Augusta County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Biographies.....Watts, Newton Clark 1852 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00001.html#0000031 February 25, 2008, 11:01 pm Author: Leonard Wilson (1916) NEWTON CLARK WATTS PERHAPS no man in Virginia has had a more diversified career than Newton Clark Watts, of Staunton, who was born at Waynesboro, on September 7, 1852, son of Wellington Hardin and Mary Anne (Fauver) Watts. Barber, an English genealogist of authority, says that the name was derived from the Norse "Hvati," which means active, and which in the Anglo-Saxon tongue became Wat, and later was transformed into Watts. There is, however, certainly one other derivation, because Simon Wathes, who was traditionally descended from a French soldier of fortune who followed King Stephen to England, in 1135, was the founder of the Watts family, which for generations made its seat at Hawkesdale Hall, County Cumberland, England, and which possibly is still settled there, as it was in possession of that estate as late as 1840. This would indicate that there were two main branches of the Watts family, one Anglo-Saxon and the other Norman-French. The family name has been made immortal by the inventor of the steam engine. In our own country there have been a number of men prominent in various positions who have borne the name. The Virginia family dates back to the years between 1638 and 1652, when no less than twelve men of this name settled in eastern Virginia. At least sixteen members of the Watts families served as soldiers in Virginia commands during the Revolutionary War. By marriage they have been connected with some of the most distinguished families of Virginia. William Strother(3) married Margaret Watts. John Penhallow, of a distinguished Cornish family, which had settled in Virginia, had as a partner John Watts. At the death of his partner he married the widow, and thus became stepfather to Elizabeth Watts and John Watts, Jr. Of William Strother's marriage to Margaret Watts there was a daughter who married John Madison. Of this marriage there were a number of children as follows: Roland, who married a daughter of General Andrew Lewis. Bishop James Madison, first Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Virginia. Margaret, who married Gabriel Jones, and from whom Colonel Thomas Mann Randolph and some of the Lewises were descended. Anne, who married Francis Tyler, and was the mother of President John Tyler. Newton Clark Watts' father was a small farmer, who, in addition to operating his little farm, ran a Avater power saw mill. The lad grew up in a disturbed time. The Civil War came on when he was but nine years old. He recalls quite well the John Brown raid and the intense excitement which agitated the country on that occasion. He remembers also numerous incidents which occurred during the Civil War, and as he lived in a part of the Valley, which was a regular battle ground, he heard the sound of many battles, and at times whole families would rush away to the woods or mountains for safety. Mr. Watts tells of these incidents himself in a most interesting way. At the close of the war he was a boy of thirteen. His father and uncle engaged in the lumber business at his father's little water power saw mill, and he put in much of his time at very hard work, hauling lumber and logs. At the time of his marriage, in 1875, a young man of twenty-three, he was half owner of a horse, which was all he possessed on earth, the horse of which he had been full owner having died. Soon, however, he bought his father's interest in the horse, went into partnership with him in the lumber business, and, in the summer, farmed some of his grandfather's land. From this point on, Mr. Watts' story is well worth recording as nearly as possible as he tells it. He moved to his father-in-law's farm near New Hope, farming in the summer and lumbering in the winter. He then bought what was known as the "Johnny Miller Farm," near New Hope. This farm was very old and dilapidated, and the house about a hundred years old. This Johnny Miller must have been a peculiar character, for it is said that every twelfth year he made a trip to Scottsville, in Albemarle County, east of the Blue Ridge, and he made provision for the expenses of the trip by raising an extra barrel of flour each year. There was some fine timber on the land, and Mr. Watts began to saw and market this timber, put the farm in shape, built a new house and barn, and in a few years was able to grow as much as a thousand bushels of wheat, and a hundred tons of hay, with other products in proportion. Then began his official career. He was first elected Overseer of the Poor of the Middle River District of Augusta County for two years, then Constable for six years, then later County Overseer of the Poor for six years. During eight of these years he was Deputy Treasurer, and during four of them Deputy Sheriff, so that part of the time he was holding four offices. One can readily understand that he was a busy man in those days. In 1891 he was elected Sheriff, taking charge of the office on July 2, 1891, and being successively re-elected, he held office twelve and a half years. At the end of his last term he gave a banquet to two hundred of the prominent citizens of Staunton and other citizens of Virginia at the Palmer House. That night the keys of the jail Mere turned over at twelve o'clock, and he received a certificate from the City, County and Circuit Clerks that every process and execution had been made according to law; and he has never been summoned, even as a witness, since that date. During his term as Sheriff, he says he had to do almost every conceivable thing. Among other things it became one of his official duties to hang a notorious criminal. He had committed to his care a child whose father had taken it from its mother in San Francisco and brought it East, a lawsuit ensuing. He had many hazardous arrests to make, among them that of the dangerous criminal, Jim Hurley. Farmer, lumberman, public official, all of these had been merely preliminary to his real life work. While serving as Sheriff in 1895, he had started a telephone exchange in the city of Staunton under very great difficulties, in