Jacob Abbott

On November 14, 1803, Abbott was born in Hallowell, Maine. He attended the Hallowell Academy. [2]

Abbott graduated from Bowdoin College in 1820. At some point during his years there, he supposedly added the second "t" to his surname, to avoid being "Jacob Abbot the 3rd" (although one source notes he did not actually begin signing his name with two t's until several years later).[3]

Abbott studied at Andover Theological Seminary in 1821, 1822, and 1824. He taught in Portland academy and was tutor in Amherst College during the next year.[4]

From 1825 to 1829 was professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Amherst College;[2] was licensed to preach by the Hampshire Association in 1826; founded the Mount Vernon School for Young Ladies in Boston in 1829, and was principal of it in 1829–1833;[2] was pastor of Eliot Congregational Church (which he founded), at Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1834–1835; and was, with his brothers, a founder, and in 1843–1851 a principal of Abbott's Institute, and in 1845–1848 of the Mount Vernon School for Boys, in New York City.[5]

He was a prolific author, writing juvenile fiction, brief histories, biographies, religious books for the general reader, and a few works in popular science. He wrote 180 books and was a coauthor or editor of 31 more.[2] He died in Farmington, Maine,[4] where he had spent part of his time after 1839, and where his brother, Samuel Phillips Abbott, founded the Abbott School.

His Rollo Books, such as Rollo at Play, Rollo in Europe, etc., are the best known of his writings, having as their chief characters a representative boy and his associates. In them Abbott did for one or two generations of young American readers a service not unlike that performed earlier, in England and America, by the authors of Evenings at Home, The History of Sandford and Merton, and The Parent's Assistant. To follow up his Rollo books, he wrote of Uncle George, using him to teach the young readers about ethics, geography, history, and science. He also wrote 22 volumes of biographical histories and a 10 volume set titled the Franconia Stories.[2]

Fewacres in 1906, Abbott's residence at Farmington, Maine

His brothers, John Stevens Cabot Abbott and Gorham Dummer Abbott, were also authors. His sons, Benjamin Vaughan Abbott, Austin Abbott, both eminent lawyers, Lyman Abbott, and Edward Abbott, a clergyman, were also well-known authors.

See his Young Christian, Memorial Edition, with a Sketch of the Author by Edward Abbott with a bibliography of his works.

Other works of note: Lucy Books, Jonas Books, Harper's Story Books, Marco Paul, Gay Family, and Juno Books.

On May 18, 1829, Abbott married Harriet Vaughan.[4] He had four sons and they are Benjamin Vaughan Abbott, Edward Abbott, Austin Abbott and Lyman Abbott.

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Abbott, Jacob". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

• Jacob Abbott at Find a Grave
• Portrait clipping of Jacob Abbott from The New York Public Library Digital Collections
• 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
• Works by Jacob Abbott at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Jacob Abbott at Internet Archive
• Works by Jacob Abbott at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Works by Jacob Abbott at Online Books

Wikisource has the text of the 1921 Collier's Encyclopedia article Abbott, Jacob.