Artist: Robert Wadsworth Grafton (1876–1936)
William S. Van Natta
VAN NATTA, WILLIAM S. (1830–1911), inducted by 1920
One of the founders of what would become the American Hereford Association, William S. Van Natta was born in Tippecanoe County, Indiana. In 1877, he formed a partnership with Moses Fowler, a banker with 25,000 acres of grassland in Benton County, Indiana. The bull, Tregrehan, was an English Royal show winner and the foundation of their success. W. S. Van Natta was an expert marketer who initiated a series of public auctions as early as the mid–1880s. He was the first chairman of American Hereford Association’s Herd Book Committee and the second president of the organization. His son Frank and nephew Jack also served as AHA presidents.
Source: Saddle & Sirloin Guidebook 2026, p. 193