"Biographical Sketches, 1781
Jason Atwater, the fourth son and eighth child of Captain Jacob Atwater, of Hamden, Connecticut, and a brother of the Rev. Noah Atwater (Yale 1774), was born in Hamden on May 5, 1759. He studied theology at the College, and was licensed to preach by the New Haven Association of Ministers on September 24, 1782. A year later the same Association advised the vacant church in Branford, Connecticut, to apply to Mr. Atwater, and after due apprenticeship he received a call to the pastorate by a small majority. The New Haven County Consociation convened to attend his ordination on February 18, 1784, but the opposition was so considerable that action was deferred. The result was that an Episcopal Society was formed by the disaffected, and Mr. Atwater's ordination was allowed to proceed on March 10.
On December 7, 1784, he was married by her father to Anne, daughter of the Rev. Warham Williams (Yale 1745) of Northford Society, in North Branford. He broke down early with consumption; and after more than a year of feebleness and intermitted labor, he died in Branford, on June 10, 1794, having just entered on his 36th year. His was the first death in the Class. He had one daughter, and his widow next married (on June 15, 1796) his successor in office, the Rev. Lynde Huntington (Yale 1788), and thirdly the Rev. Joseph Barker (Yale 1771), of Middleborough, Massachusetts, a native of Branford."
