William Watts, deceased.—The subject of this sketch was born in Chelsea,
Massachusetts, March 21, 1808, a son of Benjamin and Mary (Pratt) Watts. The
father, a native of Exeter, New Hampshire, lived to the age of ninety-two and
the mother to ninety-one, both dying in Chelsea. Grandfather Watts reached the age of 100, dying in Charlestown,
Massachusetts. William Watts learned
the trade of tanner and currier in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and was married in Roxbury,
July 4, 1831, to Miss Maria Frances Rollins, born in Gilmanton, New Hampshire,
December 11, 1807, a daughter of Benjamin and Hannah (Folsom) Rollins. The mother died in 1816, aged thirty-seven,
leaving four children, of whom Mrs. Watts is the only survivor. The father, engaged in mature life chiefly
in farming, lived to the age of sixty-seven.
Grandmother Keziah (Burleigh) Rollins died comparatively young, but her
husband, Jotham Rollins, lived to be seventy-seven.
After his marriage, as before, Mr.
William Watts worked at his trade of tanner in or near Boston, and there two
children were born to him: William Augustus, April 30, 1833, and some five
years later a daughter who died in infancy.
In 1850 Mr. and Mrs. Watts came to California by the Panama route,
arriving August 15 in San Francisco, where they remained some months. Early in 1851 Mr. Watts located 160 acres on
the Oak land side of the bay, which has since become known as the Watts tract,
Oakland. Leaving the land in charge of
another, Mr. and Mrs. Watts went to the mines in Columbia, Tuolumne county,
where they remained about nine months. Returning to San Francisco in 1852 they
opened a boarding house, which Mrs. Watts conducted while her husband took
charge of his land in Oakland, raising crops and freighting by his schooner for
himself and others across the bay. When
Mr. Watts first located upon his tract in 1851, there was only one house in
that immediate neighborhood and two others quite a little distance away on the
San Pablo road. In 1851 their son
William joined them from Boston, and after working some time in the marketing
business in San Francisco he joined his father on the ranch. In 1853 the shanty erected in 1851 was
replaced by a five-room cottage and the place assumed a home-like
appearance. Mrs. Watts went East on a
visit, leaving May 9, 1855, and returning August 15, 1856, while her husband
and son remained behind, being too much occupied with the farm to make the
trip. In 1858 they erected on their
place a two-story residence of fifteen rooms, which still remains, being now
situated on Chestnut near Thirty-fourth street. About 1872 the land was subdivided into building lots, and is
still known as the Watts tract. In 1860
Mr. Watts established a tannery on his place and carried on the business until
his death. He also conducted a shoe
shop, employing seven men, and also a shoe store on Broadway, Oakland. He was a trustee of the First Baptist church
of this city, and contributed about $6,000 to its finances, being also a Deacon
of the church thirteen years. He died
January 16, 1878, leaving his widow, Mrs. Maria Francis Watts, still surviving,
enfeebled in body, but with mental faculties unimpaired, and their only child,
William Augustus Watts. In November,
1887, they purchased 143 acres in Lafayette, Contra Costa county, on which Mr.
William A. Watts carried on a general farming business, while residing with his
mother and family in this city. Mr.
Watts received a fair education in his native city of Boston in his youth, and
engaged in the buchering business there went but little more than a boy,
continuing to work in that line until he came to this coast in 1851, and for
nearly one year thereafter in San Francisco.
Since 1851 he has been chiefly engaged in the care and cultivation of
land.
He was married in this city February
4, 1874, to Miss Martha Augusta McComb, born in Chautauqua county, New York,
October 15, 1843, a daughter of William H. H. and Martha Elvira (Smith) McComb,
born in Attica, Genesee county, New York.
He was born near Utica, New York.; the father July 24, 1821; the mother
January 19, 1826,–and both still living.
Grandmother McComb, nee Pratt, lived to a good age, but
grandmother Molly (Nichols) Smith died at the age of thirty-one, 1833. Grandfather Jesse Smith died on his farm in
Mercer county, Illinois, at the age of fifty-five. Mr. and Mrs. William A. Watts have three children: May Frances,
born May 14, 1876; Martha Gabrielle, June 11, 1878; William Cassius, May 11,
1880.
Transcribed
by Donna L. Becker
Source:
"The Bay of San Francisco,"
Vol. 1, page 483-484, Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.
© 2004 Donna L. Becker.