Superintendent at Holmes & Edwards
Edward T. Abbott, an honored veteran of the Civil war has for thirty years been one of the most trusted employes of the International Silver Company, now serving as superintendent of grounds, buildings and upkeep. A native of Connecticut, he was born ia New Haven on the 20th of March, 1842, and is a worthy representative of an old and highly esteemed family of this state, his ancestors having originally settled at Branford. His paternal grandfather. Alvin Abbott, was born however in Middlebury, Connecticut, which was also the birthplace of his father, Laramon W. Abbott. The latter became a member of the firm of Seranton & Abbott, machinery manufacturers of New Haven and they made the machinery for the Yale College laboratory. In 1843 Laramon W. Abbott removed to Waterbury. Connecticut, becoming master mechanic at the Benedict & Burnham rolling mills, engaged in the manufacture of brass goods. This business is now conducted under the name of the American Brass Company. During the twelve years Mr. Abbott was with that firm he also served as local preacher for various Methodist Episcopal churches and later went to Wateitown, Connecticut, where he organized a church, built a house of worship and parsonage and was a minister there for several years. After his retirement from the ministry he made his home in Ridgefield, Connecticut, for twenty two years, and there died, his remains being interred in the Waterbury cemetery. During the free soil movement he was elected to the state legislature on that ticket, representing the district in which Waterbury is located, and he served on the temperance committee while a member of the house. In early manhood he married Miss Altha M. Todd, who was born in Stratford and also belonged to an old Connecticut family. She died in Waterbury at the age of twenty eight years.
Edward T. Abbott, a son of this worthy couple, spent the first two years of his life in New Haven and the following sixteen years in Waterbury and Watertown and returned to New Haven in 1860. The country having become engaged in civil war, he enlisted In 1862 as a member of Company H, Twentieth Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, which became a part of the Army of the Potomac and at different times was under the command of General McCTellan, Hooker, Meade and Burnsides. After the battle of Gettysburg the Twentieth Connecticut regiment was sent to reinforce the Western Army. Mr. Abbott was wounded during the battle of Chancellorsville and lay on the battlefield for ten days. He was made prisoner but later paroled and was in the hospital and convalescent camp from the 3d of May until September, 1863. During the Atlanta campaign he was again captured July 23, 1864, and was confined in Andersonville prison for some time before being exchanged, September 20, 1864. He participated in many important engagements, including the battles of Savannah, Stone Mountain and Peach Tree Creek, and when hostilities ceased and his services were no longer needed be was mustered out at New Haven in June, 1865. At that tune he was serving as corporal.
Returning to Waterbury, Mr. Abbott entered the employ of Holmes, Booth & Hayden, manufacturers of brass and copper tubing, sheeting, etc., and was later with the Waterbury Plated Ware Company, silverware manufacturers, first as tool maker and later as foreman and superintendent of the spoonmaking department, being connected with the company for twenty-two years. In July, 1887, he began work for the firm of Holmes & Edwards at Bridgeport, now the International Silver Company, and was first in charge of the tool making department, drafting, etc., but subsequently served as superintendent of all manufacturing for many years. He is now superintendent of grounds, buildings and upkeep and has been one of the most trusted employes of the company for thirty years.
In New Haven, October 24, 1866, Mr. Abbott married Miss Emily A. Doolittle, a native of Wallingford, Connecticut. She had five brothers in the Civil war. To Mr. and Mrs. Abbott were born three children, namely: Wilhelmina Bushnell now the wife of Frederick Rhodes, who is secretary of the Salts Textile Company of Bridgeport and is represented on another page of this work; Laramon Winthrop, who was graduated from the Yale Medical School and became a physician but is now deceased; and Edward R., who is a graduate of the Worcester Technical School and is now connected with the New York office of Taft, Pierce & Company of Woonsocket, Rhode Island.
Mr. Abbott now makes his home at No. 857 Noble avenue. He has been called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who passed away in July, 1906, in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which she was an active member. Mr. Abbott is one of the prominent members of the Washington Park Methodist Episcopal church, in which he has filled the offices of steward, trustee and assistant superintendent of the Sunday school, and his life has ever been in harmony with his professions. He is junior vice commander of Elias Howe Post, No. 3, G. A. R., and is an ardent supporter of the republican party.
Source: History of Bridgeport and Vicinity - Volume 2 - George Curtis Waldo (Jr.)
Trev.