My Genealogy Hound

AUSTIN A. WATROUS, one of the most enterprising and successful men of the county, proprietor and operator of two large creameries in Freetown, is a native of Freetown, where he was born August 14, 1846; he is a son of Benjamin B. and Elizabeth S. (Lanpher) Watrous, a grandson of Austin Watrous, and a great-grandson of Austin Watrous, Sr.

Austin Watrous, his grandfather, was a native of Saybrook, Conn., coming from there at an early day to Granville, Washington County, this state, and later to Freetown, where he located in 1810 and lived the remainder of his life. Freetown, at the time of his locating there, was a dense woodland, inhabited by wolves, panthers, and the treacherous Indians, as well as moose, elk and an occasional black bear. Thinking but little of these dangers which were to be met and overcome, Mr. Watrous settled there with his family and set about clearing the ground for a farm. It is largely due to the bravery of such men as he that the state owes her prosperity to-day.

Benjamin B. Watrous, the father, was born in 1803, and lived in Freetown until his death, which occurred in 1891, in his eighty-eighth year. His occupation was that of an agriculturist. He married Elizabeth S. Lanpher, and they were the parents of the following children: Jane, deceased; Rosalia, deceased; Jeannette, wife of Clinton T. Rindge; Emerette, the widow of Daniel Eastman of Homer; Mary, deceased, wife of H. Morton; two daughters that died in nfancy ; Delila died at the age of twenty-two; Benjamin, who entered the Civil War in the autumn of 1861, in the 76th Reg. N. Y. Vol. Inf., and served three years as a non-commissioned officer — he was a physician at the time of his death, which occurred in California; Jerusha, wife of Andrew Bean; Austin A.; and Edgar, who is a dentist in the State of California.

Austin A. Watrous was educated in the common schools, finishing with a course in the academy at McGrawville and a business course in the Commercial School at the same place. He received his early training on his father’s farm, and it was as a farmer that he began his career on an estate located northeast of Freetown Corners, For seven years he conducted this farm, and then went to Bridgeport, Conn., to accept the position of foreman in the J. D. and L. C. Warner Corset Factory, which he successfully managed for six years. He then returned home to take care of his parents and lighten their declining years, and remained with them until their deaths, when he purchased the pleasant old Tuttle homestead. He remained there, farming for four years, when he went to Cortland and for two years had charge of E. C. Rindge’s dairy farm. The succeeding year he was employed by L. J. Fitzgerald as the manager of his stock farm. He then returned to the service of his former employer and took the management of a creamery for Mr. Rindge with such success that he determined upon embarking in the creamery business for himself, and accordingly traded a farm for the Martin Creamery, which is situated one and one-half miles east of Freetown. At the same time he purchased the Freetown Creamery, and has been operating both concerns ever since. His creameries have a capacity of about twelve thousand pounds of milk per day. His whole attention is concentrated in the creameries, having disposed of all his farming interests.

He is a Republican in politics, and is a strong temperance man. He has been assessor for two or three terms, and has also served as constable and deputy sheriff. He frequently represents his party in conventions, and was elected justice of the peace of the town of Freetown in 1894, being honored with a re-election in 1898. He entered the Civil War September 4, 1864, in Co. G, 185th Reg. N. Y. Vol. Inf., and served during the rest of the war, going in as private, and serving the entire time as a musician. He is a member of Hiram Clark Post, G. A. R., and while in Bridgeport was a member of Elias Howe Post. He is a member of the Baptist Church at Freetown, of which he was a clerk for a number of years.

This biography would be incomplete without more than a passing notice of the lady who has been the life partner of Mr. Watrous for more than a quarter of a century, and to whose influence, encouragement and counsel he owes much. Miss Emma D. Tuttle was united in marriage with Austin A. Watrous January 12, 1869, and is the mother of four children: Howard C., born January 19, 1870, married Genie Smith, and is a farmer and creamery man of Freetown; George R., born July 23, 1875, resides at home; Florence May, born May 10, 1888, lives at home; and Austin A., Jr., born July 20, 1890. Mrs. Watrous is a bright, intelligent woman, who takes an interest in passing events, and is well informed on all general topics. She received an academical education in her girlhood days, and this knowledge has been constantly added to by observation and experience, as well as by study. She is a firm believer in the equality of the sexes, and is also an earnest temperance worker. She takes a prominent part in the meetings of the W. C. T. U., having served as president of the Committee on Law, and also is superintendent of the Young Ladies’ Work, a position for which she is eminently qualified. She has frequently represented the organization as a delegate to the state conventions, besides doing a great amount of other local work. Mrs. Watrous is a lady of some means, being the owner in her own name of fifty acres of fine farm land, over which she exercises a general supervision. She is a lady who has the highest respect and esteem of the entire community, but whose greatest pleasure and pride is in her own home.

On preceding pages the publishers of this volume have placed excellent portraits* of both Mr. and Mrs. Watrous, which were executed from photographs taken in the spring of 1898. Our subject and wife have hosts of friends, and their likenesses, presented in connection with a narrative of their lives, add a decided value to this work.

*Portraits were included in the original printed volume.