Reminisce: Watt family full of early settlers in Allen County

By 1880, many of those who had arrived in Allen County a half century earlier, when the forest was full of wolves, wildcats, and the occasional Shawnee or Wyandot hunter, were passing into history.

In November 1879, Jacob Ridenour, who, the Allen County Democrat noted, came to Allen County in 1831, built the second log cabin in Perry Township, helped clear timber from what would become Lima’s Main Street and once purchased hogs from the Shawnee leader Quilna, died. Five months later, In April 1880, Daniel Musser died. Musser, according to the Democrat, settled in the county in 1833 when it was no more than “a howling wilderness” with “not more than ten or twelve houses, or cabins in the place.”

And then, in May 1880, Hudson Watt passed into history.

“During the past few months, the deaths of several of the oldest citizens have occurred, and on last Monday morning, Hudson Watt, who for a long period of years has made Lima his home, departed this life at the advanced age of 72 years.” the Democratic Times wrote May 22, 1880. “Years ago, when our now prosperous and flourishing young city was a mere hamlet in the midst of a wilderness; at a time when visits from the aborigines were of no rare occurrence, Hudson Watt, then in the full vigor and strength of young manhood, accompanied by his young wife, came to Allen County, and chose it for his abiding place.”

Hudson Watt came to the crude settlement in May 1834 and his first son, Jacob D. Watt, was born in Lima on the Fourth of July of that year. Three or four decades later, Jacob Watt recalled those early days, telling a tough-to top-story about the difficulty of getting to school. His father, Jacob Watt remembered, “was obliged to carry him and his sister to school” when the mud was deep, which was much of the time. “He would carry me to a log or stump and placing me upon it would go back for my sister. He would then carry her past me to a good resting place and come back for me.”

Born in Flemingsburg, Kentucky, in 1808, Hudson Watt was the son of James and Ruth Watt. When he was 11 years old, the family moved to Champaign County where, at the age of seventeen, he “united with the Methodist Church,” converting at a camp meeting, according to the Lima Democratic Times. He would remain an enthusiastic Methodist for the remainder of his life.

In a lengthy reminiscence in the Lima Times-Democrat in March 1912, Mrs. George Vicary, a longtime member of Trinity Methodist church, wrote of Watt: “Hudson Watt was a man of strong personality, powerful in prayer and a voice so strong that Mother Halter told me that sitting at her home on North Union Street, two blocks from the church, his prayers would be distinctly wafted to her ears.”

In 1830 in Champaign County, Watt married the former Hulda Downs. “Four years after their marriage they came to Lima, then a small settlement in the wilderness,” the Democrat wrote in March 1880 as the couple celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. “The hardships and struggles of frontier life they met bravely and conquered. The unbroken forest and wilderness they have seen melt away and a thriving, busy city, and cultivated fields take their place.”

A 1906 history of Allen County credits Watt with playing a large part in creating that thriving city, writing that he “immediately became one of the leading factors in the development of the city’s resources. He, as noted, was one of the earliest shoe manufacturers in this section, and later he embarked on a general mercantile business which he continued during his business career.” The mercantile business, operated initially by Hudson Watt and later by two of his sons, stood in the northeast corner of the Public Square.

The Democratic Times wrote in May 1880 that “Mr. Watt was a man of much energy and determination, and by strict attention to business, succeeded during his lifetime in amassing considerable property. He was in the strictest sense a self-made man, he having acquired his property through his own hard toil, energy and economy, unaided by anyone.”

Much of Watt’s property in Lima would be divided into lots to become subdivisions of the growing city.

The Watt family lived in a one and one-half story house on the west side of North West Street, directly in line with High Street, which at the time ended at West Street. When it was decided to extend High Street farther west, the city took over the Watt property. The family then moved to a house on West Market Street northeast of its intersection with Metcalf Street.

Hudson and Hulda Watt were the parents of 11 children, five of whom – Sarah, Ruth W., Hulda Ann, Granbury, and Emma A. – died young, mostly in their 20s and mostly of consumption (tuberculosis). Two other children, sons James H. and Samuel L., died in infancy. Daughter Mary Cordelia and son Joseph Hudson lived into their early 60s.

Two sons, Jacob D., the couple’s first child born in Allen County in 1834, and William L., born two years after Jacob, were proprietors of the family dry goods store.

William Watt began working in store around 1856. In 1861, he volunteered to serve in the Union Army, suffering a bullet wound in the kneecap during his service. “Mr. Watt then entered his father’s store as a salesman and in 1866 he became a member of the firm,” according to the 1906 county history. “After his father’s retirement from business in 1868, the firm became Watt Brothers and this continued for six years, when the firm style became J.D. and W.L. Watt…” until William Watt withdrew and entered the shoe business around 1883. Like his father, William Watt was involved in real estate and the platting of subdivisions. He died in 1909.

Jacob Watt left Lima in 1884, settling in Scotia, Nebraska, where he was engaged in the grocery business. He died in Nebraska in December 1906.

Hudson Watt died May 17, 1880. “Mr. Watt has lived to see Lima grow from a small hamlet to one of the most thriving and prosperous young cities in the State, and from hardships and privations of a pioneer life, he lived to enjoy the fruits of his labors in his declining years,” the Democrat wrote May 20, 1880, adding, “Four daughters and three sons have preceded him to the grave, while he leaves an aged widow awaiting the summons of the Great Master to join her partner of over 50 years … Thus, one by one the aged pioneers of this county are passing away, and soon there will be none left to tell the tale of early life here.”

Hulda Watt lived on in the family’s West Market Street home until her death in December 1891. “For more than a half century she lived in our midst, and all know how beautiful the record she has made,” the Daily Times wrote in January 1892. “Some among us can remember her as a sweet young matron, even then possessed of unusual dignity, but more will think of her as ‘Mother Watt,’ wise in council, gracious in bearing, and always beautiful.”

In a story written for Mother’s Day in 1927, the Lima News recalled “Mother Watt,” who in her old age could often be found in a chair on the front porch of her Market Street home. “It was she who always had a vacant chair for the tired nomad who called at the back door for food,” the newspaper wrote.

“She was one of those sweet, kind, old-fashioned mothers who found happiness in making others happy. The kitchen cupboard was always stocked with ‘goodies’ that would attract the kiddies throughout the neighborhood.”

Hudson Watt came to a crude settlement in Allen County in May 1834, one of the first people to settle the wilderness here. He died in May 1880.

Reach Greg Hoersten at [email protected].