John Fanning Watson died December 23, 1860, at the age of eighty-two years, and left behind him a monument to his mental powers in his “Annals of Philadelphia.”
Mr. Watson was a native of Burlington County, N. J., where he was born June 13, 1779. His parents were of English[English] origin; his grandfather, Thomas Watson, came to America in 1667, settling at Salem, where William Watson, father of John F. was born.
Among his ancestors were some of the earliest settlers of our country. All were devoted patriots, with the exception of one, a distinguished Tory, General Edmund Fanning, a graduate of Yale, in 1757, of whom The Gentleman’s Magazine, for 1818, says, “the world contained no better man.”
After completing the usual course of education to qualify himself for mercantile pursuits, John Fanning Watson entered the counting-house of James Vanuxem, an eminent merchant of Philadelphia, with whom he remained but a short time, having offended the French interests of that firm by becoming a member of the Macpherson Blues, of which body of volunteer militiamen, he was one of last six surviving members at the time of his decease.
He was now nineteen years of age, and a clerkship in the War Department at Washington was offered him, which he accepted, and held until 1804, when he engaged himself in business with General James O'Hara, formerly Quartermaster-General to General Anthony Wayne’s Indian Army, and chief founder of the City of Pittsburgh.
During this business connection Watson resided at New Orleans, holding the responsible position of Commissary of Provisions for the United States Army at all the posts in Louisiana.
At this period there was no Protestant worship in that city, and to remedy this, together with Edward Livingston, he became the prime. mover in establishing the Protestant Episcopal Church by giving a call to the Reverend Mr. Chase, since the venerable Bishop of Ohio and Illinois.
After a residence of two years at New Orleans sudden domestic affliction caused his return to Philadelphia to the support of his widowed mother, and to this event the public are profoundly indebted for his invaluable services as a local historian of the olden time. As such his works will ever be enduring monuments of his wonderful assiduity and laborious research.
Following his return to Philadelphia he made his first essay as a bookseller and publisher, establishing a business on Chestnut Street.
Among the various works he published were Dr. Adam Clark’s Commentary on the Old and New Testament, the Select Reviews of Literature, etc.