Moving to a Glen Innes practice in 1893, Abbott married Elizabeth Matilda Ross, née King, at Tamworth on 2 September 1901, and continued to be an active sportsman.

He was involved in a wide variety of local organisations, including the Northern Border Cricket Association and Glen Innes Rifle Club, as well as being a keen fisherman and racehorse breeder.

He was forced to return to Australia in April 1918 suffering recurrences of enteric fever, as well as a chronic eye complaint and the effects of gas, but continued to command the 12th (or, as it became, New England Light Horse) until 1929.

In 1919, having re-established himself as a solicitor, Abbott headed the Country Party's New England campaign for the state election, accompanying Sir Michael Bruxner on his electoral tour.

When he died on 9 September 1940 of asthmatic bronchitis and heart failure, he left his wife and four children (three sons and a daughter) with a huge amount of debt (around £16,611).