Mr. John Atwood, "gent.," from London, came
to Plymouth and was a freeman of 1636; was
assistant in 1638. He died in 1644, leaving,
says Davis, no issue ; and who further says that
the various branches of the Atwood family are
descended from (I) John Wood, of Plymouth,
1643. He was called Wood, alias Atwood. He
married Sarah, daughter of Richard Masterson,
and their children were: John, born in 1649;
Nathaniel, born in 1651; Isaac, born in 1653;
Mary, who married (first) Rev. John Holmes,
of Duxbury, and (second) Maj. William Brad-
ford; Sarah, who married John Fallowell;
Abigail, who married Samuel Leonard; Mercy;
Elizabeth; and Hannah, who married Richard
Cooper.
(II) Deacon Nathaniel Atwood, son of
John, bom Feb. 25, 1651-52, married Mary,
daughter of Jonathan Morey, and their chil-
dren were: John, born May 1, 1684; Eliz-
abeth, born April 24, 1687; Joanna, born Feb.
27, 1689 ; Mary, born April 26, 1691 ; Nathan-
iel, born Oct. 3, 1693; Isaac, born Dec. 29,
1695; Barnabas, born Jan. 1, 1697-98; and
Joanna (2), born June 8, 1700. The father
was a deacon of the church. He died Dec. 17,
1724, in Plympton, in his seventy-fourth year.
(III) Lieut. Nathaniel Atwood (3), son of
Nathaniel, born Oct. 3, 1693, married (first)
Mary, daughter of Francis Adams, and (sec-
ond) Oct. 7, 1747, Mrs. Abigail Lucas. Mr.
Atwood served as lieutenant in the military
company of the town. He lived in that part
of Plymouth which became Plympton. His
children were : Mary, born in 1723, who mar-
ried Benjamin Shaw; Natha'niel, born in 1725;
Francis, born in 1728 (bom to the first mar-
riage) ; Sarah, who married Joseph Barrows;
Mercy, who married Joseph Warren; Ebenezer,
39
610
SOUTHEASTEEN MASSACHUSETTS
born in 1735; Kezjah, bom in 1737; William,
born in 1740; Joseph, born in 1741; and
Ichabod, born in 1744 (by the second mar-
riage).
(IV) Ichabod Atwood, son of Lieut. Na-
thaniel, born in 1744, in that part of Plympton
which became Carver, Mass., married Hannah,
born in 1751, daughter of Capt. Nathaniel and
Hannah (Perkins) Shaw, of Plympton. Twelve
children were born to them, all of whom lived
to attain middle life, among them being a son
Nathaniel, born April 28, 1782. The father
was a farmer and also a dealer in lumber, wood
and charcoal. The mother's father, Capt.
Nathaniel Shaw, was a Patriot of the Revolu-
tion, commanding a company in that mem-
orable conflict.
(V) Nathaniel Atwood (3), son of Ichabod,
born April 28, 1782, in Middleboro, Mass.,
married Zilpha, born in 1782, daughter of
Francis and Mary (Shaw) ShurtlefE, of
Plympton and Carver, Mass., and of their chil-
dren the following reached mature years:
'Flora, who married Elijah Hackett; Ichabod
F., of Middleboro, Mass.; and Eeuel, Gardiner
and Polly died young. Natlianiel Atwood in-
herited the homestead, and like his father
before him was occupied in farming and dealt
in lumber, wood and charcoal.
(VI) Ichabod F. Atwood, son of Nathaniel
(3), was born in Fall Brook, Middleboro,
March 13, 1820. He attended the district
school and Peirce Academy, and at about the
age of fifteen began to teach. For some thirty
years he followed this profession, and with the
exception of a single year confined his efforts
to Plymouth county. For several years he was
connected with the mills at Fall Brook and
Eock, making his home in the latter town after
1866. In politics he was a Eepublican, and
filled many important local offices, being justice
of the peace over forty-five years, surveyor
forty years, selectman and overseer of the poor
three years, member of the school committee
several years, and auditor and assessor. He
was often called upon to administer estates.
