In 1722 he became a freeman of Canterbury and in the same year married Mary, the daughter of Samuel and Frances Simmons of Deal, (died 1748).
[2] Besides his newspaper, Abree also printed books and ephemera such as bellman's verses and ballads; he also acted as an agent for the Sun Fire Office and no doubt sold stationery through his bookshop.
[4] At the end of his career, Abree took on an assistant, George Kirkby, son of a Canterbury vicar, who had been apprenticed to the London printer James Bettenham.
In 1768, the Kentish Post announced that Abree was planning to retire in favour of his assistant Kirkby.
A rival paper was started by James Simmons and after a short circulation war, the two newspapers merged as the Kentish Gazette which is still published weekly in Canterbury (2011).