New-York tribune., 1900-04-22
A NOTED TAVERN.

IT WAS ONCE KEPT BY THE MOTHER or
HENRY CLAY
versailles Qky) correspondence of The s. Ionis
Globe-DemOCrat.
Nothlhg IS more interesting to the student or
history than to trace the obscure causes ,,1tioh
nave led to great events. Comparatively fau-
people are now living who know that the mother
vi i1ehfy Clay once kept tavern" in VersaiIJne
a. Ilu leWer sun have ever had it occur to them
that had not this been the case CLAY wnnid
iiunt ~ P,opapiy not have come to Kentucky at all
, Inc watkins family arrived in Versailles about
the cIoSe OF the eighteenth century bringing
with them quite retnue of slaves / NAV saY
IiShI mere that there is little foundation for the
popular idea that Henry Clays boyhood was
spent IN the atmosphere of poverty ObsclIritv
ana absolute want The mother of the mill
BOY OF the Slashes,' Elizabeth Hudson was a
lHeIlper or wealthy Virginia family and in
wedding the Rev. John Clay (after whose death
she married Henry Watkins she married into a
family of equal prominence with her own The
Gays and HudsOns probably lived in the rather
gorgeous style of the Virginia gentry. and if the
H rev; Johh Clay was poor it was no doubt due
10 the devastation wrought by the Revolutions
ary War. 1t is extremely unlikely that his
poverty could have been so great as the story
books would have us believe.
Henry Clay did not accOmpanv his mother and
stepfather to Kentucky, but remained in Rich
mond, Va, as deputy in the clerks office and
engaged in prosecuting his legal studies The
WatkinseS shortly took charge of the only host
lery in Versailles, and "Watkinss Tavern" be-
came famous in the surrounding country. They
OF Maln-st and Court Square by Henry Met
calfe, at that time a stOnemasOn and afterward
Governor of Kentucky. Such places a sort
of political headquarters and a rendezvous for
the discussion of the news of the day, at a time
when news travelled only by stage coach. The
MarShallS, the CrittendenS, the Blackburns the
Clays, the WatkinseS and other prominent men
no doubt planned campaigns at Watkins's Tav-
ern, and here General Lafayette entertained
in 1876
Mrs. Clay-Watkins was very attractive While
not a beauty, she was comely, with dark hair
and eyes ana rosy cheeks. Her manners We're
very engaging. and she was a most entertaining
conversational. She had a well rounded and
shapely figure and possessed great vigor Of
mind and body Her first husband. the Rev.
John Clay, evidently realized fully his wffes
charms, for in making his will he more than
once gives directions lin case my beloved wife
should interm2rrY between this and then" And,
sure enough at thirty-three, the mother of nine
children. she married Henry Watkins IAN ele-
CANT and accomplished gentleman of twenty
three for whom she afterward bore seven chill
dren.
Mrs. Watkins full of spirit, a story told
by Of her Grandsons r. Il. Watkins, of Lex
ngton, proves. He says that the day after the
burial of the Rev. John Clay the British Colonel
TarletOn made a raid into Virginia, and his men
devastated her place. Mrs. Clay reprimanded
Tarleton so severely that he emptied a sack of
coin on table and told her to take that for her
losses. AS Tarleton left Mrs. Clay
scraped the money off into her apron and threw
it into the fire, saying that her hand should not
be polluted with British gold" She seems to
have been noble woman, much reVerenced by
those who knew her we'll. and with striking in
dviduality and imperious will
About the year 1919 the Watknses gave up
their tavern in Versailles and settled upon
farm which they owned three miles south Of
town. Here Mrs Watkins died in 1923 at the
age of eighty years Her body buried in
country graveyard close by, and rested there
until 1851, when it was removed to Lexington
by her Henry. The Henry Watkins farm
which is still a point of great interest is now
the home of Robert Mcconnell. The last Vestige
of the Watkins residence has given place to
more modern improvements.