Edward Watson

Edward Watson was born in 1840, possibly in Michigan and possibly the son of Dustin (1811-1850) and Sarah (b. 1820).

In 1840 there was a Dustin Watson living in Martin, Allegan County, Michigan. He was probably the same Dustin Watson who purchased 40 acres of land at the Ionia land Office in Michigan in 1849. Vermont native Dustin Watson died of consumption in Ottawa County in March of 1850; that same year one Edmond Watson, age 6 was living with his mother (?) Pennsylvania native Sarah and older sister Michigan-born Helen with the Cissler brothers in Crockery, Ottawa County. (One of the brothers had been born in Pennsylvania.)

In any case, Edward (or “Edmon” or “Edmund”) was 21 years old and possibly living in Polkton, Ottawa County, Michigan, when he enlisted in Company I on May 13, 1861. (Company I was made up largely of men from Ottawa County, particularly from the eastern side of the County.)

He was admitted to Union Hotel hospital in Washington, DC, on August 20, 1861, suffering from intermittent fever, and he died of paralysis of his left side on September 16, 1861, at the Union Hotel hospital. Edward was buried in the Military Asylum cemetery (Soldier's Home National cemetery).

In February of 1877 Edmund’s half-brother John B. Magers, applied for and received a “brother’s” pension (no. 244819).