The Family of Edward and Elizabeth Jacob Abbott
These are the children of Edward and Elizabeth Jacob Abbott. See also the Story of Edward and Elizabeth Jacob Abbott.
Christian (Christ) pronounced like "wrist." (1881-1949)
Married Florence
COLVIN
Born 27October1881, died 10June1949.
Worked at Abbott Packing Plant, Carnegie, Pennsylvania
Lived at 43 Ralston Place on a lot that was once part of the Abbott farm. Margie Page said that he paid $6500 to build the house on that lot.
One son, William George.
See photos
of Christian.
Contribute a memory about Christopher/Christian
George ABBOTT
Contribution from
Shirley Jeffery McCallum - January 2004
My memories of Chris are:
- Chris walking past our house with tools in hand to tend his garden that was next to Rose's house on Beverly Road and is now an auto repair shop.
- Mother telling me that while hoeing the Abbot farm one day, his hoe struck the head of the pet dog and killed it. So sad!!!!!
- His deafness which kept him a bit aloof. [Trudy says that Christ was hard-of-hearing, but not totally deaf.] [Christ's hearing was affected by scarlet fever].
- His passing away while Mother and I were taking a vacation in Florida. Such sad news to return home to!
Katherine (Kate) (1883-1955)
Married William
Meyers and John Elliston
Born 5January1883, died 29April 1955, buried South Side Cemetery
Kate's first husband, Bill, died in 1918, during the great flu epidemic.
Lived next door to her brother, Christ, on Ralston Place, on a lot that was
once part of the Abbott farm.
One son, Edward Meyers, two daughters,
Gertrude Meyers and Elizabeth
Elliston.
See photos
of Kate.
Contribute a memory about Katherine
Clara ABBOTT
Contribution from Janice
Garlock Donley:
After Christ died the family rented out the house at 43 Ralston Place. My
parents moved my family (myself, three brothers and two sisters) into the
house in 1950. That is how I met Harold Donley, who was to become my husband.
Kate and her husband, Jack Elliston, lived next door. Jack considered himself
a matchmaker and introduced me to his "handsome, smart nephew" who
had just graduated from W&J with a degree in chemistry. Jack invited me
over to watch wrestling one Saturday afternoon, and, of course, invited Harold
also. We married less than a year later. Jack also introduced Harold's mother,
Rose, to her second husband, Tom Donley, who he knew from the South Side.
So he was, indeed, a matchmaker!
Contribution from Shirley Jeffery McCallum - January 2004
When I think of Kate, I think of:
- the sweetest smile
- pouring Carnation condensed milk into tea
- her enormous wooden washing-machine chugging away in the basement and the delicious odor of Fels-Naptha soap scenting the air.
- her dark wooden furniture in the hall, living room and dining room that could well have been "Stickley" as it was definitely mission-style.
- Mother (Lena) saying how hard Kate always had to work down on the farm since she was the oldest girl
- her sitting down and twirling a long strand of hair in her left hand, or she would "twiddle her thumbs."
- her and Mother making their own soap out of fat and lye. How slick it would slice up into squares after cooling!
- her antique treadle sewing machine that I would use once in a while.
- "Cousin Eddie" decorating their Christmas tree that stood in the hall. He hung the lead icicles, one at a time, and each one as straight as a ruler.
Contribution from Charlotte Abbott Dudt - February 13, 1993
- I remember when we would stop by Kate's house in the evening she would always have her hair twisted into a little bun, and put up on top of her head. During the day the little bun was at the back of her neck, but it went on the top of her head for the night.
- My dad told me that Kate didn't speak Englis until she went to first grade. That always astounded me! She was a second-generation American!
Contribution from Gertrude Meyer Arnold - March 1, 2004
- Mother always made homemade bread every Friday. I remember that my cousin, Billy Abbott (he lived next door to us) and I would always come running home from school on Friday afternoons and burst into our kitchen door. Mother would give us a piece of that delicious, warm bread! It was so good!
- She made buttermilk cookies, and the filled noodles, too. And Mother made catsup! She made the best catsup in the world -- better than Heinz, or anybody.
Albert (1884-1971)
Married Frances
Forse
Born 21September 1884, died 17January1971
Worked at Abbott Packing Plant, Carnegie, Pennsylvania
Lived across the street from his brother, Christ, and his sister, Kate, on
Ralston Place on a lot that was once part of the Abbott farm. Margie Page said that he paid $6500 to build the house on that lot. His house was
torn down around 1970 and the lot was used for parking for the Lincoln School.
One son, John Edward (Jack).
See photos
of Al.
Contribute a memory about Albert
William ABBOTT
Contribution from Ed
Donley:
I knew Uncle Al when I was a young child. The things that I remember most
about him were his huge hands -- at least they seemed huge to a little kid
-- and his gentle nature. I also remember his spooky old car, a 1938 Buick.
