Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Atwood, Moses G.

Born: 1805-XX-XX New Hampshire

Moses G. Atwood was a businessman, insurance executive, and city government official. In November 1829, he married Mary Silsby in Concord, New Hampshire. Atwood moved from his native New Hampshire to Illinois in 1837, settling in Alton. Atwood was an original incorporator of the Illinois Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and he subsequently served as director, secretary, and president of the company. He was among the early promoters of public education in Alton. From 1838 to 1846 and 1848 to 1850, Atwood served as alderman of Alton's fourth ward. From 1856 to 1862, Atwood again served as alderman of the fourth ward. Atwood was a founding member and early secretary of the First Congregational Society (Unitarian) of Alton. In 1850, Atwood was living in Alton with his wife and children and was employed as secretary of the Illinois Mutual Fire Insurance Company. He owned real property valued at $5,000. By 1860, the value of his real property had increased to $15,000, and he also had a personal estate of $3,000. In 1861, Atwood succeeded Benjamin F. Long as president of the Illinois Mutual Fire Insurance Company.

New Hampshire, Marriage and Divorce Records, 1659–1947, 25 November 1829, Merrimack County, New Hampshire Bureau of Vital Records, Concord, NH; Gazetteer of Madison County (Alton, IL: James T. Hair, 1866), 87, 88, 89; W. T. Norton, ed., Centennial History of Madison County, Illinois and Its People 1812-1912 (Chicago: Lewis, 1912), 1:331, 345, 476; Obituary, The United States Insurance Gazette and Magazine n.s. 29 (May-December 1869), 42-43; An Act to Incorporate the Illinois Mutual Fire Insurance Company; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Alton, Madison County, IL, 374; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 4, Alton, Madison County, IL, 177; Illinois Daily State Journal (Springfield), 22 April 1869, 2:3-4.