JOHN S. ABBOTT, proprietor, manager, editor and publisher of The
Independent, a weekly eight-column folio newspaper of Elizabethtown, is a
son of John Abbott, who was born in Middle Tennessee June 26, 1840, where
his parents had stopped for a time on their way to Virginia. His father,
Jonathan Abbott, was a native of Virginia, where he followed the occupation
of a farmer. He removed from that State to Tennessee by team, and thence to
Illinois, settling in Pope County near the present site of Golconda, and
about five miles from there secured a tract of Government land, upon which
he built a log house and settled down to pioneer life. At that time there
were no schools, churches, mills or railroads. He had, however, received a
fair common school education, and was thus prepared to some extent for the
battle of life. He was married in Pope County to Cornelia Craig, a native of
Tennessee, being born October 26, 1845, and both are now living in Golconda.
They became the parents of eight children: Thomas J., of Golconda; John S.;
Charles J., express agent at Paducah. Ky.; Perry, who died in infancy;
Minnie, wife of Charles E. Hughes, of Golconda; Philip and Bertha, both of
Golconda, and one who died in infancy.
John S. Abbott, the second child, was born March 23, 1864, on the farm near
Golconda, where he lived until six years old, when his parents removed to
Golconda. There he received a good common school education, and remained at
home until he was eighteen years old, at which time he began work in the
Herald office in Golconda, continuing at this one year and four months, when
he learned the printer's trade. In 1882, when but eighteen years old, he
removed to Elizabethtown and took charge of the paper there for D. G.
Thompson, and after three months leased it for one year, at the expiration
of which time he bought new material and put the paper on a better footing.
He has ever since continued its publication and has greatly improved it
since he became the proprietor. The paper now has a wide circulation, is
considered a newsy issue and all the improvements made in it have been by
the individual efforts of Mr. Abbott.
Our subject early developed and manifested a natural adaptation for the
newspaper business and has before him excellent prospects. He was married in
1884 to Mattie Ledbetter, a sketch of whose family history appears elsewhere
in this work. She was born in Hardin County, and has one child, Maude J.
Politically Mr. Abbott is a Democrat, but his paper is conducted as an
independent newspaper, as its name imports. He and his wife are members of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the family is of high standing in the
community.
Extracted from Biographical Review of Johnson, Massac, Pope, and Hardin Counties, Illinois, published in 1893, page 383.
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| Livingston KY Crittenden KY | ||
