 John Atwood became an Assistant Governor in Plymouth in 1638.This position to which he was elected by other colonists who had taken the Oath of a Freeman indicates that he was viewed as a person of stature within the colony.Atwood became a mediator in the ongoing dispute between Governor Bradford and his Plymouth Colony partners with the London owners of the Plymouth Company (the Plymouth Adventurers) over the amount owed to each party as a result of trade goods (mainly beaver pelts and other furs) that had been shipped to London.