Individual Details
John Stearns Abbott
(23 Jul 1814 - )
Information from the Yale College class of 1835 biographies.
John Stearns Abbott was born in Tolland, Conn., July 22d, 1814. He was the son of Alexander and Elizabeth (Hatch) Abbott, grand-son of John and Elizabeth (Stearns) Abbott, and great grand-son of John and Elizabeth (Birge) Abbott. The last named John settled in Tolland about the year 1720, and was married Dec. 31st, 1 72 1. John S. was fitted for college under various teachers in his native town and entered college at the beginning of our course. After his graduation in 1835 he prosecuted the study of law in New Haven under the instruction of Professors Daggett and Hitchcock, his name appearing in the Yale Catalogue of law students of the year 1836-37. Not long after leaving the law school he went to Michigan and took up his residence in the suburbs of Detroit, and entered on the practice of his profession in that city. On the 31st of March, 1845, he married Lucy Maria Woodbridge, the daughter of the Hon. Wm. Woodbridge, Governor of Michigan. Gov. Woodbridge was the son of Dudley Woodbridge (Yale 1766) and son-in-law of John Trumbull (Yale 1767), the author of " McFingal." Our classmate's children were Juliana Trumbull, born Feb. 7th, 1846, and named after her grandmother; William Woodbridge, named after the governor, born Feb. 17th, 1848, and Lucy Henrietta, born Dec. 4th, 1850. The last named was married Aug. 4th, 1870, and died in February, 1872. The elder daughter injured her health by excessive devotion to her studies and has for years been a hopeless invalid. William was married July 22d, 1875 (which was the birthday of both his father and his mother) to a daughter of John Abbott. They have four children. Abbott did not live to see these, his only grandchildren. He died on the 26th of September, 1852, of pulmonary disease, when the oldest of his children even was only in the seventh year of her age. But short as his career was, he established a good reputation in Detroit. An obituary notice of him published there at the time of his death contained the following: " He was a sound and well-read lawyer; he easily acquired and always sustained a high reputation at the bar, and was esteemed and respected by his associates for his talents and for his upright and honorable bearing. * * * For the last two or three weeks of his life the deceased appeared to have given up all expectation of recovery, and calmly and deliberately set himself to the work of preparing himself and his affairs for that catastrophe which was destined so soon to close his earthly career; and it is a source of great consolation to the writer of this notice, and especially to his distressed family that, so far as human evidence can verify it, he died a sincere and devoted christian, with a placidity of mind which the christian alone can feel, and happy in his confident hope of a blessed immortality." His widow did not long survive him. She died April 6th, 1860.
Those of us who had the pleasure of meeting Abbott at the last reunion of the class which he attended (I think it was in 1850) will not be surprised at the testimony given above to his character and his worth.
John Stearns Abbott was born in Tolland, Conn., July 22d, 1814. He was the son of Alexander and Elizabeth (Hatch) Abbott, grand-son of John and Elizabeth (Stearns) Abbott, and great grand-son of John and Elizabeth (Birge) Abbott. The last named John settled in Tolland about the year 1720, and was married Dec. 31st, 1 72 1. John S. was fitted for college under various teachers in his native town and entered college at the beginning of our course. After his graduation in 1835 he prosecuted the study of law in New Haven under the instruction of Professors Daggett and Hitchcock, his name appearing in the Yale Catalogue of law students of the year 1836-37. Not long after leaving the law school he went to Michigan and took up his residence in the suburbs of Detroit, and entered on the practice of his profession in that city. On the 31st of March, 1845, he married Lucy Maria Woodbridge, the daughter of the Hon. Wm. Woodbridge, Governor of Michigan. Gov. Woodbridge was the son of Dudley Woodbridge (Yale 1766) and son-in-law of John Trumbull (Yale 1767), the author of " McFingal." Our classmate's children were Juliana Trumbull, born Feb. 7th, 1846, and named after her grandmother; William Woodbridge, named after the governor, born Feb. 17th, 1848, and Lucy Henrietta, born Dec. 4th, 1850. The last named was married Aug. 4th, 1870, and died in February, 1872. The elder daughter injured her health by excessive devotion to her studies and has for years been a hopeless invalid. William was married July 22d, 1875 (which was the birthday of both his father and his mother) to a daughter of John Abbott. They have four children. Abbott did not live to see these, his only grandchildren. He died on the 26th of September, 1852, of pulmonary disease, when the oldest of his children even was only in the seventh year of her age. But short as his career was, he established a good reputation in Detroit. An obituary notice of him published there at the time of his death contained the following: " He was a sound and well-read lawyer; he easily acquired and always sustained a high reputation at the bar, and was esteemed and respected by his associates for his talents and for his upright and honorable bearing. * * * For the last two or three weeks of his life the deceased appeared to have given up all expectation of recovery, and calmly and deliberately set himself to the work of preparing himself and his affairs for that catastrophe which was destined so soon to close his earthly career; and it is a source of great consolation to the writer of this notice, and especially to his distressed family that, so far as human evidence can verify it, he died a sincere and devoted christian, with a placidity of mind which the christian alone can feel, and happy in his confident hope of a blessed immortality." His widow did not long survive him. She died April 6th, 1860.
Those of us who had the pleasure of meeting Abbott at the last reunion of the class which he attended (I think it was in 1850) will not be surprised at the testimony given above to his character and his worth.
Events
| Birth | 23 Jul 1814 | Coventry, Tolland, Connecticut | |||
| Marriage | 31 Mar 1845 | Springwells, Michigan - Lucy Maria Woodbridge |
Families
| Spouse | Lucy Maria Woodbridge (1822 - 1860) |
| Father | Alexander Abbott (1771 - 1854) |
| Mother | Elizabeth "Betsy" Hatch (1774 - 1862) |
| Sibling | Lucius Abbott (1797 - 1863) |
| Sibling | Laura Abbott (1799 - 1801) |
| Sibling | Dana Hatch Abbott (1801 - 1801) |
| Sibling | Lucy Parks Abbott (1802 - 1888) |
| Sibling | Luther Dana Abbott (1806 - 1856) |
| Sibling | Ephraim Abbott (1809 - 1846) |