Don Alonzo Watson | |
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Born |
Palmer, Massachusetts | June 15, 1807
Died | January 1, 1892
Rochester, New York | (aged 84)
Occupation | Businessman |
Spouse |
Caroline M. Manning (
m. 1855) |
Signature | |
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Don Alonzo Watson (June 15, 1807 – January 1, 1892) was a Rochester, New York businessman and philanthropist who, with Hiram Sibley helped found Western Union.
Don Alonzo Watson was born in Palmer, Massachusetts on June 15, 1807. [1]
He was educated at public schools, and trained as a machinist in Boston. In 1832,he moved to Honeoye Falls, New York, where he met Hiram Sibley. They were partners in a profitable machinery business for eight years. [1]
He married Caroline M. Manning in 1855, and they had three children. [1]
In 1856, he was a major investor in Sibley's new Western Union company.
Watson purchased a building for Rochester Homeopathic Hospital which became Genesee Hospital in Rochester. [2] Watson also endowed a professorship to the University of Rochester in acknowledgment of the college's achievements in political science and history. [3]
He died at his home in Rochester on January 1, 1892, and was buried near Sibley in Mount Hope Cemetery. [4]