Henry Watkin
Encyclopedia
Cooperative
A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
socialist in Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
during the mid-to-late 19th century.
While a young printer in London, Watkin became interested in the utopian socialist writings of Robert Owen
Robert Owen
Robert Owen was a Welsh social reformer and one of the founders of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement.Owen's philosophy was based on three intellectual pillars:...
, Charles Fourier
Charles Fourier
François Marie Charles Fourier was a French philosopher. An influential thinker, some of Fourier's social and moral views, held to be radical in his lifetime, have become main currents in modern society...
, and Comte de Saint-Simon. Although it is still unknown to what degree Watkin participated in any cooperative
Cooperative
A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
or communalist movements in England or America before the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, evidence suggests that Watkin was an active member of a community of progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
and radical
Radicalism (historical)
The term Radical was used during the late 18th century for proponents of the Radical Movement. It later became a general pejorative term for those favoring or seeking political reforms which include dramatic changes to the social order...
Cincinnatians during his professional life. In 1870, he helped to found the Cooperative Land and Building Association No.1 of Hamilton County, Ohio. The housing cooperative was organized in 1871 to build and develop a railroad suburb named Bond Hill just a few miles outside of the corporate limits of Cincinnati. Besides his work founding Bond Hill, Watkin is best known as the friend and fatherly mentor of the 19th century Japanophile
Japanophile
Japanophilia is an interest in, or love of, Japan and anything Japanese; its opposite is Japanophobia. One who has such an interest or love is a Japanophile...
writer, Lafcadio Hearn
Lafcadio Hearn
Patrick Lafcadio Hearn , known also by the Japanese name , was an international writer, known best for his books about Japan, especially his collections of Japanese legends and ghost stories, such as Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things...
.
Henry Watkin was born in Pitsford
Pitsford
Pitsford is a village and civil parish in the Daventry district of the non-metropolitan county of Northamptonshire in the United Kingdom. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish's population was 636 people...
, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
, a village near Northampton
Northampton
Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...
in central England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, to Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
parents, William Watkin and Mary Hobson Watkin. The Watkin family was large and after his father's death at the age of six, Henry, his four older and two younger siblings were raised by their mother with income from the Watkin family's rental properties. As children, both he and a sister, Hephzibah, suffered grievous eye injuries, a circumstance which may have figured significantly later in his life. Watkin apprenticed as a printer under his uncle John Gardiner Fuller, an abolitionist and son of Andrew Fuller
Andrew Fuller
Andrew Fuller was an eminent Baptist minister, born in Cambridgeshire, and settled at Kettering.Fuller was a zealous controversialist in defence of the governmental theory of the atonement against Hyper-Calvinism on the one hand and Socinianism and Sandemanianism on the other, but he is chiefly...
(co-founder of the Baptist Missionary Society
Baptist Missionary Society
rightBMS World Mission is a Christian missionary society founded by Baptists from England in 1792. It was originally called the Particular Baptist Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Amongst the Heathen, but for most of its life was known as the Baptist Missionary Society...
), in Bristol. Family letters indicate that in 1845 after staying for a period with another uncle, Reverend Andrew Gunton Fuller, in London, he traveled to America. By 1847 Watkin had made his way to Cincinnati where he worked for the Cincinnati newspaper, the Daily Gazette, a known organ for the land reform movement at the time. Within a few years, Watkin became foreman of the Gazette but left in 1853 to set up his own bookstore and printing shop. On May 26 of that same year, Henry Watkin married Laura Ann Fry (1831-1914), a dressmaker and woodcarver from a family of prominent artist craftsmen and Swedenborgian
Swedenborgian
A Swedenborgian is the doctrines, beliefs, and practices of the Church of the New Jerusalem, and is an adjective describing a person or an organization that understands the Bible through the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg....
s hailing from Bath, England (Howe 2003). (Laura emigrated to America with her father, Henry Fry, in 1851). According to the 1860 census of Millcreek Township in Hamilton County, Ohio, Laura and Henry were living in the Bond Hill area, the site on which, ten years later, Watkin's cooperative would situate their new community. In 1857, Henry and Laura had a daughter, Effie Maud Watkin (1857-1944). Henry Fry was a vocal and religiously inspired supporter of communism
Religious communism
Religious communism is a form of communism centered on religious principles. The term usually refers to a number of egalitarian and utopian religious societies practicing the voluntary dissolution of private property, so that society's benefits are distributed according to a person's needs, and...
in England. While the Fry family was less vocal about their radicalism in America, their strong affiliation with the Cincinnati Swedenborgian community, and friendships with wealthy progressives and artists suggests that the Fry's and Henry Watkin were well within the mileiu of radical Cincinnati.
