ATWATER, John Wilbur, a Representative from North Carolina; born near Rialto (now Fearington), Chatham County, N.C., December 27, 1840; attended the common schools and the old William Closs Academy; engaged in agricultural pursuits; during the Civil War enlisted in the Confederate Army and served in Company D, First Regiment, North Carolina Volunteer Infantry, and was with the army of Gen. Robert E. Lee until the surrender at Appomattox; joined the Farmers’ Alliance in 1887; first president of Chatham County Alliance; elected to the State senate in 1890 as an Alliance Democrat, and also in 1892 and 1896 as a Populist; elected as an Independent Populist to the Fifty-sixth Congress (March 4, 1899-March 3, 1901); was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1900 to the Fifty-seventh Congress; resumed agricultural pursuits; died in Fearington, N.C., on July 4, 1910; interment in Mount Pleasant Church Cemetery, near Pittsboro, N.C.