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Claiborne, and Webster parishes|publisher=senate.la.gov|accessdate=March 24, 2015}}</ref> and chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He was the [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] nominee for Louisiana's 4th congressional district seat in the [[United States House of Representatives]] but was denied the position because of [[Reconstruction]] political wrangling.<ref name=mindenmem/> In 1884, Watkins was a successful presidential elector for [[Grover Cleveland]] in the hard-fought national campaign against Republican former House [[Speaker]] [[James G. Blaine]] of [[Maine]].<ref name=bio/>

Claiborne, and Webster parishes|publisher=senate.la.gov|accessdate=March 24, 2015}}</ref> and chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He was the [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] nominee for Louisiana's 4th congressional district seat in the [[United States House of Representatives]] but was denied the position because of [[Reconstruction]] political wrangling.<ref name=mindenmem/> In 1884, Watkins was a successful presidential elector for [[Grover Cleveland]] in the hard-fought national campaign against Republican former House [[Speaker]] [[James G. Blaine]] of [[Maine]].<ref name=bio/>

When Watkins left Minden Male Academy, his assistant, [[Alexander Banks George]], became the principal. The academy was the ''[[alma mater]]'' of many of the leading citizens of North Louisiana, including Watkins's son, [[John T. Watkins]] and John N. Sandlin (1872-1957), both eight-term members of Congress for the 4th District. Sandlin unseated John T. Watkins in the 1920 Democratic [[primary]] election. Sandlin's brother, [[McIntyre H. Sandlin]], was [[mayor]] of Minden from 1894 to 1896, a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1896 to 1900, and the Webster Parish tax assessor from 1904 to 1937. [[Thomas Wafer Fuller]], another Minden Male Academy alumnus, editor of the ''Minden Signal-Tribune'' and the Webster Parish school superintendent,<ref name=mindenmem/>  served a term in the state Senate as well.<ref name=ssenate/> [[William G. Stewart]], a pioneer farmer who lived in Webster Parish as a child prior to the Civil War,  was later president of the Webster Parish School Board. The since defunct [[William G. Stewart Elementary School]] in west Minden was named in his honor. Daniel Webster Pratt, a two-term nonconsecutive Webster Parish [[sheriff]], also graduated from Minden Male Academy. [A. M. Leary|Alexander McIntyre Leary]], a businessman and the mayor of Minden from 1903 to 1905, was still another Minden Male Academy alumnus. The institution was supported by such families as the Drakes, [[Richard Cleveland Drew|Drews]], Crichtons, and Webbs.<ref name=mindenmem>{{cite web|url=http://www.mindenmemories.org/Parks%20and%20Highways.htm|title=The Impact of the Minden Male Academy|publisher=''[[Minden Press-Herald]]'' in mindenmemories.org|author=John A. Agan (Webster Parish official historian)|accessdate=March 24, 2015; website no longer on-line}}</ref>

When Watkins left Minden Male Academy, his assistant, [[Alexander Banks George]], became the principal. The academy was the ''[[alma mater]]'' of many of the leading citizens of North Louisiana, including Watkins's son, [[John T. Watkins]] and John N. Sandlin (1872-1957), both eight-term members of Congress for the 4th District. Sandlin unseated John T. Watkins in the 1920 Democratic [[primary]] election. Sandlin's brother, [[McIntyre H. Sandlin]], was [[mayor]] of Minden from 1894 to 1896, a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1896 to 1900, and the Webster Parish tax assessor from 1904 to 1937. [[Thomas Wafer Fuller]], another Minden Male Academy alumnus, editor of the ''Minden Signal-Tribune'' and the Webster Parish school superintendent,<ref name=mindenmem/>  served a term in the state Senate as well.<ref name=ssenate/> [[William G. Stewart]], a pioneer farmer who lived in Webster Parish as a child prior to the Civil War,  was later president of the Webster Parish School Board. The since defunct [[William G. Stewart|William G. Stewart Elementary School]] in west Minden was named in his honor. Daniel Webster Pratt, a two-term nonconsecutive Webster Parish [[sheriff]], also graduated from Minden Male Academy. [[A. M. Leary|Alexander McIntyre Leary]], a businessman and the mayor of Minden from 1903 to 1905, was still another Minden Male Academy alumnus. The institution was supported by such families as the Drakes, [[Richard Cleveland Drew|Drews]], Crichtons, and Webbs.<ref name=mindenmem>{{cite web|url=http://www.mindenmemories.org/Parks%20and%20Highways.htm|title=The Impact of the Minden Male Academy|publisher=''[[Minden Press-Herald]]'' in mindenmemories.org|author=John A. Agan (Webster Parish official historian)|accessdate=March 24, 2015; website no longer on-line}}</ref>

Watkins had first met A. B. George, a native of Wilcox County in southern [[Alabama]], as a fellow student at Cumberland College, from which George graduated in 1850. He then came to Minden to work with his friend Watkins. George had also read law at night and was admitted to the bar in 1855 and joined Watkins in the formation of a law partnership. George was also a town alderman and from 1856 to 1858 the mayor of Minden, having succeeded W. Jasper Blackburn, a former newspaper editor who held Louisiana's 5th congressional district seat from 1868 to 1869. Like Blackburn, George was also an editor of a newspaper, ''The Minden Democrat,'' and like Watkins a district attorney, state senator, district judge, and delegate to the 1879 constitutional convention. George left Minden after his election to the Louisiana Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, based in [[Shreveport]].<ref name=mindenmem/>

Watkins had first met A. B. George, a native of Wilcox County in southern [[Alabama]], as a fellow student at Cumberland College, from which George graduated in 1850. He then came to Minden to work with his friend Watkins. George had also read law at night and was admitted to the bar in 1855 and joined Watkins in the formation of a law partnership. George was also a town alderman and from 1856 to 1858 the mayor of Minden, having succeeded W. Jasper Blackburn, a former newspaper editor who held Louisiana's 5th congressional district seat from 1868 to 1869. Like Blackburn, George was also an editor of a newspaper, ''The Minden Democrat,'' and like Watkins a district attorney, state senator, district judge, and delegate to the 1879 constitutional convention. George left Minden after his election to the Louisiana Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, based in [[Shreveport]].<ref name=mindenmem/>