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Hi Mary:

Welcome to the extended family. Assuming that Bruce is your husband's father, then your husband and I are 4th cousins. Your can view my tree at ancestry.com - it's named "Middleton-De Hart - Pankhurst". Follow my grandmother's line for the Watson ascendents - Sarah Watson, sister of William, was my grandmother's grandmother.

All best,
Pankpop

Hi Andrea:
Looking forward to more postings. Sarah, William's sister, was my great great grandmother.
Pankpop

Ok, there's a lot of confusion here but some good leads. My thoughts as follows:

Joseph Watson b1740ish was farming in the Swanland area 1779, when he was on the list of rentals. The number 10 is not his age but rather the rentable value of the land. In other words, the biggest Watson landowner in Swanland in 1779 was John Watson (perhaps born 1719), followed by Samuel, Thomas, Joseph, William, Henry. Could that mean that John was the oldest and possibly the father of Joseph? If Joseph was born ±1740, he would have been 39 in 1779 and John would have been 60.

We have already established that Joseph's sons were William (1768-1809), John (1778-?) and Joseph (1784-1855). William was farming at West Ella Grange when he died in 1809; if the William farming there in 1841 was his son, he would have been born in 1801 and only 8 when his father died. So he could not have taken over the farm at that age. Perhaps someone else stepped in (grandfather Joseph or uncle John?) and William took over in 1830 after leaving Kirk Ella (see below).

Most of the children of Joseph b1884 were born at Little Weigton so I think it's safe to assume that he's the farmer listed there in Baines' 1823. The first of his children born at Kirk Ella Grange was Rebecca, born 31 Oct 1830. So I think it's safe to assume that Joseph took over the lease at Kirk Ella Grange ±1830 (?taken over from William Watson, but which one?) and was there until he died in 1855, when it passed to his son Joseph.

So perhaps the line run like this:
Henry, Overseer of the Highways of Swanland in 1695, died 1723 - leaving 5 sons: Henry, John, William, Thomas, Samuel
John b±1690, farmer at Swanland
John b1719
Joseph b±1740
Joseph b1784

Sounds plausable - but we need proof 

I have a theory that our original Joseph Watson b±1740 farmed at West Ella Grange. His eldest son, William, b. 1768 d. 1809, was definitely farming there and didn't the oldest son always inherit? And then there is another William farming at West Ella Grange who died in 1858, as evidenced in the notice below. He wasn't Joseph's son William b 1823, as that William farmed at Raywell, so maybe he was the eldest son of William b1768.

Govt Gazette, July 31, 1874
NOTICE is hereby given, that all creditors and other persons) having any claim upon the estate of William Watson, late of West Ella Grange, in the county of York, Farmer, deceased (who died on the llth of March, 1858, and whose will was proved in the District Registry at York of Her Majesty's Court of Probate, on the 26th of May, 1858, by Charles Jackson, of I\J apple ton, in the county of York, Farmer, since deceased, and Edward Ward Ingleby, of the town of Kingston-upon-Hull, Sharebroker, the executors named in the said will), are hereby required to send in the particulars of their claims to the undersigned, Solicitors of Edward Ward Ingleby, the surviving executor, on or before the 29th of September next, after which day he will proceed to distribute the assets of the deceased according to the provisions of the said will, having regard to the claims-only of which he shall then have had notice; and that he will not be liable for the assets, so distributed to any person of whose claim he shall not then have had notice.
—Dated this 28th day of July, 1874.
LIGHTFOOT, EARNSHAW, and PRANKISH,
Hull, Solicitors to the said surviving Executor.

Another reason why I think Joseph b1740ish farmed at West Ella Grange is that the census info records that Joseph b1884 was born in West Ella. All these clues and still no certainty...

Pankpop

Here's a good map that shows just how close all these farms were to each other.
http://visionofbritain.org.uk/maps/results.jsp?xCenter=3333771.278021&yCenter=3039680.60521&scale=63360&mapLayer=nineteenth&subLayer=first_edition&title=Ordnance%20Survey%20and%20Ordnance%20Survey%20of%20Scotland%20First%20Series