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Jones Watson

Jones Watson was one of the five men named commissioners of Chapel Hill when the General Assembly incorporated the town in 1851, and he served as the town's mayor in 1882.

Source: Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 364

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Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each has its own page.

StorylineChapel Hill's town government and its codes, 1829–18591829–1859 · 17 events · Chapel Hill's early town codes governed its streets and policed its Black residents, enslaved and free. On February 19, 1829 the commissioners adopted fifteen ordinances that divided white men into patrol companies, made white and Black men liable to work the streets, and barred enslaved people from the streets on Sundays and at night without a written pass. An act of 1851 incorporated the town under five elected commissioners. A revised code of March 19, 1859 fixed the village limits at about 839 acres, ordered officers to check the status of Black residents who claimed to be free, and barred Black people from the country from the streets after 4 p.m. on tax and election days. StorylineChapel Hill Methodists build on Franklin Street, 1878–18891878–1889 · 7 events · From 1878 to 1889 Chapel Hill's Methodists worked to move from their 1853 church at Rosemary and Henderson streets to a new one on Franklin Street, and the old building became a Congregational church for Black worshippers. In 1878 the trustees paid $500 for about an acre on Franklin Street. The church's women raised money with a festival in 1881, a building committee was named in 1885, and by June 1887 the walls were ready for the roof, with the pastor credited for pushing on without funds in hand. The trustees sold the old church to the American Missionary Association, and on June 2, 1889, after a collection cleared the new church's $800 debt, it was dedicated.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 34 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Orange Methodist Church is organized at the Davis School House Alexander Gattis and neighbors organized Orange Methodist Church in the Davis School House near the Wash Fowler home. Its early records are lost: Lefler and Wager give about 1830, and the church's own tradition 1832. By August 1833 the Chapel Hill Harbinger was advertising a camp meeting to begin October 4 at Orange Church, two miles north of Chapel Hill on the Hillsborough road. The congregation had trustees by October 1836, when Gattis and Thomas King deeded them land, and built its first church about 1838. People: Jones Watson, Isaac J. Collier Place: Davis School House · Also named: Alexander Gattis, James Gattis, William Gattis, Thomas King · Also mentions: Orange Methodist ChurchSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 297 · Also: The Harbinger (Chapel Hill), August 27, 1833, p. 3
  2. Isaac J. Collier and Jones Watson open a cabinetmaking business The two men started making furniture on Franklin Street in 1833. After the partnership dissolved in the later 1830s, Collier kept the business going. People: Jones Watson, Isaac J. Collier Place: Collier & Watson cabinet shop, Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (site unknown) · Also mentions: Franklin StreetSearch the index · Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 63 · Also: The Harbinger (Chapel Hill), September 10, 1833, p. 3
  3. Isaac J. Collier and Kendall B. Waitt go into partnership in a Chapel Hill cabinet shop Isaac J. Collier went into partnership with Kendall B. Waitt, a Chapel Hill artisan from Massachusetts, in a cabinet shop in the later 1830s, after his partnership with Jones Watson. The two worked together for years, later as building contractors. Their firm, Collier & Wait, was dissolved by mutual consent on March 12, 1847, as a notice signed by both and dated November 26, 1847 announced. People: Isaac J. Collier, Kendall B. Waitt, Jones Watson Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · North Carolina Architects and Builders, NC State University Libraries: Collier, Isaac J. (b. ca. 1810) · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, December 2, 1847, p. 3
  4. Isaac J. Collier and Jones Watson dissolve their Chapel Hill partnership The Chapel Hill firm of Collier & Watson was dissolved by mutual consent. Debts owed to the firm were to be paid to I. J. Collier, who also took charge of settling claims against it. People: Isaac J. Collier, Jones Watson Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Columbian Repository (Chapel Hill), July 28, 1836, p. 4
