{{Short description|American politician (1814–1891)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Josiah Gardner Abbott | image = Josiah Gardner Abbott - Brady-Handy.jpg | caption = Abbott c. 1870s | state1 = [[Massachusetts]] | district1 = [[Massachusetts's 4th congressional district|4th]] | term_start1 = July 28, 1876 | term_end1 = March 3, 1877 | predecessor1 = [[Rufus S. Frost]] | successor1 = [[Leopold Morse]] | office2 = Member of the [[Massachusetts House of Representatives]] | term2 = 1836 | office3 = Member of the [[Massachusetts Senate]] | term3 = 1841–1842 | party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] | birth_date = {{Birth date|1814|11|01}} | birth_place = [[Chelmsford, Massachusetts]], U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1891|06|02|1814|11|01}} | death_place = [[Wellesley, Massachusetts]], U.S. | resting_place = [[St. Mary's Episcopal Church and Cemetery|St. Mary's Church Cemetery]] | spouse = Caroline Livermore | alma_mater = [[Harvard University]]<br />[[Williams College]] | profession = | signature = Signature of Josiah Gardner Abbott.png | occupation = [[Teacher]], [[lawyer]] | footnotes = }}
'''Josiah Gardner Abbott''' (November 1, 1814 – June 2, 1891) was an American politician who served in the [[Massachusetts General Court]] and as a member of the [[United States House of Representatives]] from [[Massachusetts]].
==Early life== Abbott was born in [[Chelmsford, Massachusetts|Chelmsford]], [[Middlesex County, Massachusetts]] on 1 November 1814.<ref name="BDA1906" /> He was the son of Caleb Abbott (1779–1846) and Mercy Abbott (1782–1834).<ref name="Rand1890"/> His first American ancestors, George Abbott and William Fletcher, were English Puritans, who settled in Massachusetts in 1640 and 1653, respectively.<ref name="BDA1906" />
He attended the [[Chelmsford Academy]] in [[Concord, Massachusetts|Concord]] and graduated from [[Harvard University]] in 1832 with high honors, the youngest of his class,<ref name="BDA1906" /> and then attended [[Williams College]] in [[Williamstown, Massachusetts|Williamstown]].<ref name="Rand1890"/> In 1862, Williams conferred on him the degree of [[LL.D.]]<ref name="BDA1906" />
==Career== Following his schooling, Abbott worked as a teacher and a lawyer, then became a member of the [[Massachusetts House of Representatives]] in 1836. In 1837, he was admitted to the bar and began practice in Lowell, the same year, he was elected to the house of representatives of his state, the youngest member of that body.<ref name="BDA1906" /> He became a member of the [[Massachusetts State Senate]] from 1841 to 1842. He was an aide to [[Governor of Massachusetts|Governor]] [[Marcus Morton]] in 1843. From 1850 to 1855 he was a master in [[Court of equity|chancery]]. He also served as a member of the Massachusetts state constitutional convention, justice of the superior court for [[Suffolk County, Massachusetts|Suffolk County]], an overseer of Harvard University, and several times was the unsuccessful [[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]] candidate for [[United States Senate|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 [[U.S. presidential election, 1876|presidential election of 1876]].
