Contra
Costa County
Biographies
HON.
JOSHUA PLUMMER ABBOTT
HON.
JOSHUA PLUMMER ABBOTT. Among the leading
citizens of Contra Costa county, Antioch numbers
J. P. Abbott, a successful attorney and business man. He was born March 3, 1840, at Boscawen,
N.H., a son of Jabez and Eunice (Moody) Abbott.
Jabez Abbott was born in the same
place July 3, 1800, and followed farming during his entire life in the
vicinity of Boscawen and died there at the age of eighty-six years. Eunice Moody Abbott was born in 1811 in New
Hampshire and was a descendant of a distinguished Massachusetts family, of whom
the late Dwight L. Moody was also a member, and a first cousin to Mrs.
Abbott. She died in 1876. Eight children were born of the union of
Mr. and Mrs. Abbott, of whom four are living.
In
tracing the ancestry of J. P. Abbott it is found that the American
branch of the family was founded by George Abbott, who emigrated from England
and settled in Massachusetts in 1640.
One of his descendants, Samuel Abbott, was one of the founders of the
Andover Theological Seminary at Andover, Mass., in 1807. After a time members of the family migrated
to Concord, N.H. The celebrated divine,
the late Lyman Abbott, and also the noted vocalist and actress, the late Emma
Abbott, were cousins of Jabez Abbott.
J. P. Abbott
received his education in the common schools of his native town, afterward
attending Elmwood Institute, from which he was graduated with honors. He then became a student at Dartmouth
College, in Hanover, N.H., in 1862, but left school the fall of the following
year to come to California. Among his
classmates was Henry C. Ide, United States commissioner on the Taft
commission appointed by William McKinley to the Philippine Islands.
Coming
to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama, Mr. Abbott arrived at his
destination November 1, 1863, the trip consuming about one month. The first six months of his residence were
spent teaching school in Napa county. Having decided upon the profession of law as
his life work, he accordingly became a student, and under the preceptorship of
W. W. Pendegast and Thomas J. Tucker
he diligently pursued his studies, and was admitted to the bar in 1866. Going east on a visit, from which he returned
in 1867, he immediately located in Antioch, Contra Costa county, and for a
number of years he served as deputy district attorney. During this time Mr. Abbott was also
engaged in newspaper work, editing the Antioch Ledger for a period of ten years.
In
1876 he received the appointment of deputy internal revenue collector for this
district, a position he filled with credit until 1879. In the meantime Mr. Abbott abandoned
newspaper work and has since engaged in the practice of his profession in
Contra Costa county.
He has also served as notary public for thirty-two years and as justice
of the peace for a number of years. In
1886 he was nominated state senator from his district, being elected on the
Republican ticket, and by his many acts of usefulness proved his fidelity to the
people and to his section of the state.
Success
has crowned the efforts of Mr. Abbott from a financial standpoint, as well
as professional and official. In 1882 he
purchased a quarter interest in the Antioch Lumber
Company and also the Rouse-Beede Company, retaining
his interest in these companies to the present time. By his marriage, in Antioch, June 25,
1872, he was united with Miss M. G. McMaster, who was born
December 3, 1853, in Antioch, and to whom belongs
the distinction of having been the first white child born in that place. She is a graduate of Mills College with class
of 1872. Mrs. Abbott is a daughter
of J. C. McMaster, who was among the gold seekers of 1849, and who
for a period of sixteen years was county supervisor of Contra Costa county.
Mr. Abbott is allied with the Masons, holding a membership in
Antioch Lodge No. 175, F.& A.M., and
Antioch chapter No. 65, R.A.M.
Mr. Abbott is recognized as one of the substantial and leading men
of the community in which he resides, giving of him[sic]
time and means toward the upbuilding of the county.
Transcribed by Donna Toole.
ญญญญSource: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 407-408. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2015 Donna Toole.
Contra Costa County Biographies