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Chapter I - Introduction
To introduce you to Watkins and its early beginning we must say: Watkins was laid out in the fall of 1873 on the N.W. quarter of section 26 of St.Clair township. It was named in honor of railroad superintendent Watkins, who was killed in a railroad collision in October of that year. However; the site of Watkins, the farm of Charles G. Turner, and the town plat was not filed until Aug. 16, 1874.
Chapter IV - page 37
Mound Prairie is located midway between Watkins and Norway and at one time was used as an Indian burial ground. The first graves are well over one hundred years old. The land was owned by the Ira Tafts and they had named the mounds for three members of their family.....
Among the first known buried there are Ira Taft, 1875; Mrs. Ira Taft, 1859, and their daughter Jane Mason, 1862, and John Doolittle, 1872.