History of Wayne County, Indiana : together with sketches of its cities, villages and towns
volume II, pages 305-306, 1884.
https://archive.org/stream/historyofwayneco02inte/historyofwayneco02inte_djvu.txt
James Watson was born in Wayne Township, Wayne
County, Ind., April 1, 1821, a son of William and Nancy
(Rue) Watson. His father was a native of Maryland, and
was married in 1810 to Nancy Rue. They lived in Wayne
Township. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. They had
a family of thirteen children, eight of whom are living —
Samuel, James, Mary, Malinda, William, Nancy, Harmon
C, and Rebecca. Elizabeth, Henry, Robert, Richard and
Sarah are deceased. Mrs. Watson died in 1819, aged fifty-eight
years, and Mr. Watson in 1859, aged seventy-five years.
Our subject's paternal grandparents, Robert and Malinda
(Consley) Watson, were natives of England. He was a sea-
faring man and died at Natchez, Miss. His wife came to
Wayne County about 1803, where she died about 1850. She
had a family of six children — William, Samuel, Elizabeth,
Sarah, Robert and Jane. The maternal grandparents of our
subject, Richard and Elizabeth (Holman) Rue, located in
Wayne County in 1805. He was of French descent. He
was one of the first Justices of the Peace in the county, and
is said to have performed the first marriage ceremony in the
county. He represented this district in the Territorial Legis-
lature before Indiana was a State. He was a soldier in the
war of the Revolution and was captured by the Indians in
Kentucky and carried to Detroit, where he was exchanged.
He was one of the founders of the Elkhorn Baptist church.
Mrs. Rue died in 1833, and Mr. Rue in 184:4:, aged eighty-
iive years. They had a family of nine children — Polly,
Elizabetli, Rachel, Sally, Nancy, Henry, Samuel, Kelly and
Jane. James "Watson, our subject, was reared on a farm, and
received a common-school education. He now has a fine
farm of 160 acres all well improved. Politically he is inde-
pendent in his views. He was married in 1846, to Elizabeth
Raper, daughter of William Raper. In 1850 he removed to *
Holt County, Mo., but two years later returned to his old
home. Mr. and Mrs. Watson have four children — Hannah,
now Mrs. Stanley; Idelle, Howard and Lake George.
