My Genealogy Hound

JOHN ABBOTT, a farmer and stock-raiser of the town of Fayette, has done much in the improvement of this part of Seneca County. He was born in the town of Varick, January 12, 1826, and is the son of Jesse and Mary Catherine (Gambee) Abbott, natives, respectively, of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The father was born in 1796, and was brought to this state by his father, Daniel Abbott, in the year 1812. The grandfather first located in the town of Fayette, but afterward moved to the town of Romulus, and later to Varick, in each of which communities he owned land He served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and his wife, who was also a strong patriot, aided the cause of the Continentals by singing patriotic and inspiring songs. He died in Varick in 1840, at the age of eighty-four years.

Jesse Abbott was a well read man, and was given more than an ordinary education for that day. He made farming his business through life, living upon one of the tracts which he purchased from his father. In early life he was a Whig, politically, but after 1856 voted for the Republican candidates. He was only permitted to vote for two Presidents, however, as he died in 1863. He represented his town on the Board of Supervisors, and in other ways aided public enterprises. His good wife, who was born in 1800, lived until 1881.

The subject of this sketch was the eldest in the parental family of eight children. His only brother, William, dying in his teens, John was needed on the farm, and he was therefore permitted to attend school but a short time each year. He remained with his mother, profitably managing affairs until twenty-eight years of age, when he started out to do for himself. He was married, in July, 1855, to Miss Margaret Pontius, of the town of Fayette, and to them were born two children. Frances Adel, who married Charles Lautenschlager, makes her home in the town of Varick; and Mary C., now the wife of Chancy Teunison, is a resident of Bloomington, Ill. The wife and mother departed this life in 1857, and April 10, two years later, our subject married Miss Mary A. Kuney, who was born in the town of Fayette, on the property where Mr. Abbott now makes his home, and which belonged to her grandfather. It afterward was inherited by her father, Benjamin Kuney, from whom Jesse Abbott purchased it. By his marriage with Miss Kuney there have been born six children. Carrie married Wellie P. Moses, whose sketch will be found elsewhere in this volume; Luther chose for his wife Pearl Moyer, and lives in this town; Edward married Carrie Reed, of the town of Varick; Nellie is now Mrs. Eugene Beck, of Seneca Falls; Lorana Pearl is at home with our subject, as is also Maynard. They all have been given good educations, and fitted for useful positions in life.

Our subject cast his first Presidential vote, for a Whig candidate, in 1848. In 1856, however, he voted for John C. Fremont, and has ever since supported Republican candidates. He was elected on that ticket to the office of Supervisor and Road Commissioner, and at one time was candidate for the Superintendency of the County Poor Farm, but failed in being elected, as the county was strongly Democratic.

Mr. Abbott is well known through this community, as for twenty-seven years he was the traveling salesman for D. M. Osborne, manufacturer of a superior grade of reapers and mowers. His farm, which he now cultivates, is one hundred and fifty-five acres in extent, and on it he has erected substantial buildings. He began at the bottom round of the ladder, and his career through life is worthy of emulation. He is surrounded by all the comforts of life, and, with his happy family, is so situated that he can enjoy peace and quiet.