Daniel E. Watrous came to Shelby County, Alabama about the year 1825. He was born in Connecticut about the year 1796 where he received his education. His parents were Daniel Watrous and Lydia Ann (b. 1773) who married in Colchester, Connecticut.
He became an attorney in Montevallo, Shelby County, Alabama and had a successful practice for many years.
“Mr. Watrous was a sparely built man, with well-defined facial features. He was a man of unsullied integrity, rigid sense of propriety, cultivated and scholarly mind, and with urbane manners. There have been few citizens of Shelby so useful and exemplary.”
In 1837, he entered the Senate, representing Shelby and Bibb County. He was reelected and remained for sixteen years in this position, except for one session. He was the nominee of his party for congress in 1845 but Hon. W. L. Yancey was successful in the canvass that followed.
He was engaged to Electa Storrs, the second daughter of Seth and Electa Strong Storrs. “It was said that she was a lovely girl. She went to Georgia to teach in Mt. Zion Seminary, and there was associated with Rev. Dr. Beman, afterward of Troy, N. Y. She became engaged to Daniel E. Watrous, when he was a young lawyer in Alabama but she died in 1817, a month prior to her intended marriage. Her pupils erected a monument to her memoir. Mr. Watrous was for many years a partner of John Strong Storrs of Montevallo. He never married.
His mother, Lydia A. Watrous (b. 1773) and possibly a sister were living with him in the 1850 census of Shelby County, Alabama.
Mr. Watrous moved to Texas in 1856 where he later died. His brother, Charles, was a federal district judge in Texas.
