John Sebrie WATTS, Congress, NM (1816-1876)

WATTS, John Sebrie, a Delegate from the Territory of New Mexico; born in Boone County, Ky., January 19, 1816; moved to Indiana, where he completed preparatory studies; was graduated from Indiana University at Bloomington; studied law; was admitted to the bar and practiced; member of the State house of representatives in 1846 and 1847; associate justice of the United States court in the Territory of New Mexico from 1851 to 1854, when he resigned; resumed the practice of law; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1861-March 3, 1863); delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1864; took an active part in equipping troops for the Union Army during the Civil War; appointed chief justice of the supreme court of New Mexico July 11, 1868, by President Johnson, and served in that capacity one year; resumed the practice of law in Santa Fe; returned to Bloomington, Monroe County, Ind., where he died June 11, 1876; interment in Rose Hill Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present