History

Mom’s been holding on to Uncle Bud’s air medals, drivers license and other momentos in a drawer for some time. A while back she had the items framed. Click the photo above for a closer look. Also view the photo that Mom & Dad got when they visited Bud’s gravesite.

Click HERE to view the World War II Honor Roll from the American Battle Monuments Commission for Melvin P. Van Houten (you will have to perform a search for Van Houten, Melvin since a direct link is not available).

Our Atwater line started in this country with David Attwater who arrived in the New World in 1637 from Kent, England with his sister and brother. The men were among the first 36 settlers of New Haven, Connecticut. Joshua, David’s brother, left no progeny but David had 11 children. Six of these children were sons and 5 of them had several children between them. The early Atwaters (some spelled the name Attwater) were farmers and tradesmen in the colony. Some served in the Revolutionary war.

Caleb Atwater, a fifth generation descendant of David, moved from New Haven, Connecticut to Genoa in Cayuga County, New York with his brother John in the 1790s. There the Atwaters were farmers, produce dealers and tradesmen.

Willis W. Atwater is five generations removed from Caleb. He had 3 children, Norman Burnham, Joseph Newberry, and Florence M. He lived with his family on the shore of Cayuga Lake at Atwater, New York. As an adult Norman B. worked for the Lackawanna Railroad as a station agent and was ultimately sent to New Jersey. Joseph N. was a Postmaster and store owner in King Ferry, New York. He later worked for the Power Company around the Cayuga County area, and subsequently moved with his family to Florida. Florence M. married Ivan Streeter, a farmer and carpenter and lived in the area around Cortland, New York.

On the Van Houten side, Moms mother (Grandma Beatie) was born in Bryn Mawr, Wales in 1886. At the age of 3, her mother and father, Harriet Price Burrows and John Burrows brought her and 3 sisters and a brother (they later had 4 more daughters) to Paterson, N.J. where she lived until she married Richard Daley Van Houten in 1920. He was a widower with one son, Uncle Ken. He was born in Totowa, NJ in 1878 and he lived there his entire life of 72 years.

Dad and Mom visited Bryn Mawr and saw the house where Grandma Beatie was born. A cousin of hers who was still living at that time remembered when the family had left for the USA and told us where to look. My Dad's ancestors came from the Netherlands.

Dad came across some notes he made in Cleveland when he was looking up Atwater family history in October. It was a newspaper article from the 1890's about an Atwater who has no known connection to us. Read on, it's rather amusing.
"Henry Atwater 68 died March 15, 1896 at Shaw's Bag House from the result of an accident. He was embalmed by Cassidy and Thurbee Funeral Home, Alliance, Ohio and sent by express on the train March 16, 1896 at 8:30 PM to J. D. Atwater of Hale, Missouri. Collect." Wonder what would have happened if J. D. had refused to pay the freight charge!

The photo at left is of the Atwater burial plots in Kings Ferry, New York (near Atwater, NY) in Cayuga County. Dad and Mom visited the Finger Lakes region of New York on their way back from Chicago in October. Atwater is located along the east shore of Cayuga Lake.

The photograph shows the headstone of Dad's father on the left, Norman Burnham Atwater (1890-1934), and his mother on the right, Juanita Stowe Atwater (1885-1972). In the background is the Atwater gravesite marking. Beyond that lies Dad's grandparents, Willis W. Atwater (1859-1926) and Anna J. Newberry.

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