Chauncey Abbott

Chauncey Abbott (September 16, 1815 – January 30, 1872) was an American lawyer and politician. He served as the 5th Village President of Madison, Wisconsin, and represented central Dane County in the Wisconsin State Assembly during the 3rd Wisconsin Legislature.

For the American politician from New York, see Chauncey M. Abbott.
Chauncey Abbott
5th Village President of Madison, Wisconsin
In office
1852–1853
Preceded bySimeon Mills
Succeeded byHorace A. Tenney
Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
from the Dane 2nd district
In office
January 1, 1850 – January 1, 1851
Preceded byIra W. Bird
Succeeded byAugustus A. Bird
Personal details
Born(1815-09-16)September 16, 1815
Cornwall, Vermont, U.S.
DiedJanuary 30, 1872(1872-01-30) (aged 56)
Schuyler, Nebraska, U.S.
Resting placeForest Hill Cemetery
Madison, Wisconsin
Political partyWhig Party
Spouses
  • Jane Strong
  • (m. 1845; died 1852)
  • Anne Damon Maxwell (Wells)
  • (m. 1856; died 1916)
Children
  • with Jane Strong
  • John Strong Abbott
  • (b. 1846; died 1889)
  • Mary Abbott
  • (b. 1848; died 1895)
  • with Anne Maxwell
  • Chauncy Abbott II
  • (b. 1857; died 1918)
  • Samuel Maxwell Abbott
  • (b. 1859; died 1859)
  • Annie Abbott
  • (b. 1862; died 1862)
  • Maxwell Abbott
  • (b. 1862; died 1862)
Alma materMiddlebury College
ProfessionLawyer
Politician

Early life

Abbott was born in Cornwall, Vermont.[1] He graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont.[2] He came to the Wisconsin Territory in 1841,[1] he read law and began practicing in Fort Winnebago, before moving to Mineral Point. There he became a law partner with Moses M. Strong. He then settled in Madison, where he formed a law practice with John Catlin, future secretary and acting-governor of the Wisconsin Territory.[3]

Political career

In 1848, Abbott ran as the Whig candidate for Secretary of State of Wisconsin, but lost the election.[4] In 1850, he was the District Attorney of Dane County and served in the Wisconsin State Assembly.[5][6] In the fall of 1852, he was the Whig Party's candidate for United States Congress in Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district, but was defeated. He was the president of the Dane County Bar Association in 1858.[7]

He was the Postmaster of Madison from 1850 to 1853,[8] and President of Madison (now Mayor) from 1852 to 1853. From 1853 to 1856, he served as a regent for the University of Wisconsin–Madison.[9][10]

In 1867, he moved back to Vermont.[1] He later moved to Schuyler, Nebraska, and died in Nebraska on January 30, 1872.[1][11] He is interred in Forest Hill Cemetery in Madison.[12][13]

Personal life

Abbott married Jane Strong, Moses M. Strong's sister. They had a son and daughter together, but Jane died in 1852 after only seven years of marriage. Chauncey married for a second time, to Anne Damon Maxwell, the widow of Nathan Perkins Wells. Together they had four children, though only one, Chauncy II, survived to adulthood. After Abbott's death, his wife, Anne married again, to Morris E. Fuller[14][2]

References
  1. "The Late Chauncey Abbott". Wisconsin State Journal. February 8, 1872. p. 2. Retrieved April 8, 2018 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  2. "Chauncey Abbott (1815 - 1872)". Ancestry.com. Retrieved February 15, 2014.
  3. Carpenter&Tenney (1851). Statistics of Dane County, Wisconsin: with a business directory in part, of the village of Madison, etc. Carpenter&Tenney. p. 13.
  4. "Whig State Nominations". Milwaukee Daily Sentinel. May 8, 1848. p. 2. Retrieved April 29, 2018 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  5. Legislative Reference Bureau (2007). Blue Book, 2007. Legislative Reference Bureau. p. 119.
  6. Smith, William Rudolph (1854). William Rudolph Smith. The History of Wisconsin: In Three Parts, Historical, Documentary, and Descriptive, Volume 2. p. 307. ISBN 9780608400020.
  7. "Past Presidents". DCBA. Retrieved February 15, 2014.
  8. Legislative Reference Bureau (1909). The Wisconsin Blue Book. Legislative Reference Bureau. p. 899.
  9. University of Wisconsin. Board of Regents (1856). Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin, for the Fiscal Year Ending September 30. The Board. p. 44.
  10. Thwaites, Reuben Gold (1900). The University of Wisconsin: its history and its alumni, with historical and descriptive sketches of Madison. J. N. Purcell. p. 764.
  11. "1879 History of Rock County, Evansville". Maple Hill Cemetery. Retrieved February 15, 2014.
  12. Historic Madison, Inc (2002). Biographical guide to Forest Hill Cemetery: the ordinary and famous women and men who shaped Madison and the world. Historic Madison, Inc. p. 236.
  13. "Chauncey Abbott". Find A Grave. Retrieved 2014-01-22.
  14. Dwight, Benjamin Woodbridge (1871). The History of the Descendants of Elder John Strong, of Northampton, Mass. J. Munsell. p. 1032.


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