Watrousville (Watersville)

Washington County, TX

Status:

Year Established: 1865

Council of Governments: BVCOG

Public History: There are no current descriptions related to Watrousville in the public record. If you are aware of any sources that we may have missed please share them with us.

Community History: WATROUS, BENJAMIN O. (ca. 1831–?)minister and delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1868–69, was born in McMinn County, Tennessee, about 1831. He was known as Ben Carter while a young slave but took the name Watrous after his new owner, Daniel Watrous, of Alabama. He was a wheelwright by trade. Watrous had lived in Texas for twelve years before Washington County voters chose him as a delegate to the constitutional convention, where he served on the Committee on State Affairs. He introduced resolutions requiring a belief in God as a qualification for public office and prohibiting exclusion from office on the basis of race. Watrous voted against a proposal to divide Texas into more than one state and was one of five black delegates to sign the Constitution of 1869. He also served as a member of the state central committee of the Republican party in 1868; he was defeated by Matthew Gaines in 1869 when he ran for the state Senate. https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online, This neighborhood was among the first to be settled after Camptown by the newly freed people. The Methodist Church established a Seminary at Old Blinn College in this section on town for the training of European-American ministers and was helpful in the[..], This neighborhood was among the first to be settled after Camptown by the newly freed people. The Methodist Church established a Seminary at Old Blinn College in this section on town for the training of European-Americna ministers and was helpful in the

Cemetery: Home Improvement Cemetery (HIC)

Church: Mount Zion Methodist Episcopal Church, Mount Zion Methodist Episcopal Church

School: West End Elementary Public School