In his religious belief he was a Methodist. In
1841 he married Abigail T. Thomas, daughter
of Harvey C. and Hannah C. (Atwood)
Thomas, and they had four children: Emery
F., Charles Nelson, Harvey N. and Hannah
Z. Mr. Atwood died at. his home in Rock in
1901, aged eighty-one years, and was buried
in the Atwood lot_in the Fall Brook cemetery,
on the same farni where he was born. His
wife died in 1906, aged eighty-four years, and
was buried in the same cemetery.
(VII) Charles Nelson Atwood, son of Ich-
abod F., born June 22, 1844, grew to manhood
on the farm, and what education he obtained
was received in the public schools of Middle-
boro. He worked on the home place and in
the mill until 1879, when he took charge of
the mill and box manufacturing plant, where
he has continued for the past thirty-two years
with great success. He has made extensive
improvements in the plant, and in 1904 he
admitted his son Levi 0. into partnership with
him, the firm name being changed to C. N.
Atwood & Son. Close attention to business,
untiring energy and upright principles have
marked Mr. Atwood's business career, and he
is reaping his reward not alone in worldly
goods but in the respect of his associates. He
built a modern home at Eock, and there he
has since lived in comfort.
Mr. Atwood is a man of progressive ideas
and public spirit. He has taken a leading,
part in public affairs, and is at present filling
the office of selectman, to which he was elected
in 1908. In politics he is a stanch Eepublican,
and in religious faith a Congregationalist, be-
ing at the present time treasurer of the Con-
gregational Society of Eock, which office he has
held for a number of years. For several years
he has been a trustee of the Young Men's
Christian Association. He is also a trustee of
the Middleboro Savings Bank, and of the Co-
operative Bank, of Middleboro. He is a lover
of outdoor life, and finds great enjoyment in
automobiling. Mr. and Mrs. Atwood have
traveled extensively in this country as well as
in Europe; they have made several trips to
California and Mexico.
On Oct. 23, 1866, Mr. Atwood married
(first) Eozilla A. Barrows, daughter of Wil-
liam Orville and Amanda N. (Wood) Barrows.
She died Nov. 22, 1874, in the twenty-ninth
year of her age, and was buried in the ceme-
tery at Eock. To this union were born: (1)
Alton Barrows, born Sept. 20, 1868, is men-
tioned below. (2) Levi Orville, born May 4,
1870, is the junior member of the firm of C.
N. Atwood & Son. He is also a director of
the Middleboro National Bank, and a trustee
of the Cooperative Bank; and president of the
Business Men's Club and of the Young Men's
Christian Association, of Middleboro. On Sept.
27, 1892, he married (first) Eva G. Tinkham,
and his second marriage was to Gertrude Col-
lier. He has three children, two by the first
marriage, Eose Anita, bom Oct. 24, 1897, and
Marian Nelson, born May 18, 1899; and one
by the second, Grace Elizabeth, born Aug. 27,
1908.
Mr. Charles N. Atwood married (second)
SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS
611
Oct. 17, 1876, Sarah A. Gibbs, daughter of
Francis Bradford and Tirzah Swift (Morse)
Gibbs, of Middleboro, a descendant of one of
the oldest families of Barnstable county, and
as well a descendant of Revolutionary stock
through the Morse family. By this union
there is one son, Ichabod F., born Feb. 28,
1883, who graduated from the Massachusetts
School of Technology in 1903, and is now
engaged in box manufacturing in Chelsea with
his brother; he is unmarried.
(VIII) Alton Baeeows Atwood, eldest
son of Charles N. and Rozilla (Barrows)
Atwood, was born at Rock, town of Middleboro,
Sept. 20, 1868. He attended the public and
high schools of Middleboro, graduating from
the latter in 1885. He then began to learn
the boxmaking business in his father's factory
at Rock, where he continued until 1893, be-
coming familiar with all branches of the bus-
iness. In the latter year he went to Chelsea,
Mass., and there formed a partnership with H.
