Background
David Thompson Watson was born at Washington, Pa. , the son of James and Maria (Morgan) Watson.
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David Thompson Watson was born at Washington, Pa. , the son of James and Maria (Morgan) Watson.
He received his early education in his native town and was graduated at Washington (now Washington and Jefferson) College, with the degree of A. B. in 1864. For a brief period he saw service in the Civil War. Entering the Harvard Law School, he was graduated in 1866 in the same class with Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
He settled at Pittsburgh, where he continued in the active practice of law for nearly a half century, becoming one of Pittsburgh's leading lawyers. For a number of years before his death he was the senior member of the firm of Watson & Freeman. He joined the American Bar Association in 1885 and remained a member for the rest of his life. Watson was retained by the United States Department of Justice as attorney in action brought against the Northern Securities Company in the circuit court, April 1903, to enforce the laws relating to corporate combinations. He was retained, also, by Henry Frick in the litigation between the United States and the Union Pacific Railroad in 1911, and by the Standard Oil Company in several cases. He gained his widest prominence, however, through his connection with the Alaskan Boundary controversy between the United States and Great Britain in 1903. Watson presented the opening argument in behalf of the United States, following Sir Robert Finlay, who spoke for Great Britain. It was long and able, continuing from September 23 to September 28, inclusive. The report of it fills more than 130 large printed pages. Watson seems never to have held or sought public office. In the multifarious and exacting duties of his profession he found, apparently, all that was needed to engross his attention and satisfy his ambition. He died in Atlantic City, N. J. , from heart failure, following an attack of the grippe.
On June 10, 1889, he married Margaret H. Walker, daughter of William Walker, a Pittsburgh banker.
