[1][2] The Clarion-Ledger identified Abbott and Finis H. Little as Radical Republican state senator elects in 1869.
[3] Abbott was born near Chautauqua, New York circa 1843, one of nine children of farmer and merchant Harry Abbott (born 1800) and his wife, Louisa Bostwick.
[4][5] In his childhood, Abbott moved to Warren, Pennsylvania, where he attended the Union School.
[2][5] He settled in Aberdeen, Mississippi after the American Civil War, and moved to a plantation on Clay County a year later.
[7][2] In 1900, Abbott moved to Selma, Alabama, where he was involved in the expansion of railroads there.