Bert G. Wattson Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1515-1516 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	BERT G. WATTSON, senior member of the firm of Wattson & Hulseman, 
hardware merchants of Chamberlain, was born in Northwood, Worth county, 
Iowa, September 23, 1867, and is a son of George F. and Felixine M. 
(Wardall) Wattson, of whose six children he is the eldest of the five 
now living, the others being as follows: Carrie, the wife of L G. Gunn, 
of Lawton, Oklahoma; Charles, a resident of El Reno, that territory; as 
are also Robert and Kenneth. The father of the subject was born in 
Michigan, and there his mother died when he was a child, his father soon 
afterward removing to Iowa. There he was reared and educated, and at the 
age of seventeen years he enlisted as a private in Company K, Fifth Iowa 
itolunteer Infantry, with which he served during the major portion of 
the Civil war, the history of that regiment being that of his career as 
a valiant son of the republic. After the close of the war he engaged in 
the drug business in Northwood, Iowa, where he continued to reside until 
1888, when he disposed of his interests there and removed to Texas, 
where he engaged in railroad contracting and in the real-estate 
business. In 1891 he removed to El Reno, Oklahoma, where he established 
himself in the real-estate business, and soon after the inauguration of 
the late lamented President McKinley he was appointed postmaster in that 
place, a position which he has ever since filled, having been re-
appointed under President Roosevelt. He was elected a member of the Iowa 
state legislature in the early 'eighties, serving one term. He is a 
Royal Arch Mason. His devoted wife entered into eternal rest in 1894, 
and he later married Mrs. Adah Birney, no children having been born of 
this union. 

	Bert G. Wattson secured his early education in the public schools 
of his native state and then entered the Iowa State Agricultural 
College, at Ames, where he continued his studies, after which he was 
engaged in teaching for one term. He then secured a clerkship in the 
office of the United States Express Company at Northwood, and in 
September, 1886, he came to Chamberlain, South Dakota, where for the 
ensuing three years he was employed as clerk in the dry-goods 
establishment of M. W. Egleston. In the autumn of 1889 he went to 
Vernon, Texas, where he was assistant postmaster for one year. In 1890 
he returned to Chamberlain and in the spring of the following year he 
was here united in marriage to Miss Mildred M. Hart, daughter of Charles 
B. Hart, local station agent of the Chicago, Minneapolis & St. Paul 
Railroad. Soon after his marriage he removed with his bride to the state 
of Washington, where they remained about four months, and he then 
returned to Chamberlain, with the intention of entering into partnership 
with a friend and engaging in the dry-goods business here. But shortly 
after his arrival the store of his former employer, Mr. Egleston, was 
sold to J. W. Orcott, and our subject was engaged as manager of the 
enterprise, and somewhat less than a year later Mr. Egleston again 
engaged in business, in a new location, and Mr. Wattson again entered 
his employ, remaining with him about four years, or until 1892, when he 
was elected city auditor, of which office he continued incumbent about 
four years. In the fall of 1896 Mr. Wattson purchased an interest in the 
grocery business of Charles H. Young, and the enterprise was continued 
under the firm name of Wattson & Young until the fall of 1897, when the 
business was sold, and thereupon our subject purchased the interest of 
J. M. Green in the hardware business of F M. Green & Company, the firm 
name being simultaneously changed to Cook & Wattson. On the 1st of 
January, 1903, J. F. Hulseman purchased Mr. Cook's interest, and the 
present firm name was adopted. 

	Mr. Wattson is a staunch Republican, and is identified with 
Chamberlain Lodge, No. 56, Free and Accepted Masons; Pilgrim Chapter, 
Royal Arch Masons; Chamberlain Lodge, No. 88, Ancient Order of United 
Workmen; Sioux Tent, No. 34, Knights of the Maccabees; and Sioux Falls 
Lodge No. 262, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. and Mrs. 
Wattson have had three children, of whom two are living, George H. and 
Donald H. Mrs. Mildred Wattson died in April, 1900, and on March 10, 
1904. Mr. Wattson married Miss Cora M. Miner, of Mitchell, South Dakota, 
daughter of George H. Miner.