Biography

John Atkinson, the son of John Atkinson (1799-1852) and first wife Sarah Crooker (1801-1835), was born 12 June 1828 Newbury, Massachusetts; and he died 21 December 1888 Newton, Massachusetts. John married 11 August 1857 in Newburyport to Elizabeth Ann Lancaster.

In 1844, John Atkinson (1828-1888) at age 16 went to work for a Newburyport merchant and soon began to sail on merchant vessels. In 1851, he settled in Calcutta as an East Indian merchant. In 1857, he returned to Newburyport and was married. He and his wife returned to Calcutta where Lizzie and Maud were born in 1859 and 1861. John and his family moved back and forth across the ocean and in 1865 his only son was born in West Newton, Ma. John's business, conducted largely in partnership with his brother-in-law Samuel Stevens, suffered from the depredations of the Confederate raider Alabama. John and his family moved back and forth between Calcutta and America until 1871 when they moved back to Massachusetts permanently. John built a house in West Newton where he lived until his death in 1888.