spite of which, however, he persisted and kept it alive. The Bell Telephone Company admitted, through Mr. Pickernell, Vice-President of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, that Mr. Watts was the first man to make a successful start with farmers' lines and an independent company (that is, one able to live). This record concerning his work he found with the Bell Telephone Company, in Denver, Colorado, when he was an assistant sergeant-at-arms in the National Convention which met in that city. After starting the Staunton exchange, he established another one at Lexington and Buena Vista, Virginia, with one of his old deputies, Mr. T. S. Burwell, as a partner. He retained the controlling interest in this exchange until 1912, when it was sold for $25,000.00. His next venture was the establishment of an exchange at Clifton Forge and Covington, Virginia, with Mr. J. A. Sproul, another one of his old deputies, as a partner. This business is still being conducted successfully with Mr. Sproul as manager, and with Mr. Watts owning the controlling interest in the Clifton Forge Company. Next he started the exchange at Waynesboro, Virginia, with Mr. Joseph Carr, another one of his old deputies, as a partner. This exchange is still in successful operation, and has been recently entirely rebuilt, Mr. Watts now owning all the stock. His next venture was at Newport News, where he founded the Citizens' Telephone and Telegraph Company, with Mr. Isaac Witz and William Patrick as partners, but with Mr. Watts retaining the controlling interest, which he afterwards sold to J. M. Curtis, of New York. By that time it became evident that Mr. Watts had found the business for which he was best fitted, and so in connection with James E. Kemper, he established the Long Distance Telephone Company of Virginia. After a time this Company was sold to the Bell Telephone Company, and Mr. Watts was appointed its President. On the night of President McKinley's death, Mr. Watts was in Boston arranging for the sale of this company to the Bell Telephone Co. For a number of years he has served as President of the Standard Mutual Telephone Company, the Waynesboro Mutual Telephone Company, the Clifton Forge Telephone Company, and the Citizens' Telephone and Telegraph Company at Newport News, all of Virginia. Three years ago Mr. Watts was elected President of the Virginia and Tennessee Telephone Company of Roanoke, which runs its lines all over the western part of Virginia and into Bristol, Tennessee, and the coal fields; thence on to Middlesboro, Kentucky. At Bristol this company connects with the Cumberland Company, with exchanges at Pulaski, Radford, Blacksburg. Christiansburg, Max Meadows, Ellison, Salem, Roanoke, Coeburn. Wise, Norton, Appalachia, Big Stone Gap, Pennington Gap, and Jonesville. Though his lifetime residence has been in one county, Mr. AVatts has been an extensive traveler. During his tenure of office as Sheriff he visited Canada, Cuba and almost every part of the United States. He attended the St. Louis Convention which nominated Alton Parker, serving in that Convention as assistant sergeant-at-arms; and serving in the same capacity in the Democratic Convention at Denver which nominated Bryan. During this trip he visited Pike's Peak and the gold mines at Cripple Creek, stopping later at Lincoln, Nebraska, with the Virginia and Ohio delegation to visit Mr. Bryan. In 1912 he traveled three months through Europe, during which time he was privileged to inspect the great telephone systems of England and the Continent, and was able to make very favorable comparisons to our systems in America. He has been a fortunate man in some respects, for though in several railroad accidents and wrecks, and in a severe storm on the trip to Cuba, he has always escaped without personal injury. In 1910 overwork caused nervous prostration, and many prominent physicians prophesied that he could not recover his health under two years. On November 26, 1910, he narrowly escaped death in his home at Staunton, owing to an explosion of alcohol, and but for his presence of mind he would have been burned fatally. As it was, he was much injured, and for many weeks lay in the hospital. An index to his character and his great popularity is found in the fact that in speaking of this time, he recalls most gratefully the faithful services of the colored man, John Smith, who waited on him, and of Fred, the colored orderly of the hospital. Despite his backsets he proved the physicians in error, for within less than a year from the time of his breakdown he was back at his desk giving his business the proper attention. Mr. Watts is a member of a number of social clubs, the Beverley Club of Staunton, the Elks Club, the Owls and the Jovian Order. He was married on May 19, 1875, near New Hope, to Betty Barnhart, born near New Hope, on April 1, 1854, daughter of Gideon and Martha (Weade) Barnhart. Of this marriage there are three daughters, all of whom were educated at Mary Baldwin Seminary, at Staunton, and the Hollins Institute, Roanoke, Virginia. Of these daughters, Alma Leila married C. B. Coiner, Jr., and has eight children. Leita married W. W. Gibbs, and has one child. Mary Davis married H. A. Meyer, and has one child. The story here told without embellishment explains Mr. Watts' success in life. A man of great exactness in business, he has personal qualities which enable him to attract and hold men's friendship; so whenever he needs a capable man for a special work he is able to put his hands upon that man and get results. He has proven in his own career that good men may be successful in business without sacrificing those higher qualities which spell "good will to one's fellows." Additional Comments: Extracted from: MAKERS OF AMERICA BIOGRAPHIES OF LEADING MEN OF THOUGHT AND ACTION THE MEN WHO CONSTITUTE THE BONE AND SINEW OF AMERICAN PROSPERITY AND LIFE VOLUME II By LEONARD WILSON, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ASSISTED BY PROMINENT HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL WRITERS Illustrated with many full page engravings B. F. JOHNSON, INC. CITY OF WASHINGTON, U. S. A. 1916 Copyright, 1916 by B. F. Johnson, Inc. 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