Biographies For Muscatine County Iowa 1889

Source: Portrait and Biographical Album, Muscatine County, Iowa, 1889, page 491
REV. DENNIS ALONZO WATTERS, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Wilton, Iowa, was born in Belmont County, Ohio, on the 2nd of May, 1849, and is a son of Henry A. and Catherine ( Kemp ) Watters. When he was about four years of age, in 1853, his parents removed to Iowa, settling on a farm near the village of West Liberty, where, with the exception of three years, 1857 to 1860, which he spent in Ohio with his paternal grandmother, after the death of his mother, the days of his childhood and youth were passed. His primary education was received in the district schools, which he attended during the winter, while his summer months were spent in aiding with the labors of the farm. In 1867, desiring to fit himself for the profession of teaching, he entered the Iowa State University at Iowa City, from which institution, in 1871, he received the degree of Bachelor of Didactics. He afterward studied theology in the Garrett Biblical Institute at Evanston, Ill., and was licensed to preach at Bellaire, Ohio, by the Barnesville District Conference of the Pittsburgh Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, on the 11th day of February, 1873. The following year, becoming a resident of Iowa, he joined the Iowa Conference at Bloomfield in September, since which time he has served as pastor of several charges, all in the Muscatine District. His first call was from the church at Lettsville, where he remained three years, from 1874 until 1877, after which he was pastor at Oxford for two years, from 1877 until 1879, then had charge of the church at Koszta for one year. His next Pastorate was at Victor, where he remained for three years, from 1880 until 1883, when he was appointed pastor of the church at Wilton, in which he is now serving his third year.

On the 23rd of August, 1876, Rev. Watters was united in marriage with Miss Lucy E. McKeever, of Barnesville, Ohio, and of their union two children have been born: Raymond E. and Millie, aged nine and seven years respectively. Mr. Watters has the honor of being a relative of Rev. William Watters, the first American itinerant preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church. His present charge, Wilton, is one of the most thoroughly organized churches in the Iowa Conference, and has a membership of 200. Every department is under the most careful and systematic management, while the church is noted for its benevolent spirit, giving liberally for the advancement of the cause, and is the banner missionary charge of the conference.

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