JOSEPH T. ATWOOD is a successful attorney-at-law, and a member of the firm of Minor & Atwood, who have offices in the Masonic Temple building in Longmont. He is the legal adviser of the Farmers' National Bank of Longmont, and has a large practice in Longmont and vicinity. In the political world he is very prominent and popular, and has frequently been chosen to preside as chairman over conventions of the Boulder County Democratic party in late years. Moreover, he has frequently been sent as a delegate to the state conventions of the party, and has been an active and aggressive worker in the cause. For several terms he has served as city attorney, and has made a good record for himself and constituents.

Marsylus Atwood, father of the above-named gentleman, was a native of Greene County, Ind., born in 1823. He was a son of George B. Atwood, who was born in Massachusetts, and came from an old and respected New England family. George B. Atwood married a Miss Lawrence, who, though born in Georgia, was of English parentage. The couple moved to Indiana at an early day in the history of that state, and in 1837 went to Texas. Mr. Atwood took up a tract of forty-five hundred acres of land in Henderson County, under the peculiar laws then in force in that region, and died just prior to the Mexican war. His wife returned to Indiana at the outbreak of hostilities between the two countries, and thus the property was lost to the family under the statute of limitations. Marsylus Atwood was reared to manhood in Indiana and Texas, and after he returned to his native state he was occupied in farming in Greene County until his death, during the Civil war, in 1863. He married Martha Ann Martindale, likewise a native of Indiana, and five children came to bless their union. Two of the number are deceased. Mrs. Lee resides in Longmont and William is living in Boulder. The Martindales were originally from England, and settled in Virginia at an early period. Mrs. Atwood was the daughter of William Martindale, who was born and brought up in Virginia and went to Indiana on arriving at maturity, there to engage in cultivating a homestead during the rest of his active life. Mrs. Atwood departed this life in Indiana when but forty years of age.

Joseph T. Atwood was born in Newark, Greene County, Ind., in 1862. His father died when the boy was scarcely a year old, and the mother died a few years later. Until he was fourteen our subject attended the public schools of Newark, and in the fall of the Centennial year he started for the west. For nearly a year he lived in Taylor County, Iowa, but in 1877 came to Boulder County. Here he spent about ten years in agricultural pursuits, giving as much time as possible to his studies and going to the district schools several terms. In 1887 he entered the State Agricultural College, and continued until the close of his junior year. In 1890 he returned to the east and in the fall matriculated in the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He was one in a class originally numbering three hundred and twelve, but twenty-two failed to graduate, a large percentage. It was in the summer of 1892 that he received the honors for winch he had been striving, that of Bachelor of Laws. The same year he opened an office in Longmont and has since been engaged in the practice of general law. The following year he entered into partnership with Mr. Minor and the present firm of Minor & Atwood was formed. Mr. Atwood has rapidly risen in his profession, and his friends predict for him a brilliant future. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Woodmen of the World, and is a great favorite in social circles. 

Portrait amp; Biographical Record of Denver & Vicinty (1898) pg. 317-8