Sherad W. Watson
(Son of Peter)

The fate of Sherad W. Watson has been a mystery in our family.  He was born in 1835, presumably near Old Reyno, Arkansas.  He married Sarah Caroline Adair in Randolph County in 1857.  Together, they bore a daughter in September 1858 named Celie Ann (alternate spellings include Sela, Selian, Selean, and Sealy Ann).  In 1859, he was a delegate from Antioch Baptist Church to the Bethlehem Association, and probably would have become a preacher like his father and half-brother, Thomas.  After the advent of the Civil War, Sherad began training on 18 November 1861 in a 30-day unit which was to be used as a threat of invasion by Missouri units at Pitman's Ferry which was on the Missouri/Arkansas border.  The unit was Company A of the First Arkansas Regiment under the command of Captain A. G. Kelsey, and was discharged December 18 without being involved in any action.

On 28 March 1862, Sarah's brother, George W. Adair, who was apparently away from home fighting in the war, wrote a letter to Sherad, Sarah, their daughter Sealy Ann, and Sarah's brother, John, complaining of having plenty to eat and nothing to do.  He also mentioned that there were eighty northern cavalry in town, but neglected to mention the town's name.  This is Sherad's last appearance.  His son, George Washington Sherad Watson was born approximately nine months later on 13 December 1862.

George always claimed that his father left home to fight in the Civil War and never returned.  It is presumed that he was killed in action.  However, at this time there has not been found any record indicating that Sherad ever served in any capacity other than his initial thirty-day unit in late 1861.  Sherad could have deserted, changed his name, and moved to another state.  He could have been killed at home, as there is a story told by a granddaughter of Sherad's half-brother, Thomas Jefferson Watson, that might include him.

When Thomas was seventeen years old, two of his brothers were skating on a pond which was west of the Deaver house (one-half mile north of Hopewell Baptist Church and across the road) when some bushwhackers from Missouri by the surname of Teaseley shot and killed the brothers, taking their caps and socks, which their mother, Lucy, had knitted for them.  The Teaseleys then entered the Watson home and forced Lucy to fix breakfast for them.  They had been after Thomas, but he had escaped on his horse by jumping the pond.  A man named Nelson donated a portion of his land to be used as a cemetery for the boys.

Another version of this story comes from Paula Watson Williams, a great great granddaughter of Thomas Watson.  Her grandfather, William Thomas Watson, told her that when Thomas came back from the war (or perhaps on furlough) some Yankees had been following him and jumped the family.  Two of the sons were killed that day, but he didn't know which ones.  They were supposedly buried in the family plot there on the farm.

If Sherad was one of the sons killed, then Thomas was older than seventeen.  If he was buried on the family farm, no markers have survived to tell us where.

Updated 2-16-00.