John R. Mabbott Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Page 464

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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JOHN R. MABBOTT, an ex-soldier and general farmer, whose home is 
located in Hopper township, in Aurora county, is one of the early 
settlers of Dakota. He was born in England in 1836. His father was a 
native of Northamptonshire, England, and was a blacksmith on Lord 
Lonsdale's estate. 

In 1845 our subject came with his parents to America, and the family 
located in Wisconsin, where the: father took a farm of one hundred and 
sixty acres, part of which was timber land. Soon after their arrival 
one of the sons died and as -his parents did not enjoy good health, 
especially his father, the labor of clearing the land for cultivation 
fell mostly to our subject. During those years his education was 
neglected, there being no school in that part of the state. Their first 
school house, built in 1852, was a log building, poorly equipped, but 
it was the start of the better school system which Mr. Mabbott's 
children afterward had the privilege of enjoying. Our subject purchased 
land near his father's farm and operated his own and a portion of his 
father's, until 1873, when he moved to Helene, Wisconsin, and built a 
hotel, engaging in the hotel business for eleven years. In 1882 he went 
to Dakota and located land, on which his oldest four sons settled the 
following year. In 1884 he removed with his, wife and smaller children 
to the Dakota home, since which time he has engaged in general farming 
with success. He has two hundred acres under cultivation, aside from 
pasture and meadow land, garden and orchards. He engages in dairying to 
some extent and is a patron of the creamery. A flowing well supplies an 
abundance of water for his stock and the irrigation of his garden, and 
his out-buildings and machinery are of the best, making his farm well 
equipped for lessening labor, while his home is built with a view to 
convenience and comfort. Mr. Mabbott's children are also located in 
Hopper township and the family owns ten quarter-sections, two of which 
comprise the home of our subject. In August, 1862, Mr. Mabbott enlisted 
in Company C, Thirty-first Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and was in the 
Western department under Sherman, accompanying him on his march to sea, 
afterward going north through the Carolinas, and at the close of the 
war taking part in grand review in Washington. In 1854, our subject was 
married to Mary C. Villemonte, who was born in Detroit, Michigan, and 
is of French descent. Her father was a farmer by occupation. Mr. and 
Mrs. Mabbott are the parents of eleven children, most of whom had 
reached the age of maturity, and all are well located in the vicinity 
of their parents, with the exception of their daughter Laura, who is 
Mrs. Jones and resides in Colorado. Their children bear the following 
names; Henry M., Lucius A., Mrs. Josie E. Brown, Mrs. Anna N. Jones, 
Mrs. Laura Jones, Frank T., Mrs. Irene Eastman, John C., Ella C., 
Charles R. and Lorenzo. The sons are good mechanics and farmers and are 
making a success of their respective callings. Mr. and Mrs. Mabbott 
have twenty-two grandchildren. 

Mr. Mabbott is a Republican and takes much interest in public matters, 
has held numerous township offices and was appointed to take the census 
of 1890. He is a member of the G. A. R. and also the Masonic 
fraternity. 

In the great fire, in the eighties, which consumed the best business 
portion of the village of Mount Vernon, Davison county, Mr. Mabbott 
suffered a loss of about four thousand dollars. He was at that time in 
partnership with his son-in-law, Andrew Brown, in the general 
merchandise business.