The First Rector of Trinity: A Quarter Century, and a Church Rebuilt from the Fire

Rev. George Herbert Watson, D.D., rector of Trinity parish, yesterday celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of his ordination to the diaconate, having been ordained by the venerable Bishop of New York, Horatio Potter, July 15, 1869, in Calvary Church, New York City. Sixteen of these twenty-five years were passed in this city, making it the longest rectorate of record along the entire Pacific coast.

Dr. Watson needed all the stern, unyielding pertinacity of his ancestors to combat the many trials and tribulations that beset his way during his early ministry in Seattle, and as the founder of his church and the first rector of Trinity he and his good wife live today to see the work of his indefatigable efforts crowned with success. Dr. Watson is a man with a happy disposition that is never ruffled by the failure of any of his plans, being mentally strong enough to struggle through difficulties that would cause the average man to stumble and fall.

George Herbert Watson, D.D., was born at Plymouth, Conn., August 9, 1847. His father, Rev. William Watson, an English-American of Scotch parents, was then rector of the parish at Plymouth. His mother's name was Ward, the daughter of an old Connecticut family who traced their ancestry back to the very first white settlers. Losing his mother when he was only 12 years old, Dr. Watson's youth missed the softening influences of her love and care, but was watched over by his sturdy father, whose great love for missionary work was largely inherited by the boy George and fully developed and exercised as man and rector in California in the pioneer days of Washington Territory.

Shortly after the death of the mother the father moved to Hudson, N.Y., where he built Christ's Church, of which he remained rector for many years. The lad, George Herbert, was first educated in the parish school and next in a classical school, his progress being exceptionally bright. At 15 he entered Hobart College, at Geneva, N.Y. This was in the early days of the struggle between the North and the South, and young Watson, with a number of other students, overcome by patriotic zeal, left the college and enlisted in the army. They had been in camp for several weeks when the colonel of the regiment, who knew young Watson's father, returned him to college under the minor law, much to the relief of the anxious father and chagrin of the embryo soldier. He graduated with honors from Hobart College in 1869. This event was saddened by the loss of that father who had watched over him tenderly, for just before his graduation, while the Rev. William Watson was attending the triennial session of the general convention at Providence, R.I., he fell in front of the bishop's house, into which he was carried and where he breathed his last, of heart trouble. Young Watson, while in college, had not decided on the ministry, though it had been the wish of his father, and at that time favored medicine as a profession. His father's death decided his course of action, however, and he soon after entered the General Theological Seminary in New York, where he remained for three years, graduating in 1869, and on July 15 of that year—twenty-five years ago yesterday—he was ordained deacon by Bishop Horatio Potter, of New York, whose nephew is now occupying the same exalted position in the same city.

Rev. George Herbert Watson passed his diaconate in Central New York under Bishop Huntington, one of the famous bishops of the Episcopal Church, who recently passed the twenty-fifth anniversary of his consecration as bishop. This bishop ordained Rev. George Herbert Watson in September, 1871, and on the 12th of the following month, October, the young rector led to the altar of St. Paul's Church at Holland Patent, N.Y., his blushing bride, Miss Genevieve De Angelis, the lady who has been his companion and counsellor in all these years, and whose sunny disposition has lightened the burden of many of his trials. The two were united by Dr. Watson's uncle, the Rev. Hugh Clarke, rector of Zion Church, Rome, N.Y.

From Central New York Rev. Mr. Watson accepted the rectorship of St. Peter's Church at Freehold, N.J., the building being a relic of the Revolutionary period, and many British and American bullets still embedded in the solid old landmark. Here the young rector labored until 1878, when he went to California, where he did local missionary work in San Mateo County, being also interested in educational matters.

In 1879 Bishop Scarborough transferred him to Bishop Paddock's jurisdiction in Washington Territory, then considered the wilds of the Pacific Northwest. It was, however, to the liking of the Rev. Mr. Watson, who saw a glorious field for his labors in missionary work. He came to Seattle in the fall of 1878, where, in a settlement of about 3,500 people, he found about twenty-five communicants with whom to commence his good work, in a very small and humble wooden church and rectory that then occupied the ground now forming the triangular open across the street from the city hall.

Faithfully and ably assisted by his wife, his learning, tact and executive ability soon brought about results that were good fruit. The church grew in spiritual and material strength. Mr. Watson had faith in the future of Seattle at his first view of the settlement. He established a chapel in North Seattle, secured the ground, and the property is still owned by the church. He next established Grace Hospital, securing the ground and making it an important adjunct. After the big fire destroyed the old church wherein he had preached his sermon to a handful of earnest souls, he next secured the half block at James and Cherry on Eighth. The present guild house was erected and used as a church until the dedication of the present edifice. It was not put up without many bitter trials, but the result of Dr. Watson's work at that time can never be effaced, and the congregation now numbers as many as the little band that formed the nucleus of his first pioneer work sixteen years ago. Rev. Mr. Watson received his degree of Doctor of Divinity two years ago, in 1892, from Hobart College.