WATSON, HAROLD ARLINGTON -- The long-honored name of Jonathan Watson, one of the most distinguished of Orange County's pioneers, is worthily borne by his youngest child, Harold Arlington Watson, who may himself boast of an enviable record for service in the great World War. As a rancher he is a successful citrus fruit and walnut grower, operating the home ranch in connection with his brothers. He was born in 1899, and was a junior in the Orange Union high school when, on the declaration of war on Germany by Congress, he enlisted on April 7, 1917, as one of the first to volunteer from Orange and Orange County--sharing with Percy Atwood and Earl Granger of Orange the honor of being one of the first three. He joined Company L of the One Hundred and Sixtieth California Infantry as a private, and later became corporal, and after sixteen months' training at Camp Kearny, sailed from Hoboken, N. J., on the "Nestor," for France. He landed first at Liverpool, and then reembarked for Havre, on August 26, 1918. He trained at various places in France preparatory to going to the front, and at the time of the armistice, narrowly escaped death from the "flu". He landed at New York on March 24, 1919, and was honorably discharged at Camp Kearny, in California, on April 16, 1919.
Mr. Watson then doffed the corporal's uniform and went to work on his father's ranch, which had been turned over to the three boys, Floyd E., a member of the auto-electric firm of Thompson & Watson, Errol Trafford Watson and our subject. The latter two sons assume active control, aided in various ways by Floyd. They raise oranges, lemons and walnuts, and nowhere for miles around may fruit of a higher quality be found. Having mastered the details of ranch work when he was a boy, as did his brothers before him, Mr. Watson has found no difficulty coping with the many agricultural problems of the day.
From his father, whose record for endurance and accomplishment is so remarkable in many ways, Mr. Watson has inherited not only his love for the great outdoors, but his proficiency as a marksman. He was, therefore, one of the best five rifle shots, with Springfield rifles, in his regiment of over 3,500 men, and was a prize marksman at all the ranges. He is a member of Post No. 132, American legion, at Orange.
Just before leaving for France, Mr. Watson was married to Miss Bernice Wilbur, a native daughter, of Orange, and one child was born to them, Jeanne M. Mrs. Watson, as a popular belle, was the daughter of Dr. D. F. Royer of that city. A most distressing accident deprived these devoted young parents of their little daughter, Jeanne, only fourteen months old. The little one, with their parents, was visiting at the home of the beloved grandfather, when an automobile, backing out, ran the child down. The baby was rushed to the Anaheim hospital for operation, but died soon after reaching there. The tragedy brought the deepest sorrow to a host of friends, as well as to the bereaved parents.
