Cyclopedia Of Georgia

Abba, a post-village of Irwin county, is located six miles north of Irwinville, on the Davisville & Fitzgerald branch of the Hawkinsville & Florida Southern railway.

Abbeville, the county seat of Wilcox county, is pleasantly situated on the western bank of the Ocmulgee river. The Georgia & Alabama railroad (now a part of the Seaboard Air Line) runs through the town, and it is connected with the Plant System at Tifton by the Tifton & Northeastern. Further transportation facilities are afforded by the Ocmulgee Line of steamers, plying between Hawkinsville and southern points. Abbeville has an international money order postoffice, a bank, and telegraphic communication. In 1890 the population was 657 and in 1900 it was 1,152, a growth of nearly forty-five per cent, during the decade.

Abbot, William Wright, the popular cashier of the First National bank of Louisville, and recognized as one of the representative business men of Jefferson county, was born on a plantation in Butler county, Ala., April 1, 1861, being a son of Captain Cato and Euphrasia A. (Carter) Abbot, both of whom were born. in Wan en county, Ga. Captain Abbot was a planter by vocation and was among the first to go forth in defense of the cause of the Confederacy in the Civil war, having been captain of his company and having died in 1863, as the result of wounds received on the field of battle. His widow died in 1868, when the subject of this sketch was but seven years of age, and the latter was reared by his mother's sister, the late Mrs. Amanda Sammons, of Jefferson county. He was afforded the advantages of the schools of this

county, including a course in the Louisville academy. He continued to attend school until he had attained the age of seventeen years, when he became a clerk in a local mercantile establishment. He finally engaged in the same line of enterprise, in Louisville, having been for five years a member of the firm of Sinquefield, Abbot & Stone, and thereafter, for ten years, a member of the firm of Abbot & Stone. In April, 1902, he became one of the organizers and incorporators of the First National bank of Louisville, of which he has since been cashier and a member of the board of directors. The bank is fortified by ample capital and able executive control and has gained place among the substantial and popular financial institutions of this part of the state. Mr. Abbot is also manager and a director of the Louisville Manufacturing Company. As a citizen and business man he has the uniform confidence and esteem of the community which has represented his home during practically his entire life. In politics he is a staunch Democrat, and he is a prominent member of the local Baptist church, of which he is clerk. April 8, 1890, witnessed the marriage of Mr. Abbot to Miss Julia F. Phillips, daughter of the late Rev. David G. Phillips, D. D., of Louisville, and they have four children—Ruth, William Wright, Jr., Gardner Phillips, and Julia Frances.

Abbott, Benjamin Franklin, of Atlanta, stands in the front rank of the legal profession in Georgia. He was born in Cherokee county, Ga., July 3, 1839, a son of Noah Abbott, who was a native of the Spartanburg district, S. C., whence he later removed to the Pickens district in that state, from which locality he came to Cherokee county in 1838. The maiden name of his wife was Nancy Seago, also born in South Carolina. Mr. Abbott is descended from staunch old New England stock, being in the fifth generation in direct descent from John Abbott, who removed from Rowley, Mass., to Georgetown, S. C., in 1720. B. F. Abbott was born and reared on a farm, but received a liberal common-school education and afterward attended the high schools of north Georgia. He studied law in Atlanta, under the preceptorship of the late Green B. Haygood, and was admitted to the bar in October, 1860. When the Civil war broke out he enlisted as a volun

teer in an independent company commanded by Capt. E. M. Seago afterward known as Company F, Twentieth Georgia volunteers. This regiment was at first a part of Gen. James Longstreet's brigade, subsequently commanded by Gen. Robert Toombs and later by Gen. Henry L. Benning. It is recorded of this company that it endured many vicissitudes, both in process of mustering and in its famous march from Atlanta to Dalton, Ga., on its way to the front, and it challenged the admiration of many of the officials of the Confederacy at that time. Mr. Abbott was first sergeant of the company. In 1863 he was commissioned by President Davis as first lieutenant in the provisional army of the Confederacy and assigned to duty in the Twentieth Georgia regiment, which position he declined. He experienced considerable active service during the war; participated in the siege of Yorktown, in the battles of Frazier's Farm, Malvern Hill, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Thoroughfare Gap and a number of other engagements, and after leaving active service in the field was assigned to duty in the quartermaster's department. Shortly after the return of peace he resumed the practice of law. At different periods he practiced his profession in partnership with James R. Gray, Alexander W. Smith ?nd Albert H. Cox. After the retirement of the late Judge H. K. McCay from the supreme bench of Georgia, Mr. Abbott formed a partnership with him, and this association continued until Judge McCay was appointed judge of the district court of the United States for the northern district of Georgia. He is at present the senior member of the firm of Abbott & Goree, which represents a large number of corporations and is doing a lucrative business in the city of Atlanta. At no period in his career has Mr. Abbott shown much inclination to politics. He was, however, elected a member of the general assembly of Georgia in 1884, from the county of Fulton. During the two years of his membership he served with distinction and was a member of the most important committees of the house of representatives. To his efforts was largely due the appropriation secured from the state for the building of the new capitol in Atlanta. He also served with distinction as a member of the famous new charter committee, in 1874, drafted the bill which secured the new charter for the city of Atlanta and was the author of many of its best provisions. He was also a member of the executive committee of the International Cotton Exposition, which was held in Atlanta in 1881 and was the legal adviser of that committee. On two different occasions the bar

of Atlanta has tendered him its support and endorsement for the office of judge of the superior court of Fulton county, and in 1893 he declined the commission for that position on account of pressing legal business. Mr. Abbott is a man of rare literary attainments. He possesses all the qualifications of a good lawyer and companionable gentleman. His legal erudition has been demonstrated on many occasions before the bar and the country. In 1901 he delivered an address in the hall of the house of representatives of Georgia on the "Life and Character of John Marshall," on the occasion of the anniversary held under the auspices of the State bar association, and this address was the subject of much favorable comment. It is published in the book entitled "The Life and Character and Judicial Service of John Marshall," by John F. Dillon. In 1904, before the American bar association, in St. Louis, Mr. Abbott delivered one of the most important addresses which the association has ever had, his subject being, "To What Extent Would a Nation Protect Its Citizens in Foreign Countries?" This address has caused world-wide and favorable comment and has placed Mr. Abbott in the front rank of men of thought and among the jurists of the American republic. He is the vice-president of the Atlanta bar association and holds the confidence and esteem of all the members thereof. He is a man of broad general information; is well read; has traveled much, and his powers of observation and assimilation have caused him to be recognized as an authority on all subjects of general interest. He is a man of infinite good humor; possesses a genial disposition; can recount a story in an inimitable manner; is popular with the bar of Atlanta, which means that he has measured up to the full standard, as the bar of Atlanta is very discriminating; is a very ready and fluent speaker, and his addresses are always listened to with much profit by his hearers. He is a deacon of the First Baptist church of Atlanta, for many years has served as delegate to the Baptist state convention and the southern Baptist convention, and also a member of the homemission board of the latter body. He has been twice married, first to Miss Isabella Kendrick, of Atlanta, with whom he lived in perfect domestic happiness for more than a quarter of a century, and until her death, in 1893. The surviving children of this union are: Charles A. Abbott, of New York; Belle, wife of Maj. Tracey C. Dickson, of the ordnance department of the United States army, Washington, D. C.; Benjamin F., Jr.; and Lucia, wife of George Perrigo, of Milwaukee, Wis. In 1895 Mr. Abbott was