Gaston, Joseph. "The Centennial History of Oregon, 1811-1912." Vol. 3. Chicago, Clarke Publishing Co., 1912. p. 610. JAMES P. ATWOOD JAMES P. ATWOOD, M.D., is a prominent and capable physician of Baker, residing at No. 2302 Main street in the large, fine old home which he erected in 1883. It stands in the midst of a splendid lawn adorned with lambert, silver poplar and box elder trees, all of which were set out by him. The appearance of the home at once bespeaks comfort and convenience and it is a fitting place in which to spend the hours of leisure when professional duties are not making strenuous demand upon his time and efforts. Dr. Atwood was born in Green county, Wisconsin, March 19, 1846. His father, Aurelius Fielden Atwood, Was born in Clark county, Indiana, January 1, 1817, and in that state and in Illinois he was reared. In the latter he wedded Rosannah B. Hays, whose birth occurred in Ohio in 1827. Her girlhood, however, was largely passed in Illinois and both were pioneer settlers of Sangamon county, that state, where A. F. Atwood formed the acquaintance of Abraham Lincoln, then a young man. In 1845 they removed to the territory of Wisconsin and Mr. Atwood secured a claim from the United States government. He at once began its development and continued to make his home thereon until March, 1853, when, as yet undeterred by the experiences and hardships of frontier life, he started across the plains with his family to establish a home and aid in the upbuilding of the northwest. A year before Dr. Atwood's birth Pervine Atwood, an uncle of the Doctor, started from Illinois to the Pacific coast as a member of a train that crossed the plains. At length he reached the Willamette valley and secured lots now included within the city limits of Portland and later located squatter's claims in the Willamette valley. He went to California when gold was discovered there and engaged in mining. He also established a store at Sacramento but the high water came and flooded the store, but he managed to escape with his life. He made considerable money at mining and through investment in town property in both Sacramento and San Francisco. In 1850 he returned to Wisconsin, where he purchased land and carried on farming and stock-raising, his well directed labors bringing him wealth as the years passed. He had a large family and died at Brodhead, Wisconsin, in 1911, when eighty-eight years of age. He was the first of the family to come to the coast, but, as previously stated, in March, 1853, A. F. Atwood started with his family, driving across the country with four mules hitched to a freight wagon and two horses to draw the lighter wagon in which rode the family. They arrived at Corvallis, Oregon, in September and Mr. Atwood secured a donation claim of three hundred and twenty acres four miles south of the town. This he developed and improved and also bought adjoining land until he was the owner of six hundred and forty acres, which he continued to cultivated until 1868. He then sold out and went to Washington territory, taking up a claim about eighteen miles from Walla Walla, where Bolles Junction now stands. He died there in March 1889, having for about eight years survived his wife, who passed away in January 1881. He did little farming but devoted his attention to the raising of stock. In early days he had engaged in school teaching. He had been educated for surveying and civil engineering but entered the schoolroom as an instructor and to that profession devoted his energies until he took up farming and stock raising as a life work. His early political support was given to the democratic party but he afterward became a stanch republican. He was also a member of the United Brethren church in early life. His family numbered five sons and five daughters, of whom three survive: James P.; Willie, a resident of California; and Eslie. Dr. Atwood remained at home with his parents until twenty-one years of age. He supplemented his public-school course by a year's study in the Corvallis College and about two years in Sublimity College of Oregon. On attaining his majority he took up the study of medicine after having previously engaged in teaching in Washington. It was in 1867 that he began preparation for the profession in the medical department of the Willamette University of Salem, from which he was graduated on the 3d of March, 1870. Not yet content with the preparation he had already made, he went to New York and was graduated from the medical department of Columbia University with the class of 1874. During the interval between his two college courses, however, he practiced at La Grande, Oregon, for a year and since 1871 he has practiced continuously in Baker save for the period which he spent in the east in post-graduate courses in the Polyclinic in New York, one n 1897 and the other in 1901. He engages in the general practice of medicine and his post-graduate work and his private study have kept him in close touch with the advancement made by the medical fraternity as investigation and research have broadened their knowledge and promoted their efficiency. Dr. Atwood also gives his supervision to two ranches which he owns, together comprising over five hundred acres, forty acres of one lying within the corporation limits of Baker. In 1882 Dr. Atwood was married to Miss Florence Thompson, who was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1861. She was an adopted daughter of John Thompson, with whom she came to Oregon in 1881. The only child of this marriage is James Pervine, who is a ranchman of Baker county. The wife and mother died in September 1902. In politics Dr. Atwood is a republican and is conversant with the leading questions and issues of the day, which enables him to support his position by intelligent argument, yet he does not seek nor desire public office. He is an exemplary representative of the Masonic fraternity and in his practice finds ample opportunity to embody the teaching of the craft. His has been a well spent life, his labors, indeed, proving a serviceable element in the community where he has now long lived and labored. Photo in book. Transcriber's note: genealogy for this individual located at: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=bakerco&id=I3492 ******************* Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in October 2008 by Dale Givens, odg -at- hiwaay dot net.