- William A. WATERMAN is the oldest merchant of Newell. While
promoting individual success
- he has also advanced the general prosperity, being a public-spirited
citizen who in various ways has displayed marked devotion to
the general good. Mr. WATERMAN was born in Rock county, Wisconsin,
January 15, 1847, and is a son of Hezekiah R. and Caroline P.
(ROUNDS) WATERMAN, the former a native of Connecticut and the
latter of Bridgeton, Maine. his father, Joseph WATERMAN, was
a native of Providence, Rhode Island, where he engaged in the
manufacture of cotton goods. He died at an advanced age, while
his wife had passed the ninetieth milestone on life's journey
when called to her final rest. They had five children: Andrew,
Hezekiah, Joseph, George and Abigail. The mother of William A.
WATERMAN was a daughter of George and Rebecca (PRENTISS) ROUNDS.
The father of Rebecca (PRENTISS) ROUNDS was Samuel PRENTISS,
a native of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a graduate of Harvard
College of the class of 1771. He married and settled in Cambridge,
out not long after moved to Gorham and was that town's first
postmaster. George ROUNDS was a native of Maine and of Scotch
descent. He followed the occupation of farming as a life work
and died in middle life, but his wife was more than ninety years
of age at the time she passed away. They had several children,
including Caroline P. ROUNDS, who became the mother of our subject.
Our subject's maternal grandmother was a half-sister of George
L., George D. and Sergeant PRENTISS. The last named was a celebrated
lawyer, who had the distinction of being the greatest attorney
living south of the Mason & Dixon line in his time. George
D. PRENTISS founded the Louisville Courier Journal and is the
author of the Closing Year, and George L. was a famous
preacher of New York and a friend of Henry Ward Beecher. The
grandmother was also related to the William DEERING family.
- Hezekiah WATERMAN also followed general farming and in the
year 1833 left New England
- for the middle west. He settled in Wisconsin and in 1837
took up his abode at Milton, Rock county, that state, where he
purchased and improved a farm, becoming owner of two hundred
acres. He held various town offices and was a worthy and influential
citizen of his community. His first wife was a Miss JOHNSON and
they had one son, Henry, who now resides in Janesville, Wisconsin.
Following her death he wedded Caroline P. ROUNDS, and William
A. WATERMAN was the only child of that union. The death of the
father occurred in Milton, August 11, 1884, at the age of seventy-three
years. Upon the home farm in Rock county, Wisconsin, William
A. Waterman was reared, attending the district schools in the
fall and winter months, while later he became a student in Milton
College. He was also trained to habits of industry, economy and
thrift upon the home farm and remained with his parents until
he had attained his majority. He was a young man of twenty-four
years when in 1871 he came to Newell, Iowa, erected a store building
and engaged in general merchandising, in which he continued for
a few years. He then began dealing in grain, live-stock and machinery,
carrying on business in those lines for a few years but for the
past quarter of a century he has been connected with the hardware
trade and now has a well appointed store. There is today no merchant
in Newell who antedates his arrival here and with the commercial
development of the town he has been closely associated and at
all times has held to a high standard of commercial ethics. On
the 17th of January, 1872, Mr. WATERMAN was married to Miss Eliza
W. BURROWS, a daughter of Stephen and Martha (ROOT) BURROWS.
Her paternal grandfather was a native of New York and in that
state Stephen BURROWS was also born, while his wife was a native
of Virginia. She was a daughter of Ammon ROOT, who was born in
the Old Dominion, followed the occupation of farming and served
his country as a soldier in the war of 1812. He died on Monday
night, December 25, 1893, at the close of his hundredth Christmas
day. Mr. and Mrs. Stephen BURROWS became early residents of Rock
county, Wisconsin. It was he who invented the first boring machine
for boring rifles, which was placed in use by Remington Brothers.
He originated the idea which made possible the patenting of the
cotton gin by Whitney, the harvester by Marsh brothers, the clover
huller, and many other epoch-making machines. Mr. BURROWS' inventive
genius was displayed in many other ways which have contributed
materially to the industrial and commercial development of the
country. He died at Whitewater, Wisconsin, July 18, 1880. His
family numbered eight children: De Ette, Ellen, Alvin D., Eliza
W., Clara, Edward, Alice M. and Francis.
- Unto Mr. and Mrs. WATERMAN were born five children: Alice
C., the wife of F. E. HOYNE,
- a resident of Rolfe, Iowa; Inez D., the wife of L. E. BLADINE,
a resident of Marathon, Iowa, by whom she has one son, John Burrow
BLADINE; Jay Herbert, who is a partner with his father in the
hardware business, is married and has one daughter, Marion; Glen
B., who is a practicing dentist at Peterson, Iowa; and Charles
R., who is a student in the Iowa State College, at Ames, Iowa.
- Mr. and Mrs. WATERMAN are members of the Congregational church.
He belongs to Newell
- Lodge, No. 232, I.O.O.F., and also to the Modern woodman
camp. His political allegiance is given to the democracy and
his standing in the community is indicated by the fact that he
has continuously served as a member of the city council since
its organization. He has also for many years been a member of
the school board serving a part of the time as its president
and has been both school clerk and city clerk. He regards a public
office as a public trust and his loyalty in official positions
stands as an unquestioned fact in his career. He has labored
effectively and earnestly for the welfare of the community, realizing
fully the obligations and responsibilities of citizenship, and
at the same time he has conducted a successful business enterprise
which makes him a representative and valued resident of Newell.
- Taken from "Past and Present of Buena Vista County,
Iowa" by C. H. Wegerslev and Thomas Walpole; (c)1909 S.
J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, p. 293.
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