Edwin Hale Abbot (1834–1927) was a lawyer and railroad executive, active in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

Biography

Abbot was born in

Beverly, Massachusetts Beverly is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, and a suburb of Boston. The population was 42,670 at the time of the 2020 United States census. A resort, residential, and manufacturing community on the Massachusetts North Sho ...

on January 26, 1834. His relatives included brother

Henry Larcom Abbot Henry Larcom Abbot (August 13, 1831 – October 1, 1927) was a military engineer and career officer in the United States Army. He served in the Union Army during the American Civil War and was appointed brevet brigadier general of volunteers ...

and nephew

Frederic Vaughan Abbot Frederic Vaughan Abbot (March 4, 1858 – September 26, 1928) was an American military officer who attained the rank of brigadier general in the United States Army. He was most notable for his World War I work as assistant to the Army's Chief o ...

. He was educated at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

(BA 1855, AM 1858, and LL.D. 1861), and practiced law in Boston from 1862–76. During this time, he served as an attorney for the

Alabama Claims The ''Alabama'' Claims were a series of demands for damages sought by the government of the United States from the United Kingdom in 1869, for the attacks upon Union merchant ships by Confederate Navy commerce raiders built in British shipyard ...

, a series of claims for

damages At common law, damages are a remedy in the form of a monetary award to be paid to a claimant as compensation for loss or injury. To warrant the award, the claimant must show that a breach of duty has caused foreseeable loss. To be recognized at ...

by the United States government against the government of Great Britain for the assistance given to the

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

cause during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. In 1873, Abbot was named general solicitor and a director of the Wisconsin Central Railway. He moved to

in 1876 and subsequently became the railway's president, in which role he served until 1890. He was also a director of the

Northern Pacific Railway The Northern Pacific Railway was an important American transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the Western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest between 1864 and 1970. It was approved and chartered b ...

. He was elected Associate Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 1924. He died at his home in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

on May 30, 1927. His mansion in Cambridge, built in 1889, the Edwin Abbot House, is now part of the

Longy School of Music Longy School of Music of Bard College is a private music school in Cambridge, Massachusetts associated with Bard College. Founded in 1915 as the Longy School of Music, it was one of the four independent degree-granting music schools in the Boston ...

References

* ''Dictionary of Wisconsin History''
Edwin H. Abbott Papers, W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, University of Alabama

Edwin Hale Abbot Family Papers (MS 27). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library

External links

1834 births 1927 deaths 19th-century American railroad executives Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Harvard Law School alumni 19th-century American lawyers People from Beverly, Massachusetts Lawyers from Cambridge, Massachusetts {{US-rail-bio-stub

Biography

See also

References

External links