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Thomas Edward Watson.

HOMAS EDWARD WATSON was born September 5,

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1856, near Thomson, in what was then Columbia county, now McDuffie, Georgia. He is of good native stock, one of his ancestors, Charles Watson, having been Secretary of the Royal Council of the Colony of Georgia, during the Colonial

era.

Coming to America from the Scotch border, the family first settled in Pennsylvania, and afterward migrated to Virginia, from whence descendants dropped down into the Carolinas and Georgia. The Saxon origin of the family is denoted by the fact that the men almost invariably are tall, slender, blue-eyed and fair-haired, sandy or red. The subject of this sketch is himself auburn-haired, gray-eyed, slender, and five feet nine and a half inches tall; his weight is about one hundred and thirty-five pounds.

On their first settling in Georgia they formed part of a Quaker colony which acquired 40,000 acres of wilderness land near where Mr. Watson now lives. They founded the town of Wrightsboro, named for the Royal Governor, Wright.

Thomas E. Watson now resides within the boundaries of the ancient Quaker colony and owns a portion of the original tract as some members of his family have done since 1754.

John S. Watson, the father of Thomas E. Watson, was a farmer by occupation. He married Ann E. Maddox (another familiar Georgia name) and to them were born several children. "Tom," as he was familiarly known then in the neighborhood, and is now affectionately so called by multitudes, was a rather delicate boy, slight of build, but active, and fond of hunting,

fishing and riding. Early in life he developed "bookish" tendencies, especially along the line of historical literature.

At fourteen years of age his budding ambition led him to essay original composition, poetry, prose, speeches and sketches. His early schooling was obtained in a local school conducted by a teacher employed by his father and several neighbors. Later on he entered the Thomson High School, walking the three miles morning and evening. This was the pivot on which his life turned. The teacher in charge was the Rev. E. A. Steed, who is the young preacher in Mr. Wateon's story of "Bethany," and according to Mr. Watson's own testimony, was not only an extraordinary man from an intellectual standpoint, but was a most potent factor in shaping Watson's future life.

He evidently became greatly attached to the promising youth as he took special pains in instructing him how to analyze and discuss questions and constantly urged him on to strenuous effort. That a strong tie bound teacher and pupil is proven by the fact that when Mr. Steed was elected Professor of Latin in Mercer University, Macon, Ga., he prevailed upon the elder Watson to permit the youth to go with him, so that October, 1872, found young Watson entered as a Freshman at Mercer on the endowment privilege, which had been established for the benefit of "young men of decided promise," and which relieved them of the payment of tuition fees.

John S. Watson's fortunes were then decaying and the panic of 1873 gave him such a crushing blow that he could no longer maintain his son at Mercer. Driven by this condition, the ambitious youth spent the three months vacation teaching school in the Big Warrior district of Bibb county. He earned $150, which enabled him to complete the fall term.

He left the col

lege at the end of the Sophomore year. June, 1874. and then went to Screven county, and, as he puts it, "taught school for a living."

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