Oxford Times, Oxford, NY, March 26, 1879
The Late Charles A. Watson
The Syracuse Journal of Thursday, contained the following notice on the death of Charles A. Watson, formerly of this village [Oxford, Chenango Co. NY]:
"A few weeks ago, James Watson, son of D.A. Watson of Rochester [Monroe Co. NY] and Charles Watson went south for a few weeks' recreation and scientized exploration. They cruised along the western coast of Florida, far south in search of rare birds and succeeded in making a large and valuable collection. They started on Monday of this week on their return to Cedar Keys but encountered a gale which capsized their boat and for forty-eight hours they struggled in the water for life. Charles Watson died from exhaustion and a passing sloop rescued the other two in a state of insensibility. Mr. Watson telegraphed from Cedar Keys to his friends of the sad accident and of his own safety Charles Watson was a young man of rare promise and of great abilities. His loss is a terrible blow to fond parents and a large circle of relatives and friends. James Watson is a member of the Rochester University and his father, Mr. D.A. Watson is well known to many in Syracuse. Mr. Watson of Rochester left home yesterday morning for the south on receipt of the above sad intelligence.
Young Watson was the only child of A. Watson, a prominent and wealthy resident of Oxford. His age was about 28. We believe he was born in Oxford; at least his childhood and early youth were spent there. He prepared for college at the Academy in the village, entered Amherst in 1866 and graduated from that institution in 1870. After his graduation, he went to Lockport, N.Y. where he engaged in the hardware business for several years. He was a young man of most exemplary habits, strength of character and generous nature. None will regret his untimely death more than the many who prized his friendship in Oxford."
Charles A. Watson, AEt 30 years 5 months
Our community [Oxford] has suffered no more painful shock in years than that caused by the news which came to us Friday morning last of the death by drowning in the Gulf of Mexico of Charles A. Watson.
Most of the readers of the Times have before this learned the principal facts of the calamity. Briefly, they are as follows: In January last, in company with a cousin, James Watson, of Rochester, Charles went to Florida for a few months of recreation and study. At the time of the accident the two had traversed the whole west coast of Florida in search of rare birds and waterfowl and had accrued a large and valuable collection of specimens. The collection had been sent north (is now in Rochester) and the young men themselves had started upon their return trip. On Monday the 17th last, they left Homosassa for Cedar Keys in a sailboat of which one McCary was master. About noon of the same day the boat capsized in a gale, and the three men were put to the terrible experiences of the wrecked - struggling to keep above the waves, clinging to their overturned craft, and waiting thus, and hoping almost against hope for relief. For forty-eight hours they were in the water under this intense strain of anxiety and severe physical effort and when aid finally came, the unequaled conflict had been waged too long for Charles Watson and he had been washed off into the sea, while James and the boatman were rescued by a passing sloop, the "Falcon" in an insensible condition.
The news of this tragedy comes to the people of our village like a knell. The only child of our prominent townsman, Mr. A. Watson, born and reared in our midst, Charles A Watson had been considered one of our own people, though the business of his late years has made his residence elsewhere.
It were little to repeat here the usual platitudes of obituary notices. There are occasions that demand more than our words can express and times when we feel unequal to a just and faithful tribute to a friend that is gone. Such a time, such an occasion is now.
The sympathy of no one for the bereaved friends can be more sincere and heartfelt than that of the people of Oxford, for they know what is lost in the death of Mr. Watson. They remember the careful training of his boyhood; the conscientious accurate study of his youth at our Academy, where he made his faithful preparation for college; his marked success at Amherst, where he graduated in 1870 among the front ranks of his class; the force of character that in all this course of education and culture never lost sight of the principles of morals and the religion he professed, but ever made them controlling. they remember all this and were prepared to find him at the close of his college course as they did find him, a man of talent, culture and power - a Christian gentleman. the writer can remember nearly back to the beginning of Charlie Watson's school days and knows something of his career in college and he has yet to learn of the first dishonorable act of his doing, no mean or evil trait in his character. On the contrary it is with the sincerest pleasure that those who knew him can testify to the strength of his moral purpose and the generosity of his nature.
At the completion of his college course, he left his home at Oxford to engage in business at Lockport, N.Y. [Niagara Co.]. It was his fortune to be reared in more of luxury than most of us know; in those easy times that made of purposeless people laggards and despondents. Our dead friend was too wise to be deceived by the notion that life's success depended upon anything else than himself. He knew the meaning of real labor. Engaging in the hardware business, he willingly did all the work necessary to familiarize himself with its minutest details and by his own efforts attained his commanding position. By our acquaintance with the man as he went from us, we are prepared to learn from the Lockport Journals, as we do, that the same qualities which marked him here, made him a leader in business social and church circles there. For many years before his death, he was superintendent of the mission Sunday School and one of the movers in all good enterprises.
But he is gone. We do not yet know all the details of his untimely death, but we shall not need to be told that he faced the Destroyer in the bravery of conscious uprightness and met his fate without a murmur and in the face of an approving conscience.
With the deepest sympathy for the parents in this, their bitterest trial, we are still conscious that this loss comes not upon them only. The world can ill afford to lose any 1 from its ranks of able, true-hearted, honorable men.
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Amherst College Biographical Record, Class of 1870
Watson, Charles Alonzo. Son of Almanazar and Jennette M. (Hall), b. Oxford, N.Y. Oct 5, 1848, M.A., A.C., 1873; Prepared Oxford (N.Y.) Academy. Clerk in hardware store of Flagler & Pomroy, Lockport, NY., 1870-1879, Died near Cedar Keys, Fla. March 189, 1879.
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