WATSON, JONATHAN -- One of the few remaining '49ers in California is Jonathan Watson, and his life stands out as one of the hardy pioneers who, with his great strength, courage and determination, was utterly fearless in facing the many hardships that they encountered in those early days. His memory of his pioneer experiences is splendid, and it is most interesting to hear him recount the story of his boyhood escapades and his hunting experiences up on the San Joaquin, when they made corrals from elkhorns picked up on the plains. He has seen herds of elk numbering 500 in a bunch, 20,000 antelope, and in the Santa Cruz Mountains of San Benito County as many as 300 bears in one of the mountain valleys. At one time since living in Santa Ana Canyon, he hunted game for the market, and has killed as many as twenty-five deer in a day in Santiago Canyon.
Jonathan Watson was born near Independence, Jackson County, Mo., on July 24, 1844, the son of Henry Watson, a native of Virginia, where he was born in the historic year of 1812. He married Matilda Cox, also a native of the Old Dominion, the ceremony taking place in Virginia, and the young couple a few years later settled in Missouri. They began to rear their family on a farm in Jackson County, and he followed freighting to Santa Fe with ox teams, over the old Santa Fe Trail. The story of the discovery of gold in California made him restless, however, and he joined the thousands hurrying westward, in the hope of bettering his condition and that of those dependent upon him. Owing to his having been an experienced frontiersman, with considerable knowledge of the language and characteristics of the Indians, many neighbors and friends applied to join his company, and so Henry Watson's train came to have 500 wagons and over 1,000 men, and turned away many others who applied. As captain of the train he scouted ahead, picked the camping places and killed the game--buffalo and antelope--for their food. The Indians massacred the train before them but, thanks to Henry Watson's vigilance and diplomacy, they came through all right.
Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Henry Watson in Virginia: Mrs. Jane Barham, who passed away some years ago, and Mrs. Sarah Ann Bush, who died at the old Bush home above Olive, March 26, 1920. Two children were born to them in Missouri: Jonathan Watson, of this review, and David, who died at Olive a few years ago. Two children were also born to them after they came to California. Jacob, a native of Santa Clara, is a rancher in San Diego County, near the old San Luis Rey Mission. Charles, who was born in Monterey, or what is now San Benito County, is an engineer and is employed at the city water works at Orange.
Henry Watson came to California to make his home, and so brought with him eight ox wagons loaded with merchandise. One wagon was full of clothing, and another loaded with bacon and other provisions, and all of his six and eight-yoke wagons contained something substantial, such as hardware, tools and the like. He left Jackson County, Mo., in 1849, and after a journey of three months, pulled up at Sacramento. He went to Bear Creek, and soon after to Dry Creek, built a hotel and engaged in freighting to Nevada and the adjoining mining towns. He received $100 a day for a team, wagon and driver, and for three yoke of oxen, a wagon and driver he received $300 a day, but flour was then a dollar a pound, mining boots fifty dollars a pair, and other essentials proportionately high.
As a mere boy, Jonathan Watson drove teams; in fact, he drove the first load of freight that ever came into Nevada City, Cal. He passed through Hangtown, and there saw three desperadoes dangling by the neck, the work of Vigilantes. His education was very limited, for from a boy he assisted his father in the sheep business. Henry Watson and his family first lived in the Santa Clara Valley, moving from there to Monterey County; later he owned stock ranches in Fresno and Tulare counties, near Visalia. Then he operated in the Kings River country, in what is now Kings County. He worked hard and prospered, became a large landowner and held title to land for twenty-five miles up and down the San Joaquin River. This land he afterward sold to Miller & Lux. Henry Watson died at Olive at the age of eighty-seven, the mother having passed away when she was sixty years old.
