Watkin Moxley Dubel Family History

The Moxley family, which is of English derivation, and has many spellings such as Mously, Moseley, Mosley, Mosely, Morley, Mockley, Mauxley, and other similar corruptions probably the result of spelling errors and bad handwriting, the name has been dated back to the 14th century.

As stated before Rosa Medora Moxley Watkins was the daughter of Robert Bromwell Moxley (1840) and Susan S. Baker (1848). What makes the Moxley family so interesting is that it has been called the "Tea-Party Clan" meaning that their Revolutionary War period ancestor Nehemiah Moxley, born Dec. 19, 1737/38 and died Feb. 18, 1836 had an active role in fighting the British by taking part in the burning of the British tea ship the "Peggy Stewart", at Annapolis.

There is a Maryland Historic Marker in Howard County which states the following: "Dr. Charles Alexander Warfield 1751-1813 The grave of this Revolutionary War patriot is near this site. A member of the Sons of Liberty, he participated in the burning of the Brig "Peggy Stewart", at Annapolis, October 19, 1774, and also served as a Major in the Elkridge Battalion during the war. Md 97, 2 miles south of Cooksville.

Nehemiah Moxley was probably a member of Dr. Warfield's militia unit since he lived and had a farm in that area at that time so it has been documented that he participated in the burning of the tea ship "Peggy Stewart" and ever since this event has been celebrated by the Nehemiah Moxley descendants at a reunion every year, hence the name "Tea-party clan". Please note the attached newspaper article about this event. Later Nehemiah moved to the western part of Howard County, (then Anne Arundel County) near Clagettsville and purchased another farm called "Friendship" which is still there in a small valley.

It should be mentioned that any member of the family that wishes to do so can become a member of the SAR or DAR through being descended from either Nehemiah Moxley or Jeremiah Watkins. This Watkins descendant also meets the requirements of the Order of Founders and Patriots of having ancestors of the same line in the colonies before 1657 and in the same line also having a Revolutionary War patriot.

The earliest Watkins of record is Watkins Watkins (twicey as it's called in Wales when the first name is the same as the last name, it's common in Wales) the Harlech area of Wales is where Watkins Watkins comes from, he was born in 1410 and among his children was William Watkins who died about 1539 at Shotten, England with about two children who were William Watkins, 2nd and Francis Watkins who married Elizabeth Lee of the Virginia families associated with General Robert E. Lee. They had children including James Watkins who reported to have sailed with Captain John Smith during the "Three Voyages of Discovery" and Captain Smith named Watkins Point in his honor. He was married and had at least three children, among them was John Watkins, 1st, who died after 1665 at South Point, Nansemond County, Virginia.

The earliest Watkins of record is Watkins Watkins (twicey as it's called in Wales when the first name is the same as the last name, it's common in Wales) the Harlech area of Wales is where Watkins Watkins comes from, he was born in 1410 and among his children was William Watkins who died about 1539 at Shotten, England with about two children who were William Watkins, 2nd and Francis Watkins who married Elizabeth Lee of the Virginia families associated with General Robert E. Lee. They had children including James Watkins who reported to have sailed with Captain John Smith during the "Three Voyages of Discovery" and Captain Smith named Watkins Point in his honor. He was married and had at least three children, among them was John Watkins, 1st, who died after 1665 at South Point, Nansemond County, Virginia.

John Watkins 1st, arrived in Virginia about 1638, when he received a grant of land for 150 acres in James City County, for having transported three persons to settle. In 1644 he received 200 acres on the Elizabeth River and later lived in Nansemond where he died, he was married to Frances, who was born before 1650 and died before 1680. They had a son John Watkins 2nd who received title to "Watkins Hope", containing 100 acres on the north side of the West River, in Anne Arundel County, and in 1675 was living on the Severn River near Annapolis.

John Watkins, 3rd, son of John Watkins, 2nd, and Alice Lloyd, was married in 1688 to Ann Gassaway, daughter of Col. Thomas Gassaway and Hester Besson.

Among their descendants was Nicholas Watkins, Sr., born in Anne Arundel County, Maryland March 3, 1691 and died 1757 or possibly 1770. He married Margaret Lamb, born December 1, 1703 and died about Nov. 7, 1774, daughter of John Lamb and Elizabeth Belt Tydings.

Among their many children was Jeremiah Watkins, born March 8, 1743 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland and died May 3, 1833 at Browningsville in Montgomery County, Maryland at the age of 90 years, 1 month and 25 days. Jeremiah Watkins was married May 30, 1762 in Frederick County, Maryland to Elizabeth Waugh, born about 1745 in Anne Arundel County, and died October 18, 1823 in Montgomery County, daughter of James Waugh and Alice Green.