It was spooky because it was black with a dark interior and it was parked
in his dark garage.
Contribution from Shirley Jeffery McCallum - January 2004
When I think of Albert, I think of:
- what a quiet dignified gentleman he was.
- how he enjoyed his pipe and an occasional high ball, especially when playing Euchre with Grandfather Abbott and his siblings, and on Christmas Eve, in later years, at our house.
- him driving his big tall 1938 black Buick, that we always called "The Black Mariah." When we kidded him about his car, he always said, "Always brought me home."
- how one day, seemingly out of the blue, he announced to Mother, "I'm moving over to your house. It's time."
- how he would sit on Mother's porch and wait for the mailman to bring him a letter from his son, Jack (which seldom came).
- how he also sat and watched silently as his house was dismantled and torn down to be made into a playground (after he sold it to the school district). It must have been very hard.
- how one time he was up on a ladder painting his roof red and he fell off, didn't get hurt, but got covered with red paint. And a child saw him and came running to Mother yelling, "Mr. Abbott is covered with blood!" nearly giving her a heart attack.
- when at the dinner table he was asked if he would like a second helping, he'd always answer the same: "Don't mind if I do." He was a big eater.
- how he had glaucoma in his later years.
- how he would tell of riding the gravity railroad down Banksville Road for a nickel and then it would be hitched to a railroad train that would bring it back. This was from about the Dormont Pool (at the junction of Banksville, Beverly, and McFarland Roads) clear down to Banksville. It ran twice a day. [NOTE: This was probably The Little Saw Mill Run Railroad, operated first, by the Economites, then the Pittsburgh Southern Railroad. Plate 23 of the "1886 Atlas of the Cities of Pittsburgh and Allegheny" shows the track crossed just over the southeastern tip of the Abbott farm.]
- how he never quite got Pamela's name right. We always called her "Pammy" but he would call her "Panny," causing many giggles.
- how he told us Mother's house at 55 Ralston Place was once the straw barn. It got hit by lightning and burned down.
Edward (Ed) (1886-1933)
Married Anna
McKown
Born 12Apr1886, died 6Dec1933, buried Mt. Lebanon Cemetery
Vice-president and sales manager of Abbott Packing Company, Carnegie, Pennsylvania
One son, George (KIA, WWII) three
daughters, Anna, Lois,
and Bertha.
See photos
of Ed.
Contribute a memory about Edward
Adolph ABBOTT Jr.
August (1888-1888)
Unmarried
Contribute a memory about August
S. ABBOTT
Rosana (Rose) (1888-1973)
Married John
LaValle and Thomas Donley
Born 1November 1888, died 10March 1973, buried Mt. Lebanon Cemetery
Lived on Beverly Road with her parents, and 286 Colonial Drive (behind Beverly
Road) on a lot that was once part of the Abbott farm.
One son, Harold Edward.
See photos
of Rose.
See Rose's Story.
Contribute a memory about Rosana (Rose) ABBOTT
Contribution from Shirley Jeffery McCallum - January 2004
The things I remember about Rose are :
- when she married Tom Donley and they left on their honeymoon, how Harold cried!! I wonder who stayed to care for him [I think it was Clara. JGD]
- how she liked to garden up at Aunt Maggie's farm, and had a large vegetable garden there. And she had "hot beds" along the driveway (on Beverly Road). They were wood frames covered with glass frames and inside were the beginnings of small plants for the garden.
- how I saw her-- as a strong-willed, determined woman, a leader.
- playing cards with her and Tom's good friends, the Walls.
- how she and Mother, Lena, argued over dahlias, which Rose loved and Mother didn't, saying they were "too stiff."
- how she often would make us "Black Cows."
- when she gave me a pretty aquamarine ring for high school graduation, which I wore constantly until I passed it on to Paula.
- how on vacation one summer with Rose, Tom, Harold, Mother and myself (and maybe the Millards) we all went deep sea fishing in rough waters - and everyone got sick! Except me! And Rose yelled, "Grab your teeth!!!! And out came everyone's false teeth!!
- her making delicious "pickled pig's feet."
- how much she loved her little Pomeranian dog, "Beauty."
- how she let us sit under her tree in the front yard eating mulberries
Howard (1890-1970)
Married Anna
Schick and Ella Boggs
Born 13December 1890, died 24May1970, buried Mt. Lebanon Cemetery
Employed as an engineer at Duquesne
Light, Pittsburgh, PA
One daughter, Marjorie
See photos
of Howard.
Contribute a memory about Howard
Harry ABBOTT
Contribution from Shirley Jeffery McCallum - January 2004
- I remember how Howard and Mother would argue over the best way to store fresh corn. He: "Keep in fridge with husks on." She: "Shuck the corn, wrap in plastic, refrigerate."
