Preston County, West Virginia Biography of ELMER EVERETT WATSON, M. D. This file was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 630-631 ELMER EVERETT WATSON, M. D. A capable physician and surgeon at Albright, present county health officer of Preston County, Doctor Watson is also a banker and business man, and has found many worthy objects of his enterprise and useful service. He is still a young man, and has practiced at Albright for a dozen years. He represents an old family of Preston County, and was born at Sinclair Post Office in Reno District, October 8, 1879. The founder of the family in West Virginia was his great-grandfather, who came from Scotland and settled in the neighborhood of Masontown or Reedsville. The grand- father, Scott Watson, was born there, served as a Union soldier in the Civil war, and later was a pensioner. He was twice married. The children of his second wife, Miss Hug- gins, was William A. Watson, Sr., of Tunnelton; David E., of Tunnelton; Grant, of Masontown; and James, who was killed in an accident at Wheeling while in the service of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway. William A. Watson, who was born in Valley District of Preston County in 1855, was educated in the community schools and at the age of sixteen began teaching at Howes- ville. He continued teaching until he entered merchandising at Sinclair, then was in business at Fellowsville, and for the past eight years has been located at Tunnelton. Altogether he has been a merchant in Preston County forty-two con- secutive years. William A. Watson married Miss Nancy Jane Sinclair, a native of Preston County. Her father, Robert Sinclair, was born in Scotland, was a cooper by trade, and after settling in Preston County his establish- ment became the central feature of a village named Sinclair in his honor. William A. Watson and wife had the follow- ing children: Dr. Elmer Everett; Ernest W., of Tunnel- ton; Ila Grace, wife of Dr. Walter Bucklew, of Tunnelton; and William A., Jr., associated with his father in business at Tunnelton. Elmer Everett Watson spent most of his early life in Fellowsville, and he grew up in the home of a school teacher and a merchant and shared in the duties of his father's store for several years. After the common schools he took the preparatory work in the University at Morgantown, and pursued his regular course in medicine at Cincinnati in the Eclectic Medical College, from which he graduated in 1908. The following year he located at Albright, where he has had a busy practice. He has served as county health officer eight years, and is a member in good standing of the Preston County and West Virginia State Medical associations. Outside of his profession Doctor Watson was one of the promoters of the First National Bank of Albright, and has been continuously its president since the bank opened for business. In 1919 he supplied the enterprise and capital for the bus line between Albright and Tunnelton, equipping it with two busses. In 1921 the business was incorporated as the Preston County Bus and Garage Company, with a capital of $15,000, and he is president of the company. He sold fifty per cent. of the stock to other associates. Doctor Watson was for eight years a member of the Board of Education of the Albright District. In politics he has been a republican voter since reaching his majority, first voting for President McKinley in 1900. He was a medical member of the Draft Board during the World war and examined all the boys recruiting for service in the county. He was also interested in the Red Cross, and still represents the society in his locality. Doctor Wat- son is affiliated with Preston Lodge No. 90, F. and A. M., at Kingwood, took the fourteenth degree in the Scottish Rite, Perfection Lodge at Morgantown, finishing his Scottish Rite work in West Virginia Consistory No. 1 at Wheeling, and is also a member of the Shrine at Morgantown. His other fraternity is the Knights of Pythias. Doctor Watson married Miss Martha Belle Robinson at Fellowsville, West Virginia, where she was born, youngest of the ten children of J. W. and Alice (Strauther) Robin- son. Doctor and Mrs. Watson had three children: Lucile, who graduated from the Kingwood High School in 1920 and is now a student in Beaver College at Beaver, Pennsylvania; May Elizabeth, who died at the age of eighteen months; and James William, born in 1916.