1925 Biography - Joseph W. Watson

Joseph William Watson, M. D. The scope and importance of the practice controlled by Doctor Watson in the City of Baton Rouge indicate alike his professional ability and personal popularity in the capital city of his native state, his well appointed offices being in tire Masonic Temple Building, on Third Street.

Doctor Watson was born at Port Vincent, Livingston Parish, Louisiana, December 24, 1874. His grandfather, Lewis Watson, was one of the substantial exponents of plantation industry in that parish, which represented his home during the greater part of his life, though he was born at Milledgeville, Georgia, in 1806. The Watson family, from Scotland, was founded in Georgia in the Colonial period of American history. On his plantation near Port Vincent the death of Lewis Watson occurred in 1876, his wife having passed away in 1874. Mrs. Watson, whose maiden name was Ann West, was born in the State of Mississippi, in 1810. Lewis Watson was a son of Maj. William Watson, who was born and reared in Georgia and who commanded military forces in the campaign to wrest eastern Florida from Spanish control in the Colonial days. He became one of the early settlers in Livingston Parish, Louisiana, where he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives.

Lewis T. Watson, father of Dr. Joseph W., was born on the old home plantation near Port Vincent in 1843, and passed his entire life in that section of Livingston Parish, where his death occurred, at Walker, in 1913. His active career was one of close and successful association with agricultural industry in his native parish, where he was an honored and influential citizen and where he was called upon to serve as justice of the peace and as police juror, besides which he there served as deputy sheriff under his brother William. He was a stalwart democrat, and he represented Louisiana as a gallant soldier of the Confederacy during the course of the Civil war, in which he took part in many engagements, including the historic battle of Shiloh. He first married Sarah Summers, who left no children at her death. For his second wife he wedded Miss Mary Ferguson, who was born in the State of Arkansas, in 1834, and whose death occurred in 1876. Of the children of this union the eldest is Lewis B., who resides at Walker and who is a fur-buyer by vocation; Susan, who died at the age of twenty-eight years, is survived by her husband, John B. Thompson, a resident of Walker and employed in railroad service. Mr. Joseph W., of this review, was the next in order of birth; and Benjamin Lee is a farmer near Walker. After the death of his second wife Lewis T. Watson married Miss Ida Cooper, who resides at Walker and who was born and reared in Livingston Parish.

Doctor Watson early gave manifestation of his youthful independence and self-reliance. He ran away from home when he was a lad of fourteen years, made his way to Texas, and in that state he attended school nine months. He then returned to Louisiana, and while finding employment in his native parish he also attended the public schools at Denham Springs. Later he was a student in the Louisiana State Industrial School at Ruston until he had partly completed the work of his senior year, and his next progressive action was to enroll himself as a student in the Louisville Medical College, in the metropolis of Kentucky, where he took two courses in medicine. Insistent on the most effective of preliminary discipline for the exacting work of his chosen profession, he thereafter took a course of lectures in the Memphis Hospital Medical College at Memphis, Tennessee, after which he entered the medical department of Emery College at Atlanta, Georgia, where he was graduated as a member of the class of 1906. After thus receiving his well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine he was engaged in practice at St. Amant, Ascension Parish, until 1916, when he removed to Baton Rouge. In the capital city Doctor Watson has built up a large and representative general practice, and he is known for his determined work in keeping closely in touch with the advances made in medical and surgical science. Thus it is to be noted that in 1915 he took a post-graduate course in the New Orleans Polyclinic, and that in the following year he completed a post-graduate course in the New York Post-Graduate School of Medicine. In both of these courses he specialized on the diagnosis and treatment of the diseases of children, a phase of practice which enlists loyal and effective service on his part. The Doctor maintains membership in the East Baton Rouge Parish Medical Society, the Louisiana State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. His political convictions place him loyally in the ranks of the democratic party, and as a citizen he is liberal and progressive. In the Masonic fraternity his affiliation is with Baton Rouge Lodge No. 399, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. His home place, owned by him, is an attractive residence property at 2016 Government Street, on Roseland Terrace.

May 29, 1906, recorded the marriage of Doctor Watson and Miss Etta Ellis, daughter of Jesse and Susan (Mosely) Ellis, the latter of whom is deceased, Mr. Ellis being now a steaming contractor residing at Corbin, Louisiana. Mrs. Watson continued her studies in the public schools until her graduation from the high school at Denham Springs, where her marriage was later solemnized. Doctor and Mrs. Watson have five children, all of whom are (1924) attending the public schools of Baton Rouge, namely: Erline, Mae Delight (both in the high school), Joseph Ellis (in the junior high school), Lane Edison and Eloise.

Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from A History of Louisiana, by Henry E. Chambers, published in 1925, volume 2, pages 69-70.