Byron Abbott Biography


	This biography appears on pages 698-701 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				BYRON ABBOTT. 

	Byron Abbott has passed almost the entire period of his 
professional activity in Britton, where he opened a law office in 1888. 
Through the intervening years he has made steady progress and is today 
one of the foremost lawyers of his part of the state, accorded a large 
and distinctively representative clientage. He was born in Marion, 
Indiana, August 21, 1855, a son of Burroughs and Angeline (Ruggles) 
Abbott. The founder of the Abbott family in America was James Abbott, 
who was born in England, but emigrated to America in 1670. Joseph 
Jackson Abbott, the paternal grandfather of our subject, was born in 
New Jersey in 1789 and in 1810 became a resident of Ohio, where he 
remained until 1816, when he went to Franklin county, Indiana, his last 
days being spent in Rushville, that state. The maternal grandfather, 
Silas Ruggles, was one of the early settlers of Kentucky. He married a 
Miss Davidson and their children included Angeline Ruggles, who was 
born in Indiana in 1833. Burroughs Abbott was also a native of that 
state and they were married there, after which he followed the 
occupation of farming and also engaged in teaching school. On account 
of ill health, however, he left Indiana and removed to Minnesota in 
1856, purchasing a tract of land in Lesueur county, removing thence to 
Kandiyohi county, where he lived until 1883, the year of his arrival in 
South Dakota. 

	A well educated and broad-minded man, Burroughs Abbott became a 
citizen of influence in every community in which he lived and while in 
Minnesota was elected a member of the first state legislature and also 
became one of the first state senators of South Dakota, elected from 
Brown county. His political allegiance was given to the republican 
party in early life, while later he became a populist. Reared in the 
faith of the Methodist Episcopal church, he was identified therewith 
for some years but afterward joined the Congregational church. He died 
in 1909, while his wife survived until 1915. To them were born seven 
children, namely: Byron; Lizzie; Ida; Rose; Lilly; Charles, who is a 
miner of Arizona; and Maude. 

	Byron Abbott was educated at Carleton College in Northfield, 
Minnesota, where he woe his Bachelor of Arts degree, and upon the 
foundation of broad literary learning he builded the superstructure of 
his professional knowledge. He v as educated in law in the University 
of Wisconsin, where he remained for a year, and he also read law in an 
office. Following his admission to the bar in 1883 he practiced law in 
Winona, Minnesota, for several years and then located in Britton, where 
he has remained continuously since 1888. He has enjoyed a large 
practice and has been connected with much important litigation heard in 
the courts of the district. He is an able lawyer, conscientious in the 
performance of his professional duties, and while his devotion to his 
clients, interests is marked, he never forgets that he owes a still 
higher allegiance to the majesty of the law. For eight years he has 
served as states attorney of Marshall county and he devotes his entire 
time to his practice and the supervision of his two farms. 

	In 1893 Mr. Abbott was united in marriage to Mrs. Anna 
Vanderhorck, a native of Berlin, by whom he has a daughter, Margaret, 
at home. Mrs. Abbott is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. 
Abbott is a very prominent Mason, belonging to the lodge and to the 
chapter, of which he is the present high priest. He has also taken the 
degrees of the Scottish Rite and has crossed the sands of the desert 
with the nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is likewise a member of Lodge 
No. 1046, B. P. O. E., at Aberdeen. His political allegiance is given 
to the republican party and he has always been active in politics, 
earnestly adhering to the principles which he believes contain the best 
elements of good government. Mr. Abbott has won a substantial place in 
Marshall county as one of its most able lawyers and successful business 
men. What he has accomplished represents the fit utilization of his 
innate powers and talents He has worked along well defined lines of 
labor, realizing ever that industry is just as essential in law 
practice as in industrial or commercial pursuits. His cases, therefore, 
have been prepared with great thoroughness and care and he enters the 
courts well qualified to protect the interests entrusted to his charge.