P. McManus, under the firm name of Atwood
& McManus, the father, Charles N. Atwood,
owning a third interest in the business. Here
a large plant was built, and the manufacture
of wooden boxes and packing cases was begun
on June 1, 1893, since which time they have
been kept busy with the increasing demand for
the product, now having one of the largest
factories of the kind in New England. On
Sept. 21, 1908, the plant was destroyed by
fire, after having escaped the great Chelsea fire
of but a few months before, and they met with
a heavy loss. However, they were not .dismayed,
and in place of the first structure they erected
fine brick buildings, fully equipped with up-to-
date machinery, which was put into operation
June 1, 1909. The firm owns timber tracts in
many parts of New England, from which the
supply of lumber is obtained, and also has
several sawmills in operation. Mr. Atwood is
a man of progressive ideas, and is farsighted
in his investments. He gives his entire time
and attention to the business he knows so thor-
oughly, and his genial personality has made
him friends with the trade and with his em-
ployees as well. In politics he is a stanch
Republican, but he takes no active part in
party work. Fraternally he is a member of
Robert Lash Lodge, A. P. & A. M., of Chel-
sea. He is also identified with the financial
institutions of Chelsea, being vice president of
the Chelsea Trust Company, and a trustee of
the County Savings Bank. Mr. Atwood is a
member of the First Congregational Church of
Chelsea, and has served as treasurer of the
church and as a member of the prudential
committee; he was also chairman of the build-
ing committee which had charge of the erection
of the present church edifice, which was built
in 1905-06.
In January, 1895, Mr. Atwood married
Maud L. Webster, of Chelsea, who died Sept.
7, 1900. On April 17, 1907, he married (sec-
ond) Mabel E. Coan, of Everett, and they have
one child, Charles Nelson, 2d, bom May
1, 1909.
Barrows. The Barrows family, to which
the late Mrs. Charles N. Atwood belonged, was
early settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
John Barrus (or Barrows, etc.), born in 1609,
in England, at the age of twenty-eight, left
Yarmouth, England, his wife Anne accompany-
ing him, and came to America, settling at
Salem, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He
and his wife received grants of land in Salem
in 1637, and were inhabitants of that town for
twenty-eight years, and all their children were
born there. They removed to Plymouth before
1665, and John, the immigrant, died there in
1692. His will shows that he left a second
wife, younger than himself, and four sons:
Robert; John; Benajah, who lived in Attle-
boro; and Ebenezer, who lived in Cumberland,
R. I.; and two daughters, Mary and Deborah.
Robert Barrows, born in Salem, Massachu-
setts Bay Colony, removed with his father to
Plymouth. He had by his first wife, Ruth
(Bonum), four children: John, born in 1667,
who died in Plymouth in 1720; George, born
in 1670; Samuel, who died in Middleboro in
1755; and Mehetabel, who married Adam
Wright. He married (second) Lydia Dunham
and had children : Robert, born in 1689, who
died in Mansfield, Conn., in 1779; Thankful,
born in 1692, who married Isaac King; Elisha,
who died in 1767 in Rochester, Mass. ; Thomas,
who died in Mansfield in 1779; Lydia, who
married Thomas Branch; and Capt. George.
Samuel Barrows, son of Robert, was bom in
1672. He settled in Middleboro, and in about
1700 built a garrison house which is still
standing and known as the old Barrows house.
He was elected deacon of the First Church
in 1725. He married (first) Mercy Coombs,
who died in 1718, and (second) Joanna Smith.
He died Dec. 30, 1755, aged eighty-three years.
There, too, was a Samuel Barrows, who is
judged by Weston, in his work on Middleboro,
Mass., to be a son of the immigrant settler
John Barrows, who was an early settler of
Middleboro, and before the breaking out of
King Philip's war, 1675, had built a dam
613
SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS
across the Nemasket river, some fifty rods above
the present Star Mills, and erected a gristmill,
in which he worked. On the morning of the
attack upon the town, after the Indians had
been shot, he saw a band approacliing the mill,
and fled to the fort uninjured. The records of
the First Church of Middleboro show that he
had acquired a share in the Twenty-six Men's
Purchase before the breaking out of the war.
