Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/25

Rh his English Dictionary, and furnished many of the scientific definitions.

ABBOT, Samuel, philanthropist, b. in Andover, Mass., 25 Feb., 1732 ; d. 12 April, 1812. He was a merchant in Boston, and by his perseverance, honesty, and methodical habits acquired great wealth, which he devoted to various religious and charitable purposes. He interested himself in the establishment of Andover theological seminary, and contributed $20,000 for that purpose, which amount he increased by $100,000 on his decease.

ABBOT, Samuel, inventor, b. in Wilton, N. H., 30 March, 1786; d. there, 2 Jan., 1839. He was graduated at Harvard in 1808, studied law, and practised his profession, first at Dunstable and then at Ipswich, Mass. He was the inventor of a process by which starch is made from the potato, and was burned to death in his factory.

ABBOTT, Austin, lawyer, b. in Boston, 18 Dec., 1831; d. in New York city, 19 April, 1896. He was graduated at the University of the City of New York, and was admitted to the New York bar in 1852. He entered into partnership with his elder brother, Benjamin, and cooperated with him in preparing legal compilations of great value to the profession. He received the degree of LL. D. from the University of the City of New York in 1886. As joint author with his brothers Benjamin and Lvman, he wrote two novels, "Cone-Cut Corners" (1855) and "Matthew Caraby" (1858). Individually he had contributed to current publications. The titles of his most important law books are "New Cases, Mainly New York Decisions" (17 vols.. New York, 1877-'86); "Official Report of the Trial of Henry Ward Beecher" (1875, 2 vols, only published, owing to failure of publisher); "Reports and Decisions of the New York Court of Appeals" (4 vols., 1873-78); "Digests of New York Statutes, and Reports of United States Courts, and of the Laws of Corporations; Reports of Practice Cases" (33 vols., 1873), continued in supplementary and annual volumes, and in connection with his brother Benjamin's "Digest"; "Trial Evidence" (1880); "Trial Brief for Civil Jury Cases" (1885).

ABBOTT, Benjamin, clergyman, b. on Long Island, N. Y., in 1732 ; d. in Salem, N. J., 14 Aug., 1796. The story of Mr. Abbott's life has for a hundred years been a typical one for the great denomination of which he was an early apostle. His father died while he was a lad, providing by will that his sons should learn trades. Benjamin was apprenticed to a hatter in Philadelphia, where he fell into evil ways and for a time led a wild life. Cutting short his apprenticeship, he went to New Jersey and joined one of his brothers on a farm, but continued his profligate career in spite of his marriage with a worthy member of the Presbyterian church. During all this time he was kind to his family, and a frequent if not regular attendant upon religious services. When he was thirty-three years old he had a frightful dream of future punishment, which, though it did not lead him at the time to mend his ways, came back to him several years afterward under the influence of an itinerant Methodist preacher, and, overwhelmed with terror, he suffered agonies of remorse until the preacher returned on his circuit, when he was converted and could not rest till he himself became a preacher. So earnest was he that his wife, long a church member, experienced renewed conviction of sin under her husband's powerful representations, and his influence over her was repeated in thousands of other cases wherever he went. With his wife and children he soon united with the Methodists, and became the most popular and successful preacher in the vicinity. Wonderful conversions of the most hardened characters took place wherever he preached, and in consequence of his chance appeals to individuals. The war for independence interfered with his work, as the Methodists were popularly suspected of disloyalty, and on several occasions he was threatened by excited soldiery. His personal force was such that he always preached down his assailants, and he once reduced to the attitude of peaceful auditors a hundred soldiers who had assembled to do him violence. For sixteen years he served as a local preacher, and in 1789 he became an itinerant, joining the Dutchess County (N. Y.) circuit. In 1791 he was on the Long Island circuit, in 1792 in Salem, N. J., and in 1793 was made an elder and sent to the Cecil circuit, Maryland. After this time his usefulness was impaired by ill health, but in the intervals of fever he went about as usual and performed his pastoral duties whenever his strength permitted. His life has ever been a stir- ring theme for the exhorters who have succeeded him, and in the minutes of conference for 1796 he is referred to as " one of the wonders of America, no man's copy, an uncommon zealot for the blessed work of sanctification, who preached it on all occasions and in all congregations."

ABBOTT, Benjamin Vaughan, lawyer, b. in Boston, 4 June, 1830 ; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 17 Feb., 1890. He was graduated at New York university in 1850, admitted to the bar in 1851, and, after some years of practice, devoted himself mainly to compilations and digests of law. Some of the more important of these are enumerated in the article on Austin Abbott, his brother, who was associated with him. His earliest independent publication was "Reports of Decisions of Circuit and District Courts of the U. S." (2 vols., New York, 1870-'71). In June, 1870, he was appointed to revise the statutes of the United States, a work that occupied thi'ee years, and resulted in the consolidation of sixteen volumes of U. S. laws into one large octavo. Charles P. James and Victor C. Barringer were associated with Mr. Abbott in this work. On its completion he undertook a new edition of the "U. S. Digest," a work that occupied him until 1879. The original digest was compressed into thirteen volumes, followed by nine volumes of annual supplements. In the meantime he had prepared "A Digest of Decisions on Corporations from 1860 to 1870 " (New York, 1872), and "A Treatise on the Courts of the United States and their Practice " (2 vols.. New York, 1877). He next compiled a "Dictionary of Terms in American and English Jurisprudence " (2 vols., 1879) ; a "National Digest" (4 vols., 1884-'85), which comprised all important acts of congress, and decisions of the U. S. supreme court, circuit and district courts, court of claims, etc., and the fourth American edition of "Addison on Contracts " (1883). "Judge and Jury" (New York, 1880) is a collection of articles contributed anonymously to periodicals ; " Travelling Law School and Famous Trials" (1880) is a juvenile publication in the Chautauqua reading-circle series. He supplied many articles for the " Medical Reference Handbook," and acted as editor for the lawyers' cooperative publishing company of Rochester, N. Y. His latest work, entitled "The Patent Laws of all Nations," was still in preparation.

ABBOTT, Charles Conrad, naturalist, b. in Trenton, N. J., 4 June, 1843. He was educated at Trenton academy, and studied medicine at the university of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1865. Dr. Abbott has very carefully investigated the first appearance of pre-historic man in this country, and has accumulated a valuable archæological