While researching my ancestor Wheeler Watson (a Newport, RI
native who moved to Rensselaerville, Albany, NY about 1800) I found an
unexpected statement in the Bi-Centennial History of Albany
listing a previously unknown brother, Josiah, and his son Arnold B.
Watson. I thought that I had identified
all of Wheeler's siblings and Josiah was not one of them.... or was he?
Arnold B Watson was mentioned as a prominent banker in
Unadilla, NY so I thought I’d start with him and work backwards to his parents.
The same publication mentioned that Arnold moved to Unadilla from Albany County
in 1821 at the age of 23. I found him listed in census records there with wife Susan (Hayes) and several children. After Susan's death Arnold married her sister Augusta.
I also discovered Arnold listed on some online trees as the
son of Josiah Watson and Mary Beach -- might that be his middle name? Digging further,
I discovered that Mary Beach Watson died in 1800 and that Josiah then married
Wheeler's sister Bridget in 1803 -- making him a brother-in-law rather than a
brother.
Josiah was a decade older than Wheeler. Both were born in
Rhode Island and pursued "new frontier" opportunities in the
expanding New York Manor of Rensselaerwyck. Josiah 1762-1844 was actually a
second cousin to Wheeler's father John with both lines descending from John
1658-1702 and Dorcas Gardiner 1654-1702.
