George Washington Watts (1851 - 1921)

Born 18 Aug 1851 in Cumberland, Maryland, USA

Ancestors

Husband of Laura Verlinda (Beall) Watts — married 19 May 1875 in Allegany Co., Maryland

Descendants

Died 7 Mar 1921 at age 69 in Durham, North Carolina, USA

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Cynthia Denise Griffin [send private message]

Biography

"Born in Cumberland, Maryland George W. Watts was the son of Gerard Snowden Watts and Ann Elizabeth Wolvington. He received his early education in private schools in Baltimore and graduated from the University of Maryland in 1871 with a degree in civil engineering.[1] After graduation, Watts joined his father's tobacco commission business in Baltimore. Becoming associated with Washington Duke of Durham, North Carolina in 1878, he helped organize and incorporate W. Duke Sons and Company, a tobacco business in which he became a stockholder and secretary and treasurer. In 1890 Watts helped to organize the American Tobacco Co. and in 1892 the Erwin Cotton Mills Company. Watts became one of the largest textile mills in the US Interested in the total welfare of his employees, Watts built libraries, parks, and playgrounds for them. He also built and endowed Watts Hospital in Durham, North Carolina. Among his other business involvement, Watts was president of the Pearl Cotton Mill at Durham, North Carolina, the Home Savings Bank and Trust, vice-president of the Locke Cotton Mills of Concord, North Carolina, a director of the Seaboard Air Line, the Durham and Southern Railway Company, the Virginia-Carolina Chemical Company, the Southern Cotton Oil Company, and the Fidelity Bank and Durham Loan & Trust Company, which he co-founded with his son-in-law, John Sprunt Hill. Watts was elected the first president of the Commonwealth Club of Durham, which made possible the transportation facilities required to make that city a prosperous and commercial center. Watts married twice: in 1875 to Laura V. Beall, who bore him one child, Annie Louise Watts; and in 1917 to Sara Virginia Ecker."

The following is text from the book "The Dukes of Durham:" (cited in sources below)

George Washington Watts moved to Durham from his home in Baltimore, Maryland in 1878. Born in 1851 and thus a few years older than Benjamin N. and James B. Duke, Watts had attended the University of Virginia and then worked in his father's wholesale tobacco business. His father, seeking a likely place to help his son launch himself in business, provided the $14,000 with which young Watts purchased a one-fifth interest in W. Duke, Sons and Company. Quiet, sober, and hard-working, George Watts brought to the firm more than just capital, much as that was needed. He possessed considerable business ability, and for a number of years he and Benjamin N. Duke would handle most of the important correspondence and run the front office while James B. Duke interested himself in production and selling.

This profile is a collaborative work-in-progress. Can you contribute information or sources?

Sources

• +”The Dukes of Durham, 1865-1929,” written by Robert F. Durden, published by Duke University Press, Durham, North Carolina, USA, 1975. http://books.google.com/books?id=U4rpkYZsOggC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=taylor+duke+dicey+jones&source=bl&ots=yHQwlg1jXS&sig=dTGTLkZ3seXwcoYQwnliqHABGsg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=nkBYVNWwMYSbNp2qgfAN&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=taylor%20duke%20dicey%20jones&f=false

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_Watts