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Abbott Family
George L. Abbott.
The 1875 Kansas census lists in Dexter township:
George L. Abbott 24 m w Ohio Indiana
Jenny A.? Abbott 24 f w Indiana Indiana
Orlando A.? Abbott 3 m w Kansas
David M. Abbott 1 m w Kansas
BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
Biographic Sketches of Leading Citizens of
COWLEY COUNTY, KANSAS.
“Biography is the only true history.” Emerson.
BIOGRAPHICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY.
GEORGE RICHMOND, Press.; S. HARMER NEFF, Sec’y.;
C. R. ARNOLD, Treas.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,
1901.
[1871] PAGE 193.
GEORGE L. ABBOTT was a prominent fruit grower residing in Walnut township, where he cultivated 40 acres, comprising the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 19, township 32, range 5 east. Twenty acres of this farm constituted one of the finest orchards in Cowley County, while the remainder was devoted to berries.
Mr. Abbott was born October 12, 1841, on government land in Cook County, Illinois, now included in the present site of Chicago, which was then government land.
Mr. Abbott was the son of Samuel S. and Jane (Boyd) Abbott.
His father, Samuel S. Abbott, was a native of Massachusetts. The family genealogy runs well back in English history. Samuel moved to Chicago in 1834, and being a carpenter by trade, assisted in building the first store on Lake Street. He then took up a claim on the site of the original city, and another, nine miles from the courthouse. He furnished telegraph poles for the first line built in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and assisted in driving the Black Hawk Indians from the vicinity of Chicago to Wisconsin. He took much interest in the growth and welfare of that city, and held various political positions. He was a Whig during his early life and afterward a Republican. He served as constable, and as justice of the peace, and was fifteen years assessor of his township in Cook County, where he died in 1874. His wife was born in Syracuse, New York; her father was a Scotchman, who came to this country in 1812—he was pressed into the British army—but after three desertions, he finally got safely into the American army.
Four children survived of the eight born [1901]:
George L.; N. H., who located in Cowley County during the early 1870s, living near Winfield; Ella J., who resided with her brother, N. H.; and John S., who lived on North Church Street in Winfield, and was a section foreman on the Southern Kansas Railway of Texas.
George L. Abbott remained at home until 1861, and when a call for soldiers was issued by Pres. Lincoln to put down the Rebellion, Mr. Abbott enlisted in a cavalry company, which joined the 1st Missouri Battalion, and which was consolidated and known as the 10th Reg., Mo. Vol. Cav., in 1862. He served three years and participated in the battle of Pea Ridge, as a part of Gen. Curtis’ body guard. Returning to Chicago at the end of his term, he remained on a farm in the vicinity six months, and after that reenlisted in the 8th Reg., U. S. Vet. Vol.—called the 1st Hancock’s Corps. To be eligible to this regiment a man required at least two years of experience as a soldier. Nine regiments of this class were formed to answer the call “On to Richmond.” Mr. Abbott was mustered out of service April 1866. The following year was spent on the farm near Chicago.
In 1871 Mr. Abbott, in a party of four, including his brother, N. H., charted a car at Chicago and went to Humboldt, Kansas, whence they drove to Dexter, Cowley County.
George L. Abbott chose the northwest quarter of section 24, township 32, range 7 east, which was about five miles south of Cambridge. He lived there six months, when he took a deed of the place, and returned to Chicago, to wait until the county became settled. In Chicago he conducted a bakery, confectionery, and ice cream store, which, a few years later, he sold and worked at the carpenter’s trade until 1885. In that year he journeyed to Winfield, and rented a farm in Walnut Township for two years, having sold his preemption on account of its being too far from any city. He then moved to Winfield, where he operated a feed store during 1888 and 1889. Disposing of that business, he purchased the south half of the southwest quarter of section 19, township 32, range 5 east. He erected a neat little home and a large barn, and devoted his time to the raising of fruit-making berries his specialty. His orchard of 20 acres included a large variety of trees, which yielded abundantly, and no better fruit farm could be found in the vicinity of Winfield.
George L. Abbott was married in the fall of 1867 to Mary C. Hubbard, a native of Massa-chusetts, who came west when a child of eleven years. They had eight children, five still living in 1901: Cora E., who married Scott Wolf (they moved to Oklahoma); Nellie, who married Henry Schmidt of Winfield; Dillie May, who married Charles Simms (they moved to the Cherokee strip); Mary; and George. Mrs. Abbott died in 1892.
Mr. Abbott formed a second union, wedding Mrs. S. H. Waymouth; they had a son, William Waymouth.
Politically, Mr. Abbott was a Republican; while living in Cook County, Illinois, he served as clerk of Jefferson Township, and six years as justice of the peace. He served on the school board of Walnut township for about ten years. He was a member of Siverd Post, No. 85, G. A. R. Mr. Abbott favored the Congregational Church while his wife was a member of the Baptist Church.
