Whitfield Barrie Abbott, 1844-1889

Whitfield Barrie Abbott was born on July 18, 1844 in New Jersey, to John C. and Sarah "Sally" Godfrey Whitfield Abbott. The Abbotts owned a hotel/boarding house in Hackensack, NJ; others who lived in the house were a mixed assortment of folks from England, New York, New Jersey, Germany, Ireland, and South America. The tenants worked either at the hotel or at the Abbott Piano Factory.

At age 16, Whitfield was living in a large boarding house in NY City and was working as a "clerk" according to the 1860 Census; he was also counted on the census at his parents' home in Hackensack that year. From 1863-66, he attended the Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York City. By 1870, he was back home living with his extended family in Hackensack, working at his father's piano factory. He was married with two daughters. In 1876, he purchased land in Ridgefield, Bergen, New Jersey, on Palisades Ave (1500 block - see below). By 1880, he was widowed with three children - Bonnie, May, and Barrett - and was working as a school teacher near his home in Coytesville, a borough of Fort Lee.

Here is a current street view of that property location. It's commercial land now.
Whitfield's house was on the lot at the far right of this picture. It is now a bank building.
The property is very near the NJ Tnpk where it crosses the George Washington Bridge.

Gertrude Clayton Abbott

Whitfield was married twice. His first marriage was to Gertrude Clayton, by whom he had five children; three survived to adulthood:

• Rebecca "Bonnie" Godfrey Curtis Abbott, b. 1868, 
• Mary "May" Clayton Abbott, b. 1870, 
• Barrett H. Abbott, b. 1873 (d.?), 
• Whitfield Barry Abbott, Jr., b. 1873,  
• Sarah Godfrey Abbott, b. 1874 (d.?). 

Gertrude died in 1879. Whitfield then married Sarah A. "Sadie" Wright in June 1882 in the Dutch Reformed Free Church. They had five children; two survived to adulthood:

• George Wright Abbott, b. Aug. 1882, 
• William Smith Abbott, b. 1883 (d. 1884), 
• Alice Barry Abbott, b. 1886 (d. 1887), 
• John A. Abbott b. 1887 (d. 1887), and 
• Leonie Abbott, b. 1889.

Whitfield died in December 1889; his last will was dated 17 September 1889, just ten days before Leonie was born. Sadie died in 1903.

Some interesting notes:

• I have received much information about the Abbott family from M.W. in NJ. He has copies of the Abbott family bible and many documents of the family history. He is descended from May Abbott Eggers, the second eldest daughter of Whitfield and Gertrude. 
• Barry Vaughan was named after Whitfield Barrie Abbott (as George Wright Abbott requested).
• A recent DNA test shows that Glenn Watson's son Ben is descended from Whitfield through May Abbott Eggers' family.
• May's son Ray Eggers was an avid genealogist who did most of the Abbott family research before it could be done by computer. He traveled all up and down the east coast and sent many information-packed letters to Miriam Lukhard, which I now have in my possession.