Abbott & Sons Piano Factory, Fort Lee, NJ

Here are some bits and pieces of information about the Abbott Family Piano Company in New Jersey sent to me by Matthew Weismantel, great great grandson of Whitfield Barrie Abbott (which makes him my 3rd cousin):

Bryants and Abbots
My (Matthew's) Grandmother was Margaret Weismantel nee' BRYANT whose mother was Rebecca Godfrey Curtis Bryant nee' Abbott (daughter of Whitfield Barry ABBOTT & Gertude CLAYTON) and whose father was William Thomas BRYANT (son of Eley BRYANT and Margaret COBB). The Abbotts started in America John C. ABBOTT (1809-1898) who manufactured pianos both in NYC and Fort Lee, NJ.

• Born in London in about 1815, John Abbott immigrated to New York with his brothers James, Nathaniel, Abiel, and William to manufacture pianos. John Abbott first apprenticed with the firm of R & W Nunns. He opened his first shop in 1835, at only twenty years of age, at 66 Walker Street in New York City. His pianos were exhibited at The American Institute Fair in both 1835 and 1836, and they were awarded medals at both exhibitions. Abbott quickly gained popularity and a stellar reputation for his instruments. It seems that John Abbott went into general business and left the piano industry before 1850. His brothers James Abbott and William Abbott continued building action parts for pianos in New Jersey under the name of Abbott & Sons.

• In Spillane’s History of the American Piano-Forte, published in 1890: “John Abbott, a graduate from the shop of R&W Nunns, began business at 66 Walker Street, NY in 1832, and became very successful immediately from the standpoint of making reputable instruments. In 1835 John Abbott took the gold medal at the Mechanic’s Institute for a piano-forte which won special mention. In 1836 he moved to 267 Bowery. Mr. Abbott exhibited a grand piano in this year which won the second premium at the Mechanic’s Institute. This clever piano make is yet living and is a member of a family whose connections with the trade has been of long standing. James Abbott of Abbott and Sons, is a brother and was connected with him in 1833 when he began business on Walker St., and is the youngest of the Abbott Family of piano makers.”

• ABBOTT. London-born makers in New York, NYand Fort Lee, NJ. John Abbott (b. London, 1815-d. after 1890) apprenticed with R&W Nunns in New York; in 1832 he opened a workshop at 66 Walker Street (Spillane). Spillane reported that John Abbott won a gold medal for one of his pianos at the American Mechanics’ Institute Fair in 1835, and the following year he won a silver medal for a horizontal, not square, grand piano. In 1836 his address was 267 Bowery. Abbott apparently opened the firm of Abbott & Sons in Fort Lee, NJ, possibly as early as 1836; although the date is uncertain, he is known to have been working in New Jersey by 1839. http://antiquepianoshop.com/online-museum/abbott/

• John had three brothers, all of whom were active as piano makers, Nathaniel B. Abbott was listed as a maker during the 1840's, but later he turned to other occupations; he became first a policeman, then a carpenter. James Abbott (b London, 1825) worked with his brother John in 1833 on Walker Street in New York and in the firm of Abbott & Sons about 1839 in Fort Lee. James lived at a hotel owned by John in Hackensack, NJ; he was active in the business until 1860, according to Kaufman. William Abbott (b. London, 1816-d 1889) also worked with John in Fort Lee in 1850. Abiel, another brother, operated during that year a piano dealership in NY; he lived in Jersey City. Spillane state that all four of the Abbott brothers were trained at R & W Nunns.

• It is my (Sylvia Abbott) impression that the Abbott family was a large one and branched out to perhaps many other states. I have no records of this. My ancestor, James, had a small piano making business in Edgewater, bought property in Fort Lee in 1850 where piano actions were made in his home. In 1872 Abbott Piano Factory opened off Lemoine Ave. In 1953 the building was sold and has since been torn down to make way for the new Port Authority Building on South Marginal Rd.

• According to Margaret Weismantel, John C. Abbott died pushing Bonnie Cowen up a flight of stairs in a baby carriage. Now that I have dates for his death in Dec 1898 and Bonnie Cowen's birth in August 1895 this certainly plausible.

Charles Bryant, a "dapper fellow"
On another note, from Matthew Weismantel: "My aunt has been asking me if I have any information about a Mariah BRYANT who she remembers owning a boarding house in Ocean Grove, NJ. The only Mariah I have come across was in your photo on-line with Charles Bryant.

l to r:  Mariah, Ida Rene Abbott, Addie Fletcher, and Charles Bryant.
Possibly taken on the occasion of Charles and Mariah's wedding? This photo had to have been taken around 1910, which is after their mother Margaret died on a train... after "the rift." 

My aunt later remembered that there was a Charles Bryant who was married to a Mariah and owned a piano store on Broad Street in Newark, NJ -- strange since it was the Abbotts who owned a piano factory.

New Jersey

Some of our ancestors were early colonists, but many came to America just a few generations ago from England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, and the Netherlands. So it is no surprise that our lineage can be traced back to the area in and around New York City.

Fort Lee, NJ keeps coming up as a common place of origin, particularly on my father's side.  Thomas Whitfield came from England, married Betsy Godfrey from Providence RI, and settled in New York.  Their daughter Sarah married John Abbott from Newark, NJ.  The Abbotts' son Whitfield married Sadie Wright from Brooklyn and settled in Fort Lee. Their son, my great grandfather, George Abbott, was born there.

Orrin Bishop Judd, my dad's paternal ancestor from Hartford, Connecticut, lived in Brooklyn at different times in his life and married Elizabeth MacDonald from Bronx, NY.  My mother's great grandmother, Miriam Olivia Wandell, was born in Brooklyn of parents with a Dutch heritage.

I have always felt a draw to that part of the world, especially to Long Island and Rhode Island.  Never thought much about New Jersey, but it's looking more and more interesting now.

Lines crossed

The relatives that I am meeting through Ancestry are helping to fill in some of the gaps in my knowledge.  I am communicating with two relatives, both named Matt, who did not know each other except through Ancestry.  One of these newfound relatives is the great grandson of Rebecca Abbott and William Bryant, my great grand aunt and uncle.  The other is a grandson of Rawley Martin Butler, my grand uncle. Common denominator = Ida Rene.

I had always heard that our family line were crossed between Bryants and Abbotts but could not find it in my research.  According to one of these newfound relatives, George Abbott's half sister Rebecca was married to Ida Rene Bryant's brother William.   I may have known this at one time but would never have been able to dredge it up on my own.  Amazing how discovering such a precious nugget of information can make my day.

William Thomas Bryant, brother of Ida Rene and son of Eley and Margaret Bryant, was born in March 1867 in Southhampton County, Va.

Rebecca Godfrey Curtis Abbott, half sister of George Wright Abbott and daughter of Whitfield Barrie and Gertrude Clayton Abbott, b. 28 Jul 1868 in Fort Lee, NJ.

William married Rebecca in 1900. They met when they were coworkers in a hat factory in Fort Lee, NJ. William had probably taken the train to NJ that had recently been extended to Norfolk, VA. William returned to his parents farm in Princess Anne County, but Rebecca (called Bonnie), finding herself pregnant, took the train to Norfolk where William met the train and they were married immediately in the nearest church parsonage. They lived with Eley and Margaret Bryant for about a year before returning to NJ. The baby died soon after childbirth. 

George Abbott married Ida Rene Butler (nee Bryant) in 1904 in Norfolk, VA. 

After Eley Bryant died, Margaret Bryant went to live in Richmond with Ida Rene and George Abbott. She died on a train trip back to Blackwater to visit Addie in 1908.