Alston Davidson Watts was born in Iredell County, North Carolina on March 12, 1866. Watts was a newspaperman, political operative, and state legislator (1901, 1903, and 1913 sessions) who served as a member of a committee charged with overseeing relief funds for Western North Carolina survivors of the 1916 flood. He died in Statesville (Iredell County) on July 15, 1927.