Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-11-24
PERTH AMBOY IN HIS
FIRST ARTIST IN AMERICA, JOHN WATSON
By H. E. PICKERsGIBL

/ tIOu6h AASNh ia AA1
satisfy those interested that they are
from the brush of the colonies first
| portrait painter. They are dated
1717, two years after he came here,
and each bears the name of its sub
ject.
The Pennsylvania Historical Soci-
ETY. has a second Watson miniature,
a likeness OF the wife of Governor
Keith. Other prominent men evil
| IDENTIFY sought the Amboy painter
| from Scotland. for he made minia-
lures OF Governor Spottswood, Judge
| Bunnell and more like them, show
ing that his fame was by no mean
! confined to the city or province in
which he lived.
When John Watson had been
| gathered to his fathers, Alexander,
the nephew, felt free to look for a
wife. Although we are told that he
was a short, red-haired man, OF very
unprepossessing appearance n
| with no mental qualifications to OIL
set these defects, he was successful
In his quest. He returned to Perth
Amboy with q very amiable and es-
| Unable woman whom lss had met in
| Westchester, New York. The newly
weds resided across the street from
the bridegroom's old home, in the
house occupied by three generations
of the King family on Water street.
Mrs. Watson died on a sloop, OIL
Blazing Star, now Carteret, while on
her way to New York. She left two
sons who did not remain in Perth
Amboy, but went to their mothers
former home. It was then that
Alexander went to his farm west OF
the city and remained there until
driven to New York by his refusal
to side with the c~olonists when they
made their fight for freedom. He
died In New York and was buried
in old st. Peters, near his uncle.
Perth Amboy has two reminders
of the two Watsons that are tenderly
cherished by their present owner.
One is a commonplace book kept by
the artist before he left his home
in Scotland. In fact, it goes back
to his boyhood days, for inside the
cover, In the fashion of the times. is
this inscription in fancy letters:
John WATSON
WITH
MY HAND
1901
And on the same page appears his
autographs: John Watson 1901"
IUlS Is III DldCh lin anu liz AC0h tHAC
inscription In red. Alexander used
this book, too, judging from the en-
tries and records it contains. One
of these reads as follows:
"You are hereby Directed to de-
liver Matthias Isleton your Shallop to
Transport Wood from South Amboy
Shore to this place for the use of
we Camp.
"Given Perth Amboy July 30, 1776.
Clement Biddle,
sd. @. NJ. Genl."
ITO Mr.. Alex Watson"
The other relic is inscribed, alex
ander Watson, his receipt book,
1772-3." In this are many receipts,
some of them very interesting. James
Reed, James Collyer, Solomon ALL
ward, Sereiah Bum, John Higgins,
Jonathan Harmed and David Crow
are some of the names signed there
to. The business between Mr.. Wat
son and stephen Flood, a mason of
the time, is set down in great detail. !
One item was "for plastering the
uper stories and Taken down and
putting up the Frunt of the Stone
House." Liquor and cash, with 81
pounds paid for a "Builard" table,
amounted to 10S pounds. In the
final settlement Watson ~"abeated"
five pounds of the rent because of
the time the house was under re-
pairs. At another time he records
the fact that a Bowl of Brandy
Teddy and a pint of Wine with John
Heard cost him three shillings and
ten pence.
Frequently Watson and William
Dnnlap's father had business deal
lngs which are duly set forth. On
March 10, 1913, an item tells us,
after a century and a half, that the
former British midshipman paid
Abrams the Jew three shlllings
and sixpence for figs. sugar and
candy. On one page he bought a
cask of rum, eight tons of hay, a
barrel of pork and some other things
and then paid DR.. Antill eleven
pounds and six pence. A "wigg" at
the BARRIERS cost him n pound and
fifteen shillings.
John Watson's work as a n artist
may not have been of the highest
merit, Mr.. William Dunlap as the
historian of the art of painting in
America and as a leading spirit in
the national academy for many
years suggests that had it not been
for the years John Watson spent in
Perth Amboy and for the childish
Impressions which he gathered be-
cause of that work and it's author,
that wonderful History of the Arts
of Design, the undisputed authority
in it's field since its appearance
ninety years ago, would probably
never have been written.