James Talcott Watson (1789-1839)

He was born in New York City, " a man of fine education and affable manners". He was a partner in the firm of Thomas L. Smith & Co., East India Merchants, in which capacity he travelled to China. He was engaged to be married to a Miss Livingston (almost certainly of the Clermont Livingstons) whose premature death "induced (in him) a mental aberration, which continued through life, being more aggravated in certain seasons of the year, while at others it was scarcely perceptible". This depression led him to commit suicide with a razor, in New York. His sizeable estate was divided between numerous first cousins. He owned 60,000-acres in Lewis Co., Wisconsin.