Michael Lasell Watson

Notes:

Son of James Sibley Watson Jr. and Hildegarde Lasell Watson; married Claire McLamore ca. 1942;

Michael married Claire McLamore ca. 1942. Claire was born 1927; died 1986. [Group Sheet]

1. Living
2. Living
3. Living
4. Living

Michael married Nicoleta Zervas Watson. Nicoleta was born 1927 Sep 12; died 2011 Feb 11. [Group Sheet]

1. Living

Notes:

Son of James Sibley Watson and Emily Sibley Watson

James married Hildegarde Lasell Watson 14 Oct 1916, Whitinsville, MA. Hildegarde (daughter of Chester Whitin Lasell and Jessie Maud Keeler) was born 1888; died 1976. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Mrs. James Sibley Watson Jr.

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]

Notes:

Youngest child of Hiram Sibley and Elizabeth Maria Tinker Sibley. Emily Sibley married Isaac S. Averell in 1876. They had two children, born 11 months apart, Elizabeth Louise Averell (1877-1886) and James G. Averell (1877-1904). Emily and Isaac separated ca. 1883, and were divorced in 1891. Later that year, Emily married James Sibley Watson, son of her father's partner Don Alonzo Watson. Together, Emily and "Jimmie" had one son, James Sibley Watson, Jr.
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Notes:

Father of Hildegarde Lasell Watson

Chester married Jessie Maud Keeler 4 Feb 1886. Jessie (daughter of Julius M. Keeler and Julia Burkett Lathrop) was born 2 Nov 1865, Salem Oregon; died 1950 Apr 26. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Mother of Hildegarde Lasell Watson

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]

Notes:

Entrepreneur and capitalist, nurseryman and founder of Western Union, Hiram Sibley was born in North Adams, Massachusetts. He moved to Western New York around 1829-1830, and by 1835 he and his lifelong friend and partner Don Alonzo Watson had opened a machine shop in Sibleyville (now Mendon). He was elected Monroe County Sheriff in 1843 and began to invest in local nurseries in 1844.

Before the Civil War he was active in Republican (anti-slavery) politics.

After the invention of the telegraph in 1844, Sibley’s interests turned to telegraphy and railroads. He organized and invested in patents and companies, consolidating his interests through the formation of Western Union in 1856.

During the Civil War, Western Union consolidated its hold on northern and western telegraph lines. Sibley traveled to Russia in late 1864 to negotiate with the Tsar for an undersea telegraph cable that would cross the Bering Strait from Alaska to Russia, uniting the Americas, Europe and Asia. The plan was stymied by the ultimate success after several failures of an Atlantic cable in 1866.

In his later years, he again invested in nurseries, purchasing the largest farm in the country and founding Hiram Sibley & Co., a seed company based in Rochester and Chicago. He was a prominent supporter of both the University of Rochester and Cornell University in Ithaca.

Hiram married Elizabeth Maria Tinker 24 Jan 1833, North Adams, MA. Elizabeth (daughter of Giles Tinker and Zilpha Knight Tinker) was born 11 Aug 1815; died 11 Jul 1903, Rochester, New York ; was buried , Mount Hope Cemetery, Rochester, New York . [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Wife of Hiram Sibley; Emily Sibley Watson’s mother. She was one of the founders and early benefactors of Genesee Hospital, and a quiet philanthropist who helped many individuals.
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Julius married Julia Burkett Lathrop. Julia was born 5 Mar 1838, Essex, CT; died 11 May 1918, Whitinsville, MA. [Group Sheet]