Frederick Watson (1871-1911) was elected to The Lambs in 1907 as a Professional Member. He was a popular actor employed by fellow Lamb David Belasco. More than 115 years after his early death, a treasured item with Watson’s name on it resurfaced and was returned to the Fold.
Frederick Watson White was born in Boone County Iowa, January 31, 1871, to J. Henry and Hannah S. White. When he was three months old his parents moved to Wahoo, Nebraska. All of his schooling was obtained in the Wahoo public schools. He was employed by the Independent newspaper at age 11, and was later on the staff of the Wahoo Democrat. When he was 20, he left home to pursue newspaper jobs in Hamburg, Iowa, and Lexington, Kentucky. He finally quit newspaper work and moved to New York to pursue acting.
In 1905, in what may have been his Broadway debut, Watson appeared in the hit play “The Squaw Man” at Wallack’s Theatre. It was written by Lamb Edwin Milton Royle and starred Immortal Lamb William S. Hart, soon to leave for silent movie fame. Watson was featured in the extremely successful “The Warrens of Virginia” (1907-1908) which was a Belasco production that ran for nearly 400 performances. This was Mary Pickford’s Broadway debut and in the cast was fellow Lamb Cecil B. De Mille (the play was written by his brother, William, another Lamb).
At the end of his short career, Watson was under contract to Klaw and Erlanger in 1911 to star in “The Trail of the Lonesome Pine” for $150 a week (about $5,000 today).
He may have lived in New York and travelled widely, but Watson always returned home for the summers to rural Nebraska, to visit his widowed mother and many siblings. On one of his last trips home, he purchased a house that he planned to one day retire to.
In July 1911 Watson was visiting his sister in Nebraska when a cow kicked him, causing a slight abrasion on his leg that developed into blood poisoning when he returned to Manhattan. Surgeons removed the injured veins, but it could not stop blood clots entering his circulation. He rallied but died on September 16 at age 40.
Watson was also a member of the Actor’s Order of Friendship, The Players, Green Room Club, and was a Freemason. His friends from all of his clubs came together for a large funeral. His remains were returned home to Wahoo and interred in Sunrise Cemetery.
The story of Frederick Watson continued in 2026 more than a century after his sad passing. A Lambs billiards trophy cup awarded to Lamb Ernest Oliver Cavan Lambart (1874-1945) by Watson was discovered in France at a junk shop by an American collector, Steven Murray. He contacted The Lambs and took care of its safe return back to The Fold that Watson was a proud member of. It was carried home from Paris by Lamb Melody Cohen, and taken to the clubhouse where it is proudly displayed.
Researched and written by Shepherd Kevin C. Fitzpatrick (2026).