Upon leaving the Congress, he returned to the practice of law. His fifty years of active practice as a lawyer connected his name with some of the most celebrated litigations of his time.<ref name="BDA1906" />
==Personal life== Abbott was married to Caroline Livermore (1814–1887), the daughter of U.S. Congressman [[Edward St. Loe Livermore]].<ref name=Scott1>Scott, ed., 1991. p. 1</ref> Both Josiah and Caroline were descended from officers who served in the [[Continental Army]] during the [[American Revolutionary War]].<ref name=Scott2>Scott, ed., 1991. p. 2</ref> Together, they were the parents of:<ref name="Rand1890"/> * Edward Gardner Abbott (1840–1862), who died during the [[American Civil War]].<ref name="Rand1890"/><ref name="Higginson1866">{{cite book |last1=Higginson |first1=Thomas Wentworth |title=Harvard Memorial Biographies |date=1866 |publisher=Sever and Francis |page=[https://archive.org/details/harvardmemorial08higggoog/page/n92 82] |url=https://archive.org/details/harvardmemorial08higggoog |access-date=7 February 2019 |language=en}}</ref> * [[Henry Livermore Abbott]] (1842–1864), a [[Major (United States)|Major]] in the [[Union Army]] during the Civil War who was posthumously awarded the grade of [[Brevet (military)|brevet]] [[brigadier general (United States)|brigadier general]].<ref name=Eicher97>Eicher, John H. and Eicher, David J., ''Civil War High Commands'', p. 97. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, 2001. {{ISBN|0-8047-3641-3}}</ref><ref>Hunt, Roger D. and Brown, Jack R., ''Brevet Brigadier Generals in Blue'' p. 1. Olde Soldier Books, Inc., Gaithersburg, MD, 1990. {{ISBN|1-56013-002-4}}; Eicher and Eicher, 2001, p. 97</ref><ref>Scott, Robert Garth, ed., Abbott, Henry Livermore, ''Fallen Leaves: The Civil War Letters of Major Henry Livermore Abbott,'' ed. by Robert Garth Scott. Kent Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1991. {{ISBN|0-87338-440-7}}; introduction by Robert Garth Scott, p. 1</ref> * Fletcher Morton Abbott (1843–1925)<ref name="Rand1890"/> * William Stackpole Abbott (1844–1846), who died young.<ref name="Rand1890"/> * Samuel Appleton Brown Abbott (1846–1931)<ref name="Rand1890"/> * Sarah Abbott (1850–1933), who married William Pickman Fay.<ref name="Rand1890"/> * Franklin Pierce Abbott (1852–1923)<ref name="Rand1890"/> * Arthur St. Loe Abbott (1853–1863)<ref name="Rand1890"/> * Grafton St. Loe Abbott (1856–1915), who married Mary Ogden Adams, a daughter of [[Charles Francis Adams Jr.]] and a descendant of Presidents [[John Adams]] and [[John Quincy Adams]].<ref name="Rand1890"/> * Holker Welch Abbott (1858–1930)<ref name="Rand1890"/>
He died at his home in [[Wellesley, Massachusetts|Wellesley Hills]] on 2 June 1891,<ref name="BDA1906" /> and was interred in [[St. Mary's Episcopal Church and Cemetery|St. Mary's Church Cemetery]], in nearby [[Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts]].
==References== {{reflist|30em|refs= <ref name="BDA1906">{{BDA1906 |wstitle=Abbott, Josiah Gardner |volume=1 |page=29 |short=}}</ref> <ref name="Rand1890">{{cite encyclopedia |editor-last=Rand |editor-first=John C. |editor-link=s:Author:John Clark Rand |date=1890 |title=Abbott, Josiah Gardner |title-link=s:One of a Thousand/Abbott, Josiah Gardner |encyclopedia=[[s:One of a Thousand|One of a Thousand]]: A Series of Biographical Sketches of One Thousand Representative Men Resident in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, A. D. 1888–'89 |location=Boston |publisher=First National Publishing Company |pages=1–2}}</ref> }}
==External links== *''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-1989: Bicentennial Edition.'' United States: Government Printing Office, 1989. {{ISBN|0-16-006384-1}} * {{Find a Grave|6533091}} *[http://virtualology.com/josiahgardnerabbott/ 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 ] {{CongBio|A000007}} *[http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.Hough:hou00213 Guide to Abbott family Civil War letters] at [https://web.archive.org/web/20111121125844/http://hcl.harvard.edu/libraries/houghton/ Houghton Library], Harvard University
{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box |state=Massachusetts |district=4 |before=[[Rufus S. Frost]] |after=[[Leopold Morse]] |years=July 28, 1876 – March 3, 1877}} {{s-end}}
{{Election Commission}} {{USRepMA}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbott, Josiah Gardner}} [[Category:1814 births]] [[Category:1891 deaths]] [[Category:People from Chelmsford, Massachusetts]] [[Category:Harvard Law School alumni]] [[Category:Massachusetts Superior Court justices]] [[Category:Democratic Party Massachusetts state senators]] [[Category:Democratic Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives]] [[Category:Williams College alumni]] [[Category:1876 United States presidential election]] [[Category:Democratic Party United States representatives from Massachusetts]] [[Category:19th-century Massachusetts state court judges]] [[Category:19th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court]] [[Category:19th-century United States representatives]]