Josiah Gardner Abbott

Abbott was born in Chelmsford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. He was the son of Caleb Abbott (1779–1846) and Mercy Abbott (1782–1834).[1]

He attended the Chelmsford Academy in Concord and graduated from Harvard University in 1832 with an LL.D. degree, and then attended Williams College in Williamstown.[1]

Following his schooling, Abbott worked as a teacher and a lawyer, then became a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1836 and a member of the Massachusetts State Senate from 1841 to 1842. He was an aide to Governor Marcus Morton in 1843. From 1850 to 1855 he was a master in chancery. He also served as a member of the Massachusetts state constitutional convention, justice of the superior court for Suffolk County, an overseer of Harvard University, and several times was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for United States Senator.

In 1860, Abbott declined an appointment to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and in 1861 declined the Democratic nomination for state attorney general. He finally was victorious as a Democratic candidate for the United States House of Representatives, and served from July 28, 1876 to March 3, 1877. He was a member of the Electoral Commission created by the act of Congress approved January 29, 1877, to decide the presidential election of 1876.

Upon leaving the Congress, he returned to the practice of law.

Abbott was married to Caroline Livermore (1814–1887), the daughter of U.S. Congressman Edward St. Loe Livermore.[2] Both of Josiah and Caroline were descended from officers who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.[3] Together, they were the parents of:[1]

• Edward Gardner Abbott (1840–1862), who died during the American Civil War.[1][4]
• Henry Livermore Abbott (1842–1864), a Major in the Union Army during the Civil War who was posthumously awarded the grade of brevet brigadier general.[5][6][7]
• Fletcher Morton Abbott (1843–1925)[1]
• William Stackpole Abbott (1844–1846), who died young.[1]
• Samuel Appleton Brown Abbott (1846–1931)[1]
• Sarah Abbott (1850–1933), who married William Pickman Fay.[1]
• Franklin Pierce Abbott (1852–1923)[1]
• Arthur St. Loe Abbott (1853–1863)[1]
• Grafton St. Loe Abbott (1856–1915), who married Mary Ogden Adams, a daughter of Charles Francis Adams Jr. and was a descendant of Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams.[1]
• Holker Welch Abbott (1858–1930)[1]

He died in Wellesley Hills, and was interred in St. Mary's Church Cemetery, in nearby Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts.

• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-1989: Bicentennial Edition. United States: Government Printing Office, 1989. ISBN 0-16-006384-1
• Josiah Gardner Abbott at Find a Grave
• Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, edited by James Grant Wilson, John Fiske and Stanley L. Klos. Six volumes, New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1887-1889

• United States Congress. "Josiah Gardner Abbott (id: A000007)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Guide to Abbott family Civil War letters at Houghton Library, Harvard University