[The author knew John Watson from an early age in Weardale.]

2 Arncliffe Terrace
Northallerton

Jan 5th [19]23

Dear Mrs. Cowie

I saw your request in P. M. Leader re your father Dr. Watson; and I have often thought of sending you a few lines. As I knew him so well in my boyhood and after, let me first of[f] say that I cannot express how much I was helped and benefited by his kindness and preaching, when he lived in Weardale. If my conversion can be attributed to any man, it was to him.

As a boy, I used to go to the shop where he and his brothers worked, at Ireshope Burn. We always looked up to him as a fine, intelligent young man. And he did sometimes teach us in the Sunday School. He was so different to any other young man we knew. His Aunt Miss Harrison, who kept a school, educated him from a child; and she was a very cleaver [sic] teacher: so that he never spoke the dialect of the Dale, and was what we called a great reader.

I knew his father and Mother. His father and he left the Wesleyan in the Reform Movement; and the Reformers never became a distinct body in the Dale; so some went back to the Wesleyans, and others joined our Church. I think his father Ralph Watson never joined either, as far as I know. He was a quiet thoughtful man. Well respected. But your father and his Mother came to our Chapel at Wearhead. The other part of the family went to the Wesleyans. I once heard your father say in public that, when he was in an undecided state of mind, he went to the High House Wesleyan Chapel on a Saturday night to a service. And decided in his mind, if anyone asked him to go back, he would do so. But no one spoke to him: so he came on the Sunday and joined the P. M. at Wearhead. He said he had always looked upon [this] as providential.

He often preached as a local preacher befor[e] he entered the ministry. During his probation, a great revival spread through the whole of the Dale. His super Rev. Peter Clark and No 2 E Rust and he took services every night for several mo[n]ths, and hundereds [sic] were brought into the Church. Never men had a more satisfactory revival for results. I and 170 others were added at Wearhead. It was then we felt the power of your fathers preaching in those days. He was full of passion, not wild but deep and strong, guided by a clear intellect and a finely cultured mind.

When his probation finished, he left for Sunderland. He gave me my first class ticket May 1866. I did not see much of him after that, only as we met at District Meetings. He was super at Spennymoor when I was ordained there in 1877. He was at Shildon preaching on the day his mother died, and his home was at our house. He said it was remarkable that he should be there when his Mother died, as my grandmother had educated her. My grandmother taught the day school in the Presbyterian Church at Ireshope burn. I may not have given you anything [for] you [to] use. But I felt disire [sic] to say how much I respected your father, and hope to read the book when it appears. With best regards

I am yours
Sincerely
T. Elliott