Watkins, Joseph E.

Born: 1799 Kentucky

Died: 1853

Watkins married his wife, Mary Hamilton, in 1830, in Gallatin County. He was elected into the Illinois House of Representatives for one term, 1830 to 1832, representing Gallatin County. Watkins was a commander of a company of mounted volunteers in 1832, during the Black Hawk War. After the death of Gallatin County's representative, Resolve Graham, Watkins succeeded him and served for one term in the Illinois House of Representatives, from 1836 to 1838. Watkins was also a physician and in 1850, owned $500 in real estate.

Gravestone, Equality Village Cemetery, Gallatin County, IL; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Gallatin County, 1 July 1830, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 202, 206; Isaac H. Elliott, Record of the Services of Illinois Soldiers in the Black Hawk War, 1831-32, and in the Mexican War, 1846-8 (Springfield, IL: H. W. Rokker, 1882), 4; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Gallatin County, IL, 408.