Person:William Watson (101)

William Williamson Watson (1822-1901) was a senior partner in the chair-making firm of Ingersoll, Watson & Co. of New York City, and also played a minor part in the corruption scandal that ended the career of Tammany Hall boss William M. Tweed in the 1870s.

Early Years, 1822-1866

William was born at Mount Bethel, Somerset County, New Jersey, on May 30, 1822, the second child of the Rev. John Watson and Elizabeth Ely. William spent his early years in New Jersey -- first at Mount Bethel, then at Piscataway, and finally at Livingston in Essex County.^[1][5] In 1838, at the age of sixteen, he moved to New York City to begin a five-year apprenticeship in the chair-making business. By 1848, he was appointed foreman in the firm of Ingersoll, Jewett & Company, under the mentorship of his maternal uncle, Lorin Ingersoll. William remained with this company over thirty years, replacing Clement Jewett as his uncle’s partner in 1866.^[2][3][4]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Beach, Moses S. (Moses Sperry); Sumner Ariel Ely; George Burritt Vanderpoel; and William Ely. The Ely Ancestry: Lineage of Richard Ely of Plymouth, England, Who Came to Boston, Mass., About 1655, & Settled at Lyme, Conn. in 1660. (New York: Calumet Press, 1902).
2. ↑ “William Watson,” Biographical and Genealogical History of the City of Newark and Essex County, N.J., Vol. 1, Frederick W. Ricord and Sophia B. Ricord (New York: Lewis Pub. Co., 1898)
   159-160.
3. ↑ Doggett’s New York City Directory, 1848-1852.
4. ↑ Trow’s New York City Directory, 1855-1866.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} "John Watson," Seventh-Day Baptist Memorial 1, no. 4 (1852)., 157-164.
6. ↑ ^6.0 6.1 William W. Watson (1823 -1917, in Find A Grave.