Child number 11 of Jeremiah Watkins and Elizabeth Waugh was John W. Watkins, born August 24, 1782, died Sept. 19, 1866. He was married in Frederick County on Dec. 8, 1829, to Eleanor C. Hitchcock, born Feb. 15, 1797 in Baltimore County, Maryland and died Frederick County, Nov. 7, 1860, she was the daughter of Asael Hitchcock, Jr. (1746). John was a veteran of the War of 1812, a private in the regular army serving in the 2nd Regiment of US infantry. John was discharged at New Orleans on April 9, 1815 and received a bounty land warrant of 160 acres for his service.

We have two Watkins lines, one on the Hilton side and one on my grandmother Dubel's side and both lines go back to Jeremiah Watkins. We're are own cousins going and coming so many times that it really gets confusing at times. Further examples of this is the Baker line in the Thomas E. Watkins family and also there's a Mullinix line in the Thomas E. Watkins family, the only good thing about having so many of the same family is having to do the research only once.

John Thomas Watkins, a son of John W. Watkins and Eleanor C. Hitchcock was born Sept. 5, 1834 in Frederick County and died there Nov. 6, 1908. He was a miller and was married int the county on August 27, 1857, to Mary Burton Baker, born March 30, 1838 and died Feb. 21, 1915 in Frederick County. (Above is a photo of John Thomas Watkins). Below is a photo of the mill cabin as it appears today that John Thomas Watkins and family lived in near Monrovia, Frederick County, Maryland, the grain mill would have been across the road from the cabin about where the photo was taken from, nothing is left of the grain mill except maybe some of the foundation. It's reported that in 1862 during the Civil War the John T. Watkins mill was visited by Confederate cavalry and all the bags of ground meal were appropriated and paid for in Confederate currency. During the Civil War John T. Watkins sold much of his ground meal to nearby Union encampments which were numerous in the area at that time.

Thomas Ellsworth Watkins, a son of John Thomas Watkins and Mary Burton Baker was born March 11, 1862 in Frederick County, Maryland and died Feb. 20, 1949 in Carroll County. Married in 1882 in Frederick county to Rosa Medora Moxley, born June 30, 1865 in Frederick County and died Jan. 19, 1934 in Carroll County, Maryland. Rosa was the daughter of Robert Bromwell Moxley (1840) and Susan S. Baker (1848). It should be noted that Thomas Ellsworth Watkins was born during the Civil War and was given the middle name Ellsworth, it was common then to name a male child after Col. Elmer Ellsworth, the first conspicuous US casualty of the Civil War, who was killed in Alexandria, Virginia in 1861, the middle name was handed down in the family for three generation, from Thomas to my father Bob and then to me.

Thomas Ellsworth Watkins and Rosa Medora Moxley Watkins had 6 children: Ira Dorsey Watkins, Raymond Watkins, Asa Hull Watkins, Donald Ellsworth Watkins and Maybelle Geraldine Watkins, my grandmother, born Oct. 2, 1903 in Frederick County and died in Frederick County, May 20, 1971.

An early family group photo showing, back row from the left Asa Watkins, Ira Watkins, Ray Watkins, the front row from the left is Geraldine Watkins, Rosie Watkins, Donald Watkins, Thomas E. Watkins and Robert M. Watkins.
A group photo taken later and probably a more well know photo shows back row from the left Ray Watkins, Asa Watkins, Ira Watkins, front row from the left Donald Watkins, Thomas E. Watkins, Geraldine Watkins, Rosie Watkins and Robert M. Watkins.
I've included a fourth photo that shows just Thomas E. Watkins and daughter Geraldine Watkins (my grandmother).
Thomas Ellsworth Watkins and Rosa Medora Moxley Watkins at their farm in Kemptown before moving to Mt. Airy.
Sweet pictures of my Dad (Robert E. Lyons) when he was a boy. Great-grandpa Thomas E. Watkins with me at his home in Mt. Airy.
I was so incredibly lucky to find these two photographs, this is Thomas E. Watkins (back to Camera) me and Butch with Aunt Corrine and Uncle Donald.

The Thomas E. Watkins family was quite successful, Ray Watkins took over the family farm in Kemptown, Thomas E. Watkins went on to found the Peoples Lumber in Supply Company in Mount Airy along with his son Ira. Thomas E. Watkins built a grand brick home on Main Street in Mt. Airy. Son Asa became a builder and there's still a housing development in Frederick called "Watkins Acres." Donald Watkins became a teacher at Damascus High School and Robert M. Watkins became the first head of Prince Georges County Park and Planning and has a park named after him. Ira Watkins also has a park named for him in Mt. Airy. All the sons married and had families and built beautiful homes in Mt. Airy except of Robert M. Watkins or "Bunt" as he was called, he had a home in College Park. Many of their descendants still live in the Mt. Airy area.

