William Courtney Watts, author of a single historical novel which is
regarded by many as the finest work of its kind yet done by a Kentucky
hand, was born at Salem, Kentucky, February 7, 1830. His family has no
record of his school days, but he was married to Miss Nannie Ferguson
when a young man, and six children were born to them. Watts's early
years were spent at Salem and Smithland, Kentucky, but he later went
to New Orleans as a clerk in the firm of Givens, Watts and Company,
cotton brokers. He shortly afterwards joined the New York branch of
this New Orleans house, known as Watts, Crowe and Company, as a
partner in the business; and from New York Watts went to Liverpool,
England, to represent the firm of W. C. Watts and Company, which was
the foreign title for the New Orleans and New York houses. For some
years the business was very prosperous, and Watts, of course, shared
largely in the firm's success. After the usual congratulatory messages
between England and the United States had been exchanged, Watts is
said to have sent the first cablegram across the Atlantic. After many
years of prosperity, failure overtook the house of Watts, and he
returned to New York, setting up in business with a Mr. Slaughter.
Some time subsequently he came back to Kentucky, making his home in
Smithland, but rheumatism ruined his health, causing lameness, and
making him an invalid for the remainder of his life. In Smithland,
during days of illness, Watts wrote his splendid story, _The
Chronicles of a Kentucky Settlement_ (New York, 1897). This novel of
early Kentucky life is one of the most charming and delightful tales
ever told by an American author, although founded upon fact and, in a
sense, twice-told. _The Chronicles_ is the only book Watts wrote, and
he has come down to posterity with this single story in his feeble
hand. The preface, signed on the sixty-seventh anniversary of his
birth, was done but ten months before his death, which occurred at
Smithland, Kentucky December 27, 1897. He is buried in the cemetery of
the little Kentucky town over which he cast the glamour of romance,
almost unknown to its citizen of this day, and still unappreciated and
unheralded by Kentuckians. His _Chronicles_ is known only to the
student and collector, as it was never properly put before the public,
though published by a powerful New York firm. His family knows little
of his life and is quite careless of his fame. In years to come the
_Chronicles_ may take high rank among the finest series of historical
pictures ever penned of a single Southern settlement, and then William
Courtney Watts will come into his very own.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. _The Courier-Journal_ (December 28, 1897); letter
from Watts's daughter to the author.