From descriptions of Henry Watkin in biographies of Lafcadio Hearn
Lafcadio Hearn
Patrick Lafcadio Hearn , known also by the Japanese name , was an international writer, known best for his books about Japan, especially his collections of Japanese legends and ghost stories, such as Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things...
, Watkin is described as a “largely self-taught, free-thinking
Freethought
Freethought is a philosophical viewpoint that holds that opinions should be formed on the basis of science, logic, and reason, and should not be influenced by authority, tradition, or other dogmas...
radical... especially interested in utopian communalism” (Jonathan Cott 1991, 34). Writing soon after his death another biographer wrote:
"Henry Watkin was a person of apparently elastic views and varied reading; self educated but shrewd and gifted with a natural knowledge of mankind. He was nearly thirty years older than the boy he spoke to, but he remembered the days when his ideal of life had been far other than working a printing-press in a back street in Cincinnati. At one time he had steeped himself in the French school of philosophy, Fourierism
Charles Fourier
François Marie Charles Fourier was a French philosopher. An influential thinker, some of Fourier's social and moral views, held to be radical in his lifetime, have become main currents in modern society...
and Saint-Simonism; then for a time followed Hegel and Kant
KANT
KANT is a computer algebra system for mathematicians interested in algebraic number theory, performing sophisticated computations in algebraic number fields, in global function fields, and in local fields. KASH is the associated command line interface...
, regaling himself in lighter moments with Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
and Hoffman’s weird tales." (Nina Kennard 1912, 66)
The list of publications from Watkin's printing shop underlies Watkin's political and social sympathies. The first known book he published was an 1854 spiritualist work by Through H. Tuttle, An outline of universal government, : being a general exposition of the plan of the universe, by a society of the sixth circle. To which is added a lecture purporting to emanate from the spirit of Benjamin Franklin, on the philosophy of spiritual intercourse, and the reasons why spirits disagree in their communications. Watkin also published a large number of songsheets of African-American spirituals and hymns, as well as sermons from the African Methodist Episcopal Church
African Methodist Episcopal Church
The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the A.M.E. Church, is a predominantly African American Methodist denomination based in the United States. It was founded by the Rev. Richard Allen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1816 from several black Methodist congregations in the...
, other spiritualist writings, and miscellaneous printings for Cincinnati merchants and commercial enterprises.
Watkin's printings for spiritualists and the African-American community paralleled the interests of his contemporary Fourierists and likely indicate that Watkin was more than simply a reader of Charles Fourier. Fourierist communities in America waned in the late 1840s while many Fourierists were drawn to the spiritualist and anti-slavery abolitionist movements building throughout the 1850s. This is especially true of Cincinnati where remnants of the Clermont Phalanx
Utopia, Ohio
Utopia is an unincorporated town in far southern Franklin Township, Clermont County, Ohio, United States, along the banks of the Ohio River. Utopia has been referred to as a "ghost town" although there are still people who live there.- Geography :...
helped to populate the city's Spiritual Brotherhood, a spiritualist society.
After the Civil War, records indicate that Watkin was active in Cincinnati's socialist scene. In 1868, he was one of the initial stockholders subscribed in the Mutual Benefit Grocery, a cooperative grocery store in downtown Cincinnati. The grocery was a hub in the network of Cincinnati progressives
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
including members from other prominent socialist families, the Hallers and McLeans, as well as other forward thinking printers, Caleb Clark and Charles Adams, also active in Cincinnati socialist movements. Watkin's social network also included members and administrators of the Young Men’s Mercantile Library.
These connections helped Watkin connect with the social philanthropists eager to create new affordable housing outside of Cincinnati, which in 1869 was even more densely populated than London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. In 1870, Watkin helped to form the Cooperative Land and Building Association No.1 of Hamilton County, Ohio and in 1871 set about constructing the new suburb in the countryside nearby where he lived. William S. Munson, railroad broker, scion of a wealthy iron merchant family, and president of the Young Men's Mercantile Library (1873-74) was an early investor in the cooperative and became the Co-op's treasurer. It is likely that the cooperative elements of the Bond Hill's building association were inspired through Watkin's lifelong interest in cooperationism. Due to the financial hardships brought upon by the Long Depression
Long Depression
The Long Depression was a worldwide economic crisis, felt most heavily in Europe and the United States, which had been experiencing strong economic growth fueled by the Second Industrial Revolution in the decade following the American Civil War. At the time, the episode was labeled the Great...
of the 1870s, Watkin likely suffered greatly. By 1880, both his wife and daughter were recorded as in the census as living away from Cincinnati, in Kansas City, Missouri. (Laura Ann and Effie were likely either teaching or engaged in woodcarving furiniture or interiors there).