- I remember him bringing us fresh watercress from a stream somewhere he knew about.
- I remember him being the one to find Aunt Maggie dead on the floor of the chicken coop.
- I remember that when my father died suddenly in the dining room of our house on Ralston Place, the clan gathered quickly. It was Howard who suggested to Mother that Dad should be laid out at home "as it would be the last thing we could do for him." And so it was done!
- I remember Howard as a formal man, compared to Al and Chris. He was always neatly dressed in a suit and conducted himself properly.
Contribution from Marjorie Abbott Page - January 2004
- My dad [Howard] had rheumatic fever when he was a kid. He always said if he didn't have to go out and work in the fields, he wouldn't have had rheumatic fever.
Magdelena (Lena) (1893-1981)
Married Ralph
Jefferys
Born 15January 1893, died 19September1981, buried Mt. Lebanon Cemetery
Lived two doors down from her sister, Kate, on Ralston Place on a lot that
was once part of the Abbott farm.
Worked at Boggs & Buehl after the death of her husband in 1944.
One daughter, Shirley Jean.
See photos
of Lena.
Contribute a memory about Magdelena
"Helena" Elizabeth ABBOTT
Emma (1895-1975)
Married John
Dillner
Born 20October1895, died 18March1975
Lived on Arden Road on a lot that was once part of the Abbott farm.
One daughter, Mildred Ruth.
See photos
of Emma.
Contribute a memory about Emma
L. ABBOTT
Contribution from Shirley Jeffery McCallum - January 2004
- Emma and John and Milly took a trip to Japan and Emma hurt her leg somehow. The wound never did heal, even after years of doctoring.
- John bought Emma a mink coat in Canada. She was a petite person, and when she work this big heavy coat to town once, she said, ""I thought I'd never make it home." She was so weighted down! I don't believe she ever wore the coat again.
- Emma always called "Milly" and "Billy" by their full names, "Mildred" and "William."
- The Dillners had a cabin up in Slippery Rock and she invited some of the families there for a weekend. The cousins would have a wonderful time going out in their rowboat. Emma would have a huge "spread" for everyone. John D. really liked to eat and was always so jolly."
- Emma and John would drive to Somerset in the fall and bring back potatoes to last the winter, apples, too.
- Millie was the teacher at her Saturday morning school in Emma's basement and Harold and I were her pupils - often leaving in tears. She was the strictest teacher I ever had.
Contribution fromCharlotte Abbott Dudt - February 13, 1993
- Emma had rhuematic fever as a child.
Clarence (1897-1955)
Married Ruth
Geyser
Born 22October1897, died 16September1955
Worked at Abbott Packing Company, Carnegie, Pennsylvania
Lived in the old Abbott farmhouse on Arden Road
One son, Clarence Frederick (Fred),
two daughters, Charlotte and Marian.
See photos
of Clarence.
Contribute a memory about Clarence
Frederick ABBOTT
Contribution from Shirley Jeffery McCallum - January 2004
- I didn't know Clarence very well, since I didn't see him very often. He and my father were not on speaking terms for quite a while. When there was a reconciliation, Clarence and Ruth came up one evening to play cards around the dining room table, and I remember Clarence rubbing Limburger cheese into my Dad's bald head! It was taken as a good joke by all.
- I remember one time when he visited us in our backyard one afternoon in the late 1950's and told us how he knew the formula for preventing rust. It was his big secret!
Clara (1900-1983)
Married Fred
Millard
Born 4July1900, died 4Oct1983
One daughter, Virginia.
See photos
of Clara.
Contribute a memory about Clara
Louise ABBOTT
Contribution from Shirley Jeffery McCallum - January 2004
- I think of Aunt Clara as the flapper of the family. She wore high heels even to walk from Mapleton Avenue to Beverly Road to shop.
- She liked Burt's Gift Shop a lot and bought china lady figurines there.
- She and Uncle Fred and Virginia had a party on most Christmas Eve's for the Abbott sisters and families that were fun - cards played, a beautifully decorated tree and a delicious buffet spread was served. At midnight all would listen to Bing Crosby sing "White Christmas."
- She was very neat and clean about her house.
- They had a dog named "Tippy" who would say his prayers.
- In my memory, one of her expressions was, "My, oh my!"
- One of her favorite names for a person was "Kiddo." She had a spoon holder with "kiddo" on it.
If you are a descendant of any of the above children of Edward and Elizabeth Abbott, please consider writing a short (or long) biography of your ancestor, so that we, and your descendants, can know them better. Please feel free to include photographs or momentoes to enhance your story. If you have any memories of any of these folks, and are not a direct descendant, please consider contributing your memory to the web site so the rest of the family can enjoy it, too. If you enjoy reading what we have had to say, remember that others will enjoy what YOU have to say, also. Remember that we are getting to be the "old" generation and need to write these things down for those who come after us.