I have Debbie's permission to repost these bios to the appropriate lists. Her only request is that you keep the information free for all to use. Lisa A Narrative History of The People of Iowa Volume IV 1931 CHARLES W. ATWOOD since 1921 has been county recorder of Pottawattamie County, and for many years was in the railroad service and is a well-qualified executive and manager and has set a high record of efficiency in the management of the county office. He was born in Pottawattamie County, January 3, 1862, son of Selah B. and Mary A. (Barritt) Atwood. His father was born in Connecticut, came out to Iowa in 1860 and spent his active life as a farmer. He was a Democrat in politics and a member of the Mormon Church, while his wife was a Methodist. Mary A. Barritt was born in Ohio and came to Iowa in 1853. Her husband, Lemuel Barritt, settled on a farm in Hazel Dell Township of Pottamattamie County, and he was frozen to death on a hunting trip in 1855. Charles W. Atwood grew up and was educated in Pottawattamie County, and in 1888 married Isabelle C. Prentice. She was also born in Pottawattamie County, daughter of Alexander Prentice, a pioneer farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Atwood have two sons, Ernest L. and Walter H., both residents of La Grange, Illinois. Walter for the past twelve years has been a salesman for the Burroughs Adding Machine Company. He married Helen Barghausen, of Council Bluffs, and has two children, Mina Belle and Walter, Jr. Mr. Atwood is a Royal Arch Mason, is a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias, a member of Lodge No. 531, B. P. O. Elks, and is a Republican in politics. His wife is a Methodist. Mr. Atwood spent the first twenty-one years of his life on the home farm, and on July 26, 1883, became a clerk in the railroad offices of Council Bluffs and spent thirty years in railroad and traffic work, finally resigning in 1913. For three and a half years of this time he was traffic manager for the M. E. Smith & Company wholesale dry goods house. Mr. Atwood was elected county recorder of Pottawattamie County in 1920, and has filled the office since 1921, having been elected for five consecutive terms. Debbie Clough Gerischer Iowa History Project Scott County, Iowa Gerischer family site