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- ANSON P. WATERMAN. Among the more prominent business
- men of Beloit, Rock County, men characterized by both business
ability and personal probity, Mr. AWATERMAN is conspicuous. His
career as a business man has been highly successful, and his
personal integrity is unswerving. Such is the affirmation not
only of his warm friends, but the sober judgment of every student
of the city of Beloit as portrayed in the lives of its leading
citizens. He is assistant treasurer of Beloit College.
- Mr. WATERMAN was born in South Ballston, N.Y., Jan. 15, 1819,
- son of David and Phoebe (HOLLISTER) WATERMAN. They were the
parents of nine children, of whom only one is now living, Anson
P. The father, who was a farmer, died in Saratoga County, N.Y.,
when seventy-six
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- years old. His wife survived a short time, and died in her
seventy-sixth year. Both were Presbyterians. He was a captain
of an artillery company in the war of 1812 and was stationed
at Ogdensburg. He was a man of considerable prominence at home,
held various local offices from time to time, and was clerk of
the town for many years. His father, Asa WATERMAN, was a native
of New York, coming from English ancestry and followed a rural
life. He died when a young man. He reared a family of six children.
His father, who also bore the name of Asa WATERMAN, was a soldier,
fought under Benedict Arnold at Stillwater, and helped to carry
Arnold off the field when wounded. He was appointed lieutenant-colonel
in June, 1778, his commission, signed by Gov. Clinton, being
still in the possession of the family. The maternal grandfather
of A. P. WATERMAN was a native of Connecticut, and a descendant
of Col. John HOLLISTER, of Glastonbury, Conn. He was a farmer,
reared a large family, and died in middle life.
- Anson P. WATERMAN grew to manhood in his native State. He
spent his first twelve years on
- his father's farm, and then entered a country store as a
clerk, where he was employed for five years, later clerking a
hardware store in Schenectady, N.Y., for four years. When he
became a young man he went into business for himself, as proprietor
of a hardware store in Phelps, Ontario Co., N.Y., and was there
engaged for about twelve years. In 1851 the young merchant came
West to Beloit and bought an interest in a hardware store. In
1854 he brought his family West, and Beloit has been his home
to the present time, though he has had business investments in
St. Louis for thirteen years or more, a hardware merchant in
the city, and altogether has had about fifty years' experience
in that line.
- Mr. WATERMAN and Miss Jane A. HUBBELL, daughter of Andrew
and Sally (SEARS)
- HUBBELL, were married Dec. 31, 1840. They have had four children,
Arabella F., Annie R., Jennie S. and Clara, of whom the last
named died at the age of six years. Arabella F. married Major
B. D. LEE, a prominent lawyer of St. Louis, who died in the spring
of 1897; they were the parents of two children, Edwin W. and
Wayne. Annie R. married Charles E. WHITMAN, president of the
WHITMAN Agricultural Implement Manufactory of St. Louis. Jennie
S. married Carroll S. GREGORY, a plumber in Beloit, and a graduate
of Beloit College; they are the parents of two children, Margery
and Gladys.
- Mr. and Mrs. A. P. WATERMAN celebrated the sixtieth anniversary
of their marriage Dec. 31,
- 1900, the children and grandchildren all being present. They
are members of the Presbyterian Church,
- in which he has been an elder for sixty years. He was a member
of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 1847, and
has filled the same position on several subsequent occasions.
For forty-five years he has been connected with Beloit College,
as trustee and member of the executive committee and for seventeen
years as treasurer and assistant treasurer. His election to numerous
other positions of prominence testifies to the utmost confidence
entertained in his trustworthiness, efficiently and energy. He
is now serving his fortieth year as trustee of that marvel among
corporations, the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., having
been connected with the company in that capacity since its organization,
in 1861; with one exception he is the oldest member of the board
of trustees in point of service, and has witnessed the growth
of the concern from an insignificant beginning to its present
position of importance, unexcelled, and scarcely equaled, in
the country. For years, Mr. WATERMAN served as a trustee of the
Wisconsin Insane Asylum, at Madison, until the reorganization
of the charitable institutions of the State.
- In political sentiment Mr. WATERMAN is a stanch Republican,
but takes little interest in the
- working of party machinery. He was mayor of Beloit from 1857
to 1859. The business career of Mr. WATERMAN has been remarkably
creditable. It is said that for several years he had the only
exclusive hardware store between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi
river. His life has been very active, and his influence strongly
pronounced on the side of religion, temperance and good government..
He was educated in the public schools, but he had read and studied
much all his life, and his ideas are based on sound information
and accurate knowledge. He has a pleasant home at the corner
of College avenue and Bushnell street.
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-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin"
(c) 1901, pp. 300-301; lithograph from same book.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
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