History
Wattis was born in Uinta, Utah Territory, the fourth of seven children born to Edmund Orson Wattis and Mary Jane Corey. With his brother E.O., he formed a firm to lay track for the expanding railroads. The fledgling Wattis Brothers firm was wiped out in the panic of 1893. While William continued to try to find construction projects, Edmund focused his energies on running a sheep ranch the brothers had established in the Weber Valley. This ranch and others would later provide the financial strength for the large construction projects to come.
Wattis married his sweetheart, Anna Maria Dorothea Sophie (Marie) Stander, on January 9, 1889. They had three daughters and one son. In 1897, they lost Florence Louise, age 5, and Edmund (Teddy), age 1, within six months of each other while living in Astoria, Oregon.
Read more about this topic: William Henry Wattis
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