Francis C. Watson, D. D. S.; Clifton, AL., then Calcasieu Parish, 
Louisiana Submitted by Mike Miller


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Francis Collingwood Watson, D. D. S.  Among the various branches of 
professional knowledge on which civilized humanity is more or less 
dependent for the maintenance of healthful conditions and for 
exemption from physical distress is the science of dental surgery.  
Careless habits of living and indulgence in articles of food which are 
injurious to the teeth have become so general that in all communities 
good dentists are indispensable factors.  But, as in medicine and 
surgery, the science of dentistry is constantly developing new phases of 
usefulness, and in order to insure success the dentist of today must keep 
constantly abreast of the latest achievements in his profession.  He must 
add skill to thorough research and combine close application to his task 
with die ability gained through experience.  Such a practitioner is Dr. 
Francis Collingwood Watson, who is engaged in a large and, lucrative 
practice at Lake Charles.

Doctor Watson was born at Clifton, Alabama, March 9, 1876, and is a 
son of Theodore H. and Sarah (Pritchett) Watson.  Theodore H. Watson 
was born in New York State, the son of Scotch people who had 
immigrated to the Empire State and later went to Alabama and settled 
at Camden.  Theodore H. Watson became a planter at Clifton, 
Alabama, and while thus engaged enlisted for service in the Con 
federate army during the war between the states.  At Mobile he was 
taken ill and invalided home, and from this illness he never fully 
recovered, dying when his son Francis C. was still a small child.  He 
was a thirty-second degree Mason.  His wife, Sarah Pritchett, was born 
in Alabama of Scotch parentage.

The boyhood of Francis Collingwood Watson was passed in Alabama, 
but when he was thirteen years of age he was taken by his elder brother, 
Dr. J. F. Watson, to Alto, Richland Parish, near where he continued his 
studies, each day riding horseback five miles to and from school.  He 
then entered the Atlanta Dental College, from which he was graduated 
as a member of the class of 1898, receiving the degree of Doctor of 
Dentistry, and at once commenced the practice of his calling, opening 
an office in Richland Parish.  In the following year he first came to 
Lake Charles, where he remained from 1899 until 1903, then going to 
Mansfield, where he remained until 1906.  His next held of practice 
was Leesville, where he remained from 1906 until 1915, during which 
time he served two years in the capacity of mayor, and finally returned 
to Lake Charles, where he has since had a profitable and representative 
practice, his offices being located in the Gordon Building- Doctor 
Watson is a member of the Seventh District Dental Society, the 
Louisiana State Dental Society and the National Dental Association, 
and stands high in his calling and in the estimation of his fellow-
practitioners.  As a fraternalist he belongs to Lake Charles Lodge No. 
165, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; and Lake Charles Consistory 
of the Scottish Rite, in which he is active, being director of the classes 
at each reunion.  For ten years he has been a vestryman and lay reader 
at the Episcopal Church.  His unfailing support is extended to all 
worthy movements and worth-while enterprises, testifying to his public 
spirit and general usefulness.

In 1902, at Lake Charles, Doctor Watson was united in marriage with 
Miss Aurora Magee, the daughter of Edwin Magee, a retired contractor 
now making his home at DeRidder, Louisiana, and to this union there 
has been born one son, Frank Carlos.

A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), pp. 264-265, by Henry E. Chambers.  
Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New 
York, 1925.