This information was found at the Brockton, MA Public Library Reference Room. "Genealogical and Family History of the State of Maine" compiled under the editorial supervision of George Thomas Little, A. M., Litt. D." Also including among other local contributors "Rev. Henry S. Burrage, D.D. and Albert Roscoe Stubbs". Published by the Lewis Historical Publishing Company New York 1909. Volume 2 Page 939 ATWOOD - The origin of the surname ATWOOD is the same as that of WOOD, WOODS, BYWOOD, etc., all being originally designations of persons from the location of their homes in or near woods, similar in derivation to the names Hill, Pond, Rivers, Lake, Bridges, etc. The medieval spelling of this surname was ATTE WODE, afterwards modified to ATWOOD and in a majority of cases to WOOD, as the prefixes Ap, Mc, De, Le, etc., were dropped in other surnames. Almost every conceivable wood in England surnamed some family in the tenth, eleventh and twelfth centuries. In Domesday Book the name is found in its Latin form DE SILVA in county Suffolk. Some brances of the family have retained the ancient form of spelling to the present time, and the name ATWOOD is common in the United Kingdom as well as America. The American families are descended from Philip ATWOOD, who settled at Malden, Massachusetts, married Rachel BACHELLER and Elizabeth GROVER and a third wife named Elizabeth, who died April 3, 1688; from Herman ATWOOD, cordwainer, who came from Sanderstead, county Surrey, fifteen miles from London, to Boston before 1643, deacon of the Second Church, died 1651; and from the several immigrants at Plymouth, many of whose descendants settled upon the spelling WOOD. In fact, the Plymouth ATWOODS, even the immigrants (continued page 940) themselves, used the two spellings interchangeably, to judge from the records. Mr. John ATWOOD, gentleman, who settled at Plymouth, was admitted a freeman January 3, 1636; was assistant March 6, 1637-38; one of the referees in a settlement of the Plymouth partnership in 1641; his will, dated October 20, 1643, proved February 27, 1644, mentioned "his brethren"; his widow Ann removed to Boston, where she was admitted to the church February 8, 1651-52; her will was dated April 27, 1650, and proved June 1, 1654; both wills bequeathing to brother Robert LEE and sister Mary LEE, and their children Ann and Mary LEE, and to nephew William CROW. Another John ATWOOD, of Plymouth, was called "WOOD, alias ATWOOD", and may have dropped the prefix to distinguish himself from the Mr. John mentioned above, though they were probably related. This John was a proprietor of Plymouth in 1636, juryman 1638, and on the list able to bear arms 1643; married Sarah, daughter of Richard MASTERSON; his will, proved March 7, 1675, bequeathed all his estate to his widow Sarah, to be divided after her death among their children. John, born March 4, 1649; Nathaniel, February 25, 1651, Isaac, February 27, 1653; Mary HOLMES; Sarah FALLOWELL; Abigail LEONARD; Merch; Elizabeth; Hannah. (I) Henry WOOD, immigrant ancestor of this family, related closely to the Plymouth ATWOODS mentioned above, and described in the records as "WOOD, alias ATWOOD" was proprietor of Plymouth, Spetember 16, 1641. He was on the list of those able to bear arms in 1643. He was soon afterward settled at Middleborough, Plymouth colony. He died before September, 1670, the date of inventory of his estate, administration being granted to his widow Abigail. The court records show an order to his son Samuel to deliver to his younger brothers Abiall and James certain lands of the deceased. Mr. ATWOOD married, April 25, 1644, Abigail, daughter of John Jenney. Children: 1. Sarah. 2. Samuel, born May 25, 1647, married Rebecca _____; children: Henry, Ephrain, Samuel, Jabez, Joanna, Rebecca, Ann and Susanna. 3. John. 4. Jonathan. 5. David, born October 17, 1751. 6. Isaac. 7. Abial (Abiall), mentioned below. (II) Abial ATWOOD, alias WOOD, son of Henry ATWOOD, alias WOOD, was born in Middleborough, Massachusetts, about 1660. He married Abiah BOWEN. He was a farmer at Middleborough. Children, born at Middleborough: 1. Elnathan, 1686. 2. Abiah, 1689, died young. 3. Abial, 1691, mentioned below. 4. Timothy, 1693. 5. Jerusha, 1695. 6. Ebenezer, 1697, married Lydia LOVELL. 7. Judah, 1700. 8. Thomas, 1703. (III) Abial (2), son of Abial (I) ATWOOD, was born in Middleborough, 1692, died at Berkley, January 2, 1785, called eighty-eight, according to the inscription as copied from the gravestone. He settled at Berkley, Massachusetts. Children: 1. Abial, born 1727, mentioned below. 2. Joseph, 1741, died June 14, 1821; his widow Persis, born 1741, died August 28, 1835, at Berkley. Probably others. (IV) Lieutenant Abial (3), son of Abial (2) ATWOOD, was born in Berkley, Massachusetts, 1727, and died there January 29, 1816. His wife Hannah died January 2, 1811, at an advanced age and both are buried in the old graveyard at Berkley. He removed from Berkley, Massachusetts, to Oxford, Worcester county, Massachusetts, in 1777, and settled on Lot H. 133, in North Oxford. He held a commission as lieutenant from the king and remained a loyalist through the revolution, though some of his sons were in the American army. In 1800 he sold his Oxford property and returned to his native town, where he lived the remainder of his life. He married Hannah BABBITT. Children, born at Berkley: 1. Abial, February 9, 1756. 2. Mary, August 5, 1757. 3. John, August 5, 1759. 4. Abigail, May 10, 1761, married (intentions dated April 11, 1778) Captain Ebenezer READING. 5. Captain Joseph, September 23, 1762, soldier in the revolution; married (intentions dated May 12, 1787) Mary, daughter of Jeremiah LEARNED, of Oxford; settled on a farm in Oxford on the Charlton line; operated a furnace, conducted a tavern, was captain of a vessel, a citizen of importance. 6. James, February 11, 1764, soldier in the revolution. 7. Hannah, April 30, 1765. 8. Nathan, February 20, 1767, soldier in the revolution. 9. Samuel, mentioned below. 10. Tisdale, if the gravestone record at Berkley is correct, must have been a twin of Joseph, but he was probably sixty-two instead of seventy-two, years old when he died, October 21, 1744, "aged seventy-two," according to the epitaph; went with brother David and Stephen BARTON, of Oxford, in the Indian war of 1794 and also served in the war of 1812; married Olive ATWOOD, daughter of his uncle, Joseph ATWOOD; she died at Berkley, August 24, 1853, aged seventy-three, according to her gravestone. II. David, died at Oxford, October 12, 1831; served three years under General Wayne; (continued page 941) married ______ ELDER, of Ward (Auburn), Massachusetts. 12. Sally, married Rev. Nathan MAYHEW, a Baptist minister. to be continued in Part 2.