San Joaquin County
Biographies
S. D. WATERMAN
S. D. WATERMAN.--No other
educator has been so long or so intimately identified with the schools of
Stockton since the commencement of her history as has he with whose name this
sketch commences. Mr. Waterman is a native of Kennebec County, Maine, born
September 14, 1842. His early boyhood days were spent in his native county, and
then he commenced his education, which was finished at Bowdoin
College, where he was graduated in the class of 1861. He had meantime commenced
the profession of an educator, having taught two terms in the intervals between
terms of attendance at school. After his graduation he went to Massachusetts,
and taught at Mattapoisett one term. In 1862 he entered the service of the
Union in defense of the old flag, enlisting in Company I, Third Massachusetts.
He at once went to the front, joining Burnside in North Carolina, and
thereafter took part in the movements and battles in that department until
discharged. In 1864 he went to Louisville, Kentucky, where he taught in the
public schools two years in the grammar department of the Tenth Ward Grammar
School and two years as principal of the Seventeenth Street School. In 1868 he
went to Greencastle, Indiana, and there served as city superintendent of
schools for two years. From there he came to California, locating in Stockton,
where he was appointed assistant in the high school, in which capacity he
served one term. The Jefferson School was then opened, and he served as its
principal during its first term. He then returned to the high school as
vice-principal, which position he held until elected to
the principalship, in 1883. Mr. Waterman was the
Republican nominee for the office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction
in 1882, and shared in the general defeat of the party in that year, caused by
internal dissensions. As an educator Mr. Waterman stands in the front rank, and
it is generally conceded that his work in behalf of the public schools of
Stockton and more especially the High School, has done
more than anything else to give them their present high standing among the
schools of California.
Mr. Waterman was married in Indiana to Miss Lizzie Williamson, a native of that State.
He has passed the chairs of Charity Lodge, I. O. O. F.; is a member of the Rawlins Post, G. A. R.; of San Joaquin Lodge, F. & A. M., and of the A. O. U. W.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Pages 414-415. Lewis Pub. Co. Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2009 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
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