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MATTHEW WATSON, AN IRISH SETTLER OF BARRINGTON, R. I., 1722.
BY THOMAS HAMILTON MURRAY.
The town of Barrington is picturesquely located in eastern Rhode Island. It has a fine outlook on Narragansett bay and also borders on the Warren[[43]] river. It was incorporated by Massachusetts in 1718. In 1746–’47 the territory came under the jurisdiction of Rhode Island, and Barrington was merged with Warren. In 1770 Warren was divided and Barrington again incorporated, this time by Rhode Island. There are several historic sites in the town, many pleasant drives and a number of interesting caves, woods and districts. The present population is between 1600 and 1700.
One of the earliest Irish settlers in Barrington[[44]] was Matthew Watson. He located there[[45]] over 175 years ago and reminiscences of his life and times are still current among the people. Matthew was born in Ireland in 1696. His people are believed to have been Presbyterians, an element that has given many sturdy patriots to the cause of Irish nationality.[[46]] The family left Ireland for America about 1712. They landed in Boston.
What induced them to leave the old country can only be conjectured. It is reasonable to suppose, however, that it was due to causes that compelled thousands of other Irish Presbyterians to emigrate. These causes were the result of English oppression. The Irish Presbyterians were treated with great harshness[[47]] by various successive governments in England. At one time edicts of banishment were issued against their ministers; at another we find the government wickedly declaring their pulpits vacant and filling them with clergymen of the Established church. When England had a policy of church or state to carry out in Ireland it could be made to bear heavily on the Presbyterian as on the Catholic. England’s repeated suppression of Irish industries also caused great numbers of Presbyterians and Irish Protestants, generally, to emigrate to America.
The Watson family here mentioned consisted of Matthew, his father and mother, four brothers and one sister. Sometime after arriving in Boston the family removed to Leicester, Mass. Matthew came to Barrington in 1722, being then in his 26th year. He entered the employ of John Read, a brickmaker, and rapidly attained great proficiency in the business, winning the confidence of his employer and the esteem of his associates. In the course of time he fell in love with his employer’s daughter, Bethiah. His affection was reciprocated and the two soon became engaged. The fact becoming known, Bethiah’s father earnestly opposed it. She was his only daughter, and he eloquently represented to her the “folly” of throwing herself away on “a little poor Irishman.” His arguments were of no avail, however, and she and Matthew were married at Barrington in 1732.
It was a happy marriage and her father lived to bless the day when the “little poor Irishman” became his daughter’s husband. Subsequently Matthew purchased the farm of his father-in-law and conducted the brick-making business on an extensive scale. He erected a commodious brick mansion house which became known to the country round about as the “Great Watson Mansion,” embellished the grounds and amassed a fortune of $80,000.[[48]]
By some it is held that Matthew’s father had also located in Barrington. The original Watson property comprised a very large part of the town. The homestead has since been greatly reduced, however, by dividing it among the children, by bequests and by extensive sales to new-comers. The estate at present comprises about fifty acres, tillable and woodland, held by descendants of Matthew. The land is very productive. There is one six-acre lot, nearly as level as a floor, and which produces rich crops of hay, although it has not been dressed in the past thirty years.[[49]] Underneath the greater part of the estate is a stratum of the best quality of blue clay within four to six feet of the surface.
This stratum underlies nearly the entire town, cropping out on the bay and river shores. The principal industry of Barrington is brick-making, which has been carried on for an indefinite period. At present 30,000,000 are produced annually. The labor in the old brick-yards of the Watson family was done chiefly by slaves of whom Watson owned nearly fifty. All these he manumitted some time before his death. The continuous transportation of brick to the bay, by these slaves, for shipment gradually wore a roadway more than six feet in depth.[[50]] By plowing and cultivation this has long since been mostly filled in, though there are still places where the old roadway shows two or three feet deep. Some time in the eighteenth century a law was passed ordaining that bricks should be made of certain specified dimensions. Matthew Watson, the settler, considered this requirement as very unjust, and so decided not to change the size of his product. In order to escape prosecution, however, he ceased calling his goods brick, but instead styled them “Watson’s ware.” As there was no law regarding “Watson’s ware” the plan succeeded, and the old gentleman continued making and selling brick at their former dimensions.[[51]] The “Great Watson Mansion” was for a long period visited by people who had heard of its dimensions and sumptuous furnishings and who desired to feast their eyes upon so much grandeur.