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

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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in October 2008 by Dale Givens, odg -at-
hiwaay dot net.