Horace Ingersoll Bettis was born in Salem, Massachussetts on April 20, 1863. Bettis worked as an auditor of the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railway for over ten years. He worked as Assistant General Auditor for Union Pacific Railroad (1898-1903) in Omaha, Nebraska, as Vice President and Auditor of the Las Vegas Land and Water Company, and served as Director, Treasurer, and Secretary of the Tampico Petroleum Company. Bettis died in Tipton, California on November 15, 1913.