AARON B. WATSON
Chase County Leader, Friday, Feb. 5,
1909, Pg 1
A.
B. WATSON CALLED HOME
______
Another
of Chase County’s Early Settlers Answers the Last Roll
Call—A
Good Man Gone.
______
A. B. Watson
died at his home in this city Thursday afternoon at 5:30 o’clock. He had
been ill for several weeks but the greater part of that time had been able to be
up around the house.
Mr. and Mrs. Watson settled here
in July, 1859, and were among the very earliest settlers of Chase county and
many will be grieved to learn of the death. At the time they came here
there were but two houses on the present townsite, one where Dr. Johnson now
lives, which was occupied by the Watsons, and one back of where the Union Hotel
now stands.
A. B. Watson was born in Ripley
county, Ind., February 28, 1833 and died in Cottonwood Falls, Kans., Feb. 4,
1909, being nearly 76 years old at the time of his death. He was married
to Sarah Jane Williams in Davis county, Iowa, in 1857. At the beginning of
the Civil War he answered his country’s call and enlisted in the Eighth Kansas
Cavalry and a short time later was transferred to Company B, Ninth Kansas
Cavalry, in which company he served three years. He was a prominent member
of the G. A. R. Post here.
Six children were born to Mr. and
Mrs. Watson: Harry, who died March 22, 1872; and infant, who died February
3, 1875; William Roy, who died March 17, 1889; Mrs. Cora L. Clark of Syracuse,
Kans.; Charles T. Watson of Reno, Nevada and Mrs. Nellie Clark of Coolidge,
Kans. Besides his, aged wife and children he leaves to mourn his death two
brothers, Wm. Watson of Ft. Madison, Iowa, and Hartsel Watson of Oklahoma City,
Ok., two sisters Mrs. L. Noble of Chicago, Ill., and Mrs. Yarnell of Mt. Vernon,
Wash., seventeen grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
The funeral will be held Sunday
morning at eleven o’clock at the home.
Chase County Leader, Tuesday, Feb. 9,
1908, Pg. 2
Vol. XXXVIII, No. 101
Tribute
to Aaron B. Watson.
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In the year 1859, I formed the
acquaintance of Aaron B. Watson, he had moved from Iowa and settled in the then
small hamlet of Cottonwood Falls. Here the few scattered settlers met
occasionally and became acquainted. They were honest and patriotic men and
women determined to build a home for themselves and their posterity. The
trials of frontier life were hard and severe; their faith in being successful
was almost unlimited, many were successful, a few failed. Among the many
who believed in the great future of Kansas was Aaron Watson. Always
hopeful, jovial and friendly with everyone who knew him.
In the early part of December,
1861, Comrade Watson, Williams and the writer enlisted in the 8th Kansas
Infantry, Governor Martin’s Regiment, serving in that Regiment for some time
when we were transferred to the 9th K. V. C., where the term of enlistment was
completed. Comrade Watson did not remain long in the list of privates, his
soldierly bearing and aptitude in acquiring and mastering the tactics of those
days placed him in non commissioned officers rank. He was a good
disiplinarian, ever ready to obey the commands of his superior officers, always
giving the greatest latitude permissible under the rules to those below him.
During the dark and doubtful days
of the war he was always hopeful of the final success of the union cause.
He was a splendid type of the American volunteers of 1861, tall, erect, quick of
movement, prompt in obedience to all official commands. There are a few of
those boys who enlisted in the 8th Kansas from Chase County still numbered among
the living. They are answering the final roll call, the call that all
mankind must obey.
The volunteers of 1861 to 1865
performed their whole duty as citizens and patriots; they preserved a nation
whose freedom and liberty was and is the admiration of the oppressed the world
over. They have bequeathed to another generation the priceless gift of
human liberty. Will they prove worthy of the trust? We hope so.
Comrade Aaron, you have gone on
before us; you will be absent but not forgotten; your kind greeting and
friendship of half a century will not be forgotten while life lasts.
P. B. McCabe.