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[This information is from Vol. I, pp. 315-317 of Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs, edited by Cuyler Reynolds (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1911). It is in the Reference collection of the Schenectady County Public Library at R 929.1 R45. Some of the formatting of the original, especially in lists of descendants, may have been altered slightly for ease of reading.]
David Atwater and his brother Joshua, sons of John Atwater of Roynton, Kent, England, were enrolled among the early settlers of New Haven, Joshua being one of the seven pioneers who first visited that place and spent a winter of great privation there. David is credited with being the first signer of the "planter agreement." His residence and farm were between East Rock and the Quinnipiack river, known as Cedar Hill. This land is yet owned by his descendants. The land owned by Joshua Atwater is now covered with buildings, part of the vast Yale University system. David Atwater died October 5, 1692. He married Damaris, daughter of Thomas Sayre, of Southampton, Long Island. Children:
(II) John, son of David and Damaris (Sayre) Atwater, was born in New Haven, Connecticut, November 1, 1654, died 1748. He settled in Wallingford, upon a farm which belonged to his brother Joshua. He was called "Weaver." He married (first) Abigail Mansfield, born February 7, 1664, died September 24, 1717; married (second) November 27, 1718, Mary Beach. Children:
(III) Joshua, son of John and Abigail (Mansfield) Atwater, was born September 18, 1693, died in Wallingford, Connecticut, November 29, 1757. He married (first) Mary, daughter of John Peck, January 17, 1723; married (second) Sarah, daughter of Theophilus Yale, died July 13, 1784. Children by first wife:
Children by second wife:
(IV) Caleb, son of Joshua and Sarah (Yale) Atwater, was born in Wallingford, Connecticut, September 7, 1741, died January 11, 1775. He was a shoemaker, tanner, harnessmaker, merchant and extensive land owner. He was one of the Connecticut Land Company, which purchased of the state of Connecticut the Western Reserve or New Connecticut, in Ohio, and though one of the largest purchasers paid in full for what he had contracted when he received his deeds. The land included all of the townships of Atwater in Portage county, all of the township of Denmark and five thousand seven hundred and ninety acres in Geneva, Ashtabula county, besides that in other counties. The township of Atwater, with the exception of two hundred acres set apart for religious purposes, he gave to his son Joshua. A tract in Auburn, Granger county, he surveyed into sixty-five lots of one hundred acres each, giving one lot to each of his grandchildren, numbering fifty-five. The balance of his western land he divided among his children. He was credited at the time with being the wealthiest man in the state of Connecticut. He was released and freed from marching in the Tenth Regiment of which he was ensign, as he had been at great expense and had long carried on the manufacture of saltpetre for powder. He died December 19, 1831, at the age of ninety-one years, and was in full possession of his mental faculties until the end. He married (first) March 12, 1766, Abigail Jones, died January 11, 1775; married (second) January 22, 1776, Ruth Wadsworth. Children, four by first wife:
(V) Joshua (2), son of Caleb and Abigail (Jones) Atwater, was born in Wallingford, Connecticut, February 8, 1773, died April 19, 1862. He was given the township of Atwater, Portage county, Ohio, by his father, and the history of Portage records that "in 1805 the proprietor of the township, Deacon Joshua Atwater with Josiah Mix, junior, came to the township from Connecticut, having ridden all the way on horseback. This was the first visit of Deacon Atwater to the township." Deacon Joshua married, October 22, 1793, Elizabeth, daughter of Aaron Cook, died October 2, 1799. Children:
(VI) Joshua (3), son of Joshua (2) and Elizabeth (Cook) Atwater, was born August 26, 1806, in Wallingford, Connecticut, died in Catskill, New York, May 30, 1879. He removed to Catskill, where he engaged in the insurance business. "He was a prominent resident of Catskill for nearly fifty years and was always interested and most helpful in whatever promised to promote the prosperity of the town and county. He was everywhere known as an upright, kind-hearted, charitable and generous Christian gentleman. For many years he was a prominent and faithful member of the Presbyterian church, and his death made the world poorer by the loss of a sincere and good man." This is an extract from his obituary notice. He married Mary Hull, born May 15, 1811, died May 10, 1877, daughter of Orrin and Mary Burr (Hull) Day. Children:
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