Early Life
Watson maintained that his father was a British seaman called George Watson. Records dispute this, however; they indicate that Watson's father was a Chilean citizen of German descent, Johan Cristian Tanck, and that Watson was born in Valparaíso, Chile.
Records also show his mother was a New Zealander, Martha Minchin, who had married Tanck in New Zealand and then gone to sea with him. In 1868 his parents separated, and in 1869 she married George Watson, whose name young Chris then took. None of these facts became known until after Watson's death. Watson went to school in Oamaru, New Zealand, and at 13 was apprenticed as a printer. In 1886 he moved to Sydney to better his prospects. He found work as an editor for several newspapers. Through this proximity to newspapers, books and writers he furthered his education and developed an interest in politics. In 1889 he married Ada Jane Low, an English-born Sydney seamstress. Nothing is known about her previous life and no photograph of her has been found.
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