JAMES WATT AMES WATT, the improver of the steamengine, was born at Greenock in Renfrewshire, Scotland, on the 19th of January 1736. He was the descendant of a family the members of which, for several generations, had exhibited no small degree of ability. His great-grandfather was the proprietor and farmer of a small estate in Aberdeenshire; but taking part in the insurrection headed by Montrose, he was killed in one of the battles then fought, and his little property was confiscated. This person's son, Thomas Watt, was but an infant at the time of his father's death. Left almost destitute by that event, he was taken care of by relations till he grew |