Elizabeth Atwater (née Emerson; August 8, 1812 – April 11, 1878) was an American botanist.
Atwater was born Elizabeth Emerson in Norwich, Vermont, on August 8, 1812, and at the age of 14 years old she attended the distinguished women's school in Troy Seminary, New York, where she began studying plants.[1] She married Samuel T. Atwater in 1839 and moved to Chicago in 1856.[2]
Atwater became a notable botanist, corresponding with other famous botanists of this period, including Charles Mohr.
She was acquainted with Mary Todd Lincoln after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865, and received "a gorgeous, photographic album presented me on last New Years day by Mrs. Lincoln, wife of our martyrd President" (March 36, 1867).[4][verify]