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Henry M. Watts

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Henry M. Watts
U.S. Minister to Austria-Hungary
In office
September 25, 1868 (1868-09-25) – June 1, 1869 (1869-06-01)
PresidentAndrew Johnson
Ulysses S. Grant
Preceded byJohn Lothrop Motley
Succeeded byJohn Jay II
Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for Allegheny County
In office
1835–1838
Personal details
Born
Henry Miller Watts

(1805-10-10)October 10, 1805
Carlisle, Pennsylvania, US
DiedNovember 30, 1890(1890-11-30) (aged 85)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
Spouse
Anna Maria Shoenberger
​
​
(m. 1838; died 1888)​
RelationsFrederick Watts (brother)
William Carleton Watts (grandson)
Children9, including Ethelbert
Alma materDickinson College

Henry Miller Watts (October 10, 1805 – November 30, 1890) was an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat.

Early life

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Watts was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on October 10, 1805.[1] He was the son of lawyer David Watts (1764–1819), who studied law under William Lewis,[2] and Julia Anna (née Miller) Watts (d. 1869).[1] His older brother, Frederick Watts, was President Ulysses S. Grant's U.S. Commissioner of Agriculture (and the first president of the board of trustees of what is now Penn State University).[3]

He was the grandson of Revolutionary War officers Brigadier-general Frederick Watts (who immigrated to Pennsylvania around 1760 from Great Britain)[2] and, his namesake, Lieutenant Colonel, later General, Henry Miller,[4] who led Continental Army units in the siege of Boston and the engagements of Long Island, White Plains, Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth.[5] General Miller was "on intimate and confidential relations with General Washington and Colonel Hamilton; belonged to the Cincinnati Society, and during the course of his life held several civil offices under the Federal party."[2]

He graduated from Dickinson College in 1824 and then studied law in Carlisle under Andrew Carothers,[1] a pupil of his later father.[2]

Career

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Upon admission to the bar in 1827, he began practicing law in Pittsburgh.[1] In 1828, he was commissioned Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania, serving until 1829. In 1835, he was elected to the Pennsylvania legislature from Allegheny County and served three terms until 1838. In 1841, President William Henry Harrison appointed him District Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. After travelling to Europe in 1857 where he educated his children in the elementary schools of Paris,[2] he moved to Philadelphia where he was a co-founder of the Union League of Philadelphia.[1]

After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, Watts was appointed by President Andrew Johnson as the American Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Austro-Hungarian Empire on July 25, 1868.[6] President Johnson had previously nominated the eight men (successively, Edgar Cowan, Frank P. Blair Jr., James W. Nesmith, John P. Stockton, Henry J. Raymond, Horace Greeley, Samuel S. Cox, and Henry A. Smythe) to be Minister, but the Senate rejected or declined to consider them, most likely because of the President's disputes with the Congress over other issues.[7] Watts presented credentials to Emperor Franz Joseph I on September 25, 1868, serving until his mission was terminated and he presented recall on June 1, 1869.[6] After leaving his post, he visited Russia, Poland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and other European countries.[1]

After returning to the United States, he was engaged in the development of the iron and coal interests in Pennsylvania.[1]

Personal life

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In 1838, Watts was married to Anna Maria Shoenberger (1818–1888), a daughter of Sarah (née Krug) Shoenberger and Dr. Peter Shoenberger of Pittsburgh, who built the Juniata Iron Mill and what became the Shoenberger Steel Company.[8] Together, they were the parents of nine children, including:[9]

  • Henry Shoenberger Watts (1844–1876)[3]
  • Ethelbert Watts (1846–1919), a diplomat who married Emily Pepper, sister of Dr. William Pepper Jr. (provost of the University of Pennsylvania), in 1871[10]
  • William Meredith Watts (1847–1899)[11]
  • John Shoenberger Watts (1850–1933), who married Mary Peace (1858–1880) in 1877. After her death, he married Mary Rhodes Mauran (1859–1942) in 1884.[12]
  • Charles Alfred Watts (1859–1934), who married Caroline Helmuth (1865–1907).[13]

His wife died February 1, 1888, in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Watts died at his residence in Philadelphia on November 30, 1890. He was buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.[1]

Descendants

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Through his son Ethelbert, he was a grandfather, among others, of Rear Admiral William Carleton Watts (1880–1956) and Henry Miller Watts (1875–1959), who married Laura Barney, a daughter of Charles D. Barney (founder of present-day Smith Barney) and granddaughter of financier Jay Cooke.[14]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. J.T. White. 1897. p. 305. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e Nevin, Alfred (1876). Men of Mark of Cumberland Valley, Pa., 1776-1876. Fulton Publishing Company. p. 315. ISBN 978-0-608-33653-4. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Henry Miller Watts (1805-1890)". archives.dickinson.edu. Dickinson College. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  4. ^ McCall, Elizabeth B. (2014). Old Philadelphia Houses on Society Hill, 1750–1840. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 165. ISBN 978-1-4422-2772-9. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  5. ^ Sons of the Revolution, Annual Proceedings – 1920 at p. 71 (obituary of Ethelbert Watts).
  6. ^ a b "Henry Miller Watts - People". history.state.gov. Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute United States Department of State. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  7. ^ Johnson, Andrew (1967). The Papers of Andrew Johnson: April-August 1868. Univ. of Tennessee Press. p. 262. ISBN 978-0-87049-991-3. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  8. ^ Thurston, George Henry (1888). Allegheny County's Hundred Years. A. A. Anderson & Son, book and job printers. p. 142. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  9. ^ Pennsylvania Courts (1913). The District Reports of Cases Decided in All the Judicial Districts of the State of Pennsylvania. H. W. Page. p. 127. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  10. ^ The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography: Being the History of the United States as Illustrated in the Lives of the Founders, Builders, and Defenders of the Republic, and of the Men and Women who are Doing the Work and Moulding the Thought of the Present Time. J. T. White. 1943. p. 562. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  11. ^ Sons of the Revolution Pennsylvania Society (1898). Decennial Register of the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution: 1888-1898. F. B. Lippincott. p. 363. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  12. ^ Yale University Class of 1871 (1914). Biographies. Yale University. Retrieved 9 July 2020.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ Children's Sea-Shore House at Atlantic City for Invalid Children Board of Managers (1903). Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the Children's Sea-Shore House at Atlantic City for Invalid Children. The House. p. 94. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  14. ^ Cooke, Jay; Pollard, James Edward (1935). The Journal of Jay Cooke; Or, The Gibraltar Records, 1865-1905. Ohio State University Press. p. 340. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
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Diplomatic posts
Preceded by U.S. Minister to the Austrian Empire
1868–1869 		Succeeded by
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