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Crockett, Jr., John Watkins
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| Affiliation | Whig |
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| Name | John Watkins Crockett, Jr. |
| Address |
, Kentucky , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
May 17, 1818
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| Died | June 20, 1874
(56 years)
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| Contributor | Thomas Walker |
| Last Modifed | Thomas Walker
Nov 02, 2009 12:36pm |
| Tags |
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| Info | JOHN WATKINS CROCKETT, who for many years was connected with
the bar of Henderson, was born in Jessamine county, Kentucky, May
17, 1818, and died in Madisonville, June 20, 1874. His father, John
W. Crockett, was a native of the same county and was a farmer by
occupation. His grandfather, Joseph Crockett, was born near
Charlotteville, Virginia, and was colonel of a Virginia regiment
during the war of the Revolution. In 1827 he emigrated to Kentucky
and took an active part in the organization of the state, serving as
United States marshal for a time. The first of the family to come
to America was of French-Huguenot extraction, members of the
Huguenot band having fled from their native France in the days of
the persecution and sought safety in Ireland, whence their
descendants came to America. The name at that time was spelled
Croquetaine. The sons of this family were seafaring men, and
engaged in this calling in connection with the Maury family before
locating in Virginia. The mother of our subject was Louisa
(Bullock) Crockett, of Jessamine county, Kentucky, a member of the
prominent family of that name in this state.
John Watkins Crockett was educated in the common schools of
Jessamine county, Kentucky, and in Hancock county, Illinois, while
residing there with his sister, Mrs. Hannah (Crockett) Bell. At the
age of twenty-one he returned to Hopkinsville, Kentucky, where he
read law with his cousin, Joseph Crockett, an attorney of renown,
who later became one of the justices of the supreme bench of
California. Mr. Crockett was admitted to practice at Paducah,
Kentucky, and removed to Henderson a short time before the
inauguration of the Civil war. His sympathies were with the south,
and his conscientious convictions of the supreme right of the states
to sever their union with the national government led him to give
his influence and support to the Confederacy. He was sent as a
delegate to the convention held in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and
there was elected to represent the second congressional district in
the Confederate congress. He maintained this position during the
greater part of the war, devoting his time and abilities to
advancing the cause of the south, and when the war was over returned
to Henderson, where he resumed the practice of law. To that work he
devoted his energies until 1872, when failing health caused him to
leave the bar and he returned to Madisonville, where he died in
1874.
Mr. Crockett was twice married. He first wedded Mrs. Smedley,
and of this union there are two surviving children,--John W. And
Mrs. Lucy (Crockett) Thornberry, of Montgomery, Alabama. For his
second wife Mr. Crockett chose Miss Louisa Ingram, daughter of Wyatt
H. Ingram, a merchant of Henderson, Kentucky. The Ingrams came to
this state from Virginia at a very early day. The only surviving
child of the second marriage is Ingram Crockett, who is teller in
the Planters' Bank of Henderson, and who, aside from his duties in
the bank, gives much attention to authorship, having written many
beautiful poems which have appeared in such standard publications as
the Youth's Companion and Frank Leslie's, and have also been
published for distribution and sale.
In concluding the sketch of John Watkins Crockett it is but
just to give an account of his forensic ability, which has seldom
been equaled. He was by nature an orator. He possessed a vigorous
intellect, wide information and keen wit, and his command of
language was such as to make his speech apt and fitting at all
times. Careful in arranging and preparing his cases, he was never
at a loss for forcible and appropriate argument to sustain his
position and he met in the arena of the court-room and in public
debate such men as Archibald Dixon, Lazaus W. Powell and others of
like caliber, and rarely was worsted in the combat. He was of a
genial, generous nature, courteous and frank and ready at all time
to aid the unfortunate and needy. Though thirty years have passed
since he was laid in the tomb his memory is still enshrined in the
hearts of many friends, and his virtues and goodness still live in
the recollection of those who knew him.
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