William W.Abbott as Presented in The Centennial History of the Town of Springdale, Dane County, Wisconsin, 1848-1948

Over the past few months, I have been posting articles from the Centennial History of the Town of Springdale,  Dane County, Wisconsin, 1848-1948.  Sometimes these articles are about my McPherson family, but many times not.    Nevertheless, I continue to  hope that these stories will bring forth more contacts, family, friends and history of my McPhersons and the town of Springdale,  and to, perhaps, provide a link for those who had family in Springdale during those early years in Springdale.

William Wiley Abbott was often mentioned in the diary of my 2x great-grandfather James P. McPherson.  From the diary,  the two men seemed to be very interested and involved in activities of Dane County; however, I never found any indication of how Abbott came to be known as Major Abbott, though the title does seem to pre-date the Civil War

 Abbott's  Maine roots go back to the late 1600's.  He married  Elizabeth Betsey S. Guptil (this is apparently the correct spelling of her last name) in Maine about the time they left for Wisconsin.  According to his family, he left Maine for the west "when the rush was made for public lands  in 1853."  The Abbott family is listed in the following Census Reports: 1850 Federal Census, Maine; 1855 Wisconsin Census, Dane County (Belleville); 1860 Federal Census, Mt.Vernon;  1870 Federal Census, Springdale;  1880 Federal Census, Mt. Vernon.  

Abbott  had three children: Mary E., Ellen Cordellia, and Marshall  E. Abbott.  In an article In The Foot-Prints of the Pioneers, published in 1900, it was noted that after his wife's death in 1880, he lived with his daughter, Ellen, in Barneveld.  He died in 1885.

NOTE:  The above information came from the diary of James P. McPherson, Federal Census Reports, and Family Trees in Ancestry.com.

William W. Abbott (Major)
as presented on page 136,

Centennial History of the Town of Springdale

Dane County, Wisconsin, 1848-1948

William Abbot, best know as Major Abbot, came to Wisconsin in 1852, and in 1854 he located in the township of Springdale and was the first blacksmith in the township.  he was married to Elizabeth Gupgil.  They had five children.  Horseshoeing was his specialty, and although his residence was in Springdale, his business was in Primrose, and his blacksmith shop was near the river on the farm now owned by Herman C. Efurth.

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© Joan Hill, Roots'n'Leaves Publications