William Q. Atwood

William Q. Atwood

Atwood in 1887
Born (1839-01-01)January 1, 1839
Wilcox County, Alabama
Died December 21, 1910(1910-12-21) (aged 71)
Saginaw, Michigan, United States
Occupation Lumber baron
Political party Republican

William Q. Atwood (January 1, 1839 – December 21, 1910) was a lumber baron from Saginaw, Michigan. He was born a slave and active in the Underground Railroad in Ripley, Ohio after receiving his freedom. He settled in East Saginaw, Michigan in 1863 and became successful in real estate and lumber dealing. He opened a sawmill in 1874, and became one of the richest African Americans in Michigan. He was also active in the Republican party, and was a delegate to the 1888 Republican National Convention.

Early life

William Quincy Atwood was born a slave January 1, 1839 on the Shell Creek plantation in Wilcox County, Alabama near Prairie Bluff. His father and master was Henry Styles Atwood, born March 26, 1798. His mother was born on the Maryland Eastern Shore and raised in Philadelphia and Alabama. William had a number of brothers, including Julius, John S. David, Olive, and Kossuth. Henry died in 1853 and freed his slaves in his will. As a result, William and twenty-one other persons went north, settling in Ripley, Ohio, where he attended a colored school. From 1856 to 1859 he went to Iberia school and later attended Berea College. In the fall of 1859 he went with his brother, John, to California. In California, he worked on steamboats, opened a restaurant, and did some gold mining. John returned to Ohio first, followed by William in the fall of 1861.[1][2] Ripley was on the Ohio, River opposite from Maysville, Kentucky, a slave state, and Atwood may have been involved in the Underground Railroad active in the area.[3]

Business career in Saginaw

In the spring of 1862, Atwood visited East Saginaw, Michigan, returning to Ripley in the fall. The ongoing American Civil War (1861-1865) made life difficult for a young man who was not a soldier, and an African American beside, and in the summer of 1863 he returned to East Saginaw where he began land speculating. That year he bought and then sold sixteen hundred acres of land profiting $4,000 on the deal. This was the start of his success in real estate in Michigan.[1]

In winter 1868 he began working in lumber, making a profit of $6,000 in the following year, and continued to cut one to five million feet of lumber until 1877.[1] He opened a sawmill along the Saginaw River in 1874.[2] He took a short amount of time off, but lumbered in 1880-1882, 1885, and 1886. He marketed his lumber widely, selling wood in Toledo, Cleveland, Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus, Chicago, Boston, Baltimore, and elsewhere. He was the only black member of the Saginaw Board of Trade.[1] Atwood may have played a role in preventing Saginaw African Americans from joining the Knights of Labor, especially in 1885 when lumber workers in the area struck.[4] In the 1893 Saginaw fire, Atwood lost two houses.[5]

Civic and political activities

Atwood was active in a number of civic and political activities. In 1884, he was nominated to be delegate-at-large from Michigan to the Republican National Convention, but only one black man was to be selected and the honor went to Detroit city councilman Samuel C. Watson.[6] In 1866, Atwood was he was the treasurer of the East Saginaw Colored Debating Society. In May 1871, he was a supporter of the new library of the Young Men's Association of East Saginaw.[3] In 1884, Atwood was elected at the Colored Men's State Convention to attend the National Colored Convention at Richmond, Virginia.[7] In September 1886 he was a city ambassador to Grand Rapids. He was frequently involved in Emancipation Day activities. He was a lifelong Republican[3] and was the first president of the Michigan Protective League formed in 1888. With the support of the league, Atwood campaigned for presidential candidate William Henry Harrison and served as a Michigan delegate-at-large at the 1888 Republican National Convention in Chicago. The next year, the league put Atwood's name forward for the post of Washington, DC Recorder of Deeds.[8] In 1890, Atwood was again a delegate at a national convention of colored men meeting, this time, in Washington, DC[9] and in 1895 in Detroit, Michigan.[10]

Personal life, death, and legacy

He married Charlotte Echols in Cleveland, Ohio on May 15, 1872. Charlotte was born in Wilkes County, Georgia and was a schoolteacher. They had five children, Willie, Freddie Stiles, Oliver Kossuth, Alice May, and Lottie.[1] Charlotte died in 1895.[3]

Atwood died December 21, 1910 in at St. Mary's hospital in Saginaw of congestion of the lungs.[11] He was buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Saginaw. In 2002, Atwood was inducted into the Saginaw Hall of Fame[12][13]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Simmons, William J., and Henry McNeal Turner. Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising. GM Rewell & Company, 1887. p651-655
  2. 1 2 Kilar, Jeremy W. Michigan's Lumbertowns: Lumbermen and Laborers in Saginaw, Bay City, and Muskegon, 1870-1905. Wayne State University Press, 1990. p143
  3. 1 2 3 4 Jezierski, John Vincent. Enterprising Images: The Goodridge Brothers, African American Photographers, 1847-1922. Wayne State University Press, 2000. p221-222
  4. ↑ Jezierski 2000, p230
  5. ↑ Losses in Full, Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan) May 23, 1893, page 2, accessed November 15, 2016 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7461303/losses_in_full_detroit_free_press/
  6. ↑ Political Gossip, Detroit Free press (Detroit, Michigan) September 6, 1884, page 8, accessed December 13, 2016 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7841433/political_gossip_detroit_free_press/
  7. ↑ Colored Men of Michigan, Green Bay Advocate (Green Bay, Wisconsin) May 27, 1884, page 1, accessed November 15, 2016 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7461231/colored_men_of_michigan_green_bay/
  8. ↑ Jezierski 2000, p232-233
  9. ↑ Colored Men to Confer, Evening Star (Washington, DC) January 24, 1890, page 8, accessed November 15, 2016 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7461277/colored_men_to_confer_evening_star/
  10. ↑ Politics Crept In, Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michiga) December 14, 1895, page 6, accessed November 15, 2016 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7461336/politics_crept_in_detroit_free_press/
  11. ↑ Saginaw Pioneer Dead, The Times Herald (Port Huron, Michigan) December 21, 1910, page 7, accessed November 15, 2016 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7461369/saginaw_pioneer_dead_the_times_herald/
  12. ↑ White, Sue. Saginaw Hall of Fame book honors past while seeking new nominations, MLive.com, June 13, 2015, accessed November 15, 2016 at http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2015/06/saginaw_hall_of_fame_honors_pa.html
  13. ↑ Saginaw Hall of Fame nomination letter and brief biography by Lenette Brown available at Mid-Michigan Remembers Stories about Us, Delta College, accessed November 15, 2016 at http://websites.delta.edu/michiganremembers/stories/Atwood-Brown.htm
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