  5. Jones Watson buys Barbee's old store and house for a drugstore Jones Watson acquired Sidney Barbee's former house and store on the south side of the street, the old James Hogg property, and probably ran his drugstore from the store before remodeling both buildings. By 1858 they had become his Central Hotel. People: Jones Watson Place: Watson drugstore, Hogg property, south side of East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also named: James Hogg · Also mentions: Central HotelSearch the index · Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 81
  6. The General Assembly passes an act incorporating Chapel Hill under five commissioners Chapter 330 of the 1850-51 session laws, ratified January 29, 1851, made Manuel Fetter, Jesse Hargrave, Patterson H. McDade, Elisha Mitchell and Jones Watson the commissioners of Chapel Hill, with five commissioners to be elected each February after. They were to choose a magistrate of police, treasurer, constable and clerk and fix the town's bounds. People: Elisha Mitchell, Jones Watson, Manuel Fetter, Jesse Hargrave, Patterson H. McDade Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Laws of the State of North Carolina, session of 1850-51 (1851), chapter 330, pp. 730-731 · Also: Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952; The Daily Tar Heel, October 12, 1993, p. 18
  7. Orange County's American party convention names its legislative ticket A crowded American party convention at the Hillsborough court house, with Willie P. Mangum in the chair, heard speeches by Jones Watson and Henry K. Nash. A committee chaired by Harrison Parker recommended Josiah Turner Jr. for the state Senate and William N. Patterson and Frederick N. Strudwick for the House of Commons, and the convention ratified them unanimously. People: Harrison Parker, Willie P. Mangum, Jones Watson, Henry Kollock Nash, Josiah Turner Jr., William N. Patterson, Frederick N. Strudwick, James C. Turrentine Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, June 4, 1856, p. 3 ("Orange County American Convention")
  8. Chapel Hill citizens hold a town meeting in the University Chapel to mourn Elisha Mitchell Once word came that Mitchell had died on Black Mountain, the townspeople met in the University Chapel, adopted resolutions on his forty years as a resident and agreed to wear mourning for thirty days. They then walked in procession to his house to give the resolutions to his family, and the town's stores closed for the meeting. People: Elisha Mitchell, Jones Watson, Francis L. Hawks, Samuel (Samuel Field) Phillips, David L. Swain Place: University Chapel, University of North Carolina, Chapel HillSearch the index · A Memoir of the Rev. Elisha Mitchell (1858), scan p. 34
  9. Jones Watson opens the Central Hotel Watson remodeled and enlarged the old James Hogg house and the Barbee store beside it into the Central Hotel, which had several shops on the ground. It appears on the maps through 1868. People: Jones Watson Place: Central Hotel, East Franklin Street, Chapel HillSearch the index · Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 99
  10. The Orange Opposition convention nominates Josiah Turner Jr., Jones Watson and Henry K. Nash A Constitutional Union (Whig and Opposition) county meeting on Tuesday of May court, with William A. Graham in the chair, nominated Josiah Turner Jr. for the state senate and Jones Watson and Henry K. Nash for the House of Commons on a platform of ad valorem taxation. The nominees accepted before the meeting. People: William A. Graham, Josiah Turner Jr., Jones Watson, Edmund Strudwick, James C. Turrentine, Henry Kollock Nash Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, May 30, 1860, p. 3
  11. A Chapel Hill public meeting resolves to fight on after the peace talks fail Meeting on the evening of February 10 and again the next afternoon, Chapel Hill citizens under Jones Watson resolved that peace could not be had on acceptable terms and pledged their support to the army and to soldiers' families. Samuel F. Phillips tried to substitute a call for a state convention, saying slavery was no longer the real question, but the move lost 81 to 62 in a disputed count, and the resolutions passed with a preamble amended by David L. Swain. People: Jones Watson, Andrew Mickle, Samuel (Samuel Field) Phillips, David L. Swain Place: Chapel HillHillsborough Recorder, February 22, 1865, p. 2
