Stephen Watts (134)

Election date: 1768

Elected to the revived American Philosophical Society and the American Society in 1768.


Blank portrait of a man in mid/late 18th century attire

Stephen Watts (5 February 1741–1788) was a merchant, educator, and lawyer, and a member of the American Philosophical Society and the American Society, elected to both in 1768. Born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Watts excelled at classical languages during his education. He delivered the Latin salutatory at his College of Philadelphia commencement ceremony in 1762 before accepting a position at the Latin School. After a year of teaching, he left to begin a mercantile firm with APS member Robert Strettel Jones. Ever a scholar, Watts earned a master of arts degree in 1765 and in 1769 was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar. As political strife intensified in Philadelphia, Watts moved his family to Pensacola in 1774 where he began a successful legal practice. He later relocated again to Louisiana where he was appointed the King’s Attorney for Baton Rouge, Recorder of Deeds, and Master in Chancery for the English settlements on the Mississippi before dying in 1788. (PI)



134.001
Member: Stephen Watts
☞ Epistolâe familiares et alia quâedam miscellanea : [or] familiar epistles, and other miscellaneous pieces, wrote originally in Latin verse, by John Beveridge, A.M. Professor of languages in the College and Academy of Philadelphia : to which are added several translations into English verse, by different hands, &c.
Creator(s): Beveridge, John, 1703 or 1704-1767 (Author)
Publication: Philadelphia: Printed for the author by William Bradford, at the London Coffee House, at the corner of Market and Front-Streets, [1765]
Subjects:Epistolary poetry, Latin -- Early works to 1800.


56.003
Member: John Morgan, Member: Francis Hopkinson, Member: Joseph Reed (1741-1785), Member: William Smith (1727-1803), Provost, Member: Stephen Watts
☞ Four dissertations, on the reciprocal advantages of a perpetual union between Great-Britain and her American colonies : written for Mr. Sargent’s prize-medal : to which (by desire) is prefixed, an eulogium, spoken on the delivery of the medal at the public commencement in the College of Philadelphia, May 20th, 1766.
Creator(s): Watts, Stephen, 1741-1788 (Contributor)| Morgan, John, 1735-1789 (Contributor)| Hopkinson, Francis, 1737-1791 (Contributor)| Reed, Joseph, 1741-1785 (Contributor)| Smith, William, 1727-1803 (Contributor)
Publication: Philadelphia: Printed by William and Thomas Bradford, at the London Coffee-House, [1766]
Subjects:United States -- Politics and government -- 1775-1783. | Great Britain -- Colonies -- America -- Economic policy -- Early works to 1800. | Great Britain -- Foreign relations -- United States -- Early works to 1800. | United States -- Foreign relations -- Great Britain -- Early works to 1800.