Joseph Watson (mayor)
(1784-1841)
Joseph Watson (c. 1784 – April 9, 1841) was an American merchant and politician. He was the mayor of Philadelphia from 1824 to 1828. Watson was known for his efforts to help free blacks who had been kidnapped in Philadelphia and transported to southern plantations as slaves and in pursuing members of Patty Cannon's gang of kidnappers.
Biography
Watson was born in 1784 in Bucks County to Isaac Watson, a carpenter, and Ann Jenks. Watson later became a lumber merchant in Philadelphia.
In 1822, Watson was elected as an alderman on the Common Council. In 1824, Robert Wharton completed what would be the last of his 14 terms in office and Watson was elected by the council in a 25-0 vote. As mayor, Watson had the duty of organizing Philadelphia's reception for the Marquis de Lafayette on his tour of the United States. He was re-elected in 1825 and 1826.
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This entry incorporates text from “Joseph Watson (mayor)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.