Watts, John

WATTS

Posted By: Joyce Hickman (email)
Date: 11/10/2008 at 16:19:44

John Watts

(From the 1883 History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, by J. H. Keatley, p.249, Valley Twp.)
John Watts, farmer, P. O. Hancock, was born in Indiana in 1843, son of John and Ruth (Cox) Watts; he was born in Virginia, and came to Polk County, Ioaw, in the fall of 1849, being one of the early settlers in that county; there he died in 1855. Subject's mother was born in Kentucky; was the mother of ten children, and died in 1878. In 1849, Mr. Watts came with his parents to Polk County, iowa, where subject received an ordinary education, and engaged in farming till 1872, when he came to Pottawattamie County and settled on his present farm of 146 acres. When Mr. Watts first settled on his farm, it was unimproved; it is now in a good state of cultivation, and has good buildings erected upon it. He has an orchard of 160 trees, just beginning to bear, and other improvements. Mr. Watts has one brother, a dentist, in Des Moines, Iowa, and one sisters, Mrs. Carter, who resides in California. In 1861, Mr. Watts enlisted in Company B, Tenth Iowa Infantry. After serving about a year, he received an honorable discharge, having been incapacitated for duty by being shot through the wrist while on picket duty at New Madrid, Mo. Mr. Watts was married, in 1866, in Polk County, Iowa, to Miss Sarah J. Eairleywine, a native of Ohio, daughter of Abram and Elizabeth Eairleywine, natives of Ohio. The result of this union is one daughter, Orie, A., born September 1, 1868, and one son, Charlie M., born August 22, 1870. Mr. Watts is a member of the I. O. O. F., and is a Democrat.