WATTERSON, Harvey McGee, journalist, born in Bedford county, Tennessee, 23 November, 1811. He was educated at Cumberland college, Princeton, Kentucky, and established a newspaper at Shelbyville, Tennessee, the capital of his native county, in 1831. He was elected to the legislature in 1835, served in congress in 1839-'43, having been chosen as a Democrat, declined a re-election in the latter year, and was sent by the president on a, diplomatic nission to Buenos Ayres. On his return in 1845 he was elected to the state senate, and chosen president of that body. He was owner and editor of the Nashville "Union" from 1850 till the close of 1851, was connected with the editorial department of the Washington " Union " in 1853-'4, was a delegate to the National Democratic convention of 1860, where he voted for the nomination of Stephen A. Douglas, was an elector for the state at large on the Douglas ticket the same year, and chosen to the State convention in February, 1861, as a Unionist. He practised law in Washington for fourteen years after the war, and since 1878 has been a member of the editorial staff of the Louisville "Courier-Journal."--His son, Henry, journalist, born in Washington, D. C., 16 February, 1840, in consequence of defective eyesight, was educated chiefly by private tutors. He entered the profession of journalism in Washington in 1858, and in 1861, returning to Tennessee, he edited the " Republican Banner" in Nashville, he served on the Confederate side during the civil war in various capacities, being a staff-officer its 1861-'3, and chief of scouts in General Joseph E Johnston's army in 1864. After the war he revived the "Banner," but soon afterward went to Louisville, Kentucky, to reside, and in 1867 succeeded George D. Prentice as editor of the "Journal." In the year following he united the "Courier" and the "Times" with it, and in connection with Walter N. Haldeman founded the " Courier-Journal," of which he has since been the editor. He was a member of congress from 12 August, 1876, till 3 March, 1877, being chosen to fill a vacancy, but, with this exception, has always declined public office. He has sat for Kentucky as delegate-at-large in four National Democratic conventions, presiding over the St. Louis convention in 1876, and serving as chairman or the platform committees in the Cincinnati convention in 1880 and in the one at St. Louis in 1888. He is identified with the revenue-reform movement of the Democratic party as an aggressive advocate of free-trade ideas. He was a personal friend and a resolute follower of Samuel J. Tilden. Mr. Watterson has often appeared as a public speaker, notably on political occasions, and his advice is sought by the leaders of his party. He has also contributed freely to periodicals, and edited "Oddities of Southern Life and Character" (Boston, 1882).