page_title: Susan Watkins
section_title: Personal life
hierarchical_section_title: Susan Watkins / Personal life
caption_attribution_description: English: Goldsborough Serpell photo in a December 1916 issue of the Norfolk Herald. Husband of Susan Watkins
context_page_description: Susan Watkins was an American artist, known for painting in the styles of realism and impressionism. She studied under William Merritt Chase and Raphaël Collin. Two of her pieces are on permanent display at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia.
context_section_description: Watkins became ill while traveling in Europe, and returned to the United States in 1910.  She married long-time suitor, Goldsborough Serpell II on January 16, 1912 in Norfolk, Virginia.  Because Watkins was financially independent and encouraged by her mother not to marry, she was disinterested in marriage for many years.  Despite her independent nature, she did not seem to be a supporter of women's suffrage.  She is quoted saying "a woman who is really occupied with the real things of life is so busy accomplishing them that she hasn't any thought of such things".
  Her husband, Goldsborough Serpell II was born in Connellsville, Pennsylvania.  His father, Goldsborough McDowell Serpell I worked as a civil engineer for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.  Goldsborough Serpell I later founded the Tunis-Serpell Lumber Company and built the Norfolk & North Carolina Railroad to transport lumber.  He served in Company B of the First Maryland Cavalry in the Civil War.  Goldsborough II was a Norfolk banker, member of the Norfolk Executive Committee Southern Commercial Congress, board chairman of Seaboard Citizens National Bank, and president of the United Owners Realty Corporation in Norfolk.  He graduated in 1895 from the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia.  He is mentioned as an usher in a 1902 volume of Town & Country (magazine).  While married, the couple lived on Duke Street in Norfolk, Virginia. A 1910 census shows that her husband lived at 108 Duke Street, Norfolk, Virginia. 
  Susan Watkins Serpell died on June 18, 1913 in Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.  She was 38 years old.  Her body was transported back to Norfolk, Virginia to be buried.  It is not clear what illness afflicted Watkins, but sources speculate it was likely cancer.  After her death, her husband lived at the Serpell family home at 902 Westover Avenue. The Serpell family home - called the Serpell House - was a three-story, 40 room residence built in 1907 on the corner of Hampton Boulevard and Westover Avenue.  It was the first private residence in Norfolk to have an elevator.  Serpell's father, Goldsborough McDowell Serpell I, hired butler William Hendricks, who served the household for over 70 years.  Hendricks polished the family silver, served meals, maintained the lavish flower garden, decorated the house for the holidays, and chauffeured the family until his death.
  Her husband died in 1946 at age 70, and left 62 of her paintings to the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences - what is now the Chrysler Museum of Art.  Watkins pieces that are not displayed or stored at the Chrysler Museum are in private collections.  It is hypothesized that she would have become famous similar to the likes of Mary Cassatt, Cecilia Beaux, and Georgia O'Keeffe if not for her untimely death at the age of 38.  She is seen as a pioneer in the fine art field in the 19th and 20th centuries, when women were not typically welcomed or awarded high praise in the community.  She was Episcopalian.  Watkins and Serpell are buried next to each other in Elmwood Cemetery in Norfolk, plot EXT 16-L8.
caption: Goldsborough Serpell II, husband of Susan Watkins.[15]
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