JOHN M. ABBOTT

The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 519-520
Kanawha

JOHN M. ABBOTT, division supervisor of supplies and
motor vehicles for the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone
Company of West Virginia, has earned every step of promo-
tion to his present responsibilities, and his career as a tele-
phone man is an interesting personal story which will be
elaborated more fully, after noting the facts of his life.

He was born at Newbern, North Carolina, in 1894, and
was reared and attended common schools in that city. He
left home at the age of thirteen and became an office em-
ploye of one of the lumber companies at Newbern. Subse-
quently he went to South Carolina, worked in the offices of
the Hammer Lumber Company at Little River, and later
with the same corporation at Wilmington, North Carolina.
In 1909 he entered the service of the Fosburg Lumber Com-
pany at Norfolk, Virginia. Upon leaving that company he
made application for work in the Norfolk office of the
Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Company, and a few
days later secured a reluctant consent from the manager, his
first duty being cleaning a storeroom, a job he did so well
that he was put on the pay roll. November 21, 1912, he
was transferred to Charleston as material clerk for what is
now the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company, in 1917
was promoted to division storekeeper, in 1919, to division
chief clerk, and in 1920, when the corporation organized the
new department, he was selected as the first to fill the posi-
tion of division supervisor of supplies and motor vehicles
for the division embracing the State of West Virginia and
several Ohio counties. His rapid rise to this important
position as an executive of the company is a splendid
tribute to his thoroughness, efficiency and fidelity to his
work.

How he became a loyal lieutenant of E. F. Hill, at
first in the Norfolk office and later at Charleston, was inter-
estingly told by Mr. Hill in an article in a telephone journal
a year or so ago. Mr. Hill describes his appearance as an
applicant for work and his creditable performance in the
storeroom and then continues:

"Within thirty days he could read a blueprint, and I
found one day that he was instructing an employe with
several years' service in the proper way to rewire a sub-
set. Shortly after this he was made a helper to an installer.
On one occasion I happened to be out of my office for a few
hours, and while away arranged to have my telephones
changed.

"On coming in unexpectedly I found the wireman seated
at my desk looking over the correspondence and smoking a
cigar which he had found in the desk. After sticking
around out of sight I found the helper was doing the work
and the wireman was amusing himself in other ways. That
night the services of the wireman were dispensed with and
the helper was given the job.

"Within two or three months my clerk left and I had
considerable trouble in locating another.  One day this
young man called up and remarked that he had heard I was
looking for a clerk and that he had been studying shorthand
and a business course at the night school, and that while
he was not very proficient with his stenographic work, he
could write very well on the machine and that if I were
willing to give him a trial he would make every effort to
please me.

"This I was very glad to do, and he became very efficient
and in every way a satisfactory clerk. If I happened to be
out of the office for a day, incoming mail was usually
attached to the file if there was any, and after a very short
period he was able to get the necessary information from
the districts and answer certain portions of the correspon-
dence.

"On July 1, 1912, when I was transferred to Charleston,
he immediately requested permission to come also, but realiz-
ing that a new man going into the job at Norfolk would
have an added hardship with a new clerk, I made him see
the necessity for his staying on the job and doing his part.
After being here a short time he again applied for permis-
sion to come out, but was still advised to stay on the job
there. Later he got permission from Mr. Richardson to be
transferred to this division, and came out early in 1913. In
1914 he resigned to accept a position as inspector with the
Home Telephone and Telegraph Company at Henderson,
North Carolina, but left them after five months and was re-
engaged in October, 1914.

"During the time of his employment with the C. & P.
Company he has looked after supplies. In fact he was the
supply clerk for this division from 1913 to 1916; in 1917
he was made storekeeper at Charleston; in January, 1919,
he became division plant clerk; early in 1920 he was pro-
moted to division supervisor of supplies and motor vehicles,
and has filled that position with credit to himself and his
associates.

"To sum it up, John M. Abbott has made himself what
he is today, and I consider him an efficient and reliable
employe, who has educated himself by night study and
correspondence school courses, so that he is at present
capable of holding down any job on which he is started."

Aside from his absorbing duties with the Telephone Com-
pany, Mr. Abbott for several years has had a keen interest
and active part in the Boy Scout movement, and is deputy
commissioner of the Charleston Council of the Boy Scouts
of America. These activities led quite naturally to his
becoming interested in safety and first aid matters, and in
October, 1921, he completed a course in First Aid with the
American Red Cross at Washington, receiving the Red Cross
diploma certifying to this fact, under which he is authorized
to teach first aid to others. This instruction work he is
directing among the telephone employes in West Virginia, a
work that testifies to the interest the company has in its
employes and the general public as well. Mr. Abbott is a
Royal Arch Mason, a member of the Scottish Rite Lodge of
Perfection, and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias. 

Submitted by:  vfcrook@trellis.net (Valerie F. Crook) 

USGENWEB NOTICE:  In keeping with our policy of providing
free information
on the Internet, data may be freely 
used by non-commercial entities, 
as long as this 
message remains on all copied material. These electronic
pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit 
or other presentation.