These photos show my grandmother Geraldine Watkins in high school from the 1921/22 year book of Mount Airy High School. Here she's in the front,
she's in the top row middle,
she's appears in the 2nd row far left,

I was going through some more stuff in the basement and came across this group photo showing Grandma Dubel when she graduated from the Mabelle Honour School of Beauty Culture, Inc. in Washington, D.C., I had always thought she went to a beauty school in Baltimore. Grandma is the lady in the last row far right holding her diploma, she's the last lady and she has her eyes closed. She must have thought a whole lot of this photo because she had it in a frame but I never saw it before. I aways thought that Grandma looked a whole lot like Bessie Wallace Warfield.  

The photo below was taken by me on Pa's farm showing Maybelle Geraldine Watkins Dubel (she didn't like the name Maybelle) much later in life, probably toward the end of her life, in the background distance is the Denton and Maude Driver farm, I don't think I had sent you a photo showing that farm before, it was a beautiful farm like Pa's farm when it was first built built but was allowed to run down when the Drivers passed away, after that the house became rental property.

Now on to the German side of our family, instead of English, Welsh and Scottish names it's now names like Dubel, Delauter, Marken, Harmen, Dick, Bussard (Bossert), Ridenour (Reitenauer), Mahn (Main), Brunner, Sturm, and Thomas to name a few. All are old Pennsylvania and Maryland German settlers, most if not all settled here prior to the Revolutionary War.

Maybelle Geraldine Watkins married Omer John Dubel, who was from Myersville, Frederick County, Maryland born Jan. 12, 1898 in Frederick County, and died Sept. 20, 1947 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore City, Maryland. Omer was 48 and mayor of Thurmont, Maryland when he died, his photo hangs in Thurmont City Hall, he died (1947) during his 2nd term of office as mayor (attached is a copy of his city hall photo probably taken shortly before his death).

At the time of the marriage to Geraldine Omer was a school teacher at Mount Airy High School, in Mt. Airy, Maryland. Geraldine and Omer's marriage probably only lasted less than a year with Omer leaving Mt. Airy, he eventually settled in Thurmont, Maryland where he taught at Thurmont High School for awhile but eventually remarried, had more children and went into another line of work and was elected mayor of Thurmont. Geraldine Dubel never remarried but from their brief union they had one child, my father Robert Ellsworth Dubel, Sr. born March 3, 1921, Frederick County, Maryland, died August 3, 2009, Carroll County, Maryland.

Robert Ellsworth Dubel, Sr. married Mary Amelia Hilton born July 7, 1922, Montgomery County, Maryland and died Sept. 11, 2000, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Robert and Mary were married about 1940/41, they had one child from this union, Robert Ellsworth Dubel, Jr., born Oct. 6, 1941 who later became Lyons when Robert and Mary divorced after a brief marriage, both went on to marry again and have children from those marriages.

Attached is a photo of Robert Ellsworth Dubel, Sr. first as a cadet a the Massanutten Academy in Virginia and second as a member of the Mt. Airy Volunteer Fire department. It should be noted that the similarity of Omer in his uniform at St. John's College and his son Robert at Massanutten Academy look amazing alike, I saw the photo of Omer in uniform but don't have a copy unfortunately.

Robert Ellsworth Dubel, Sr. lived his whole life in Mt. Airy, he worked for the Peoples Lumber and Supply Company in his early life, he was an Army veteran who served during WWII, and later worked for the Montgomery County Department of Education when he retired.

Omer's parents were Tyson David Dubel, born Oct. 29, 1859, died April 19, 1907, aged 47, 5 months, 29 days. Amanda Catherine Delauter, born July 29, 1862, died 1923. They were married Dec. 22, 1885.

Tyson's occupation was according to the census was a farmer, Tyson owned a farm at Wolfsville, Frederick County but sold the farm and purchased a house in Myersville, Frederick County where he became a member of the first Board of Directors of the Myersville Savings Bank which was organized in January, 1899. The home in Myersville they purchased is no longer there, it's now part of the Lutheran Church parking lot, across the street was the bank, the structure is still there but it's no longer a bank.

The first Dubel of record in Maryland was probably Isaac Dubel but nothing is known of him, his son was probably Benjamin Dubel, born June 20, 1775, died Sept. 24, 1845, his wife was Elizabeth Ridenour (Reitenauer) born July 20, 1777, died Feb. 16, 1850, aged 72 years, 6 months, 26 days.

