Representative George F. Wattson View All Years

George F. Wattson

Worth County

Born in Adrian, Michigan, August 19, 1843, and is a son of Charles R. and Jane (Mathews) Wattson. The father was born in Philadelphia, Pa., and when a young man moved to Adrian, Michigan, where he was a commission merchant. In 1852 he removed with his family to Delaware county, Iowa, and later to a farm seven miles east of Decorah, Iowa, in Winneshiek county, where his sons were living. Mr. George Wattson served the war and was mustered out of his regiment in Nashville receiving an honorable discharge at Clinton, Iowa. After the war he engaged in the mercantile business at Northwood, Worth county, Iowa, for two years, then started in the drug business there. He continued in that vocation for nine years, and in the meantime, in 1873, was elected sheriff of Worth county. He held that office for six years, then was mayor for one year, and served in the council for three or four years. In 1881 he was appointed postmaster of Northwood, Iowa, and after holding that office a year resigned, and in 1883 was elected representative of the eighty-sixth district, comprising three counties. He served in the twentieth general assembly, which re-elected Allison to the United States senate, was chairman of different improvement committees, and was very active in the work of that session, but refused a renomination for that office. He continued in the drug business at Northwood until 1888, when he was burned out, and in the fall of 1889 removed to Vernon, Tex., because of poor health. Mr. Wattson was married in Northwood, Iowa, to Felixem Wardall, who was born in Springfield, Ill., and died in El Reno in 1895. They had four sons and one daughter. He formed a second matrimonial alliance at El Reno with Mrs. Ada Birney, a native of New Hampshire. Initiated into the Masonic order at Northwood, Iowa, Mr. Wattson now is a Royal Arch Mason of El Reno. He now belongs to El Reno Post No. 7, G. A. R., and is past commander of the Iowa post to which he formerly belonged. He is a member and trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he is a Republican and is president of the El Reno Club.

House District 86