Jonathan Watson started in business for himself as a stockman and sheepman when he was eighteen years old, on the San Joaquin River, and his flocks increased so that he soon had a drove of 15,000 sheep. He brought them down to the neighborhood of Olive in 1868, coming there with his father; then he went back to the San Joaquin Valley and disposed of his interests there. With J. M. Bush as a partner, in 1869 he bought 12,000 acres of land stretching from the Santa Ana River at Olive south and east to Tustin; and for twenty-five years he was in the sheep business, during which time, for twenty years he never slept in a house. When Messrs. Watson and Bush bought this land they also purchased the priority water right and used it for raising alfalfa. When irrigation was started in the valley below, he and his father looked the water right over and decided that it was not right for them to keep it all, but that others should have the use of it, too, so they not only gave up their right to the Santa Ana Valley Irrigation Company, but helped build the canal, and later on Mr. Watson served for a number of years a a director of this company. From time to time Mr. Watson sold off parcels from his holding, retaining 105 acres under the canal, which he set out years ago to walnuts, lemons and Valencia oranges, now full bearing and yielding a handsome income.
A giant in strength, Mr. Watson is still a powerful man; he enjoyed the reputation of being a better shot than even Buffalo Bill, and has killed more grizzlies than any other man in California. When he lined up with Colonel Cody and worsted him, he used a Hawkins rifle; the contest with Buffalo Bill was on the banks of the San Joaquin River, and on account of his marksmanship he was offered $500 a week by an Englishman to go Buffalo hunting with him on the great plains, but he turned the offer down. He also excelled in running and jumping and his prowess in athletics was wonderful. His training had not been in the gymnasium as nowadays, but in the great outdoors, by exercise on the plains and in the fields. In those early days he won many contests at both running and jumping; thus it was that when he was a boy of seventeen at Watsonville the manager of Lee's Circus offered him $500 a week to travel with the circus as an athlete, but he also turned that offer down, for he would not leave his mother. One shooting contest he had with John Mason, a quarter-breed Cherokee Indian who thought himself invincible, came near proving a tragedy. Mr. Watson easily proved his superiority as a marksman, when Mason drew a shotgun on him, but with lightning quickness Mr. Watson threw the barrel of the gun up with his revolver and the charge went through his hat; then he covered the would-be murderer, who cringingly wilted and dropped his gun. The remembrance of his mother and her teachings came before him and kept him from shooting, and he was ever afterwards glad, because he did not want the blood of any man on his conscience, even though it was in self-defense.
Mr. Watson was married the first time in Watsonville, when he made Miss Eliza Hildreth his wife. They had several children, but only one lived to maturity--Mrs. Winifred Stoner, who resides near Hemet in Riverside County. Mr. Watson's second marriage, which occurred at Santa Ana, April 16, 1891, united him with Miss Lenna May Barger, the daughter of Josiah and Mary F. (Robinson) Barger, born in Virginia and Ohio, respectively. They came from Nebraska to California September 17, 1884, settling first at Olive, but later were orange growers at McPherson until they moved to Hemet, where the mother died September 25, 1919, while Mr. Barger is still engaged in horticulture. Lenna was the eldest of their six living children and was born near Meade, Nebr. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Watson by this marriage; Floyd, of the firm of Thompson & Watson, auto electricians of Orange, resides there with his wife, who was Effie E. Whitcomb, they have a daughter, Georgia E.; Errol Trafford is a rancher who married Beatrice Durkee, they have two children, June L., and Maxine, and live on a part of his father's ranch; Florence M. is the wife of Herbert J. Beckler, a merchant at Deshler, Thayer County, Nebr., and they have one child Virginia; Harold A. is also a rancher, living on a part of his father's ranch, he married Bernice Wilbur, a stepdaughter of Dr. Royer of Orange.
Mr. and Mrs. Watson are members of the Christian Church at Santa Ana, and for many years Mr. Watson has been a school trustee in the Olive district. A Democrat in politics, he has always been active in civic affairs and took a prominent part in the formation of Orange County. Kindly, pleasant, straightforward and honest, he is still hale, hearty and athletic at the age of seventy-six, and can look back on a life well spent and filled to the full with interesting experiences. Taking it all in all he is one of Orange County's genuine upbuilders, a true type of the hardy pioneer who has made possible the wonderful development of today.
