John F. Watson, Annalist, Historian, Antiquarian and Collector of Historical Objects, Died December 23, 1860

John Fanning Watson died December 23, 1860, at the age of eighty-two years, and left behind him a monument to his mental powers in his “Annals of Philadelphia.”

Mr. Watson was a native of Burlington County, N. J., where he was born June 13, 1779. His parents were of EnglishEnglish origin; his grandfather, Thomas Watson, came to America in 1667, settling at Salem, where William Watson, father of John F. was born.

Among his ancestors were some of the earliest settlers of our country. All were devoted patriots, with the exception of one, a distinguished Tory, General Edmund Fanning, a graduate of Yale, in 1757, of whom The Gentleman’s Magazine, for 1818, says, “the world contained no better man.”

After completing the usual course of education to qualify himself for mercantile pursuits, John Fanning Watson entered the counting-house of James Vanuxem, an eminent merchant of Philadelphia, with whom he remained but a short time, having offended the French interests of that firm by becoming a member of the Macpherson Blues, of 901which body of volunteer militiamen, he was one of last six surviving members at the time of his decease.

He was now nineteen years of age, and a clerkship in the War Department at Washington was offered him, which he accepted, and held until 1804, when he engaged himself in business with General James O'Hara, formerly Quartermaster-General to General Anthony Wayne’s Indian Army, and chief founder of the City of Pittsburgh.

During this business connection Watson resided at New Orleans, holding the responsible position of Commissary of Provisions for the United States Army at all the posts in Louisiana.

At this period there was no Protestant worship in that city, and to remedy this, together with Edward Livingston, he became the prime. mover in establishing the Protestant Episcopal Church by giving a call to the Reverend Mr. Chase, since the venerable Bishop of Ohio and Illinois.

After a residence of two years at New Orleans sudden domestic affliction caused his return to Philadelphia to the support of his widowed mother, and to this event the public are profoundly indebted for his invaluable services as a local historian of the olden time. As such his works will ever be enduring monuments of his wonderful assiduity and laborious research.

Following his return to Philadelphia he made his first essay as a bookseller and publisher, establishing a business on Chestnut Street.

Among the various works he published were Dr. Adam Clark’s Commentary on the Old and New Testament, the Select Reviews of Literature, etc.

He contributed frequently to the columns of various literary, scientific, historical, and ecclesiastical serials.

Besides historical works, he left some unpublished manuscript volumes on theology, which show great originality of thought and deep research. He also devoted some pages to the vindication of Cromwell. To his marriage with a lineal descendant of the Lord Protector may be attributed some of the interest he evinced on this subject.

In 1814, Mr. Watson was elected cashier of the Bank of Germantown, which position he held till 1847, when he was chosen treasurer and secretary of the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad Company.

During his connection with the Bank of Germantown he resided in the stone bank building of which the celebrated annalist himself says, “The house in which I now reside was once honoured with the presence of Generals Washington, Knox and Greene, shortly after the battle of Germantown. They slept in it one or two nights.”

In 1859, being at that time eighty years of age, he retired from all active business.

In 1820, he began to collect antiquarian material, the first being 902history and legends of Germantown, though none of them were printed until about 1828, when some extracts from his manuscript books were printed in Hazard’s “Register of Pennsylvania.”

In 1830 the first edition of the “Annals of Philadelphia,Philadelphia,” was issued, the same “being a Collection of Memoirs, Anecdotes, and Incidents of the City and its Inhabitants from the days of the Pilgrim Fathers; also Olden Time Researches and Reminiscences of New York City in 1828.” It was in one volume of eight hundred pages, and illustrated by lithographs.

In 1842 the work was republished in two volumes, revised and enlarged, and again, in 1856, he made a full and final revision, adding an appendix to the second volume. The editions subsequent to the first did not contain the matter relative to New York.

A noteworthy characteristic of Watson was his reverence for the graves of great and good men, who had been useful in their generation, as illustrated in the removal of the remains of Thomas Godfrey, the inventor of the quadrant, and family from a neglected spot on his old farm to Laurel Hill, where a suitable monument was erected by subscription to his memory.

In 1832, he published “Historic Tales of Olden Time” of New York City, which was followed the next year by “Historic Tales of Olden Time, concerning the Early Settlement and Progress of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania.”

Then followed other volumes of both New York annals and works other than history.

Mr. Watson’s first publisher and most active co-worker was Samuel Hazard, and to them is due the awakening of that spirit of antiquarianism and historical research from which sprung the great Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Watson was an ardent collector of all objects of historic interest, many of which are now deposited in the Philadelphia Library and with the Historical Society.

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