My Genealogy Hound

WATTS. The earliest tax list of Rye township, Cumberland county, in existence is that of 1768. Upon it there is enrolled the name of Frederick Watts. According to the records this is his first appearance in that part of the Province, but there is a strong probability that he was there earlier than the date named.

Frederick Watts was the progenitor of a family who have been prominent in the history of Cumberland county through four generations. He was born in Wales, and received a fair English education. About the year 1749 he married Jane Murray, niece of David Murray, Marquis of Tullibardine, and in 1760 came to America. He first settled in Chester county, but on Dec. 21, 1762, there was surveyed to him on a warrant dated June 4, 1762, a tract of 331 acres of bottom land, lying three miles above the mouth of the Juniata river, then in Cumberland, now in Perry county. Upon this he made his home, and here he lived until his death. On the breaking out of the war of the Revolution he was appointed a member of the Cumberland county committee, and commissioned a lieutenant-colonel of one of the associated Battalions. Upon the organization of the flying camp, by direction of Congress, he was placed in command of the Battalion that was assigned to Cumberland county, which was captured at the surrender of Fort Washington, Nov. 16, 1776. He was soon exchanged and afterward served in various capacities. He was commissioned justice of the peace April 1, 1778; chosen representative to the Assembly in 1779; appointed sub-lieutenant of Cumberland county April 18, 1780; and on May 27, 1782, commissioned brigadier general of the Pennsylvania militia, in which capacity he did excellent service in protecting the frontier counties of the State from the ravages of the Indians and the Tories. He was a member of the supreme executive council from October, 1787, until the abolition of that body by the State constitution of 1790. He died Sept. 27, 1795. It is not known when his wife, Jane Murray died. According to general belief and report the remains of both are interred in a little private graveyard on the farm which they for so many years owned, and upon which they died. The children of Frederick and Jane (Murray) Watts were: Margery, Catherine, Margaret, Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Sarah and David.

David Watts, only son of Frederick and Jane (Murray) Watts, was born Oct. 29, 1764. He was reared on his father’s farm on the Juniata, and educated at Carlisle, where he graduated from Dickinson College. After leaving college he read law with William Lewis, of Philadelphia, and was admitted to the Bar in that city. He then returned to Cumberland county, and practiced law at Carlisle during the rest of his life. In person Mr. Watts was a large man, possessed of a vigorous mind, and a voice of great volume and strength. He was a fluent, impassioned speaker, and in handling a case would select merely the strong points in it and present them to the jury with a vehemence approaching to fury. He long ranked as the leader of the Bar in central Pennsylvania, and his practice at its flood tide extended over two-thirds of the State. As an advocate he was able and fearless, as a man sincere, generous and honorable, and was greatly esteemed alike by his brethren of the Bar and the general public.

David Watts was married to Juliana Miller, daughter of Gen. Henry Miller, who served with distinction in the Revolutionary war, and also the War of 1812. To them were born the following children: Mary, Matilda, Frederick, Sarah Ann, Henry M., Edward, William M., Charles Octavius, Juliana and David Murray. He died Sept. 15, 1819; his wife, Juliana, died Feb. 20, 1869, and both are buried in the Old Graveyard at Carlisle.

Frederick Watts, eldest son of David Watts and Juliana Miller, and grandson of Gen. Frederick Watts and Jane Murray, was born at Carlisle, May 9, 1801, and always lived there. He received his education at Dickinson College, from which institution he graduated in 1819, at the age of eighteen. The two years immediately following his graduation from college he spent with his uncle, William Miles, of Erie county, engaged at farming, which vocation possessed a special attraction for him throughout his long and busy life. In 1821 he returned to Carlisle, entered the office of Andrew Carothers, Esq., as a student-at-law, and was admitted to the Bar in 1824. He became his preceptor’s partner, and by his energy and ability soon won high rank as a lawyer. From 1829 to 1834 he was a reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. The first three volumes issued bore his name in connection with that of Hon. C. B. Penrose; the next ten bore his name as sole reporter; and subsequently nine volumes bore his name in connection with that of Henry J. Seargeant, Esq. In 1845 he was made president of the Cumberland Valley railroad, which by his intelligent management he raised from a languishing condition to a higher degree of efficiency, making it an important factor in the development of the section through which it passes. He retired from its presidency in 1873, but continued a director in the Company until his death. On March 9, 1849, he was appointed president judge of the Ninth Judicial District, then composed of the counties of Cumberland, Perry and Juniata. This office he filled until 1852, when the elective judiciary began. He was an ardent friend of higher education, and from 1824 to 1828 was secretary of the board of trustees of Dickinson College, and from 1828 to 1832 a member of the board, and active and influential in all its proceedings. In 1854 he was instrumental in establishing the Pennsylvania State Agricultural College, and was elected first president of its board of trustees. He was in close touch with the farmers of his section, and constantly sought to advance the best interests of agriculture. For many years he was president of the Cumberland County Agricultural Society, and its most devoted friend and patron. In 1854 he projected the Carlisle Gas and Water Company, and for a long time was president of it. To indulge his tastes for agricultural pursuits he, in 1865, removed to one of his farms near Carlisle, and began gradually to relinquish his law practice. In 1871 he was tendered the appointment of Commissioner of Agriculture. This he declined, but the offer being afterward renewed and urged upon him, he accepted and held the place until 1877, when because of advancing years he retired from all active duties of life.

Perhaps no man left more lasting and favorable impressions upon the community in which his busy life was passed than Frederick Watts. As a lawyer he occupied a front rank for nearly half a century. Excepting the time he was on the Bench there is not a report of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in forty-two years that does not contain his name as counsel. He was a man of great force of character and abiding self confidence. Whatever he believed he believed implicitly, and whatever he undertook he did with all his might. He never sat down to the counsel table that he did not impress the court and jury that he confidently expected to win his case. His power with the jury was great. His reputation for ability, integrity and unblemished honor was known to every man in the counties in which he practiced, and he invariably sustained this reputation by a manner that was always dignified, and speech that was always clear, strong, convincing, and never tedious. He possessed the respect of his brethren of the Bar in an unusual degree, and as a man and a citizen he was universally regarded as unselfish, public-spirited and patriotic.

Frederick Watts was twice married. He first married Eliza Cranston, of New Castle county, Del., who bore him three children: Marcia Ross, Laura Gold, and Eliza Cranston. Mrs. Watts died in November, 1832, and he afterward married Henrietta Ege, daughter of Michael Ege, of Cumberland county, who bore him the following children: William Miles, Mary, Julia Miller, Frederick, Coleman Hall, Edward Biddle, Sarah Campbell, Edward Biddle (2), Sarah Campbell (2), Henrietta and Brown Parker. Judge Watts died Aug. 17, 1889. His wife, Henrietta Ege, died March 7, 1890, and he and his two wives are buried in the old graveyard at Carlisle.