Andrew Watson was born in Oliverburn, Perthshire, Scotland, the son of Andrew and Catherine (Roger) Watson. While Andrew was yet a child his father died, and at the age of fourteen he emigrated with his family to the United States. Here, at Lisbon, near Sussex, Wis. , he shared in the arduous labor of hewing a farm out of the forest.
Education
He had his preparatory education in schools in Wisconsin and graduated from Carroll College in that state in 1857. It was probably while in college that he formed the purpose of becoming a missionary. He attended Princeton Theological Seminary (1858 - 59) and Allegheny Theological Seminary (1859 - 60). In preparation for his work as a missionary he took a partial course at Jefferson Medical College (1860 - 61).
Career
On May 15, 1861, he was ordained to the ministry of the United Presbyterian Church. Shortly afterward he and his wife sailed for Egypt as appointees of the foreign mission board of their Church. Here, with the exception of occasional furloughs in America and a few other journeys which took him out of the country, Watson spent more than half a century, sharing in the remarkable development of his Church in the land of his adoption. When he arrived, the Egyptian mission of his board was less than a decade old; at his death there were 13, 000 members of his denomination in Egypt. His first few years were spent at Alexandria; then for several years he resided at MansÏra; from 1873, on, he made his home in Cairo. He shared in many phases of the work of his mission. Acquiring the ability to speak Arabic faultlessly and with great fluency, he came in time to feel that he could express himself more readily in it than in English, and so preferred to preach in it rather than in his mother tongue. He edited a weekly paper in Arabic. For a while he was in charge of a boys' school, and for a brief period he taught in the Assiut Training College. In 1864 he helped found the theological school of his Church which, after several temporary locations, was established at Cairo. From 1869 he taught in it, and from 1892 until his death he was its head. While in the United States, he served in 1890 as the moderator of the United Presbyterian General Assembly, and in 1910 went as a delegate to the World Missionary Conference at Edinburgh. In 1898 he published The American Mission in Egypt, 1854 to 1896. He was widely trusted and loved by the community as a whole, and many of varying social ranks committed to his care the administration of their funds. He was a friend of at least one Coptic Patriarch, of numerous persons connected with the Roman Catholic Church, and of many Moslems. Longing to die in harness, he was able to keep up his accustomed activities until within a few days of the end of his long life. His death occurred in Cairo.
Achievements
Connections
On July 10 was married to Margaret MacVickar of Sussex, Wis. They had one son.