Don Alonzo Watson

1807 - 1892  (85 years)

• Name	Don Alonzo Watson
  Born	1807
  Gender	Male
  Died	1892
  	Don Alonzo Watson died of an "apoplectic stroke" at his home on North Clinton Avenue in Rochester, New York.
  Person ID	IDAWA	Sibley Watson Family
  Last Modified	18 Sep 2017

  
  

  Father	James Watson,   b. 3 Apr 1771,   d. 7 Aug 1820, Palmer, MA  (Age 49 years)
  Mother	Sarah Watson
  Family ID	F101	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Caroline Matilda Manning,   b. 1826,   d. 1900  (Age 74 years)
  Married	1854
  Children	+ 1. James Sibley Watson, Sr.,   b. 1860,   d. 1951  (Age 91 years)   2. Marcia Isabelle Watson,   b. 8 May 1858,   d. 19 Apr 1903  (Age 44 years)   3. Elizabeth Chapman Watson,   b. 1864,   d. 1938  (Age 74 years)
  Last Modified	18 Sep 2017
  Family ID	F12	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos

  Don Alonzo 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.