Thomas Campbell Watson
Thomas Campbell Watson was a grandson of John Wasson, a native of Ireland, and with his wife emigrated to Rockbridge County, Virginia, rearing a large family there. Among his children was a son, Thomas, who married Rebecca Cowen and moved to Ohio in 1804. He located within four miles of Winchester in what was then Wayne Township. He lived there a year or more and then moved onto the farm near Cherry Fork occupied by our subject during his lifetime. Thomas Wasson and wife connected with the U. P. Church at Cherry Fork soon after its organization in 1805 and remained members thereof during their lives.
Thomas Wasson's wife died August 5, 1838, and he survived until December 3, 1851, when he departed this life in his seventy-fourth year.
They reared a family of three sons and three daughters, all of whom lived to maturity and married.
Mr. Thomas Wasson contracted a second marriage with Elkiah Spencer, by whom he had one son, William F., born August 29, 1845, and who died in the militarv service of the United States in the War of 1861.
The subject of our sketch was born May 20, 1812, and was reared on his father's farm in Wayne Township. He married Martha Patton Campbell, February 9, 1832. Of this marriage there were eight children, five of whom, three sons and two daughters, grew to maturity and married. His eldest son, Thomas Stewart Wasson, is a retired farmer living at Seaman, Ohio. His second son, James P., now deceased, has a sketch in this book. His third son. Samuel Y., also has a sketch in this book. His daughter, Matilda J., widow of B. F. Pittinger, now resides at Minneapolis, Kansas. His youngest daughter, Martha, married to Steele Glasgow, resides at North Liberty. Thomas Campbell Wasson was a man of the strictest integrity and of remarkable energy and industry. He was of strong prejudices everv way. If he loved one, there was nothing too much he could do for him. If he hated one, he did it with all the powers of his soul. Once his friend, he was attracted to you by hooks of steel; once your enemy, he was likely to remain so. He believed in the religion taught in the doctrines and practice of the United Presbyterian Church, and all the powers of Hell could not have moved him from his faith. When the right and wrongfulness of human slavery began to be discussed, he became convinced that that institution was a monstrous sin against both God and man, and from that hour until the war destroyed it, he was its most inveterate enemy. He would tolerate no political party which would excuse or apologize for it, and by word and deed, he did all he could to destroy it. No poor hunted fugitive ever applied to him in vain, and his home was a well-known station on the Underground Railroad.
He was an excellent farmer and by great industry and economy, with the best of management, he acquired a competence and spent his latter years in ease and comfort. He did eeverything in life most ernestly. He was not one of the meek and lowly Christians but one of the fighting kind who believed in taking the Kingdom of Heaven by storm. He believed in struggling and fighting for the right, both in Church and State. His life is best illustrated in the character of his three sons, two of whom are men of influence and importance in their respective communities, and a third son, now deceased, held a like position in the State of Kansas where he died recently. These three sons, like their father, have been able to manage their own affairs successfully and to accumulate competencies.
Campbell Wasson, the name by which he was best known, never sought or held public office, but he always believed in taking an active part in the counsels of his own party and did so. He was a Whig first and a Republican afterwards, but all the time he was anti-slavery and believed in the abolition of that institution. He believed in making his views on all subjects felt, and as a consequence he was a man of positive influence both in Church and State. He was never the one to drift with the current, or follow the lead of others, but sought to make all men within, his influence feel and think as he did. His influence was always on the side of good order, religion, right and justice. That part of the world which he knew and which knew him was better that he had lived.
The wife of this subject died May 13, 1871, and in 1872, he contracted a second marriage with Mrs. Eliza J. McNeil, who survived him. He died the eighth day of January, 1888.
From History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900