Lorenzo Watson, successfully conducting general agricultural pursuits near Woody, was born in Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, on the 16th of March, 1850, and is a son of George and Melvina (Hammond) Watson, the latter a daughter of "Major" Hammond, who died in Pennsylvania in 1894 at the very venerable age of ninety-five years, being at that time one of the oldest settlers of Susquehanna county. George Watson was born in New York and his wife was a native of New Hampshire. They settled in Pennsylvania about 1848 and remained residents of that state until the spring of 1858, when they came to Illinois, settling in Sangamon county, where they resided for six months. On the expiration of that period they removed to Greene county. In early life Mr. Watson had been identified with commercial pursuits, conducting a drug store in the east, but in his later years he followed farming and stock-raising in McPherson county, Kansas, to which place he removed in 1873. His remaining days were spent there, his death occurring in the Sunflower state on the 24th of December, 1887, when he was sixty-three years of age, his birth having occurred on the 6th of March, 1825. His wife, who was born on the 8th of January, 1819, died in 1873. This worthy couple were the parents of the following named: Rosalia, who died at the age of a year and a half, and was born at Cold Springs, New York; Walter O., who is living in Lawrence Kansas; Asa James, also a resident of Kansas; Lorenzo, of this review; Rosalia, the wife of E.B. Pegram, a resident of Greene county, who is mentioned elsewhere in this volume; and Phoebe, who died at the age of five years, her remains being interred in Ridgewood cemetery.

Lorenzo Watson spent the first seven years of his life in Pennsylvania and began his education in its public schools. Later he continued his studies in the schools of Greene county, where he mastered the common branches of English learning and after putting aside his text-books he continued to work upon his father?s farm. In the meantime the family had removed to Kansas and it was upon the claim in McPherson county that Lorenzo Watson performed the labors of the fields. That was then a wild and largely unimproved district and upon the prairies he killed many buffalos. At the time of the removal of the family to Kansas the county seat was at Lindsburg, but was afterward changed to McPherson. The Santa Fe Railroad had not been built at that time and only here and there were seen homes of pioneer settlers, who had gone to the far west in order to secure cheap land, from which they might develop good farming property. Mr. Watson continued a resident of Kansas for eighteen years and on the expiration of that period he returned to Illinois and settled at his present home in Greene county near Woody. Here he has since engaged in general farming and has also raised considerable stock. He is to-day the owner of a valuable tract of land of three hundred and forty acres and he likewise has fruit lands in Florida. He home farm is splendidly improved, being supplied with all the modern equipments and accessories. He uses the latest improved machinery in the planting of his crops and the gathering of the harvest and he has upon his place substantial barns and outbuildings for the shelter of grain and stock as well as a comfortable residence in which his family are pleasantly located.

On the 13th of March, 1876, Mr. Watson was united in marriage to Miss Louisa Johnson, a daughter of John and Ann Johnson, who were natives of Sweden, while Mrs. Watson was born in Indiana. There were four children of this marriage. Charles Lorenzo, who is living upon a farm west of his father?s home, married Gertrude Wood, a granddaughter of William Maberry, of Bluffdale township. Alice C. is the wife of Curtiss Frost, a resident [sic] Jerseyville, Illinois. Harold Lawrence and Olive Mildred are both attending school.

Mr. Watson voted the prohibition ticket when prohibition was the leading issue in Kansas politics and still gives to the party his unfaltering support. He has served as a school director for a number of years and manifests a public-spirited interest in everything pertaining to general progress and improvement, giving to many measures for the public good his hearty co-operation. His life has been actuated by worthy motives and honorable principles and he receives from his follow townsmen uniform regard.

Transcribed by: Carole Ann Heller