| “The frame house with the stone steps, of nine
or ten rooms, built in 1852, was set in a grove of oaks about fifty yards
from the Spartanburg road on the northern side, and a wide front walk flanked
by boxwood hedges and crepe myrtles led to the front gate which was a mile
and a thousand yards north of the courthouse steps in the village of Laurens.
The house stands now remodeled in the middle of a cotton mill village.
I was born in it December 9, 1868.”
Thus began The State That Forgot, written by William Watts Ball in 1932. William Watts Ball was the son of Beaufort Watts Ball and Eliza Watts, daughter of William Dendy Watts. William Dendy Watts, Judge of Probate for Laurens County, was builder of the Watts House which stood on a plantation of 1150 acres which had been purchased from Henry W. Garlington. Judge Watts was born in Laurens County, August 22, 1800, below Cross Hill and near Saluda River. He married first to Miss Susan Young. Susan and their three young children died in 1835. Mr. Watts then married Sarah Speake Cannon of Newberry County and moved to Laurens (then called Laurens Courthouse). He was elected Judge of Probate in 1839 and served until his death. Although physically frail and not of good health, Judge Watts allowed himself to be elected a delegate to the Secession Convention of 1860 which met in Charleston. The Ordinance of Secession was drawn there under date of December 20, 1860. Inscribed thereon is the name W. D. Watts. Judge Watts came home from Charleston with a severe cold from which it seems he could not recover. He died July 10, 1861 and is buried in Laurens City Cemetery. Beaufort Watts Ball was born in Cross Hill township near Saluda River. He came to Laurens in 1854 to begin his practice of law in the office of Charles P. Sullivan. When the War Between the States broke out in 1861, Beaufort Ball entered Confederate service. After the War was over, he returned to his law practice in Laurens and in 1867, married Miss Eliza Watts. Beaufort and Eliza lived in Laurens on West Laurens Street in a small house known as “double chimneys”, forty yards from the northwest corner of the square. Col. Ball practiced law in a log cabin of two rooms which were separated by a roofed hallway open from front to rear. Across the front was a long piazza looking south one hundred feet to the brown plastered brick courthouse. As the birth of her first child neared, Eliza Watts Ball returned to the home of her mother, Sarah Cannon Watts. There, William Watts Ball, noted newspaper editor, author, and first dean of the University of South Carolina School of Journalism, was born December 9, 1868. After the death of William Dendy Watts in 1861, his widow, Sarah Cannon Watts continued to operate and oversee the plantation. Her two eldest sons, Capt. John Watts (b. 1839) and Larry Watts (b. 1841), were in the Confederate army, as was their former overseer, William Lamb. In 1871, Eliza Watts Ball and her lawyer husband, Beaufort W. Ball, moved back to the plantation where Beaufort helped his mother-in-law manage the plantation. About 1875, Col. Ball bought the beautiful home on West Hampton Street ( now Martha Franks Baptist Retirement Center) and moved his family there. Management of the Watts plantation then passed to Mrs. Watts’ youngest son, James Dunklin Watts. In 1901, the Watts home with a large tract of land was sold to stockholders for the purpose of building a textile mill. The plant was given the name Watts Mills. Mr. W. E. Lucas, native of Darlington County, became president of the mill. The former Watts home became the official residence for presidents of the mill and was referred to as the President’s House. Subsequently it was call Lucas House. Mr. Lucas died in January 1908 and Mr. Alex Long of Rock Hill became president of Watts Mills. He continued to reside in Rock Hill where he was president of Aragon Cotton Mills and would divide his time between the two. Whether or not Mr. Long occupied the Watts House at any time is unknown. Mr. M. L. (Mason Langston) Copeland in Laurens was chosen as assistant to Mr. Long. For several years, Mr. Copeland had been cotton buyer for Watts Mills and would now devote all his time to the mill. He was married to Sarah Ball, daughter of B. W. and Eliza Watts Ball, and the Copelands lived with the widowed Mrs. Ball in the home on West Hampton Street. From 1908 to 1920, occupants of the Watts House have not yet been identified. The Laurens Advertiser in June 1920 noted that Miss Bettie Richards had accepted a position as Service and Welfare Director at Walls Mills. Another unknown is the date on which the Lucas House ceased being residence for the president of Watts Mills and became the center of community activities presided over by “Miss Bettie”. The first-organized and perhaps the best known of all Watt Mills’ (later Wattsville) social groups was the Mother’s Club. From its organization, this group of active ladies studied, beautified the community, cooked, honored high school seniors, gave scholarships, and traveled. For years they met monthly at the Community House. Other groups who met there regularly were the Wattsville Lions Club, the Young Women’s Club, a Masonic Lodge, and a Sorority. After Miss Richards retired on April 1, 1962, various clubs continued to meet at the house until sometime in 1983-4 when a tornado left the house with much damage. At this point, J. P. Stevens & Co., formerly Watts Mills, decided to raze the house. A bulldozer was already on the grounds when concerned citizens of the community petitioned J. P. Stevens & Co. for ownership of the house. On October 3, 1985, the house along with 2.36 acres of land was deeded to Watts House Association, Miriam Waddell, Edna T. Nickles, and Bob Dominick as representatives. Since then, the hard-working members of the Association have raised funds, cleaned, painted, and are proceeding to repair and restore the house. Within the past five years, three new groups, Heritage Needlearts, Sons of Confederate Veterans, and United Daughters of the Confederacy, have begun holding meetings at Watts House. Other events held there have been bridal showers, birthday parties, family reunions, etc. Watts House Association holds title to Watts House and the current Executive Board of Directors are: Miriam Waddell, president; Bonnie L. Burton, vice-president; Audrey O. Blackwell, secretary; Virginia C. Owens, treasurer; Virginia Hill Sexton, chairperson; Bob Dominick, member of the board; Gene Madden, member of the board; Joel A. Blackwell, alternate ; Edith O. Ellis, alternate ; Rev. David Templeton, alternate. Sources:
THE WATTS FAMILY William Dendy Watts, b. 22 Aug. 1800, d. 10 July 1861,
mar.
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