Atwood, Thomas

Atwood, Thomas, a Baptist minister, was born at Plymouth, Mass., not far from the year 1810. In early life he followed the sea, and became first officer of several merchant-ships. Soon after the excitement connected with mining in California commenced, he went, in 1849, to the Pacific Coast, with a company made up of persons residing in the Old Colony, and there he remained for ten years. While there he was ordained to the work of the ministry, and spent several years in this capacity at Stockton, and labored as an evangelist among the miners. In 1859 he came back to the East, and for nearly twenty-five years he devoted himself, with but little cessation, to his ministerial work. His settlements, during this period, were in each of the New England states, Vermont and Maine excepted, and in the State of New York. He met with abundant success as a preacher of the Gospel, and witnessed repeated revivals of religion; He died at Marshfield, Mass. in the summer of 1880. See The Watchman, Sept. 16, 1880. (J.C.S.)