Columbia-Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Watts, J. G. October 23, 1864 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com May 10, 2010, 11:47 pm Source: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company Author: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 268 - 270 J. G. WATTS. Among the pioneer families of the Columbia River valley is that of Watts, a worthy representative of which is J. G. Watts, of Scappoose, Columbia county, Oregon, who was born here in pioneer days and has been in touch with practically every step of the progress and development of this favored locality. In the Oregon Daily Journal of October 28, 1925, Fred Lockley printed the following article, following an interview with Mr. Watts: "'Yes, today is my birthday,' said J. G. Watts when I sat in his office at his general merchandise store at Scappoose a day or two ago. 'I was born on Scappoose plains, October 23, 1864. My father, James W. Watts, was born in Pike county, Missouri, and was seventeen years old when he crossed the plains to Oregon with his parents in 1852. My mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Matilda Nessly, also crossed the plains in 1852, when she was only seven years old. My mother's father, Jacob Nessly, took a donation land claim on what was then known as Bay View, on Scappoose bay, but is now called Warren. My mother's people originally hailed from Switzerland. Mother was raised on Scappoose bay and met and married my father there. "'Father and mother were married in 1861. I was the second of their five children. My father died in 1872 and mother married John R. Watts, a cousin of my father. They had three children, all girls. My mother died in 1920. "'When I was a boy this district was a hunter's paradise. We had geese, ducks and swans in countless thousands. We also had plenty of deer and elk, so the early settlers lived largely on game. This was the great gathering place of the Indians, who came here not only to gather wapato, and to hunt and fish but also to visit, trade or win or lose all they had on horse races and other sports. "'I was born in 1864, when General Grant was the outstanding figure of the war then raging, so I was christened James Grant Watts. Not long after my father and mother were married my mother's people moved east of the mountains, settling at La Grande, in Union county. After attending the district school here in Scappoose, R. C. Bonsor, now county surveyor of Multnomah county, Lee Stewart and myself went to Portland and rented a room over a grocery store at Front and Columbia streets, where we bached while attending the Harrison street school, of which Professor Pratt was principal. After graduating I taught school near Woodland Washington, for awhile and when I had saved money enough to see me through a year's work I went to Salem and entered Willamette University. That was in 1884. Professor Thomas Van Scoy was president of the university then. I spent the next year teaching in Scappoose. The following year I went to Portland and attended high school at Fourteenth street. Royal K. Warren was principal of the high school. I graduated with the class of 1888. There were fourteen in the graduating class that year. I wonder how many graduates there are in the various high schools of Portland in these days. After graduating I returned to Scappoose and was appointed postmaster. The Northern Pacific railroad had recently opened an office here, so I took charge of the railroad and express business. "'In 1889 I was elected county superintendent of Columbia county and served eight years. In 1898 I was elected county clerk and served until 1902. When I went into the clerk's office the county was sixty-five thousand dollars in the hole. We had republicans, democrats and populists as county officials at that election, but we certainly worked together, for when I retired in 1902 we had wiped out the sixty-five thousand dollar deficit and had built up a surplus for the erection of a new courthouse. My brother-in-law, D. W. Price, and I owned a store in Scappoose, founded in 1888. He ran it while I was a county official. In 1910 my mother purchased an interest in the firm and retained her interest until her death. "'I was elected the first mayor of Scappoose. I have been mayor two terms. About twelve years ago William Ross, of St. Helens, founded a bank here. I served as president of the bank for some time. "'The first store here was started by W. W. West in 1883. He platted a townsite and donated four acres for a site for a station for the Northern Pacific railroad. All of the town west of the railroad track is on his land claim. The part east of the track is on our claim. I was married on September 17, 1890. We had four children, three of whom are living.'" William Watts, paternal grandfather of J. G. Watts, was a well-to-do farmer in Missouri, and when he came to Oregon in 1852, he drove a large band of pure-bred cattle and horses with him. The first winter here was a hard one and because of lack of feed he lost nearly all of the animals. He took a donation land claim of six hundred and forty acres at what is now Scappoose. Later he sold it to his son and went to St. Helens, where he was engaged in the real estate business several years, after which he moved to Beaverton, Oregon, where his death occurred. J. G. Watts was married, on September 17, 1890, to Miss Rose Ewing, who was born in Des Moines, Iowa, and is a daughter of D. M. and Nora (England) Ewing, the former born in Ohio and the latter in Iowa. Mr. Ewing, who was a farmer, came to Oregon in 1891 and was thereafter retired from active pursuits, his death occurring in 1904, and that of his wife in 1917. Mrs. Watts came to Oregon in 1887, having just previously graduated from high school in Kansas. She engaged in teaching, receiving for her first school twenty-five dollars a month and board. She saved practically all of her salary and attended the State Normal School at Monmouth for six months. She returned to Maygar and taught two terms of winter school at Maygar and two terms of summer school at Scappoose, and soon afterward she was married. She has always taken a deep interest in everything pertaining to the welfare of her community and has been a leader in various helpful movements. She started one of the first Sunday schools between St. Helens and Astoria, and on November 2, 1890, helped to organize the Congregational church at Scappoose. She has taught in Sunday school and been active in church work during all the years of her residence here. She is a member of the Pythian Sisters, in which she has passed through the chairs, and she and her husband are members of the United Artisans. Mr. Watts is a member of Avon Lodge, No. 62, K. P., at St. Helens, in which he is a past chancellor commander. Mr. and Mrs. Watts became the parents of four children, namely: Raymond E., born June 24, 1891, died June 16, 1904; Hazel Mildred, who graduated from Portland Academy, at Portland, and from Wellesley College, is the wife of Rev. Vernon Walter Cooke, of Peoria, Illinois, and they have five children, Vernon W., Lorna M., Raymond H., Virginia R. and Helen Elizabeth; Helen Lucille, who graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, at Oberlin, Ohio, is the wife of Reverdy Mead Clothier, of Silver Creek, New York, and they have a daughter, Shirley Ann; James L. is a student in the University of Oregon. Mr. Watts is a man of sterling character and fine public spirit, has lived a busy and useful life and throughout the community in which he resides commands the unqualified confidence and esteem of his fellowmen. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/columbia/bios/watts1034gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 8.1 Kb