This much concerning the early history of the
Middleboro Barrows family, but in the absence
of earlier vital records of the especial branch
of the Barrows family treated below the con-
nection between the earlier and later family
is rendered impracticable to make.
Benjamin Barrows lived in Middleboro and
was the father of Nathaniel Barrows, who
married Hannah Jones.
Nathaniel Barrows, son of Benjamin, was
bom in Middleboro. To him and his wife
Hannah Jones were born children as follows:
Lois, born May 28, 1767; Eunice, Oct. 13,
1769 (died Aug. 22, 1791); Abisha, Jan. 3,
1772; Nathaniel, March 24, 1774; Abigail,
July 31, 1776; Josiah, July 25, 1778; Asa,
Feb. 25, 1781 ; Freeman, March 22, 1783 ; Nel-
son, Sept. 23, 1786; and Stillman, Sept. 3,
1789. The father of these children died Nov.
15, 1803, in Middleboro, aged sixty-two years.
Asa Barrows, son of Nathaniel, was born in
Middleboro Feb. 25, 1781. He married Sarah
Cobb, and they had a son, William Orville.
William Orville Barrows, son of Asa, mar-
ried in Middleboro, Feb. 18, 1826, Amanda N.
Wood, daughter of Noah and Nancy (Norton)
Wood, and their children were : Levi Marshall,
born May 13, 1828, died Oct. 19, 1828 ; Nancy
N., born Dec. 26, 1829, died Dec. 4, 1866;
Deborah Shaw, born Feb. 26, 1832, married
June 1, 1850, Josiah B. Thomas, and resides
at Peabody, Mass. ; Rozilla Amanda, born June
23, 1846, married Oct. 23, 1866, Charles N.
Atwood, and died Nov. 22, 1874.
HATHAWAY. (I) Nicholas Hathaway
was one among a company of men migrating
from some of the older towns who went to re-
side within the borders of Taunton, and were
designated as "first settlers," a term which has
adhered and served to distinguish them from
the first purchasers. Mr. Hathaway had so-
journed for a time at Boston and purchased
lands in that vicinity before going to Taunton;
land was granted to him at Mount Woollystone
in February, 1639, he being then designated of
Monaticott. It seems that in that year, or
1640, he went to Taunton, where he became an
extensive land owner. He had a son John, and
probably Joseph and Jacob Hathaway, of Taun-
ton, were also his sons.
(II) John Hathaway, born in 1629, was at
Taunton with his father and the time of their
going there is determined by a deposition in
which John makes the declaration that his
knowledge of the boundaries and occupation of
certain portions of the town extended as far
back as 1639 and 1640. His name appears with
those who in 1657 had taken the oath of fidelity.
In 1658 he purchased with two associates four
hundred acres of "meadow and upland" in that
part of Taunton which afterward became in-
corporated as the town of Berkley. In 1659,
when a division of land was made, John Hath-
away was recorded as having seven heads in
his family and received a share in proportion
to that number. He was made a freeman in
1670. In 1671 he purchased the eighteenth
lot of the Freetown lands and thereupon estab-
lished his eldest son, John Hathaway, Jr. In
1676 he was chosen constable, then an office
of great responsibility and power. He was
elected deputy in 1680 and served five successive
years; and in 1681 he was chosen one of the
selectmen of the town. He was again constable
in 1690, when engaged in reorganizing the
military companies, in one of which he served
as ensign. He was again elected deputy to the
General Court at Plymouth in 1691. In 1695
a company of well-known citizens, with John
Hathaway, Sr., of the number, set up a bloom-
ery or forge on Stony brook, which was after-
ward known as the Leonard Iron Works of
Norton. He was a representative to the Massa-
chusetts General Court in 1696 and 1697. Mr.
Hathaway was twice married ; the Christian
name of his first wife, the mother of his chil-
dren, was Martha, and that of the second Ruth.
Both he and his wife Ruth died in 1705, she
in September of that year. His home was in
that part of Berkley known as "The Farms."
