>From the book "History of Washington and Kent Counties, Rhode Island" by J.R. Cole, published 1889, New York, W.W. Preston & Company. Beginning on page 531. [xxx] respresents either notes or the page number. THE WATSON FAMILY is also numerous in this town. John Watson died about 1727. His sons were Samuel, John, William, etc. John had children: Hannah, Ann, John, born 1709; Jeffrey, born 1712; Elisha, born 1716; and Amy. The children of Jeffrey were: Hannah, Jeffrey, Elisha, Marcy, Dorcas, Sarah, William and Bathsheba. The children of John last named were: John, born 1737, father of Judge John; Hannah, Bridget, Job, Mary, Elisha, born 1748, father of Judge Elisha Watson, Esq.; Joseph William Freeman, Isabel and Walter, 1753. The children of Job Watson were: Isabel, Job, 1767; Robert Hazard, 1769; Walter, 1770; Borden, 1772; and John Jay, 1774. One branch of the family descended from Benjamin Watson, a respected citizen of that name who lived and died on McSparran hill. His children were: Oliver, Samuel, Sylvester, Wescott and Jesse. From these children descended a numerous progeny, many of whom are still residents of Washington county. Oliver Watson was the father of William Watson of Kingston Station. Oliver was born in 1760 and died in 1839. His children were: Sarah, Ann P., Benjamin, Rachel, Mary R., John K., Oliver, William, Hannah, Isabel, Elizabeth, Samuel, Harriet and William. William Watson built his house at Kingston Station in 1857. He and his brother Oliver Watson have each been directors of the National Landholders' Bank for many years. [532] REVEREND ELISHA F. WATSON is a lineal descendant of John Watson, who at an early day settled on the Watson farm situated on Tower Hill in South Kingstown. The latter was united in marriage to a Miss Gardner, a sister, as tradition relates of one of the original purchasers of the Pettaquamscutt tract, and died at an advanced age, about the year 1727. The estate for five generations has remained in the family, and but recently passed into other hands. This tendency to acquire and retain landed property has been a characteristic of the Watsons, and finds an exemplification in the subject of this biography, whose estate will, as a safe and sure heritage, be transmitted to his descendants. Freeman P. Watson, the father of Elisha F., a lineal descendant of the late Judge Freeman Perry, married Phoebe, daughter of Job Watson, of Jamestown. Their children were: Job W., Elisha F., Freeman P and a daughter Phoebe W., wife of Stephen H. Tefft. Elisha F. was born on the 28th of March, 1814, at Boston Neck in South Kingstown, and pursued his early studies under William H. Gaynor, an instructor of repute in those days. He prepared for college at Amherst, Mass., and Bristol, Penn., meanwhile devoting some months to teaching, as an aid toward defraying the expenses attending a college course. In 1837 he entered Brown University, Providence, and was graduated from that institution in 1840. He then began the study of theology at the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church, concluding the course under Reverend Doctor Francis Vinton of Newport. He was ordained to the ministry in August, 1843, and for the succeeding three years was rector of St. Paul's church, Tower Hill, and St. Matthew's church, in Jamestown. Mr. Watson was then called to Christ church at Lonsdale, in the same state, and for more than three years had charge of this parish. In 1851 he returned to South Kingstown and located upon the farm inherited by his wife from her father. In 1850 he filled a pulpit in western Massachusetts; and in 1861, on the outbreak of the late war, joined the Army of the Potomac, as chaplain of the Eleventh Massachusetts volunteers, serving in that capacity for more than three years, with an absence of but two weeks during the entire period. He later acted as volunteer chaplain of the Seventh Rhode Island volunteers, returning to his home in the fall of 1864. Mr. Watson has an early whig, and later republican, [533] been much interested in the political questions of the day. The reading of "Clarkson's Abolition of the British Slave Trade" strongly impressed upon his mind the evils of the slave system, and made him an abolitionist. Hence his labors during the late war were not more directed to the preservation of the Union than the abolition of slavery. In 1834 he became a member of the first temperance society organized in South Kingstown, and is both in theory and practice a strong advocate of temperance, having for his motto: "From the cradle to the coffin, in principle and practice a temperance man." He fills the position of superintendent of schools for South Kingstown, but has sought no other office. Mr. Watson was married June 6th, 1843, to Mary, daughter of the late John B. Dockray of Wakefield. Their only child, a son Arthur H., is a resident of Providence. Mr. Watson received the degree of A.M. from Brown University in 1843.