John Watson, Esq.

Sep 28

2 min read

Carved portrait of a man in colonial era clothing

John Watson was born in Plymouth, MA on Thursday, April 19, 1716 at "10 o'clock in the morning". His father, John Watson, was reportedly the wealthiest man in Plymouth County when he died in 1731. The Watsons had come to Plymouth in the early 1630s and though they were not of the original Pilgrims, they were one of the early influential families in Plymouth Colony. His mother, Sarah Rogers, was the daughter of Daniel and Sarah (Appleton) Rogers. She died 1725 and John and his younger brother George were raised by their stepmother, Priscilla Thomas Watson Lothrop, who their father had married in 1729 after their own mother's death, and her second husband, Isaac Lothrop. They had two half-brothers: William born in 1730 and Elkanah who was born in 1732 a few months after their father's death.

John went to Harvard in his late teens, but caused trouble (malicious destruction of property, bringing playing cards to campus, and playing cards in a tavern) and almost didn't graduate with the rest of his class in 1735. He returned to get his Masters in 1738, but "participated violently in undergraduate disorders", was fined for neglecting his studies, and chose to leave rather than be kicked out.

On March 24, 1744 he published his intentions to marry Elizabeth Reynolds of Bristol, MA (Bristol didn't became part of Rhode Island in 1747, and was originally part of Plymouth Colony). They had three children. The eldest, Elizabeth, was born in 1744, married Edward Clark in 1769, and died two years later in 1771. Their second child, John, was born in 1747. He graduated from Harvard in 1776, and was a founder of the Old Colony Club. He owned Clark's Island in Plymouth Harbor (which had been acquired by his grandfather John Watson) and lived until 1826. Daniel, the youngest, was born in 1749 and died in 1756 aged only six.

The Watsons lived on the prestigious Leyden Street in the house built by John Watson Senior. In Plymouth John the younger served as a town Selectman, town Moderator, and later a Justice of the Peace. In the town militia he was, for a time, chosen as Captain. As a gentleman he also did his required jury duty.

He died January 3, 1753 in Plymouth, and is buried on Burial Hill. Elizabeth had died three years earlier in 1750, aged only 28. In his diary, Josiah Cotton, a neighbor of the Watsons, wrote this: "Mr. John Watson a scholar, a gentleman, a merchant, was found dead in his bed, who died of a consumption aged about 27 years; his wife being dead of the same distemper above 2 years ago. They left three orphans, two sons and a daughter."