Watts Family Papers, 1816-1970 | Eastern Kentucky University - Special Collections and Archives

Physical Description: Includes family correspondence, photographs, and financial records of James Parks, William Watts and Emma Watts, artifacts, memorabilia and ephemera.

Scope and Contents: This collection has a large amount of correspondence, photographs, and legal documents. The collection spans three branches of family (Parkes, Walker, and Watts) and the time period of 1816-1970. The bulk of material is from 1878 and later and pertains to the Watts family; however, the Parkes family, particularly James B. Parkes, is well-represented within the collection. There are large quantities of land deeds from both the Kingston, Kentucky area and from Texas. The Watts family owned thousands of acres of land in the Brazos Basin area of Texas and in the Texas Panhandle. The land in the Brazos Basin was used as a plantation and survived on convict labor while the Texas Panhandle land served as a cattle ranch called Z-L Ranch. The histories of these lands are richly detailed through correspondence with lawyers and foreman and through the vast amount of legal documents that were kept; including lawsuit information, tax receipts, and land surveys.

Comments: Texas series is complete but the rest of the collection needs to be finished