her cousin, Sallie Hammett, Sarah was referred to as "Kate Stewart." On the 1870 census, she was Sara Watts, age 10, living with the family of her Aunt, Georgia Ann Frances Bryan Pitman Wimberly, in Bienville Parish. Also listed nearby were her future husband, Elastus Stewart, and his family.  Children of Sarah and Elastus were James Pitman, Sarah Elizabeth "Lizzie," Thomas E., Alice Corinne, John Hiser, Martha "Mattie Lou," and Mary Lou. Sarah died in Arcadia, Bienville Parish, in 1932 and is buried in the Arcadia Cemetery. 

Martha Caldwell Watts, also seen as "Mattie" was the youngest child of James C. Watts and Catharine Amanda Bryan. She was born 18 February 1866. Martha married Jeffrey Tolbert and they are known to have children Mary Alice, Marian, Joseph Earl "Dodie," Leon H., Hugh Leroy, Burdette, Earnest, Irene, and Allen Watts. Martha died on 8 December 1934 and is buried with her husband in the Bethany Cumberland Presbyterian Cemetery in Natchitoches Parish. 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page, where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana

© 2023 

Diana Quinn, #1 Diana's Bryan-Quinn Family, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/45260559?cfpid=6334928766: accessed 6 November 2023). 

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11775574/alice-elizabeth-huckabay: accessed 06 November 2023), memorial page for Alice Elizabeth Watts Huckabay (May 1859–17 Feb 1942), Find a Grave Memorial ID 11775574, citing Old Castor Cemetery, Castor, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, USA; Maintained by Roy Bates (contributor 46805299).

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/115012781/martha-caldwell-tolbert: accessed 06 November 2023), memorial page for Martha Caldwell “Mattie” Watts Tolbert (18 Feb 1866–8 Dec 1934), Find a Grave Memorial ID 115012781, citing Bethany Cumberland Presbyterian Cemetery, Fairview Alpha, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, USA; Maintained by A Footstep In Time (contributor 47345816).

James Bryan photograph, n.d.; digital image, from the privately held photo collection of Marguerite Cook Clark (1913-1989), Waynesville, North Carolina, 2021. Photos were accessed and scanned at the home of Marguerite Cook Clark's daughter in Alpine, Texas on April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016.

"Kinship Navigator - Tutorship," Department of Children & Family Services (https://www.dcfs.louisiana.gov/page/690 : accessed 3 November 2023). 

"Louisiana, U.S., Compiled Marriage Index, 1718-1925," database with images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/528550:7837?: 4 November 2023), Amanda C. Watts to G. B. Thomas, 7 Jan 1873, Red River, Louisiana.

Martha Elizabeth Wimberly Watts and three children, photograph, n.d., scanned image, from the privately held photo collection of Betty Crain, 2003.

"Obituary for Sarah Katherlne STEWART (Aged 73)" Newspapers.com. The Times, March 13, 1932. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-obituary-for-sarah-katherlne-s/42367689/.

pamnorth1996, Pam Huckaby North Family Tree 2, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/14340025?cfpid=92757394&dtid=100: accessed 6 November 2023). 

"Researching Bryan, Hairston, Criswell, Davis, Glynn, Giddens, Murray, Driscoll, Staubach, and Quinn," Membership List for the Liberty Chapel 1875 and a Letter from Marguerite Cook Clark to Eugene Ragan Pruitt.

(https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~bryanquinn/genealogy/Bryan-WillsdeedsobitLA-LibertyChapel.htm : accessed 2 November 2023).

"Researching Bryan, Hairston, Criswell, Davis, Glynn, Giddens, Murray, Driscoll, Staubach, and Quinn," Tutorship of the Minor Children of James C. Watts

(https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~bryanquinn/genealogy/Bryan-WillsdeedsobitLA-Watts-Tutorship.htm : accessed 2 October 2023).

Richard McCutcheon, McCutcheon Family Tree,  Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/117093337/person/332083572057/facts: accessed 6 November 2023).

Signatures found on the "Partition of  Slaves" in the Succession of Reddick Bryan, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, 1 August 1864; digital image, copied from the privately held collection of Marguerite Cook Clark (1913-1989), Waynesville, North Carolina, 2021. Photos and documents were accessed and scanned at the home of Marguerite Cook Clark's daughter in Alpine, Texas on April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016.

