This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Watkins Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/Hi.2ADI/2632 Message Board Post: Found this old newspaper article from 1917 about William Watkins who died in Tippecanoe Co. Indiana, in case it might be helpful to someone researching his family. From "The Roanoke Leader", Roanoke, Randolph County, Alabama newspaper Newspaper Issue of Wednesday, September 19, 1917 OTHER STATE NEWS MAN MAKES HIS OWN COFFIN IN LAFAYETTE, INDIANA Lafayette, Indiana - - - - William Watkins, age fifty years, for many years the proprietor of a sawmill at Kentland, learned a few months ago that he could not live long. He proceeded to build a coffin for himself, using solid black walnut. He spent weeks making it. When completed it weighed more than 700 pounds. Mr. Watkins was brought to St. Elizabeth's hospital and recently he died. The coffin was shipped from Kentland and his body had been placed in it. He was buried at Delphi, his former home. The weight of the coffin made it necessary to use a large force of men to lift it on and off the train. Mr. Watkins' widow and four children survive him. --------