Mr. Hathaways children were : John, born in
1650; Abraham, born in 1652; Isaac, born in
1655; Ephraim, born in 1661; Abigail, and
Rebecca. Of these, Abraham married Rebecca
Wilbore and settled in Berkley, and died in
1725. Isaac married Mary Pitts, settled in
Berkley, and died in 1722. Ephraim married
and settled in Dighton, and died in 1718.
Rebecca married Jared Talbot, theirs being the
first marriage recorded in the town of Dighton.
(III) John Hathaway (2), born in' 1650,
married Hannah, daughter of James Burt, and
settled in Freetown, where he died in 1730. As
stated, his father had installed him upon the
lot of the Freetown lands he purchased in 1671.
He became one of the leading citizens there.
SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS
613
(IV) Isaac Hathaway, son of John (2), set-
tled in Berkley, Mass., where he died. He is
said to have inherited a part of the homestead
of his father, and also the iron forge which
was established by his father, the first forge
in the town ; he also owned a mill, and, as may
be judged, was a man of snap and enterprise.
On Feb. 22, 1711, he married Sarah Makepeace,
and they had children born as follows: Sarah,
Nov. 14, 1712; Anna, Dec. 7, 1714; Eebecea,
March 1, 1716; Abijah, March 21, 1719;
Thomas, March 23, 1721; Nicholas, April 1,
1723; and Peleg. Of these, Nicholas inherited
a part of the original purchase — the eighteenth
lot of the Freetown lands — made by his great-
grandfather John Hathaway. On Sept. 8, 1744,
he married Rebecca Merrick, and his children
were : Stephen, Elkanah, Isaac, Sarah, Dighton
and Rebecca.
(V) Thomas Hathaway, son of Isaac and
Sarah (Makepeace) Hathaway, bom in Free-
town March 23, 1721, married (first) Jerusha
Hathaway. Children: Samuel and Thomas
(baptized Oct. 16, 1759). By his second wife,
Abigail Babbitt, he also had two children,
Abner and Abbey, twins.
(VI) Samuel Hathaway, son of Thomas and
Jerusha (Hathaway) Hathaway^ baptized Oct.
16, 1759, married Mary Evans, of Freetown.
Children: Samuel, born Aug. 31, 1781, who
married Hannah Cook; Evans, born March 7,
1783; Hannah, born April 26, 1785; Jerusha,
born March 17, 1787; Thomas, born Jan. 18,
1789; Peleg, born Aug. 2, 1791; Isaac, born
Aug. 21, 1794; Rosamond, born Aug. 15, 1796
(died unmarried) ; Lucy, who married Eben
Delano, of Fairhaven; Polly; and Sally, who
died unmarried.
(VII) Samuel Hathaway (2), son of
Samuel and Mary (Evans) Hathaway, born
Aug. 31, 1781, married Hannah Cook, who was
born March 6, 1773, and they had children as
follows: Samuel, born Oct. 31, 1807; Evans,
who died at sea June 10, 1842, at the age of
twenty-five years; Hannah, who married Alan-
son Sweet and lived in Cumberland, R. I.; and
Mary, who died unmarried Feb. 5, 1842, aged
thirty-two.
(VIII) Samuel Hathaway (3), son of
Samuel (2) and Hannah (Cook) Hathaway,
was born Oct. 31, 1807, in Freetown, Mass.
His father dying, the mother and her four
children removed to Fall River in 1817, when
Samuel was ten years of age. He being the
eldest child circumstances made it necessary
for him to assist in the support of the family,
and he had but meager school advantages. He
began employment in 1824 at Robeson's Print
Works and in time learned the art of color
mixing and became overseer of the color mixing
department of the works. He retained this
position for a number of years, until he became
manager, which position he retained until the
concern changed hands, in 1848, Andrew Robe-
son, the principal proprietor, then retiring
from business. This change in ownership of
the business made one in the life of Mr. Hatha-
way, who then engaged in farming near the
then village, as it were, of Fall River, an occu-
pation he practically continued in through the
remainder of his life.
Mr. Hathaway developed into one of the
foremost citizens of his day in Fall River.
