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Peter Green Abbott

Peter Green Abbott  is a prominent farmer and stock-grower residing on section 8, Bethel Township, in whom we see one of the honored pioneers of Fayette County. He is a native of the Granite State, his birth having occurred in Concord, February 14, 1830. His parents, Reuben and Hannah Abbott, were also natives of Concord, where four generations of the family have lived in the same house and the name of Reuben Abbott has always belonged to the head of the family. On both sides our subject is descended from George Abbott, who in the historic "Mayflower" crossed the Atlantic from England and located in Plymouth, Mass. He subsequently removed to Andover, Mass., where the family resided until Reuben Abbott, the great grandfather of our subject, traveled northward prior to the Revolutionary War, locating in Concord, N. H. His son Reuben served in the Colonial army, valiantly aiding in the struggle for independence and died in the Granite State. Daniel Abbott, the maternal grandfather of our subject, was also a soldier in the Revolutionary War, was captured by the Indians and taken prisoner to Canada. The family have for generations been members of the Congregational Church. Peter Green Abbott is one of eight children, four sons and four daughters, six of whom are yet living - Catherine W., widow of Daniel Farnum of Concord, N. H.; Hannah G., wife of John Ballard of Concord; Esther M., now Mrs. Albert G. Dow, of Concord; Ezra, who married and follows farming in Rock County, Minn.; P. G. of this sketch; and Henry C., who is married and resides in Leroy, Kan., being employed by the railroad company. Reuben K., the eldest of the family, died in 1889, at the age of seventy-four years. He had always lived in Concord, and occupied the Abbott homestead where the family now reside. Elizabeth B. became the wife of F. B. Carter in Concord, and died about 1876, leaving two daughters.

In the usual manner of farmer lads our subject was reared to manhood. He began his education in the common schools of the neighborhood and completed it by a course of study in Pembroke Academy. Thinking the West furnished better opportunities than the older and more thickly settled States of New England, he turned his face toward the setting sun in 1855 and traveled until May, of that year, when having reached Clayton County, Iowa, he there made a location. However, his stay in that county was short. In December, of the same year he came to Fayette County and purchased eighty acres of partially improved land in Bethel Township, which during his five years residence thereon underwent many changes. A good grove was planted, improvements made and the wild land transformed into productive fields.

The year succeeding his arrival in this county, Mr. Abbot was joined in wedlock with Miss Emily Palmer, a native of Fairfax, Vt., and a daughter of Martin and Harriet (Hunt) Palmer, also natives of the Green Mountain State, where her father died about 1841. Her mother then married D. Kidder and came to this county in 1855, locating in Bethel Township. They sold that farm and removed to Rock Falls, Iowa, where the death of Mrs. Kidder occurred in 1882. The young couple, whose marriage was the first celebrated in Richland now Bethel Township, began their domestic life on a farm which Mr. Abbott first purchased making it their home until 1860, when he bought forty acres of his present farm which he greatly improved by the erection of a substantial dwelling, a barn and other buildings. He also planted a good orchard and from time to time, by additional purchases, extended the boundaries of his land until two hundred acres now pay tribute to his care and cultivation.

Mr. Abbott was called upon to mourn the loss of his excellent wife in 1873, her death occurring in May of that year. By their union were born six children, five of whom are now living - Reuben, who is married and resides near the old home; Justin Palmer, who operated the homestead farm; Almida Josephine, who was born in 1859, and is the wife of Charles Dickens of Chickasaw County; Arthur Platt, the efficient principal of the Oelwein schools; Walter Henry, who died at the age of ten months; and Henry Walter, who is attending school in Decorah, Iowa. Mr. Abbott was again married in Chickasaw County, in November, 1879, his second union being with Achsah (Oatman) Moss, widow of Thomas Moss, and a daughter of Simeon Oatman. Both Mr. and Mrs. Abbott are members of the Congregational Church and have lived upright consistent lives, thus winning the confidence and esteem of those with whom they come in . He takes considerable interest in political affairs, supporting the Republican party, has served as a delegate to the county conventions and has filled the offices of Justice of the Peace, Assessor and Township Clerk, and Treasurer of the township school district. With the history of the county during the past thirty-five years he has been prominently identified, working for its welfare and supporting those measures which are calculated to upbuild and advance its interests."