By Jessica Gorman
Judge John D. Watkins was born 27 September 1828 in Caldwell County, Kentucky. Upon his graduation from Cumberland College, he made his way to Minden where it is said that he served as the first President of the Minden Male Academy located where Academy Park is today. This is one of those times when I pause and I realize that I need to take a closer look. There is conflicting information concerning exactly what year he graduated. I’ve seen both 1848 and 1851. The 1850 census says that Judge Watkins was still in school in Kentucky on June 1st, the official census day. That’s the same year the Minden Male Academy is said to have been founded. So, did he actually graduate in 1850 and then head immediately to Minden for the start of the school year that fall? I’m not sure. More primary sources are needed to sort that out.
Over the course of his life, Judge Watkins served in a number of roles: lawyer, district attorney, judge advocate, lieutenant colonel, district judge, state representative, nominee for Congress, Louisiana Constitutional Convention delegate, state senator, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and elector. Upon his death, the Bossier Banner-Progress described him as “one of the best-known lawyers of the state…a profound student, a learned and able lawyer, a man of pure character.”
There’s also a piece of northwest Louisiana history that is attributed to Judge Watkins. If you visited the Minden Cemetery and walked past his grave, you’d probably never guess that he was of any historical significance, that he was responsible for construction of “Old Louisiana’s most unique road.” The Shed Road – literally a road covered by a shed. It still bears that name today. Built in the 1870s to improve travel across the swampy land between Red Chute and Shreveport, primarily for the purpose of trade. This was particularly important when water levels on Bayou Dorcheat weren’t high enough for the steamboats.
Not everyone seemed to think that it was such a brilliant idea. Scientific American stated that “as is the usual fate of new ideas, it aroused no little popular ridicule. Judge Watkins was not a man to be laughed down.” He certainly wasn’t. He built the road, and in March of 1880 “while the uncovered roads were axle deep in many places with stiff mud, the shed road was firm and dry.” The road was a success, and a profitable one. Judge Watkins invested tens of thousands of dollars in building the road. So, it would only be logical that it was operated as a toll road.
The coming of the railroad in the 1880s decreased the need for the road, just as it did the steamboats on Dorcheat. Over time, the shed was removed.
Judge John D. Watkins was married to Mahala Flora Morrow. They had at least five children. Percy, Flora, and Ernest died in childhood. Only two lived to adulthood, Lynn Kyle Watkins, an attorney, and U.S. Congressman John T. Watkins. All are buried in the Minden Cemetery.
The attached photo shows the current appearance of Judge Watkins grave, similar to so many others. I thought I would make it by the cemetery to clean it before publication of this article, but circumstances did not allow.
(Jessica Gorman is the Executive Director of the Dorcheat Historical Association & Museum. Inc., Webster Parish Historian, and an avid genealogist.)