Omer J. Dubel as a child lost his arm in a terrible accident while working at a soda fountain in a drug store a block or two on Main Street Myersville near his house, a gas canister used on the soda fountains in those days was unstable and exploded critically injuring Omer but he recovered and managed from then on only with one arm. There are photos and articles about him being the one armed pitcher on the local Myersville baseball team, baseball was a sport he evidently loved along with horse racing toward the end of life, he loved traveling to Atlantic City, NJ and Charlestown, WV to watch the races. Attached is the building in Myersville where Omer lost his arm, the structure probably looks a lot different today.

Omer registered at St. John's College, Annapolis, Md. on Sept. 19, 1917, he indicated on his statement that his parent or guardian was "Mrs. A.C. Dubel" of "Myersville, Frederick County, Md." Omer indicated his tuition was being paid by a State Scholarship, "secured by E.R. Hauver." He further stated that he attended the "Lutheran Church" and had also attended "The Middletown High School" for the past two years.

The following excerpts are from the College Register of St. John's College and it should be noted at that time St. John's College in Annapolis was a military college and their students wore military style uniforms, noting the present day reputation of this school this is difficult to believe but true.

Scholastic Classifications:

1917-18: Freshman

1918-19 and 1919-20: Out of College (school was closed due to WWI)

1920-21: Sophomore

1921-22: Senior

Omer was graduated with a B.A. degree on June 13, 1922

The following excerpts are from the Minutes of the Faculty Meetings indicated:

Sept. 19, 1917: Cadet Dubel was excused from Military Tactics and from wearing a uniform (he had only one arm)

Oct. 28, 1920: Leave was granted as follows, Cadet Dubel from Oct. 29th, 1:30 P.M. - Nov. 3rd, 10:30 P.M. (it's not known what this was for)

May 5, 1921: Request from Cadet Dubel to be permitted to drop Sophomore Mathematics was granted. (unknown why)

Sept. 27, 1921: Cadet Dubel was permitted to carry 22 hours. He was also excused from wearing uniform. (St. John's uniforms were Cadet gray West Point style with many brass buttons that were difficult and time consuming to button with two hands and Omer only had one).

Oct. 6, 1921: Request from Cadet Dubel for permission to take Hygiene as part of his College work was refused.

Oct. 13, 1921: Cadet Dubel was given permission to count Hygiene as a senior elective.

From the Mandamus for Degrees as presented at the Board Meeting of June 8, 1922: For the Degree of Bachelor of Arts, Omer John Dubel.

Omer John Dubel's first assignment as a teacher was at Mount Airy High School, attached are photos from the 1922 Mt. Airy HS Year Book showing Omer fresh out of college and teaching. The first photo shows him on the far right as a teacher. The two other photos show him as manager of the high school baseball team. A fourth photo is a story Omer wrote for the year book about taking his senior high school class on a field trip to Annapolis. To travel to Annapolis from Mt. Airy in those days would utilize all modes of transportation, train, trolley, and boat, it must have been a long day, really interesting.

An interesting story popped out when studying the Dubel family, a however many great grandmother Mahala Marken had a brother Wesley Marken who would have been a however many great uncle. Wesley was born Sept. 30, 1832 and was 32 with a wife and four children living near Wolfsville, Maryland when he enlisted in the Union army during the Civil War. He enlisted in Company F, 1st Regiment Potomac Home Brigade, which subsequently became Company F, 13 Regiment Maryland Infantry (the principal duty of this regiment was to guard the B&O Railroad). Wesley enlisted on March 24th, 1864, for 3 years at Frederick, Maryland. He was captured by Confederate cavalry at Duffield Station, VA (now in WV) on June 29, 1864, he died of dysentery on October 13, 1864 at Andersonville Prison, Georgia. He's buried in grave no. 10861, section H at Andersonville Memorial Cemetery. There's no record of what happened to his wife and four children, a really sad story, we can only wonder what happened to his family or why Wesley decided to enlist with the war almost over. I've attached a photo of Duffield Statation, WV as it appears today.

I have one of those yard long military group photos showing Bob Dubel in the US Army in WWII, he was a member of the Company A, 10th Armored Replacement Battalion at Ft. Knox, Kentucky commanded by 1st Lieutenant Jerrs R. Ledrup. The photo was taken in May, 1944, more than a year before the war ended. Bob is standing in the top row center. I was happy I could get this photo to scan, well actually his portion of the photo.

Robert Dubel with son Robert E. Lyons and great-grandsons Evan and Owen Hauptmann.