Possessing a rugged, independent character, he
was always bold in his denunciation of what
he considered shams and frauds and earnest
in the defense of what he thought was just and
true. He was largely interested in the manu-
facturing interests of Fall River, having been
a prime mover in organizing the Robeson Mills,
and an active participant in the founding of
the Stafford and Davol Mills. He was a director
of them all and also of the Watuppa and Granite
Mills from their organization until the time
of his death, and was president of the Robeson
Mills. He was also a director of the Manufac-
turers' Gas Company. He was active in the
organization of the Citizens' Savings Bank of
Fall River in 1851, and from the start until
his death was a member of the bank's board
of investment. He assisted in organizing, ill
1854, the Pocasset Bank, of which from the
start on through his life he was a director, and
its president during the last decade or more of
his life. As a banker he was noted for his
sound judgment, strict integrity and faithful
performance of all the trusts reposed in him.
Mr. Hathaway had little or no taste for
politics and political preferment, yet he ever
had a great interest in the public welfare and
performed his duty in citizenship in the way of
earnest support of correct principles and the
putting of the most suitable men into oflSce.
He was for one year a member of the board
of aldermen, but declined a reelection at the
expiration of his term of office. He was asked
a number of times to become a candidate for
the office of mayor, but as often declined. Per-
haps no one in Fall River of his day enjoyed
the confidence of the people of the city to a
greater extent than Mr. Hathaway. His judg-
ment was valued by his associates in the many
official relations he sustained. He was an
earnest friend of temperance and active in
every effort for the moral welfare of the city.
He was a friend to the widow and the orphan.
614
SOUTHEASTEEN MASSACHUSETTS
His life was well lived and the memory of its
uprightness and of his good deeds has lived
after him.
On March 3, 1832, Mr. Hathaway was mar-
ried to Abby, born Aug. 10, 1811, in Fall Eiver,
daughter of Joseph and Rhoda (Borden) War-
ren. Ten children blessed the marriage, those
who survived the father being: Abbie (born
Oct. 7, 1833, died Oct. 20, 1895), wife of
Eleazer Waldron, of Fall Eiver; Edward E.
(born Oct. 14, 1836), who died May 9, 1911;
Marion A. (born May 31, 1841), wife of Henry
Frye, of Providence, E. I.; Samuel W. (born
Aug. 3, 1843) ; and Clarence M. (born April
38, 1855).
Mr. Hathaway died at his home in Fall
Biver, Mass., April 4, 1873, when in the sixty-
sixth year of his age; Mrs. Hathaway died
Feb. 10, 1869.
(IX) Edwakd E. Hathaway, son of Samuel
and Abby (Warren) Hathaway, was born in
Fall Eiver Oct. 14, 1836, and after attending
the public schools there went to Middleboro
Academy to finish his education. His father
had been one of the promoters of the Citizens'
Savings Bank when it was organized in 1851
as the Savings Bank in Tiverton, and on June
12, 1854, Edward E. Hathaway was elected
assistant treasurer of the institution. The
Pocasset Bank of Tiverton (later the Pocasset
National Bank of Fall Eiver) began operations
the following month, in the same office, and
he also became a clerk of that. He continued
in the banking business throughout his life.
In 1862 William H. Brackett, the first treasurer
of the Savings Bank and the first cashier of
the Pocasset Bank, resigned to become cashier
of the Washington Bank of Boston, and Mr.
Hathaway succeeded him in both positions, to
which he was elected Dec. 9th of that year. He
continued as cashier of the Pocasset Bank until
1903, when it united with the Massasoit Na-
tional and the National Union Banks to form
the present Massasoit Pocasset National Bank,
of which he became vice president and director.
He was one of the committee which had
cliarge of the erection of its new building. He
continued as treasurer of the Savings Bank
until his death, having held that position al-
most forty years. On April 15, 1873, he suc-
ceeded his father as director of the Pocasset
National Bank, and became a trustee of the
Savings Bank in 1900.
. When Mr. Hathaway first became associated
with the Savings Bank it was but a small insti-
tution, located in the brick building still stand-
ing on the northeast corner of South Main and
Eodman streets, then in Ehode Island, the Fall
Eiver Union Bank building. The change in
the boundary line between Massachusetts and