Robert Watchorn was an English-American coal miner, union leader, immigration commissioner, businessman, and philanthropist.
17 Facts About Robert Watchorn
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Robert Watchorn was born in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England on April 5,1859, to John and Alice Robert Watchorn.
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Robert Watchorn left school to earn money working in the coal mines, though he "continued his studies at night".
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Robert Watchorn was 22 years old when he immigrated to the United States and found a job in the coal mines of the Pittsburgh area.
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Robert Watchorn was elected President of the Pittsburgh District Miners' Union and named secretary of the National Miners' Union in 1888.
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Robert Watchorn was appointed commissioner in 1905, and instituted several reforms at Ellis Island, "including construction of a small island on which were built hospitals and new dormitories".
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When he worked under union leader Terrence V Powderly, Watchorn appeared to be an advocate of immigrant restrictions, particularly contract-labor laws.
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However, while he was operating as an immigration commissioner under President Theodore Roosevelt, Robert Watchorn took a laxer stance.
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Robert Watchorn criticized popular nativist behaviors held by a portion of the US citizenry while he was alive.
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Robert Watchorn criticized these commonplace slurs, which he dubbed as indicidant of public opinion at the time.
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Robert Watchorn first worked as an assistant to the president and treasurer of the United Oil Company of California, until he resigned in 1912.
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Robert Watchorn then founded and was president of the Watchorn Oil and Gas Company in Oklahoma in 1916.
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For example, Robert Watchorn gave his two-hundred-acre New York estate to the Atlantic Union Conference of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, with the understanding that it was to be used as a church-operated medical facility.
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Robert Watchorn made sizable donations to Protestant churches in California, Oklahoma, and his home country England.
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Robert Watchorn married Alma Jessica Simpson on June 30,1891, in Columbus, Ohio.
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Robert died in infancy, and Ewart died in 1921 from an illness contracted while serving in World War I Robert Watchorn later built the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Shrine in Redlands, California in memory of Ewart.
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Robert Watchorn died in Redlands, California, on April 13,1944, at the age of 85.