Robert W. Watson’s parents, to my knowledge, are not yet known with certainty, nor where Robert W. Watson was located before coming to Venango County, Pennsylvania. Robert W. was in Venango County by the early part of the nineteenth century, but apparently other Watsons, who may or may not have been related to our Watsons, were also in the area by that time. Robert's wife Margaret Henderson was born in Pennsylvania, probably present-day Mifflin County. Probably both our Watsons and Hendersons were from the north of Ireland, with the Watsons perhaps first living in Delaware after coming to North America.1 and the Hendersons in eastern Pennsylvania.
Much of the Watson information comes from Patricia (Foster) Heinen’s book, Watson, 1992, 555 pages, privately published. In most cases, I only report descendants through, at most, four generations; whereas for many Watson families, Patricia Heinen lists more recent generations. My major task was to bring the Watson section (pages 169-200, Volume 2) of my 1999 book, The Oil Creek Flemings and related families, up to date with the plethora of census records that were not available to me in the 20th century.
My 1999 book The Oil Creek Flemings of Venango County, Pennsylvania, with related families McClintocks, Culbertsons, Jamisons, Lytles, Henderson, Morrisons, and Watsons (Volume 1, 586 pages, and Volume 2, 466 pages) is out of print. I have been updating each of the eight surnames for online versions. With this 2006 updating of both the Watsons and Morrisons, all eight of the Oil Creek lines are now complete and online. They are:
Oil Creek Flemings.
Oil Creek McClintocks and Culbertsons.
Oil Creek (and Westmoreland County) Jamisons.
Oil Creek Lytles.
Oil Creek Hendersons.
Oil Creek Watsons and Morrisons.
For those interested in the book, the two volumes of the 1999 Oil Creek Flemings and related families should be available from (1) Family History Center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in Salt Lake City, Utah (including the film: FHL 1425302); (2) Venango County Genealogy Club, Oil City, Pennsylvania, 2 Central Avenue, Heritage Room, Oil City, Pennsylvania 16301-3122; (3) Venango County Historical Society, Franklin, Pennsylvania; (4) Franklin, Pennsylvania, Public Library, 421 Twelfth Street, Franklin, Pennsylvania 16323; (5) Crawford County Historical Society, Helene Barco-Duratz Cultural Center, 411 Chestnut Street, Meadville, Pennsylvania 16335; (6) Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center, 1212 Smallman Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15222; and (7) the Genealogy Department of the Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Indiana.