Mary Abbott (golfer)

Mary Perkins Ives Abbott (October 17, 1857 – February 9, 1904) was a writer, reviewer and novelist.[1][2][3]

She competed at the 1900 Summer Olympics golf tournament, where she finished tied for seventh place. A historic record, both she and her daughter, Margaret Abbott, gold medalist at the games,[4] competed in the event.

A biographer of writer Finley Peter Dunne, Elmer Ellis,[5] noted that Abbott, a widow who had lived for some years in Calcutta, moved to Chicago where she reviewed books for the Evening Post and they became acquainted. Dunne held her to be the wittiest woman he had ever met.[6] She recognized his genius and helped his career.[7] The acquaintance with Abbott, who was a popular dinner guest in Chicago society, launched Dunne into those social circles and with those connections and his own writing, Dunne became prominent in Chicago. In 1902, he would become her son-in-law, when he married her daughter, Margaret.