Fort Worth Gazette - Dec. 13, 1894

Rev. R. M. TEMPLETON was appointed to co-operate in the bounds of the presbytery with the agent to endow the R. O. WATKINS chair of English literature in that institution.
A piece of interesting history in this connection is that the Cumberland Presbyterian church at Clarkesville was the first Protestant organization on Texas soil, being organized in 1832, four miles east of this area and moved to town after it was founded.  Rev. R. O. WATKINS, then a lad of 17, was a charter member.  He was ordained in the ministry about 1833 by the Texas presbytery being the first Protestant to receive the imposition of hands in the republic.  He still lives at Kemp, Texas.  He is a warm supporter of the university which names the chair in his honor.