Wapello County IA Archives Biographies.....Waterman, Harrison Lyman 1852 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ia/iafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 June 28, 2013, 11:52 pm Source: See Below Author: S. J. Clarke, Publisher HARRISON LYMAN WATERMAN. Harrison Lyman Waterman, a resident of Iowa since the fall of 1865, has been an active factor in the business circles of Ottumwa and a recognized leader in the ranks of his party. He was horn in Croydon, New Hampshire, November 19, 1840, a son of Lyman and Lucy (Carroll) Waterman. He is a descendent of Robert Waterman, who emigrated from Norwich, England, about 1632, first settling in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and afterwards moving to Marshfield, where on December 9, 1638, he married Elizabeth Bourne, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Bourne. A son, Sergeant Thomas Waterman, born November 30, 1644, was one of the founders of Norwich, Connecticut. Here the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch was born January 22, 1745. He was a soldier in the War of the Revolution and moved to Orange, Vermont, about 1800, where he died December 23, 1830. Young Waterman was but six years of age at the time of his father’s death and went to live with a paternal uncle in Orange, Vermont, where he remained for eight years. When a youth of fourteen he returned to New Hampshire, settling in Claremont, and for three years was employed at farm labor with the privilege of attending school in winter. Attracted by the gold discovery in California, he borrowed money enough to take him to the Golden state, hoping to realize a fortune on the Pacific coast He was then a youth of seventeen, and he felt sure that success awaited him in the far west. He sailed from New York, making the trip by way of the Isthmus, and for three years he remained in California, doing farm work and studying through the first year, and through the succeeding two years dividing his time between study and teaching. He did not meet with pecuniary success, but the trip counted as a factor for good in experience and in the awakening of his ambition for education and the cultivation of intellect, bringing him a realization of the fact that he might make more out of life than could be done by muscle alone. In 1861 he returned to the east, crossing the plains on horseback, and prepared to enter Harvard University. He spent two years in the Lawrence Scientific School, the course, however, being interrupted by a year’s absence, and was graduated with highest honors in 1864, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Science. The interruption to his studies came through his enlistment for service in the Civil war in September, 1862, as a member of the Forty-seventh Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Following his graduation, in November, 1864, he was commissioned second lieutenant in the First New York Volunteer Engineers. In February, 1865, he won promotion to the rank of first lieutenant, and so continued until mustered out in August of that year. In the fall of 1865 Mr. Waterman arrived in Iowa, and for four years was engaged in construction work as civil engineer with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad across the state. In 1870 he settled in Ottumwa, Wapello county, where he has since lived save for a period of six years, from 1884 to 1890, when he was a resident of Kirkville, Iowa, as superintendent of the mines of the Wapello Coal Company. He has been vice president of the company and in charge of the coal interests of the Burlington road since 1884, his long connection therewith being indicative of his ability and fidelity. He is likewise vice president of the First National Bank, and his enterprise, ambition and industry, places him in the foremost ranks of the business men of the city. On the 9th of October, 1879, Mr. Waterman was married to Miss Alice Hill, daughter of Newton C. and Mary (Blake) Hill, both pioneer residents of Wapello county. He has one son by a former marriage, Philip Hammond Waterman, who is general superintendent of the Wapello Coal Company and lives in Albia, Monroe county, Iowa. He has three grandchildren, Harrison Bell, David Clay and Alice Louise Waterman. Mr. Waterman has been called to several public positions, having been mayor of Ottumwa from 1880 to 1884. Pie was also state senator from Wapello county from 1893 to 1897, and he has been chairman of the board of waterworks trustees since the purchase of the waterworks by the city in December, 1910. He is a member of the Masonic lodge, Grand Army of the Republic, Loyal Legion, Sons of the American Revolution, Commercial Association, Wapello Club and the Ottumwa Country Club. Additional Comments: Extracted from: HISTORY OF WAPELLO COUNTY IOWA ILLUSTRATED VOLUME II CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1914 Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ia/wapello/photos/bios/waterman639gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ia/wapello/bios/waterman639gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/iafiles/ File size: 5.2 Kb