Bio of Leander WATSON (b.1842), Wright Co., MN ========================================================================= USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. If you have found this file through a source other than the MNArchives Table Of Contents you can find other Minnesota related Archives at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm Please note the county and type of file at the top of this page to find the submitter information or other files for this county. Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Diane Hanson ========================================================================= This Bio is from the HISTORY OF WRIGHT COUNTY, Volumes I and II, Published in 1915 by Franklin Curtiss - Wedge. Surname Index for The HISTORY OF WRIGHT COUNTY can be found at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/wright/wright.html Under HISTORY. NOTE: This file was scanned and changed to text so there may be some typos. 472 HISTORY OF WRIGHT COUNTY Leander Watson, a prominent citizen of Middleville township, was born in Marion, in what is now West Virginia, June 1842, son of John C. and Orilla (Mason) Watson, grandson of William Watson, and grand- nephew of David Watson, a soldier in the Revolutionary War. John C. Watson was born in Marion county, Virginia, was there educated, reared and mar- ried, earning his livelihood as a stonemason and shoemaker. Three of his children, Elizabeth, Lucinda and Malissa died in what is now West Virginia. In 1865, with his wife, and his other children, Leander, Augustus, Jane, Susannah, John C., William, Alexander, Thornton and Rhoda he came by boat down the Ohio and up the Mississippi to St. Paul. From there they came to Minneapolis, and then by horse-team they came on to Montrose, in Wright county, where they remained for about a year. In 1866 he secured a tract of eighty acres in section 26, Cokato township. A trail led past the place. He erected a cabin of unhewed logs, and began to clear the place. He fortunately had a pair of oxen and three cows. In April, 1867, he moved his family onto the place. St. Anthony was then the trading point, and members of the family sometimes walked there after supplies. John C. Watson died in 1868, in the faith of the Baptist church. His wife died in 1866. From the old home the family has scattered far and wide, and the only one that remains there is John C., Jr., who successfully carries on general farming. Leander was reared in what is now West Virginia, and in December, 1862, when his part of the state refused to follow the rest of Virginia into the Confederacy, he enlisted in Company B, in a regiment of West Virginia Infantry, and served two years. He came to Wright county with other members of the family in 1865. In 1867 he acqnired a tract of eighty acres in section 32, Middleville, just on the edge of the townsite of Smith Lake. Nothing had been cleared, and only crude track led to the place. He erected a log cabin, and a secured work on the railroad. In this capacity he helped to clear the right of way for the Great Northern from Delano to Montrose. This work gave him ready cash, and thus enabled him to pursue his farm operations. He cleared up the eighty acres, erected modern buildings, and developed a good farm.