The family is of Scotch origin, and the name was originally McWattles. The progenitor, John McWattles, came over from the fatherland two hundred and thirty-five years ago, and disembarked at Norwich Landing, Conn. His children, becoming Americanized, dropped the prefix Mc; and the name has since been Wattles. It has been a prolific race, and is widely scattered, its representatives being found in all parts of the country. It is now a little over one hundred years since Nathaniel Wattles journeyed westward from the New England shores. His descendants are nine children, fifty-three grandchildren, and one hundred and five great-grandchildren. Mason Wattles, Jr., a brother of Nathaniel, who was born in Connecticut in 1754, emigrated to New York, and settled at Poughkeepsie on the Hudson River in 1781, and in 1806 moved to Owego, which was at that time in Broome County. He was appointed an Associate Judge under General John Patterson, of Lisle, served in that capacity from 1807 till 1815, and died in 1819, when sixty-six years old.
The first wife of Nathaniel Wattles was a Miss Pettis, and they lived at Northampton, Mass., where she died, leaving two sons, James and Jehiel. Nathaniel subsequently married Ruth Dewey, of Fort Ann, Washington County, N. Y., by whom he had two sons, Thomas and Chandler. He emigrated with his family to Schoharie County in 1783, he having been in that place the year previous and built a log house. Into this the family moved in the spring of 1784, having spent the winter of 1783 about thirty miles from it, with one Alexander Harper. The country at the time was very new and without roads; and the journey to Mr. Harper's was made with difficulty, a distance of eighty miles only, but through the woods, the only guide being blazed trees. Their new home was on the east bank of the Susquehanna River, where they lived remote from any other habitation, and endured the trials and made the sacrifices known only to the hardy pioneers of those days. Thus isolated, it was three years before Mrs. Wattles looked on the face of a white woman, when a Mrs. Beach with her husband came to the vicinity. Fortunately, Mr. Wattles had means, and within three years they had a comfortable home; and then the settlers began to arrive in those parts, to whom Mr. Wattles gave encouragement and substantial assistance. He was a kind, whole-souled, philanthropic gentleman, and helped many a poor family to make a start for a home. In 1797 he had been elected to the House of Representatives from Delaware County; and in the evening of the last day of that year, when going out of the capitol, he accidentally fell backward, striking on his head, by which fall he was rendered unconscious, and never revived sufficiently to take cognizance of passing events. He died in January, 1798, leaving a family at home of eight sons and one daughter, the eldest twenty-four years old, and the youngest eighteen months. Nathaniel Wattles was the first white man to live in the vicinity of the present town of Sidney, Delaware County, N. Y.; and his eldest son was the first white child born there.
This child was Mason Wattles, the third of the name, the date of whose birth is given above. The crossing of the river at that point was formerly known as Wattles Ferry, which in later years was superseded by a covered bridge. Mason Wattles, third, married Sally Burghardt, of Oxford, N. Y.; and their wedded life began at Killawog, where Mr. Wattles was a distiller, managing the business for other persons. Later he rafted lumber for others and on his own account to Port Deposit. The farm which he purchased in Broome County, where his son Harry J. now lives, contained four hundred and thirty acres, with a comfortable house and some clearing. There was much fine pine timber on the land, whose value he knew; and it was mainly for the timber that he secured the acreage. In fact, he purposed leaving it when he had run the timber through his mill, and converted it into lumber, having no idea of the worth of the land for other purposes. Mason Wattles was Sheriff of this county for three years, living during the time in Binghamton. He had three sons and one daughter, namely: Herbert, who died in March, 1887, at the age of seventy years, was a farmer, unmarried, and a successful business man; William C., who married Margaret Brown---he was Undersheriff, and died here in April, 1864, in middle life, leaving one daughter; Sarah W., the widow of Dr. J. H. Knapp, who was a practising physician of Hartford; and Harry J., the subject of this sketch. The mother of these children died in 1882, when eighty-four years old.
Harry J. Wattles received a liberal education at Binghamton, and when a young man was employed in a store at Marathon, obtaining a good knowledge of general merchandising. He was married May 9, 1857, to Augusta P. Dodge, of Oxford, a daughter of Peter and Mary (Lewis) Dodge, both of Chenango County. They have lived on this farm, their present home, for the past thirty-six years. They have buried two sons, one an infant, Louis, who died many years ago; and, quite recently, their other son, Mason D., a most worthy young man of thirty-five years, and highly respected in the community, who died of cancer December 17, 1893. They have one daughter, Louise, at home, a comely, intelligent, sensible young woman, who has been in school at Lisle.
Mr. Wattles is a genial, social gentleman, and has a happy faculty for making those who visit him feel at home. Fraternally, he is a Master Mason. Politically, he is of the Democratic persuasion. He has not sought office, but is now serving his second term as Supervisor, and possesses those qualifications which make him an excellent officer. He has a fine stock farm, keeping from twenty-five to thirty-seven cows, mostly grade Durham, and is now raising thoroughbred Guernsey cattle. He breeds some horses, and has matched a few good pairs, which have brought high figures. His mammoth stock barn is one hundred and forty-six by thirty feet, with a wing forty-eight by forty, and another annex twenty-four by thirty, giving more stabling room for stock of all kinds than any other in the town or county. He breeds the best Shropshire sheep, keeping from seventy-five to one hundred head, and the finest hogs---a cross of the Cheshire and Berkshire.
Source: pages 353-355.
All biographies are from Biographical Review - The Leading Citizens of Broome County, New York
Boston - Biographical Review Publishing Company - 1894
Biographies Index
Broome Co, NY Page
There were 269 visitors from 26 Apr 2007 to 30 Jul 2011.
Last updated: 30 Jul 2011
© Tim Stowell 2007-2011
Email: Tim Stowell