John Thomas Watkins was a Democratic U.S. representative for Louisiana's 4th congressional district with service from 1905 to 1921. A lawyer in his hometown of Minden in Webster Parish, Watkins was a state district court judge prior to his election to Congress. Watkins attended the public schools of Minden and graduated from the Minden Male Academy, a forerunner of Minden High School. He then studied for three years at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee. As was then customary, Watkins studied law privately, was admitted to the bar in 1878, and opened his practice in Minden. He was elected judge in 1900 and served in that capacity until 1904. He briefly resumed his law practice prior to his election to Congress. He defeated incumbent DemocratPhanor Breazeale of Natchitoches for renomination in 1904 and was seated with the incoming 59th Congress on March 4, 1905, during the administration of Theodore Roosevelt. In his fourth term, he became the chairman of the House Committee on Revision of the Laws. of former Judge and U.S. Representative John T. Watkins, Louisiana Democrat Watkins rarely faced serious opposition in his reelection bids until he was defeated for a ninth term in 1920 by John N. Sandlin, another state district court judge from Minden. In 1908, for instance, Watkins defeated two opponents in the general election by a lopsided margin. He polled 88.2 percent of the ballots compared to 5.5 percent for Republican John F. Slattery. The Socialist Party of America candidate, W. S. Emmons, outpolled Slattery, having finished with 6.3 percent of the vote. After Watkins surrendered his congressional seat to Sandlin, he practiced law in Washington, D.C., until his death. Like Watkins, Sandlin would also hold the Fourth District House seat for eight terms. Like Sandlin, Watkins is interred in the original section of Minden Cemetery alongside his wife, the former Elizabeth Murrell. Also interred at Minden Cemetery are his parents, John D. Watkins, a Kentucky native, a lawyer, judge, and Democratic politician, and the former Mahala Flora Mora, a native of Walton County, Georgia.
