Celebrating Two Centuries in America: Planning Starts for the Watkins Family's 200th Year Anniversary
- Donald V. Watkins
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on January 23, 2026
Throughout 2030, the Carmichael/Varnado/Watkins family will celebrate its 200th Year Anniversary in America. My sister Doristine Watkins Minott, who is known inside our family as "Teannie," and I have been tasked with organizing the milestone celebratory events for this occasion.
Our family’s history in America started in 1830 with the arrival of my great-great maternal grandmother in the U.S. She was a 13-year-old girl of African descent who came to America as human cargo in the transatlantic slave trade.
Her story was reduced to writing by my father, Levi Watkins, and told publicly for the first time on May 27, 1941, at the Douglass School in Parsons, Kansas in a pageant titled, “The Emancipation Proclamation.” At the time, my dad was the school's principal. The pageant depicted the “rise and development of the Negro race beginning with the jungle scenes of Africa and ending with a panorama of outstanding personalities in contemporary life.”
Arriving in America
My great-great maternal grandmother survived her 8-week nightmarish transatlantic voyage chained-up in the hell hole of a British slave ship that departed from a slave port on Bunch Island in Sierra Leone. Her ship docked at the port of Charleston in South Carolina.
She arrived in South Carolina approximately 8 years prior to the arrival of Dougald and Katheryn Carmichael. The Carmichaels were the parents of my great maternal grandfather William Carmichael. The Carmichaels immigrated to America from Scotland in 1838. They came to America by choice.
Dougald and Katheryn Carmichael, both of whom were born in 1817, arrived in America at the port of New York around 1838 as free white Scottish immigrants. The Carmichael’s initially settled in South Carolina. By 1850, they had moved to Hinds County, Mississippi and were raising a family of four children. One of these children was William, who was 13 years old. In later years, the Carmichael's had three more children.
After arriving in Charleston, my great-great maternal grandmother was bought and sold at a slave auction. She eventually ended up as the chattel property of Michael Daley, a white Irish immigrant in Madison County, Mississippi. Daley, who was married but had no biological children with his wife Bridget, lived and farmed on land he owned in Madison County.
On April 20, 1847, my great-great maternal grandmother gave birth to Olivia Williamson on Michael Daley’s farm. Olivia was my great maternal grandmother.
Oral family histories and subsequent Madison County property records suggest that Daley was Olivia’s biological father. She had Caucasian features and light skin. The 1870 Federal Census for Mississippi listed Olivia Williamson as a “mulatto.”
On March 25, 1865, Olivia Williamson and William Carmichael, the son of Dougald and Katheryn Carmichael, married in Crawford Station, Mississippi. After their marriage, this interracial couple moved to the city of Canton in Madison County and started their family. My maternal grandmother was one of their twelve children, three of whom died in early childhood.
On February 26, 1887, Michael Daley signed and recorded a Warranty Deed that conveyed title to all his Madison County property to Olivia Carmichael. With this act, Olivia Carmichael broke the color barrier in Mississippi by becoming the first Black female to own land in her name, alone.
The 200th Year Anniversary Celebration
Today, Carmichael/Varnado/Watkins family members are living and working throughout America and around the world. There are many branches and hundreds of living members of this family.
We meticulously document this family's history in America and pass it down from generation-to-generation.
Teannie and I are planning the celebratory events for our 200th Year Anniversary in America. We welcome suggestions for celebrating this milestone event from members of my reading audience. We have four years to plan and lock-down all of the venues, entertainment, and programs for this year-long event.
Please share your thoughts and suggestions with us!
Teannie is great at organizing our family reunions and related special events. As a lifelong school administrator, she likes being in charge. I am basically her executive assistant. This will be the biggest Carmichael/Varnado/Watkins family celebratory event, ever.
When a Watkins family member graduates from high school and goes off to college, he/she get two gifts: A Bible engraved with his/her name on it and a framed copy of this photo. Before he/she leaves for class each day, he/she should look at the photo and pledge to make this family proud. When he/she returns home, he/she should tell the family members in this photo what was accomplished that day to advance and protect our family's place in American history. In this family, we take care of our own. We do not seek validation of our purpose, mission, or worth from people outside of our family.
For nearly 200 years in America, the Carmichael/Varnado/Watkins family has seen "good" triumph over "evil" and agape love conquer entrenched racial hatred. We have lived through slavery, the Civil War, the Reconstruction Era, the Redeemer Period, the Jim Crow Era, the Civil Rights Era, the Tea Party Era, and Trumpism. We know the keys to surviving and thriving in America, regardless of which direction the winds of political change are blowing. It all starts with the family unit and educational excellence. Finally, we document, preserve, and tell our own history, which is passed down from generation-to-generation. This history is required knowledge within our family.