  12. A Chapel Hill magistrate and his son beat Mills Saunders while he is held on a civil warrant On July 1, 1868, constable Judd McDade brought Mills Saunders, a Black farm worker, to magistrate Jones Watson's store at Chapel Hill on a civil warrant from his employer; when Saunders said he had business to attend to on the Bureau's advice, Watson and his son Charles went at him with chairs, Saunders struck the son with his stick, and Watson, by his own account, hit Saunders with the stick near the post office. McDade tied Saunders's hands and led him back to the store, and the next day Hay summoned the Watsons, McDade and the employer to answer a charge of cruel and unjustifiable assault and battery. On July 6 Lt. Thomas H. Hay heard Saunders's charge at Hillsborough, with witnesses who included former sheriff H. B. Guthrie, who had seen the magistrate strike him, and Black neighbors who called the magistrate fair; the parties settled, the defendants paying the costs and $10, and Hay also gave Saunders $18.02 in wages. People: Hugh B. Guthrie, Jones Watson Place: Chapel Hill (Watson's store and the street near the post office) · Also named: Mills Saunders, Thomas H. HaySearch the index · Freedmen's Bureau, North Carolina Field Offices, Hillsboro: Records Relating to Cases Tried & Destitute Freedmen, Part 1, transcription p. 159
Show all 34 dated events
  1. Professor Charles Phillips certifies aged Chapel Hill residents for Bureau rations On July 8 and 9, 1868, Charles Phillips, signing as professor in the University of North Carolina, wrote certificates asking the Bureau to give food to an aged, bedridden freedwoman of the village and to an elderly couple. He wrote that the want of patronage to the University had so reduced the means of the people who had long helped the couple that they had to turn to the Bureau, and Jones Watson, J.P., A. Mickle and H. B. Guthrie endorsed his statements. People: Charles Phillips, Jones Watson, Hugh B. Guthrie Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: A. MickleFreedmen's Bureau, North Carolina Field Offices, Hillsboro: Records Relating to Cases Tried & Destitute Freedmen, Part 2, transcription p. 189
  2. Orange County's first elected board of commissioners takes office Elected in April 1868 at the election that ratified the new constitution, five commissioners qualified at the courthouse and chose Lemuel Lynch chairman, replacing the old county court of justices. Within days the newly elected sheriff, treasurer, register of deeds and clerk of superior court gave their bonds. People: John U. Kirkland, Jones Watson, David C. Parks, George Laws, Lemuel Lynch, William N. Patterson Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 193 · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, April 29, 1868, p. 2
  3. An injunction charges four elected Orange commissioners with usurping office An injunction was served on J. U. Kirkland, Robert F. Morris, Jones Watson and W. H. Patterson, four of the county commissioners chosen at the spring election, charging that they held office although the Fourteenth Amendment disqualified them, and summoning them to show cause at Greensborough on October 13. The Recorder called them the people's choice but expected them to be put out. People: John U. Kirkland, Jones Watson Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Robert F. Morris, W. H. PattersonSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, October 7, 1868, p. 2
  4. Orange County holds its first township elections Voters in each township chose magistrates, a clerk, a constable and school committeemen for the first time. In Chapel Hill Township 540 of 565 registered voters cast ballots. People: Jones Watson, Andrew Mickle, John Wesley Carr, Merritt Cheek, John R. Hutchins Place: Chapel Hill TownshipSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 196
  5. Orange County names a three-man Board of Education and a panel of teacher examiners Under the Reconstruction school law the county had a Board of Education of W. N. Patterson, J. T. Hogan and Jones Watson in 1872. Samuel W. Hughes and Charles Curtis were among the county examiners who licensed teachers that year. People: Samuel Wellwood Hughes, Jones Watson, John T. Hogan, William N. Patterson Place: Orange County · Also named: Charles CurtisSearch the index · DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 91
  6. Jones Watson and Pride Jones are elected to the state House for Orange County Running as Conservative (Democratic) candidates, Jones Watson and Dr. Pride Jones won Orange County's two seats in the state House of Representatives in the August 1872 election. People: Pride Jones Place: Orange CountySearch the index · DigitalNC: The Carolina Era, August 15, 1872, p. 3
