Atwater family addition to papers

William Warren Atwater (1814-1874) was the son of Thomas Atwater and Betsy Boyden Atwater. He was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church and temperance advocate in New York and New England. He became librarian of Yale Law School in New Haven, Connecticut in 1872. He married Eliza Barnes and they had two children, Wilbur Olin (1844-1907) and Florence Amelia (b. May 29, 1852).

Wilbur Olin Atwater (1844-1907) was the son of William Warren Atwater. He graduated Wesleyan with the Class of 1865, and earned a Ph.D. in agricultural chemistry from Yale in 1869. He taught at the University of Tennessee, Maine State College, and then Wesleyan University from 1873 to 1907. Atwater was the director of the first American agricultural experiment station, in Middletown, CT, and was later appointed chief of the Office of Experiment Stations in Washington, D.C. (1888-1891). His work in calorimetric study was well known; he researched and published extensively in physiological chemistry and agricultural chemistry. He married Marcia Woodard in 1874. They had two children: Helen Woodard Atwater and Charles Woodard Atwater.

Marcia Woodard Atwater (1851-1932) was the daughter of Abram Woodard of Bangor, Maine, and sibling of Charles and Sarah. She married Wilbur Olin Atwater; they had two children Helen and Charles. Mrs. Atwater lived in Washington, D.C. from 1914 to 1929, and returned to Middletown, Connecticut.

Helen Woodard Atwater (1876-1947), was the daughter of Marcia Woodard Atwater and Wilbur Olin Atwater. She graduated Smith College in 1897. She became an editorial assistant to her father and in 1909 went to work for the Office of Home Economics in the Department of Agriculture as a science staff member. From 1923 to 1941 she was editor of the American Home Economics Association's The Journal of Home Economics, expanding the magazine's reach to scientific and education audiences. She was a member of the Women's Joint Congressional Committee and represented the American Home Economics Association at international conferences. She was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Helen died in Washington in 1947.

Charles Woodard Atwater (1885-1946) was the son of Wilbur Olin Atwater and Marcia Woodard Atwater. Charles attended Philips Exeter Academy, graduated Wesleyan with the Class of 1906, and went on to Harvard to earn a law degree. He moved to New York in 1910, and later established his own law firm, Atwater and Clarke. He served as Consul General for Siam (Thailand). He married Alice Caroline Merriam in 1911. They had three children: Catherine Merriam Atwater (1913-2008), Robert Merriam Atwater (b.1916), and Charles Woodard Atwater, Jr. (1920-2002).

Alice Caroline Merriam Atwater (d.1950) was the daughter of Joseph and Abbie Wilson Merriam of Middletown, Connecticut. She had two siblings, Robert and Helen. She attended Smith College from 1905 to 1907. She married Charles Atwater in October 1911. They had three children.

Catherine Merriam Atwater (1913-2008) was the daughter of Alice Caroline Merriam Atwater and Charles Woodard Atwater. She graduated Smith College with the Class of 1934 and studied at Radcliffe, earning a master's degree in 1937. She married the economist John Kenneth Galbraith in 1937. They had four sons: J. Alan, Douglas, Peter W., and James K. She was a writer.

Charles Woodard Atwater, Jr. (1920-2002) was the son of Alice Caroline Merriam Atwater and Charles Woodard Atwater. He earned a B.S. in Agronomy from Cornell University in 1942, served in the Coast Guard during World War II, experienced mental illness resulting in hospitalizations at the Veterans Administration hospitals, and lived in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts.