David Atwood

Who was David Atwood?

David Atwood was a nineteenth-century politician, publisher, editor and printer from Wisconsin.

Born in Bedford, New Hampshire, Atwood attended the public schools as a child. He moved Hamilton, New York in 1832 where he was apprenticed as a printer and later became publisher of the Hamilton Palladium. He moved to Freeport, Illinois in 1845 and engaged in agricultural pursuits before moving to Madison, Wisconsin in 1847 and for forty-two years was editor and publisher of the Wisconsin Journal. Atwood was commissioned a major general in the Wisconsin Militia by Governor Alexander W. Randall in 1858, was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1861, was an United States assessor for four years and served as mayor of Madison, Wisconsin in 1868 and 1869. In 1870, he was elected a Republican to the United States House of Representatives to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Benjamin F. Hopkins. He took over representing Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district in the 41st Congress serving until 1871 and declining to be a candidate for renomination in 1870 to the 42nd Congress.