Josiah Ogden Watson

Josiah Ogden Watson (24 September 1784 – 12 June 1852) was an American Plantation owner, physician, and statesman from North Carolina.

He was the son of John Watson, a Revolutionary War veteran, and Elizabeth (née Ogden) and born at Pineville plantation in Johnston County, NC.

About 1807, he migrated to Georgetown County, SC, and developed a lucrative medical practice, becoming close friends with South Carolina Governor Joseph Alston's family in the area.

Returning to South Carolina, he continued practicing medicine and was a parishioner at All Saints Church on Pawleys Island, representing the parish at an Episcopal convention in Charleston, SC, in 1813.

The main plantation was called Pineville and was located across the Neuse River from Clayton, NC, where North Carolina Highway 42 intersects Buffalo Road.

[4] When the younger Watson died in 1897, much of the land was divided among many heirs and the main plantation and house was eventually sold to the Percy Flowers family.

Their only child was a daughter Elizabeth Obedience Watson who was born 24 September 1819 and died 3 December 1839 in Wilmington, NC, on the way to Cuba for treatment of respiratory distress.

In 1836, Josiah Watson purchased approximately 600 acres (2.4 km2) of land just outside the city of Raleigh, NC, in Wake County from John Sugg.

The estate covered an area from the original 1792 city limit southeast of Raleigh east to the rock quarry and south across Walnut Creek.

It was later bought by Josiah's nephew J. W. B. Watson and after his death sold to the city of Raleigh to be transformed into the Crosby School for Negroes in 1897.

The other men were Governor John Motley Morehead, Senator Calvin Graves, Dr. Thomas N. Cameron, George W. Mordecai, and Major Charles L. Hinton.