My Genealogy Hound

James Watson, who was born in the north of Ireland, died in Union county, in July, 1903, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. He had largely devoted his life to agricultural pursuits. He came to the United States in 1855, settling in Biggsville, Illinois, where he worked at various kinds of manual labor, scorning no employment that would yield him an honest living. During the last year of the Civil war he became actively interested in mining in California and Idaho, spending three years on the Pacific coast. He was fortunate in his undertakings there, succeeding in accumulating a goodly sum of money, after which he returned to Ireland to visit his people. The family of his future wife were neighbors of the Watson family and James Watson returned to this country in a party consisting of his future wife, two sisters, a brother and two cousins. They stopped in the state of New York, where two other sisters of the family had previously located. Mr. Watson was married there while at his sister’s home, and after a month’s visit in the Empire state he brought his bride to Union county, Iowa, in 1868, settling on a farm of eighty acres in Grant township, which he had purchased. There he lived continuously until a year prior to his death, when because of failing health he retired from the farm to a pretty cottage home which he had purchased in Creston. In the meantime he had accumulated two hundred acres of land upon which he made fine improvements, and this property is still in possession of his widow. He was an industrious, hard- working man and as the years passed, owing to his close and unremitting labor, he became prosperous. In addition to tilling the soil he raised considerable stock and both branches of his business proved profitable.

It was on the 19th of May, 1868, that James Watson was united in marriage to Miss Jean Morrow, who was born in Cornwall, England, in 1847, a daughter of Richard and Matilda (Moffett) Morrow. Her father was an officer in the English coast guards and after spending twelve years in the navy he was transferred to the north of Ireland when his daughter Jean was a child. There she was reared. By her marriage she has become the mother of eight children: Aaron C., who is now living on the home farm; Essie M., the wife of Edward Kelley, a farmer of Kansas; Thomas, who was killed by a snake bite at the age of eleven years; Sarah Jane, the wife of Albert Tallman, a carpenter and contractor of Seattle, Washington; May I., the wife of James A. Boyle, who was an instructor in school and is now connected with the United States weather bureau at Seattle; William J., who is living on the home farm; Catherine F., the wife of Jesse Graham, a resident farmer of Grant township; and George H., who is with his mother. There are also six grandchildren.

Mr. Watson was a devoted and consistent member of the Pilgrim Congregational church. All his life he voted with the democracy until about seven years before his death, when he joined the ranks of the prohibition party, thus expressing the views of his wife concerning the temperance question. He was a man honorable and honored in all relations of life, for he guided his conduct by high and manly principles. He won success and well merited his prosperity, for it resulted from his diligence, capable effort and strong purpose. While he never sought to figure prominently in any public light, he was yet loyal in his citizenship to the best interests of his adopted land, while the ties of home and friendship were held by him as sacred. Mrs. Watson is also a member of the Pilgrim Congregational church. In 1905 she spent ten months in Ireland, visiting her old home and associates of her early life. She is well known in Creston and this county and the circle of her friends is an extensive one.