  7. Orange County elects the whole Conservative ticket In the August election Orange elected its whole Conservative ticket, with Thomas H. Hughes as sheriff, George Laws clerk, D. C. Parks treasurer, John Laws register, Dr. T. J. Wilson coroner and A. M. Leathers surveyor. The county gave Joseph J. Davis a majority of over 500 for Congress and favored John Kerr for judge over Thomas Ruffin. People: George Laws, David C. Parks, John U. Kirkland, Jones Watson Place: Orange County · Also named: Thomas H. Hughes, John Laws, T. J. Wilson, A. M. Leathers, Joseph J. Davis, John Kerr, Thomas RuffinSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, August 12, 1874, p. 3
  8. The county commissioners cut Orange County's tax rate Meeting from August 6 to 25 to revise the tax lists, the county commissioners under chairman Jones Watson lowered the county tax below its former 42 cents, making the combined state and county rate 68 cents. The Recorder credited Watson with freeing the county from debt. People: Jones Watson, Nelson Parrish Hall Place: Court house, HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, September 12, 1877, p. 3
  9. Orange magistrates elect a new board of county commissioners The county's magistrates elected five county commissioners, keeping three including chairman Jones Watson and replacing W. T. Patterson and N. P. Hall with Joseph W. Latta and N. D. Bain; the new board was sworn in on December 2 and re-elected Watson chairman. People: Jones Watson, Nathaniel D. Bain, Nelson Parrish Hall Place: Court house, Hillsborough · Also named: Joseph W. Latta, W. T. PattersonSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, August 14, 1878, p. 3
  10. Methodist trustees buy a Franklin Street lot from Thomas A. and Zoa A. Long Looking ahead to a larger church, the trustees of the Chapel Hill Methodist Episcopal Church, South, paid $500 for about an acre on Franklin Street running back to the campus, between the Seaton M. Barbee and Jones Watson lots. The second church was built there in the late 1880s, and the 1920s church on the same grounds after they were enlarged. People: John H. Watson, John Wesley Carr, Solomon Pool, Jones Watson Place: Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also named: Thomas A. Long, Zoa A. LongSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Methodist Church: A Centennial History, 1853-1953 (1954), scan p. 25
  11. Commissioners set the county tax at 26 cents, the lowest since the war Meeting through most of August, the county commissioners fixed the county tax at 26 cents on the hundred dollars, the lowest rate since the war, and reported that Orange had paid off its county debt and owed nothing. People: Jones Watson Place: Court house, HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, September 4, 1878, p. 3
  12. Orange Superior Court convicts three men of the Hendon burglary and sentences them to hang The trial of Alfonso Davis, Henry Andrews and Lewis Carlton for the burglary at Mrs. Hendon's opened before Judge Kerr, with Albert Atwater testifying for the state. The jury returned a guilty verdict in under fifteen minutes and the judge set the hanging for November 22, 1878, but the defense appealed to the Supreme Court. People: Frederick N. Strudwick, Jones Watson, Isaac R. Strayhorn Place: Court house, Hillsborough · Also named: Alfonso Davis, Henry Andrews, Lewis Carlton, Albert AtwaterSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Ledger, May 17, 1879, p. 2
  13. New county commissioners order an Eno bridge and call the justices to plan a new jail At its first meeting the new board of commissioners ordered a bridge of oak timber on stone pillars built over the Eno at a mill crossing for no more than $475, ordered a room prepared for lunatics then held in the county jail, and called the justices of the peace to meet with it in January 1879 to consider building a new jail. People: Jones Watson, Nathaniel D. Bain Place: Court house, HillsboroughSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, December 11, 1878, p. 3
  14. A meeting at Chapel Hill hears the case for graded schools A graded school meeting held during the Normal School heard President Battle, Prof. Ladd on the graded schools of Staunton, Virginia, Professors McIver, Dugger and Winston, and Chapel Hill citizens Jones Watson and H. B. Guthrie. Through the summer the Ledger and its correspondents urged a graded public school for Chapel Hill. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, Jones Watson, Hugh B. Guthrie Place: Chapel HillThe Chapel Hill Ledger, July 5, 1879, p. 2
