James Sibley Watson, Sr.

Notes:

Emily Sibley Watson’s second husband, son of Don Alonzo Watson and Carolyn Manning Watson. Don Alonzo Watson was Hiram Sibley’s partner; Watson & Sibley named their sons after each other.

"Jimmie" had loved Emily Sibley from the time he was a little boy.

A graduate of the University of Rochester in 1881, Watson was a banker and sat on the Eastman Kodak board of directors from the company's beginning through his death. With his wife, he was a major donor of money and artwork to the Memorial Art Gallery. He was a yachtsman and a big game hunter as well, belonging to the Boone and Crockett Club, of which Theodore Roosevelt was founder and president.

James married Emily Sibley 1891. Emily (daughter of Hiram Sibley and Elizabeth Maria Tinker) was born 10 May 1855; died 8 Feb 1945. [Group Sheet]

1. James Sibley Watson, Jr. was born 10 Aug 1894; died 31 Mar 1982, Rochester, NY.

Notes:

Lifelong friend and partner of Hiram Sibley, he was born in Palmer, Mass., trained as a machinist, and moved to western New York around 1832. On Sibley’s election as Monroe County Sheriff, Watson moved to Rochester, where he engaged in banking. At age 48, he married 29 year old Caroline Manning Watson. While they honeymooned in Europe, Hiram Sibley was buying up telegraph lines and railroad companies. When they returned Sibley convinced Watson to invest in Western Union, which, with his own shrewd investments was to make him at his death the wealthiest man in Rochester. Unlike Sibley, he had a retiring disposition, and never held public office or other positions of trust. With his wife, Caroline Manning Watson, he supported local organizations, including the Rochester City Hospital, the Rochester Female Charitable Society, the Industrial School of Rochester and the Rochester Orphan Asylum.

Died:
Don Alonzo Watson died of an "apoplectic stroke" at his home on North Clinton Avenue in Rochester, New York.

Don married Caroline Matilda Manning 1854. Caroline was born 1826; died 1900. [Group Sheet]