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Henry Watson had the reputation of being a hard man. Maybe the reasoning behind this is because he had had such a lot of unfortunate events occur in his life. It all started when he was only six years old when his father Thomas died in a terrible accident when a dray ran over his thigh and he bled to death, so he virtually grew up without a father's influence.
His mother Ellen met and married William Langworthy Wilton in Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia, on 11 Sep 1875, which explains the following chain of events. William was working in a sawmill which presumably led to Henry being employed there as well, which fits in with the well known fact that Henry's daughter Henrietta would be sent out to take him his lunch in a lunch pail each day into the forest. Henry is remembered as being a carpenter which would relate back to his experience in the sawmill industry.
Henry met and married Emma Hitchcock on 15 Nov 1881 in Rockhampton, and their first born son Charles was born in Dec 1882. Unfortunately the next tragedy occurred when Henry's stepfather William fell onto a saw in the sawmill on 25 May 1883, and bled to death on the way to hospital. Then another devastating blow to Henry was the loss of his son Charles on 23 Sep 1883. This must have been too much to handle all at once and Henry must have decided to come back to Sydney with his wife and mother, where his second child Henrietta was born on 2 Jun 1884, at Waterloo. Then the next sad event was when his mother died on 25 Aug 1886 at Petersham, Sydney, after which Henry must have decided to take his family back up to Rockhampton and resume his life at the sawmill. Another son William was born on 9 Feb 1891 in Rockhampton and a daughter Emma on 15 Nov 1892. Then back they came to Sydney again in 1893,where another daughter, Annie, was born in 1895, at Granville. As if Henry had not been through enough tragedy in his life, he then lost his wife Emma on 27 Jan 1899, at Merrylands, Sydney, suffering from diarrhoea & peritonitis.
Henry spent the next five years raising his children with the help of his daughter Henrietta until he met Sarah Ann Martin and they married on 20 May 1904, at Granville. Henry had more children with Sarah and eventually moved over to Manly, where Henry died on 8 Jun 1949.
Researched by Robyn Elizabeth Allman nee Price and Hazel Price
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The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Friday 10 June 1949, page 16
WATSON - The Relatives and Friends of Mrs Sarah Watson and Family are kindly invited to attend the Funeral of her dearly beloved Husband and their dear Father and Father-in-law HENRY WATSON, to leave Our Funeral Home, 121 Rawson Street, Auburn, This Afternoon at 3.10 o'clock, for the Church of England Cemetery, Rookwood
LABOR MOTOR FUNERALS LIMITED
121 Rawson St,
AUBURN
Phone LA2777 (4 lines)
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