| Description | The papers reflect John Watt’s business activities with shipping and cargoes, shown in the details of the ships Thetis, and Greenock particularly. There are accounts for John Watt’s teaching activities, and papers and accounts concerning his marriages and the inheritance of property. The notebooks and instruction books contain treatises on navigation, shipbuilding, mathematics, military matters etc. There is also an introduction to the Italian scheme of book-keeping with a new scheme for the application of this to merchant affairs by John Watt, dated 1730. There are also a number of drawings and surveys of land in Renfrewshire and Lanarkshire. |
| AdminHistory | John Watt sr. was the son of Thomas Watt, the older brother of James Watt of Greenock, and the uncle of James Watt. He appears to have followed his father’s profession of teacher and by 1715, he had become a teacher of mathematics and navigation. He also taught book-keeping. He moved to Glasgow in 1719. A considerable part of his work seems to have been as a land surveyor and numerous surveys and calculations have survived, especially for areas in and near Glasgow. His best known survey was one of the Firth of Clyde, made about 1734, and published, with additions and alterations, by his brother and nephews in 1759 - 1760. He also, like his brother, had interests in various shipping concerns.
John Watt sr. married twice, but both wives died and no children survived. In 1728 he married Janet Todd. Their son John was born and died in May 1729, and Janet Todd died in 1731. Her father, John Todd (d. ?1717), was a merchant in Glasgow who seems to have dealt in tobacco and textiles. Her mother was Agnes Paedie, and she had two sisters, Mary and Jean.
His second marriage was to Christian Tennent, in 1734. She was the daughter of Hugh Tennent, a merchant of Glasgow. John Watt’s daughter Margret was born in 1735, but both Christian and the child died soon after. |