Other stresses besides the depression seem to also have affected Watkin's project. In the early 1880s a schism appears to have split the cooperative and Watkin's activities in its leadership seem to decrease thereafterwards. Records of the Bond Hill Civic Association reveal that Watkin was printing membership cards for the organization as late as September 29, 1893, although by then Watkin and his family had moved next door to his father-in-law, Henry Fry's Sunflower Cottage, in Pleasant Ridge. Only two years later, according to correspondence, an accident befell Watkin. He was 71 years old. Watkin continued working with the help of his assistant printer, Frank H. Vehr. By 1902 Watkin had retired from printing, the oldest practicing printer in Cincinnati, and sold his shop to Vehr. While continuing to work, first selling novelties and afterwards, doing unknown work in an office building, Henry and his wife and daughter moved into Cincinnati’s Old Men’s and Widow's Home, a nursing home in Walnut Hills.
According to his obituary, Watkin died of exhaustion at 4 o'clock in the morning, Monday, November 21, 1910, at the age of 86. In 1914, Laura died as well. Their bodies were cremated. After her mother's death, Effie Watkin, spent a few years outside the home but never married. Returning to the home she spent the rest of her life there until her death in 1944. Henry Watkin is survived by the descendants of his other siblings: John (1817-1904), William (1819-?), James (1822-?), Mary (1820-?), Hephzibah (1827-?) and Sarah Ann Watkin (1829-?).
Henry Watkin is best known for his friendship with the Japanophile writer, Lafcadio Hearn. Hearn became famous in the late 19th century for his descriptions of Japanese culture and sensibility. After a childhood worthy of a Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
novel, Hearn spent his early years shunted between Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
by unconcerned distant relatives and boarding schools. In 1869 he arrived in Cincinnati and barely survived by working odd jobs, sleeping in haylofts, and by cutting his hunger pains with opium
Opium
Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...
. Later that year, after collapsing from exhaustion two friends of Hearn dragged him into Watkin's shop where Hearn implored Watkin for help. In the Reminiscences of Watkin's niece Hepsie Watkin Churchill, she speculates that Watkin's sympathy for the lad was in part motivated by Hearn's ruined eye, a handicap Watkin shared from youth and which the entire Watkin family was especially sensitive to. Watkin gave Hearn shelter in a back room of his printing shop, served him warm meals, and quickly became his friend, mentor, and surrogate "Dad". Confident of Hearn's heretofore-unrecognized abilities, "Mr. Watkin secured for the boy a position with a Captain Barney, who edited and published a commercial paper, for which Hearn solicited advertisements and to which he began also to contribute articles" (Bronner 1908, 25). In his printing shop, and on lengthy walks through Cincinnati, Watkin and Hearn discussed the utopias of Robert Owen, Comte de Saint-Simon, and Charles Fourier, the fantasies of Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
, and all the morbid and sensational events that found their place in Hearn’s articles for the Cincinnati Enquirer and the Cincinnati Commercial. Their mutual curiosities into spiritualist practice lead them to attend séance
Séance
A séance is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word "séance" comes from the French word for "seat," "session" or "sitting," from the Old French "seoir," "to sit." In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, speak of "une séance de cinéma"...
s in Covington. Through Watkin's support and friendship, Hearn became a prolific and well-known journalist and writer.
Henry Watkin was a contributing member to Cincinnati's socialist community in the 19th century. He will be remembered for his cooperationist principles and the legacy of his achievements: the success of Lafcadio Hearn and the creation of the railroad suburb of Bond Hill
Bond Hill, Ohio
Founded as a railroad suburb and temperance community in 1871 in northeastern Millcreek Township in Hamilton County, Ohio, Bond Hill is currently a neighborhood of the City of Cincinnati. It is one of a number of neighborhoods lining the Mill Creek, an urban stream in southwestern Ohio. Bond Hill...
.
External links
- Bond Hill: Origin and Transformation of a 19th Century Cincinnati Railroad Suburb by Aharon Varady, 2004