Don Alonzo Watson

Don Alonzo Watson (June 15, 1807 – January 1, 1892) was a Rochester, New York businessman and philanthropist who, with Hiram Sibley helped found Western Union.

Don Alonzo Watson
Born	(1807-06-15)June 15, 1807 Palmer, Massachusetts
Died	January 1, 1892(1892-01-01) (aged 84) Rochester, New York
Occupation	Businessman
Spouse	Caroline M. Manning ​ (m. 1855)​
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Biography

Don Alonzo Watson was born in Palmer, Massachusetts on June 15, 1807.^[1]

He was educated at public schools, and trained as a machinist in Boston. In 1832,he moved to Honeoye Falls, New York, where he met Hiram Sibley. They were partners in a profitable machinery business for eight years.^[1]

He married Caroline M. Manning in 1855, and they had three children.^[1]

In 1856, he was a major investor in Sibley's new Western Union company.

Watson purchased a building for Rochester Homeopathic Hospital which became Genesee Hospital in Rochester.^[2] Watson also endowed a professorship to the University of Rochester in acknowledgment of the college's achievements in political science and history.^[3]

He died at his home in Rochester on January 1, 1892, and was buried near Sibley in Mount Hope Cemetery.^[4]