Randolph Watkins

WATKINS, KERRIHARD, STEVENS

Posted By: Sara Stevens Patton (email)
Date: 5/11/2025 at 13:35:35

Randolph ("Dolph" or "Dol") was born and spent his first six years in Knox Co, Ohio and moved with his family to Warren Co, IL in 1850. There he grew up, spending the next 16 years near Monmouth-presumably on a farm.

In the spring of 1865, when he turned 21, "Dol" decided to go to Red Oak, Iowa. His eldest sister and her husband, Ann and Leander Sickman, had moved permanently to Red Oak by 1866. He remained there for about 9 months and returned to Illinois. In 1867, Randolph criss-crossed Iowa 7 or 8 times, presumably checking out areas for his family to relocate as they came to Red Oak in 1867.

On Christmas Eve, 1868, he and Matilda C. (Tillie) Kerrihard, the daughter of a prominent business man and miller, were married under the first Christmas tree in Red Oak, located at the newly built Methodist Episcopal Church (across street, north of present day Methodist church.)

Tillie's family, originally from Strasburg, PA (or Bloomsburg-depending on source!), had come to Red Oak as early as 1857 when she was but 8. She was the daughter of William "Uncle Billy" and Susannah Kerrihard. At the age of 6, her family moved to Davenport and from there to Lewis, IA. When they arrived in Montgomery County, her father built a small mill and manufactured the first flour in the county. In 1860, he moved to Red Oak and built another mill which his sons later ran.

Dol's first job in Red Oak was driving a mail hack from Afton, the western terminus of the Burlington railroad, to Glenwood, IA. "Some of the road which we followed over that mail route was marked only by a single furrow which had been plowed on either side. This was to keep us from getting lost at night or in snow storms. If we crossed this furrow we could easily tell it by the jolt of the buck-board in which we were riding and we made haste to get back into the track again. We charged 10 cents a mile for carrying passengers and it was customary for them to get out and help in case we got stuck on the road. I well remember when I got stuck about 3 o'clock one morning on the road to Red Oak and the tree or four men whom I was hauling refused to get out and help me get out of the mud hole. I said nothing but quietly unhooked my team, threw the mail sack over the back of one horse, got on the other horse myself and rode to Red Oak. The boss told me when I got back here (on) my return trip (copy torn) ...(the men I left) on the prairie that night were so mad when they got into town the next day that they threatened to kill me if they ever saw me again."

Even more exciting was his participation in the "theft" of the county courthouse in the battle over which town-Frankfort or Red Oak- would be the county seat. In the middle of a blizzard, a band of hardy Red Oak men managed to move the heavy timber structure by ox teams to its new home in Red Oak. Years later, Randolph Watkins would build his in-town house only a block away from a new Montgomery County Court House. He must have fallen asleep with a big grin on his face as he listened to the hourly chimes of the big Court House clock.

"After I quit the mail route, I went to teaming from Red Oak to Council Bluffs, Omaha, St. Joseph and Nebraska City. I bought corn here in those days for 25 cents a bushel and hauled it to Council Bluffs where I have sold it as high as .35 a bushel to emigrants who were going to California. These emigrants would gather there in large numbers and then were escorted across Nebraska by soldiers as protection against Indians which gave the settlers much trouble at that time I have seen as many as 200 outfits camped where the Council Bluffs city depot now stands.

"There were lots of turkeys raised through this part of the country in those days and commission men would come in here from Council Bluffs and buy them and then drive them to Council Bluffs in great droves. The largest drove I ever saw was one of about 600 which was brought through here from Clarinda. Turkeys were brought by the head then and not by the pound. Hen turkeys were worth 40-50 cents each and gobblers sold at 60 cents each." In addition to working as a teamster hauling goods to surrounding towns, Dol also worked on the railroad when it was built through the area.

In 1873, Randolph took a load of farming implements to Webster Co, Nebraska, where he located a claim and moved his wife and two young daughters. There, they built a "soddie" (sod house) with flowers growing out of the roof. A favorite family story was of a visit by Indians wanting food. Since her husband was not home at the time, Tillie Watkins tried to get her little daughters to hide in the root cellar but one little girl toddled out and presented the visitors with some bread and jam. They went away happy! (Note: This was just a few years before Custer's Last Stand.)

The family remained just long enough to have their crops destroyed by grasshoppers, before they headed back to Iowa. In next year, Randolph returned to his Nebraska claim, planted another crop but soon sold out, and returned to Red Oak for good. (Tillie may have stayed in Red Oak with her family since she daughters were so young.)

Back in Montgomery County, Dol bought eighty acres of farm land south of town. In the spring of 1880, he moved to another farm of 80 acres, adjacent to his wife's younger brother, Thomas Kerrihard.

"Dol" Watkins was also good friend of Timothy Wilkins, one of the first editors of "The Express" which was then published in a little room up stairs on the west side of the public square. Wilkins and Watkins both did barbering there for the boys of the neighborhood: Wilkins doing the shaving, Watkins the barbering. "It took both of us to do the work because he couldn't cut hair and I couldn't shave. We did the work for nothing at first but so many of the boys got to coming in that we decided to charge each one a cigar for doing his barbering, and thereafter that was the price to all. And those were real hair cuts too; some of the boys came in with hair hanging almost to their shoulders."

Around 1910 the family moved into town and built a home on 611 2nd Street, across the street from the John Deere store and a block from the new Court House. Randolph kept the farm which he later sold.

Tillie and Randolph celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1918. Both were members of the Methodist Church. Randolph is said to have served as county commissioner (info which needs to be checked.)

After the marriage of their youngest daughter, Bonnie to Harry Stevens, the couple moved in with the Watkins. Their 3 children, Marjorie, Loie, and Jack Stevens, were all born and grew up in the Watkins home. This also allowed Bonnie to care for her parents until their deaths.

Tillie died in 1927, two years before her husband. Randolph died in 1929 when Loie was 19 and Jack was almost 14. Tillie and Randolph are buried together in the Red Oak, IA cemetery.

Randolph and Matilda were the parents of four daughters: Charlotte who died in infancy; Alma Wilkins; Anna Lloyd, and Bonnie Stevens. They also raised a foster son, Lou Watkins (aka Joshua Lou Berriman).

Biography written by great-granddaughter Sara Stevens Patton after researching articles in the Red Oak Express, various court house records, census records, published histories of Montgomery County and interviews with Bonnie Watkins Stevens, and Loie and Jack Stevens.