From the nature of his calling, it is obvious that he must have been a thoughtful and intelligent person;[51] and that he was a man of excellent character is clear from the confidence he inspired in those who had the best opportunities of knowing him. When William and Mary were confirmed in their occupancy of the British throne, shortly after the Revolution of 1688, one of the first acts of Mr. Crawford, of Crawfordsburn, the feudal superior, was to appoint Thomas Watt baillie of the barony--a position of local importance, involving the direction of public affairs within the limits of his jurisdiction. [51] Among the few household articles belonging to him which descended to his son, and afterwards to his grandson the engineer, were two portraits, one of Sir Isaac Newton, and the other of John Napier, the inventor of Logarithms. A few years later, the Kirk Session of Greenock, having found him “blameless in life and conversation,” appointed him an Elder of the parish, when it became part of his duty to overlook not only the religious observances, but the manners and morals, of the little community. Kirk Sessions did not then confine themselves to ecclesiastical affairs, but assumed the function of magistrates, and almost exercised the powers of an inquisition. One of their most important duties was to provide for the education of the rising generation, in pursuance of the injunction of John Knox, “that no father, of what estate or condition that ever he may be, use his children at his own fantasie, especially in their youthhead; but all must be compelled to bring up their children in learning and virtue,”--words which lie at the root of much of Scotland’s mental culture, as well as, probably, of its material prosperity. In 1696 the Act was passed by the Scotch Parliament which is usually regarded as the charter of the Scotch parish-school system; and in the following year the Kirk Session of Greenock proceeded to make provision for the establishment of their parish school, which continued until the Town Council superseded it by the Grammar School, at which James Watt, the future engineer, received the best part of his school education. After holding the offices of Presbytery Elder and Kirk Treasurer for some time, Thomas Watt craved leave to retire into private life. He was seventy years old, and felt infirmities growing upon him. The plea was acknowledged, and the request granted; and on his retirement from office the Kirk Session recorded on their minutes that Thomas Watt had been found “diligent and faithful in the management of his trust.” He died at the age of 92, and was buried in the old kirkyard of Greenock, where his tombstone is still to be seen. He is there described as “Professor of Mathematics in Crawfordsdyk.” Not far from his grave lie, “mouldering in silent dust,” the remains of Burns’s Highland Mary, who died while on a visit to a relative at Greenock.