Tom Watson as a young man went to work for his brother Waver in the turpentine business.  His job was to drive the pick-up truck and transport a group of men from the town to the turpentine still in the woods.  The relationship between the two brothers was strained after a disagreement over Tom's work, and Tom sided with Needham and Hattie against Waver and the other  sisters in the fight over their father's will.

Tom later married Mary Jernigan and went to work for the highway department.  He and Mary adopted two young boys whose parents, the Monroes, were killed when a huge oak tree fell on their house during a tornado. Tom died in 1973.