Thomas W. Cutrer and T. Michael Parish, Brothers in Gray, The Civil War Letters of the Pierson Family (Louisiana State University Press, 1997), p. 240.

Tutorship of the minor children of Jas C. WATTS found in the Succession of James C. Watts, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, 21 August 1867, copies received from the Bienville Parish clerk's office in 2005, now in the private collection of Diana Quinn, 2023. 

"UNDER-TUTOR Definition & Legal Meaning," The Law Dictionary (https://thelawdictionary.org/under-tutor/ : accessed 3 November 2023). 

"United States Census, 1870", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8Q5-61P : Tue Oct 03 17:45:24 UTC 2023), Entry for E F Wimberly and Georgia Wimberly, 1870.

"US, Civil War Service Records (CMSR) - Confederate - Louisiana, 1861-1865," database with images, Fold3 (https://www.fold3.com/image/71619205: 4 November 2023), James C. Watts, images 1 to 12.

Vera Meeks Wimberly, Wimberly Family History, Ancestors, Relatives, and Descendants of William Wimberly, Pioneer from Georgia to Louisiana 1837 (Houston Texas: D. Anderson, 1979), 132-133.

A Letter from Sallie Bryan Hammett of Bienville Parish, Louisiana to Lizzie Ragan in Terrell County, Georgia Written in Spring 1915

I scanned this photo at the home of a cousin in Post, Texas, several years ago.
This is Wesley Hammett and Sallie Bryan and their children, Jim,
Eleanor, and Ada. [1] 

This letter and one other were sent to me by a cousin in Georgia.  They were originally copied and sent to him by E. Ragan Pruitt. [2] I love how these posts came together with photos shared by so many different families. 

This letter and others belonged to Lizzie Ragan and their location is not known at this time.  Lizzie was looking for genealogical information. Sallie Hammett wrote this letter sometime in the Spring of 1915 prior to a second letter dated April 28, 1915.

Catharine Amanda Bryan Watts of Bienville Parish, Louisiana

This paper was found tucked into Terrell Bryan's family Bible. The names of his siblings and half-siblings are listed under his parents' names. Those who died young are not listed. My grandfather, Redic E. Bryan, wrote the final line at the bottom - These uncles and aunts buried in Bienville Parish, La. (REB). However, most, but not all were buried in Bienville Parish. 

Catharine Amanda Bryan's date of birth was recorded
in this Bryan family Bible record. The penciled note next
to her name is "Aunt Mandy." 

Catharine Amanda Bryan was born in Georgia, probably Houston County, on August 17, 1834. She was the second daughter born to my great-great-grandparents, Reddick Bryan and Elizabeth Regan. What I know about Catharine Amanda Bryan has been gleaned from conveyance records, census records, and a few documented sources. The Bryan family moved to Northwest Louisiana in the late 1830s and settled near what was later known as Ringgold in the Parish of Bienville. At age 14, on August 9, 1849, Catharine Amanda Bryan married James C. Watts. 

In 1858, Catharine Amanda's father-in-law, Richard I. Watts, gave his entire estate, valued at over two thousand dollars to Catharine Amanda and his daughter, Lurany S. Ezell. Some land transactions and sales followed.

James C. Watts died before August 21, 1867. On documents found in his probate record, the earliest dated August 21, 1867, Catharine A. Bryan was listed as his widow and C. A. Watts was also listed as the Natural Tutrix* of her children. Catharine's half brother, James Bryan, was listed as the Under Tutor* for the minor children of James C. Watts. The children were listed as Edmund Bryan, Alice Elizabeth, Sarah Catherine, and Martha Caldwell Watts.

The grave of Edmund and his wife in the Wimberly Cemetery.
Edmund married Martha Wimberly,
Alice married Green H. Huckaby,
Sarah Catherine married Elastus Stewart,
and Martha married Jeff Tolbert. 

Catharine Amanda Bryan was referred to as "Amanda," Mandy and "Manda" in family letters and other documents. She was found in the 1870 census living with children, Edmund Watts-age 17, Alice Watts - age 13, and Martha Watts - age 4.  A daughter, Sarah Watts was living with Catharine Amanda's sister, Georgia Ann Frances Bryan Pitman Wimberly. Catharine Amanda remained close to her family as most of her neighbors listed on the census page were family members.

