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- History of Pittsburgh and environs: from prehistoric days to the... Volume 6, by George Thornton Fleming, American Historical Society (Google Books, pg 169-171)
MOSES ATWOOD - Since 1905 death has removed two members of the Atwood family, father and son, from official position in the Pittsburgh Valve Foundry and Construction Company, Moses Atwood's death occurring at the age of fifty-six years, his son, Major John Baird Atwood, giving his life as a part of the price of victory in the Meuse-Argonne drive of the fall of 1918 in the World War. The following is the record of an old New England family transplanted into Pennsylvania soil, and the story of their commendable accomplishment in varied fields of endeavor in the Pittsburgh district.
The founder of the family line in America was Harman Atwood, who came from Sanderstead, near London, England, to Boston, Mass., about 1642, and the name is one frequently met in New England. Moses Atwood, of Pittsburgh, was a son of Moses Atwood, Sr., who had an older sister Harriet who, after her marriage to Samuel Newell, accompanied him as a missionary to India, one of the first women to enter that country on Christian work. Moses Atwood, Sr. was born in Haverhill, Mass., March 11, 1801, and died in April, 1848. As a young man he was of roving disposition and for a time followed the sea, making one voyage to the West Indies in a sailing vessel with a cargo of lard. The ship was becalmed for days in the tropics and the melting cargo was in danger of spoiling entirely, but he finally reached port and made a good profit on the commodity. Mr. Atwood was later a business man of New Castle, Henry county, Ky., and was there married. In 1831 he came to Pittsburgh, Pa., then a small town, making the journey by boat, and there became a commission merchant, with a warehouse on Water street, running through to First street. He was also the local agent in fire insurance for the Insurance Company of North America, the business in this line being conducted after his death by his partner and brother-in-law, William P. Jones, and later continuing in the family of the latter's son, William L. Jones. Mr. Atwood, early in his Pittsburgh residence, was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, but in 1832, with thirty-six other young men, mainly from New England, organized the Third Presbyterian Church and built a house of worship at Ferry street and Third avenue. He and a number of his friends, nearly all of this congregation, desiring country homes, purchased a large farm in what is now Oakland, East End. The place was called "Third Church Colony," and in the division of the property Mr. Atwood took twenty acres, building a house and there residing until his death.
Moses Atwood, Sr. married, in New Castle, Henry county, Ky., Harriet Jones, daughter of the Rev. John Jones, a Presbyterian minister, in August, 1831. They were the parents of four sons and one daughter. Henry M., Frederick, and later Moses Atwood were engaged in business as members of the firm of Atwood & McCaffrey, founded in 1865 and in 1808 merged into the Pittsburgh Valve Foundry and Construction Company. Frederick and William were the two of the four sons who were in the Union army during the Civil War, and William was commissioned in the regular army as first lieutenant of the 21st Regiment of Infantry. He served as a staff officer in Mississippi during the reconstruction period, and then was a member of Gen. Philip St. George Cooke's staff, Department of the Lakes, meeting his death when the steamship "R. G. Coburn" foundered in Saginaw Bay, Oct. 15, 1871.
Moses Atwood, son of Moses Atwood, Sr. and Harriet (Jones) Atwood, was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., Nov. 14, 1848, and died there, March 17, 1005. His scholastic training was obtained in the Western University of Pennsylvania (University of Pittsburgh) and for a time he was employed in an auditor's office in Columbus, Ohio. Later, in partnership with his brothers, Henry M. and Frederick, he became a member of the firm of Atwood & McCaffrey, and in the consolidation of this concern into the Pittsburgh Valve Foundry and Construction Company he became vice-president and general manager of the new organization. He devoted himself to the affairs of this company as his main business interest, and until his death in 1005 was a potent factor in its continued prosperity and progressive development along vigorous, healthful lines. Mr. Atwood was a man of high repute in the business world, contributing earnest service toward the extension of Pittsburgh's commercial and industrial leadership, and wielded the influence of a successful business definitely committed to high standards. He was a member of the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, a patriotic ancestry gave him membership in the Sons of the Revolution, and his social organizations were the Duquesne and Allegheny Country clubs. He was a communicant of the Presbyterian church.
Moses Atwood married, in Washington, Pa., June 8, 1881, Jane Wilson Baird, born in Washington, Pa., daughter of John and Harriet (Clark) Baird. They were the parents of two sons: 1. John Baird, born April 25, 1882, was graduated from Princeton University, B. S., in 1005, taking his Master's degree in 1908. He then entered the service of the Pittsburgh Valve Foundry and Construction Company and was serving as assistant superintendent of that company in 1916, when, prior to the entry of the United States into the World War, he attended the Plattsburg Training Camp. He was commissioned captain at Governor's Island, and at the first Officers' Training Camp at Fort Niagara, N. Y., in May, 1917, was given the rank of major. In August, 1917, he was assigned to duty at Camp Meade with the 316th Regiment of Infantry, 79th Division, and in June, 1918, left for overseas duty with the 3rd Battalion of this regiment. He was one of the first of Pittsburgh's sons to join the American Expeditionary Forces, and was killed in action in the Argonne, Sept. 28, 1918. The official records and the testimony of his fellow officers show him to have been a brave and feadess officer, an inspiring leader, and a commander whose courageous example won and held the respect and admiration of his men who followed without question where he led. 2. Frederick Harman, born July 19, 1891; was graduated from Princeton University, A. B., in 1913, and from the law school of the University of Pittsburgh, LL. B., in 1916. He married, Dec. 1, 1919, Alice Thompson, daughter of Charles E. Thompson, of Denver, Colo.
http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA171&lpg=PA171&dq=moses%20atwood%2C%20pittsburgh&sig=LY23sZzYD3n_AWCnSus9owZGels&ei=tp3NTrP4N6qmsAKPy4HpDg&ct=result&id=VvkMAAAAYAAJ&ots=V939u1VkUu&output=text
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