  15. University Railroad corporators open subscription books for a line from Chapel Hill to Durham Meeting at Chapel Hill with Jones Watson in the chair, the corporators of the State University Railroad adopted Kemp P. Battle's plan to seek $10,000 in stock for a line from Chapel Hill to Durham, and named a committee to canvass Durham and other places. Chapel Hill men subscribed $2,800 on the spot, led by Battle, S. M. Barbee and D. McCauley at $500 each. People: Jones Watson, Kemp Plummer Battle, Julian S. Carr Place: Office of Watson & Alexander, Chapel Hill · Also named: S. M. Barbee, D. McCauley · Also mentions: Chapel Hill to Durham, State University RailroadThe Chapel Hill Ledger, November 15, 1879, p. 2
  16. Newly elected county commissioners take office and re-elect Jones Watson chairman The county commissioners elected in November, Jones Watson, John F. Lyon, N. D. Bain, J. W. Latta and D. F. Morrow, were sworn in at the Hillsborough court house and re-elected Watson chairman. They accepted the bonds of the newly elected officers, Sheriff John K. Hughes, Treasurer R. C. Tilley, Surveyor B. H. Bell, Coroner Dr. T. J. Wilson and Register of Deeds John Laws, and settled in full with the former treasurer, D. C. Parks. People: Jones Watson, David C. Parks, Nathaniel D. Bain, John Knox Hughes Place: Court house, Hillsborough · Also named: John F. Lyon, J. W. Latta, D. F. Morrow, R. C. Tilley, B. H. Bell, T. J. Wilson, John LawsSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), December 18, 1880, p. 2
  17. The county commissioners open election precincts at Bragtown, Red Mountain and Toler's The Orange County commissioners established new election precincts at Bragtown in Durham Township, at Red Mountain in Mangum Township and at Toler's in Cedar Grove Township. People: Jones Watson Place: Bragtown, Red Mountain and Toler's, Orange County · Also mentions: Red MountainSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), February 19, 1881, p. 3
  18. Orange reassigns the parts of Durham and Patterson townships left outside Durham County Meeting together, the Orange magistrates and county commissioners attached the parts of Patterson and Durham townships not taken into Durham County to Chapel Hill, Hillsborough and Little River townships, according to whether they lay east of Chapel Hill Township, south of the Eno or north of it. People: Jones Watson, Nathaniel D. Bain Place: Court house, HillsboroughOrange County Observer (Hillsborough), June 18, 1881, p. 3
  19. The county commissioners open election precincts at Patterson's Mill and University Station The Orange County commissioners established new election precincts at Robert Patterson's mill in Chapel Hill Township and at University Station in Hillsborough Township, and named registrars and inspectors for the August prohibition election. People: Jones Watson Place: Robert Patterson's mill, Chapel Hill Township; University Station, Hillsborough Township · Also named: Robert Patterson · Also mentions: University StationSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), June 18, 1881, p. 3
  20. Jones Watson serves as mayor of Chapel Hill Jones Watson, one of the five commissioners named in the town's 1851 charter, was mayor of Chapel Hill in 1882, an office the town's charter had created in 1879. His brother John H. Watson followed him in 1883. People: John H. Watson Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 364
  21. Methodist trustees sell the old Rosemary Street church to the American Missionary Association With the Franklin Street church ready, the trustees sold the 1853 church and its lot at Rosemary and Henderson streets for $800 to W. H. Hubbard, treasurer of the American Missionary Association of New York, keeping back only the organ, clock and Bible. The building became a Congregational church that Northern friends had bought for Black worshippers. People: John H. Watson, Jones Watson Place: Old Methodist Church, Rosemary and Henderson streets, Chapel Hill · Also named: W. H. Hubbard · Also mentions: Rosemary and Henderson streets, Franklin StreetSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Methodist Church: A Centennial History, 1853-1953 (1954), scan p. 22
  22. Dr. Abner B. Roberson buys the Central Hotel and moves his drugstore into it After the hotel's owner, Jones Watson, died, Dr. Roberson bought the Central Hotel, moved his drugstore into it with Clyde Eubanks as druggist, and leased the hotel's management to 'Bunn' Patterson. Adam A. Kluttz opened a store called the Glass Front in the many-windowed west end of the building. People: Jones Watson, Clyde Eubanks, Adam Alexander Kluttz, Abner Benton Roberson Place: Central Hotel, Franklin Street, Chapel HillSearch the index · Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 161

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