Watson C. Squire

Watson C. Squire

Watson Carvosso Squire (born May 18, 1838 in Cape Vincent , New York , † June 7, 1926 in Seattle , Washington ) was an American politician .

Early life

Watson Squire was born as the only child of the Methodist priest Orra Squire and his wife Erretta Wheeler in Cape Vincent; he had British ancestors. Squire attended public schools in New York and graduated from Wesleyan University in Connecticut in 1859 . He taught law in Herkimer , New York , although he did not have a full degree himself , and was briefly director of the Moravia Institute in Moravia , New York in the late 1850s .

War years

When the Civil War broke out , Squire was obliged to serve as a soldier for at least two years. With the rank of lieutenant he was placed under the F Company in the 19th New York Infantry Regiment and sent to Virginia . Here he also served under General Nathaniel Prentiss Banks . After fighting in a few minor battles, Squire was honorably discharged and settled in northern Ohio in October 1861 . Here he made in June 1862 his law degree from the Cleveland Law School in Cleveland . But the war quickly caught up with him, so that in the late summer of 1862 he was incorporated into the 7th Independent Company of Ohio. Here Squire served as a sniper and was promoted to the rank of captain on November 11, 1862 . It was his unit that was initially under General William T. Sherman and later General George Henry Thomas . Squire himself served in the Judge Advocate General's Corps under General Lovell Harrison Rousseau in the Battle of Nashville , Tennessee. Last promoted to colonel , Squire was finally discharged from the army on July 28, 1865.

Post-war years

After the war, Squire became an employee of E. Remington & Sons , a weapons factory in Ilion , New York. In 1868 he married Ida Remington, the daughter of his superior Philo Remington, and thanks to this connection, he was promoted to treasurer and secretary. Under Squire's direction, the factory converted to the production of sewing and typewriters in the 1870s , and exported its goods to Europe and Russia , among other things . Squire also traveled a lot abroad and spent the time between 1877 and 1879 in St. Petersburg , Madrid , Paris , Turin and Stockholm, among others .

In 1879 Squire moved to Seattle, where he bought land from his father-in-law. Thanks to his financial prosperity, he built office and residential buildings and made farmland usable in the White River Valley .

Political career

Squire had already joined the Republicans in New York in 1872 and was a good friend of Presidents James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur . It was also Arthur who named Squire governor of the Washington Territory in 1884 . In the three years that Squire served until 1887, he was faced with many social problems. In Tacoma and Seattle, for example, there were riots and reprisals directed against Chinese laborers who came to the United States by the thousands. The uprisings, which reached their peak in February 1886, were ended by Squire by having Squire declare a state of war and on February 22, 1886 with the help of the military ended the uprisings.

Squire, who was replaced as governor by Eugene Semple in 1887 , was appointed president of the Ellensburg Republican Congress in January 1889 . He was also elected Washington's first senator that same year after Washington was declared a United States state. During his eight-year tenure - from November 20, 1889 to March 3, 1897 - the construction of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton was commissioned in Washington and the Coast Guard began its service.

Late life

After his election defeat in 1897, Squire continued to practice as a lawyer. He founded the Union Trust Co. , which was renamed the Squire Investment Co. after his death . Squire, whose wife Ida died in 1918, is known to have at least two children, son Shirley and daughter Aldine.

Watson Squire died in Seattle in 1926 at the age of 88.

Web links

• Watson C. Squire in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Watson C. Squire in the database of Find a Grave (English)