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Jonathan Atwater


Gender:
Male
Born:
April 30, 1776
Died:
January 22, 1852
Home Town:
New Haven, CT
Later Residences:
Coxsackie, NY
New Haven, CT
Marriage(s):
Jeanette Knox Atwater (unknown)
Biographical Notes:
Jonathan Atwater was the son of Thomas Atwater and Margaret Macomber Atwater. In 1797 he attended the Litchfield Law School, and his sister Sally attended the Female Academy in Litchfield at the same time. After completing his studies he married Jeanette Knox and they had three children.
Quotes:
"Jonathan [Atwater] -- as I wrote Mrs. Mendenhall, does not seem -- in spite of the stimulants of Reeve & Litchfield air -- to have created much of a breeze as an individual."

"Pierces School will be out the 8th of Apr [missing]. Sally wishes to come home on horseback [missing] following I wish you to write me whetheer I shall hire horses & bring her home or whether you intend to come after her -- Mr Reeves Vacation does not commence until the 20th of April. I can nevertheless come home with Sally if you send horses or I can hire horses here & bring her home, if you wish to come up after her & cannot conveniently come at that time Sally will be contect to stay a week longer, but if you desire me to come home with her you know about what sum will be necessary to send today for her board . . . " Jonathan Atwater to Mr. & Mrs. Atwater (his parents), March 25, 1797 (LHS).
Additional Notes:
Primary sources for Jonathan Atwater include a letter located in the Litchfield Female Academy collection, Series 2: Student Papers, Records, and Documents, Folder 2.

Education
Years at LLS:
1797

help The Citation of Attendance provides primary source documentation of the student’s attendance at the Litchfield Female Academy and/or the Litchfield Law School. If a citation is absent, the student is thought to have attended but currently lacks primary source confirmation.

Records for the schools were sporadic, especially in the formative years of both institutions. If instructors kept comprehensive records for the Litchfield Female Academy or the Litchfield Law School, they do not survive. Researchers and staff have identified students through letters, diaries, family histories and genealogies, and town histories as well as catalogues of students printed in various years. Art and needlework have provided further identification of Female Academy Students, and Litchfield County Bar records document a number of Law School students. The history of both schools and the identification of the students who attended them owe credit to the early 20th century research and documentation efforts of Emily Noyes Vanderpoel and Samuel Fisher, and the late 20th century research and documentation efforts of Lynne Templeton Brickley and the Litchfield Historical Society staff.
CITATION OF ATTENDANCE:
Litchfield Law School Collection Series 1, Subseries 3 Moothall Society Record Books"Helga J. Ingraham Memorial Library, Litchfield Historical Society.

Litchfield Female Academy Collection, Series 2, Folder 2, Letter, Atwater, Jonathon to Atwater, Mr. & Mrs., 1797 March 25. Helga J. Ingraham Memorial Library, Litchfield Historical Society,
Secondary Sources:
Atwater, Charles Hobart. Atwater History and Genealogy. Journal Publishing Company, 1927.

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