Don Alonzo Watson (June 15, 1807 – January 1, 1892) was a

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

businessman and philanthropist who, with

Hiram Sibley Hiram W. Sibley (February 6, 1807 – July 12, 1888), was an American industrialist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who was a pioneer of the telegraph in the United States. Early life Sibley was born in North Adams, Massachusetts on February ...

helped found

Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company chang ...

Biography

Don Alonzo Watson was born in

Palmer, Massachusetts Palmer is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,448 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. Palmer adopted a home rule charter in 2004 with a counci ...

on June 15, 1807. He was educated at public schools, and trained as a machinist in Boston. In 1932, he moved to

Honeoye Falls, New York Honeoye Falls ( ) is a village within the town of Mendon in Monroe County, New York, United States. The population was 2,674 at the 2010 census. The village includes a small waterfall on Honeoye Creek, which flows through the village and gives ...

, where he met

. They were partners in a profitable machinery business for eight years. He married Caroline M. Manning in 1855, and they had three children. In 1856, he was a major investor in Sibley's new

company. Watson purchased a building for Rochester Homeopathic Hospital which became

Genesee Hospital Genesee Hospital was a hospital in Rochester, New York, United States, that was open from September 19, 1889, to May 21, 2001. Closure In April 2001, Via Health, the company that owned the hospital, announced that the hospital would close within ...

in Rochester. Watson also endowed a professorship to the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The University of Roc ...

in acknowledgment of the college's achievements in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

and history. He died at his home in Rochester on January 1, 1892, and was buried near Sibley in Mount Hope Cemetery.

References

External links

* Burials at Mount Hope Cemetery (Rochester) 1807 births 1892 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople Western Union people {{US-business-bio-1800s-stub