Bucks County PA Archives Biographies.....Watson, Richard, Judge
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joe Patterson, Patricia Bastik & Susan Walters Dec 2009

Source: History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania; edited by 
J.H. Battle; A. Warner & Co.; 1887
Doylestown M-Z


JUDGE RICHARD WATSON P.O. Doylestown, is a descendant, in 
the fifth generation, of Thomas Watson, of Buckingham.  The 
latter was the oldest son of John and Elizabeth Watson, of 
High Moor, in county Cumberland, England.  He was married at 
Cockermouth the 14th, 4 mo., 1696, to Elinor Pierson, of 
Pois Bank, in Westmoreland.  He emigrated to Pennsylvania, 
with his wife and two sons, Thomas and John, about 1701, and 
first settled at Money Hill, near Bristol.  About 1704 he 
bought four hundred acres of John Hough in Buckingham, at 
the head of the valley, and was one of the earliest settlers 
in the township.  He had been a malster in England, but 
possessing some general knowledge of medicine, he responded 
to the pressing demands of the new community and practiced 
the healing art with marked success. The eldest son, Thomas, 
married Elizabeth Smith, of Wrightstown, and had one son, 
John, who is known in the records of that day as "John 
Watson, surveyor," of whom a sketch may be found in the 
chapter on Buckingham.  In this line the name has run out.  
The younger of his two sons, John, received such medical 
education as the province afforded and succeeded to his 
father's practice.  He married Ann Beale, who died in 1747, 
and in the following year married Sarah Brown.  Three 
children, Elizabeth, Joseph and Thomas, were the issue of 
the first marriage.  Elizabeth married John Fell and has 
left numerous descendants.  She died in 1812, at 94 years of 
age.  Her daughter Ann married Joseph Chapman, the father of 
Abraham Chapman.  She died in 1828, at 89 years of age.  
Thomas, the youngest of the children and the victim of 
persecution by the army under Lord Sterling, married Sarah 
Woolston.  A daughter of these parents married Isaiah Jones, 
of whom there are no living descendants.  A son, Thomas, 
married Mary Verree, of Abinston. Their daughter, Annie, 
married Joseph Watson, of another family.  She has left 
children, among whom are James V., president of the 
Consolidated bank of Philadelphia; George, who is a 
successful builder and business man in the same city, and 
Joseph, who is the cashier of a bank in the state of 
Delaware.  Annie Watson died recently at an age exceeding 90 
years. Joseph, the second child of John and Ann Watson, 
succeeded his father in the practice of medicine, and was a 
member of the assembly for several years.  At the beginning 
of the revolution he was active in the cause of the 
colonies, endeavoring to obtain redress by peaceful means, 
and was a member of the county committee of safety.  But he 
was a Friend, as all his ancestors had been, and he was 
obliged by his conscientious scruples to withdraw from a 
position where his influence must be used in favor of 
warlike measures. At his death, in 1796, he left one child 
only.  This was a son named John, born 12th, 6 mo., 1746; 
married Mary Hampton, of Wrightstown, 1st, 1 mo., 1772; died 
23rd, 10 mo., 1817.  Upon his marriage he settled in 
Wrightstown, and engaged in farming and milling. At the 
beginning of the revolution he was well stocked for his 
business, with the prospect of a prosperous future.  As a 
young man he was liable to military duty, but his 
convictions and the rules of the Society of Friends, of 
which he was a member, forbade his taking up arms or 
assisting in warlike measures.  His stock was seized for the 
payment of military fines, and in this way he was stripped 
of the means of carrying on his business.    After the war 
he removed to Solebury near Paxson's corner and lived here, 
farming and practicing medicine to some extent, until after 
the death of this father.  He possessed considerable 
literary taste and acquirements, though without much 
scholastic education.  Among his printed literary 
productions are several fugitive pieces of poetry, a history 
of Buckingham and Solebury townships, and two essays upon 
the use of intoxicating liquors. He had six daughters and 
two sons.  The second child, John, was born 25th, 8 mo., 
1774; married 20th, 6 mo., 1795, and 31st, 12 mo, 1817; died 
4th, 9 mo., 1864.  John Watson was a man of unusual ability. 
 His early opportunities for scholastic instruction were 
slight.  Until about eleven years old he went to a 
neighboring school and pursued the usual studies of a child. 
 When grown nearly to manhood he went one winter to school 
at Lumberton, to George Wall, where Thomas Elliott and John 
Duer were among his school-fellows.  This finished his 
school experience, and otherwise he was self-taught. His 
ancestors had been physicians, and he was anxious to succeed 
them, but was not encouraged to follow his professional 
taste.  He read and studies such books as came within his 
reach, and continued a diligent reader all his life.  Upon 
his marriage he engaged in teaching, and soon afterward went 
upon a farm devised to him by his grandfather, subject to 
his father's life interest.  Here he remained until 1814, 
when he removed to Greenville.  In 1854 he removed to 
Doylestown, where he made his home with his son-in-law, 
George Hart, to the end of his life. He was a sincere and 
zealous Friend.  In the difficulties which resulted in the 
division of the Society he took an active and prominent 
part, warmly sustaining the Hicksite branch.  He, however, 
outlived the excitement of this dispute and afterwards 
deeply regretted the dissensions which led to the disruption 
of the Society to which he belonged and was deeply attached. 
 He was strictly temperate in his habits and strongly 
anti-slavery in his opinions, and yet took no part in the 
popular agitation of these subjects, believing that Friends 
best served the cause of truth and morality by a strict 
performance of their duty as Friends and confining their 
labors within the limits of the Society.  The only office he 
held was that of fence-viewer, a capacity in which he was 
called to different parts of the county to adjust 
differences in regard to line-fences. He was often called 
upon to act as surveyor in such cases, and was usually 
successful in adjusting differences.  After his removal to 
Doylestown he gave up all active pursuits and passed the 
remainder of his life in the quiet of home.  His first 
marriage was contracted with Euphemia Ingham, of Solebury, 
by whom he had nine children.  His second marriage was with 
Martha Dunkin, daughter of Aaron and Susanna Dunkin, who was 
born 5th, 4 mo., 1784, and died 5th, 10 mo., 1849.  The 
issue of this marriage were four children, of whom two only 
survived to the age of maturity - Richard, born 3rd mo., 
1823, and Martha L., born 15th, 2nd mo., 1825.  The latter 
married George Hart in 1853. Judge Richard Watson, the third 
of the children of John and Martha Watson, married Isabella 
T. McCoy, daughter of Gilbert R. and Maria McCoy, 28th, 6 
mo., 1866.  The issue of this marriage are six children, the 
oldest three of whom only, Miriam, George and Jenny, are 
living.  A sketch of Judge Watson's public career may be 
found in the history of the bench of the county.  Under the 
emergency call of 1862 he joined the company of Captain 
George Hart as a private and served with it to the 
expiration of its term of enlistment, being stationed at 
Hagerstown.  He went out again with the same organization 
under the emergency call of 1863.  While in camp at 
Harrisburg he was seriously wounded in the thigh by the 
accidental or careless discharge of a musket from some 
unknown quarter.  He was conveyed home the same night, and 
for eleven weeks was unable to leave his bed.  For nine 
years he carried this memento of the war in his limb, when 
it became so troublesome that it was sought for and 
extracted.  In his earlier years Mr. Watson was an active 
member of the I. O. O. F., and in 1867 was elected Grand 
Master of the order in Pennsylvania.