In 1873, Catharine Amanda Bryan Watts was listed in a conveyance record as the wife of J.B. Thomas and a resident of Bienville Parish.  Red River Parish marriage records show that Amanda C. Watts married  G. B. Thomas on January 7, 1873. This matches the handwritten record found in Terrell Bryan's family Bible. Catharine Amanda was recorded as "C. A. Bryan Watts Thomas."

On April 11, 1875, Amanda Watts was counted as present at a church meeting held at the Liberty Chapel in Bienville Parish. Most members of the chapel were descendants of Reddick Bryan and Elizabeth Regan. Also on the list were Mrs. Alice Huckaby and E. B. Watts,  children of Catharine Amanda Watts.

Dorothy "Dollie" Bryan Hammett
is buried in the cemetery at
Davis Springs Methodist Church

In 1877, Mrs. C. A. Watts was listed on the membership list of  Pleasant Grove Church. A notation next to her name and many others, including her sister's Hammett family, indicate that they were being transferred to Davis Springs, a Methodist Church in Natchitoches. C. A. Watts was listed on the membership list of the Davis Springs Methodist Church in Natchitoches Parish in 1879. Her sister, Dollie Hammett, was also on that list. Dollie and her husband, Robert E. Hammett were active members of the church. Catherine Amanda was also listed as a member of the church in 1881 as Mrs. C. A. Watts and in 1892 as Watts, C. Amanda.

CLIPPED FROM

The People's Vindicator

Natchitoches, Louisiana

06 Mar 1880, Sat  •  Page 2

Newspapers.com

I was not able to locate Catharine Amanda Bryan Watts on the 1880 census; however, a Mrs. Wetts was living with Catherine's sister, Dollie Hammett, and family in Natchitoches Parish. Mrs. Wetts was listed as a daughter but, she was a 45-year-old widow born in Georgia. All those facts, as well as the church memberships and the clipping on the left, confirm that she was in Natchitoches in 1880. 

In 1881, a conveyance record also indicated that she was living in Natchitoches Parish.  Mrs. C. A. Watts was acting as attorney-in-fact for her daughter, Martha "Mattie" Tolbert, signing a land transaction in Bienville Parish. Catharine Amanda's other children all signed this transaction. The daughters all had husbands who were mentioned in the conveyance record and authorized their wives' actions.  No mention was made of Catharine Amanda's husband in this land transaction.  This, and her use of the Watts surname soon after her marriage, lead me to believe that she did not remain married. Further research is needed to confirm this.

Catharine Amanda Bryan Watts' signature was found in her father's probate records.

Catharine Amanda Bryan died on September 14, 1903, at age 69. This date was found in Joseph B. Bryan's family Bible. Her name was written as "C. A. Watts" so I assume she didn't marry again.  I have no records for Catharine Amanda beyond 1892. I have not found her in the 1900 census and currently don't know where she died or where she is buried. 

Catharine Amanda Bryan's date of death was recorded
in this Bryan family Bible record.

*Similar to guardian, a tutor is a person appointed or qualified by a court to act as guardian of a minor’s property. In every tutorship, there is an under-tutor who shall act when the tutor is unable or whenever the interest of the minor is in opposition to the interest of the tutor. Each time that I read about this tutorship and under-tutors, Louisiana Law was mentioned. It appears that these terms may be unique to the laws of Louisiana. 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

Diana

© 2020

Sources

Ancestry.com. Louisiana, Compiled Marriages, 1728-1850 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1997.

"Bryan."  Watts Family http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~bryanquinn/genealogy/Bryan-Watts-Thomas-CatherineAmanda.htm. Accessed 17 Jan. 2020.

Family photographs, letters, copies of Bienville Parish records, and other documents from the collection of Diana Bryan Quinn.

Bible records from the collection of Marguerite Cook Clark. Accessed April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016. Used with permission.

The People's Vindicator. Natchitoches, Louisiana 06 Mar 1880, Sat  •  Page 2. Newspapers.com

Year: 1870; Census Place: 4th Ward, Bienville, Louisiana; Roll: M593_507; Page: 85A; Family History Library Film: 552006

Year: 1880; Census Place: 3rd Ward, Natchitoches, Louisiana; Roll: 457; Page: 616B; Enumeration District: 033