The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 455

WILLIAM EDMUND WATSON. The following brief sketch
is published for its value as a personal record of one of
West Virginia's leaders in the coal mining industry.

William Edmund Watson was born at Detroit, Michigan,
May 19, 1885, but is a member of an old West Virginia fam-
ily.  His great-grandfather, James Dent Watson, came
from Maryland and was an early settler in Monongalia
County. The Fairmont coal operator was named for his
grandfather. His own parents were Lee P. and Lucy D.
(Lowe) Watson, the former a native of Monongalia County.
He practiced law for a time in Detroit, and subsequently
in Ashtabula, Ohio.  He died in 1900, at Smithtown,
Monongalia County, West Virginia. His wife, who died
May 4, 1913, was born in Ohio County, Virginia, daughter
of Jacob S. Lowe, who was born near Bethany in Brooke
County, and after his education in Bethany College was
a minister of the Christian Church.

William E. Watson was educated at Fairmont, attended
high school at Ashtabula, Ohio, and for two years was in
the University of West Virginia. He has been connected
with the coal industry since he was twenty-one. In 1909
the Rosebud Fuel Company was organized by him. In
1913 he organized the Fairmont and Cleveland Coal Com-
pany of Fairmont, and has been its president. Mr. Watson
is a Mason, an Elk and a member of the Fairmont Coun-
try Club.


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