My great-grandparents:   Joseph Lemuel Watson and Dottie Rachel West.
Their sons:                        John, George, Joseph Jr, William and Harry Sr.
My Grandparents:            Harry E. Watson Sr and Olga Rita Austin  (they met after she and her friend (15 yrs old) put their names
                                            in a bottle in the Monongahela river, probably in Brownsville, Pa.  Grandpap found it probably near Courtney, wrote to
                                            grandma Olga, and a few years later they married and had 8 children!  A True Love Story!

The Watson family lived in Coal Bluff, Pa., then moved "up" to Courtney Hill, Pa.  Gr-grandpap Lem owned the Courtney Hotel at one time, also he and a partner (Rankin) owned 2 mines, Watson and Rankin mines, (original names!) and possibly owned a brewery one point.  One family story says Gr-grandpap bought a mine for $40,000 cash, sold it and bought another for $80,000.  Then came the great Carnegie who stopped my gr-grpap from sending the coal barges from Courtney to Pittsburgh (?) by levying several taxes or fees payable before the barges left.  He couldn't pay the price until he delivered the coal so he lost it all and just walked away.  I don't know how much is totally true or what other facts are involved but my family of course thinks that Carnegie is a crook who made a lot of money this way.

"Grandpap was a coal miner, then worked for the Pa State highway dept.  When mom was little, he made their wooden sleds and everybody wanted them.  Grandma cut up coats from the older kids to make coats for the younger ones.  Using her hand as a pattern, she cut the scraps and made gloves - again mom said everyone wanted them because they were so warm. Grandma always had the best jokes and giggled every time she told one. After a stroke put him in a wheelchair, Grandpap did a lot of carpentry in his shop.  Everyone in the family has something he made:  coat rack, toy box, knick knack shelves, desk, etc...   We all miss them a lot. "

William Watson was killed in the Cincinnati Mine explosion of April 23, 1913 at age 21.  The partial newspaper article (below) about finding "Willie" and his friend William Carter is heartwrenching.  I sent info to the old miner website - so they now have my family's info on the site at: http://patheoldminer.rootsweb.com/wascincinnati1.html

This article is a scan of a xerox. Hopefully, a family member has the original so that I can get a better scan but I'd really like to have the whole article someday.