Mr. J. S. Atwood, of Ripley, Ohio, is a member of the race who has a great many friends and admirers among both white and colored people. At present Mr. Atwood is engaged in the livery business on a very large scale. His horses and carriages are the best, and his trade comes from the leading people in the city. He not only owns the large building where his business is carried on, but he owns quite a number of others in the place. He was born a slave in Alabama, and is a brother of Mr. W. Q. Atwood, of Saginaw, Mich., who is also mentioned in this book. For years he has been active in the interest of his race, especially in defending their rights. He was one who urged Bishop Arnett to introduce the bill in the Ohio legislature that mixed the schools of the State, and in that way gave several thousand colored children an educational opportunity who had before that been kept out of school, as there were only colored schools in towns where the colored population was large. For sixteen years Mr. Atwood was a member of the board of councilmen of Ripley, Ohio. He has always been a strong and very influential Republican, but his general popularity as a leader and strong man was such that he was chosen by a Democratic governor to take the presidency of the Ohio Institution for the Education of the Blind, located at Columbus, Ohio. He served as president of this institution for five years, and while there brought about many reforms in the interest of the race. Before he went there colored people had never held positions of any kind at the institution; in fact, colored children had been put off by themselves to both eat and sleep. Mr. Atwood soon put a stop to that sort of thing, and he also appointed several colored people to different positions about the institution, such as clerks and teachers. Some of the colored teachers appointed by him gave such general satisfaction that they are still retained, although he has been away for years. At Ripley Mr. Atwood is looked upon as a very important citizen, and his color in no way stands in the way of his popularity and usefulness. GEORGE W. FRANKLIN, JR. [Illustration: GEORGE W. FRANKLIN, JR.]