Thomas W. Watson    

Thomas W. Watson, prosecuting attorney, is among the representative and influential citizens of Butler County. He was born in Butler, April 11, 1876, and is the son of William and Julia (Marshall) Watson.

William Watson, deceased, was a native of Winfield Township, Butler County. He spent practically his entire life in Butler and was a successful merchant. He died in 1904. His widow, a native of Erie, Pennsylvania, lives in Butler. Mr. and Mrs. Watson had the following children: Charles Edward, lives at Butler; Ellen, married J. L. Blair, lives at Koppel, Pennsylvania; Blanche R., married R. E. Thompson, lives at Edgewood, Pennsylvania; Mary Alice, married Glen Ferguson, lives at Swissvale, Pennsylvania; and Thomas, the subject of this sketch.

Thomas W. Watson received his early schooling in the township schools and Mt. Pleasant Academy. He then studied law at the University of Pittsburgh, and after his admission to the bar of Butler County in 1906 he engaged in practice in this city, where he has since been located. Mr. Watson was associated with the late J. D. Marshall for several years. He is now associated with James E. Marshall and they have offices at 301 Butler County National Bank Building. Mr. Watson has served in his present capacity as prosecuting attorney since 1923.

Mr. Watson has always been a Republican. He is a member of the United Presbyterian Church, Masonic Lodge, and Butler Country Club. He is a Spanish-American War veteran, having served as a member of Company E. Fifteenth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.

The subject of this sketch is a member of a family that settled in the present confines of Butler County before the county was established and the members of which were of Revolutionary stock. First, Thomas Watson, born in Ireland in 1759, served in the War of the Revolution, as a private in Captain McGowan’s company under Lieutenant-Colonel Bicker, and enlisted at Middletown, Pennsylvania, was taken prisoner by the British at Brandywine and was confined at Wilmington, Delaware, on a British prison ship until he finally made his escape. He died in 1845. Second, John Davis, enlisted in the army at Elizabethtown, New Jersey, under Col Oliver Spencer Holmes in Captain Pierson’s Company in 1776, and served throughout the entire war. He participated in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, White Marsh, Connecticut Farms and Short Hills. He died in 1841.

Their children, James Watson and Mary Davis, were married and lived in Clinton Township. James volunteered and served in the War of 1812. To this union were born the following children: Sarah; Deborah; Rebecca; Mary Ann; Maria; Phoebe; John; James and Thomas. Thomas was the grandfather of the subject of the sketch, married Mary Galbreath and lived in Winfield Township his entire life, where William Watson, the father, was born and reared to manhood.

History of Butler County, Pennsylvania, Historical Pub. Co., 1927, Pages 776-777. View image of this page of the book online - Free Trial  More Butler County History Books  Search Hundreds of 1880s-1890s Pennsylvania County History Books for biographies and historical information on your ancestors.  View the book page images on line and print them out for your genealogy file!  Free Access to the old history books - plus birth & death records, census images and ALL other records at ancestry.com

.