ABBETT, Harriett (Mitchell)

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Services at Flinn Mortuary At
3:30 O’clock — Burial
In Greenlawn

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Funeral services were held Monday afternoon at 3:30 o’clock at the Flinn Mortuary for Mrs. Harriett Abbett, well known Franklin woman, whose death occurred very suddenly at 10 o’clock Saturday morning at the Sines Sanitarium in Indianapolis where she had been a patient for the past two weeks.

The Rev. J. P. Wilbourn, pastor of the Franklin Baptist Church, was in charge of the service. The casket bearers were Isaac T. Bice, Ray­mond H. Sellers, Edward C. Bailey, R. T. Overstreet, Edwin Dugan and William W. Suckow. Burial was in Greenlawn cemetery.

Mrs. Abbett had been in failing health for several months but it was not until two weeks ago that she was taken to the sanitarium in In­dianapolis. She had seemed very happy there and told her daughter late in the week that she was feeling a great deal better. Her death was the result of a heart attack suf­fered while an attendant at the sanitarium was bathing her Saturday morning.

Body Taken to Home.

The body was brought to the Flinn Mortuary in Franklin Saturday and remained there until 10 o’clock Monday morning when it was taken to the home on Forsythe street where friends called until 2 o’clock when it was taken back to the mor­tuary for the services at 3:30.

Mrs. Abbett was born on a farm in Blue River Township of February 16, 1860. She was a daughter of Jefferson and Jane Mitchell, mem­bers of pioneer Johnson county fa­milies. Mrs. Abbett’s grandfather Mitchell settled on a farm near Amity when Johnson county was first settled. Much of this land remains in the family up to the present time.

There were three children born to Mrs. Abbett’s parents, all daughters. Only one of the daughters, Mrs. William Foster, of East Jefferson street, Franklin, now survives. The other daughter of the family and sister of Mrs. Abbett, Mrs. E. D. Pritchard, died several years ago.

During her young womanhood Mrs. Abbett was united in marriage to Lawson A. Abbett, a young farmer of her community. Three children were born to them all of whom survive. They are Prof. Merle J. Abbett, superintendent of the Fort Wayne schools; Prof. Roscoe Abbett, an executive of the school system in Des Moines, Iowa, and Miss Hazel Abbett, a teacher in the Indianapolis Schools.

Married Second Time.

All of Mrs. Abbett’s children were quite small when the husband and father died yet she bravely went ahead with the farm management and the rearing of her children with a determination that all should have better educational advantages than she had. She and Mr. Abbett were married February 11, 1879, and Mr. Abbett died in 1888.

A few years after the death of her first husband she was united in marriage to John E. Cheney. One son, Emmett Cheney, was born to this union and he survives. He is an official of the Horlick Milk Com­pany in Ithaca, New York. Mr. Che­ney died a number of years ago and since his death Mrs. Abbett had been living at her home on Forsythe street, Franklin.

Mrs. Abbett and her two sisters were all ambitious for their children and worked hard and made many sacrifices for them. Practically all of the children of the three sisters are college graduates and many of them have made outstanding successes in the fields of education and religion. Dr. H. O. Pritchard of Indianapolis, for many years head of the Board of Education of the Disciples Church, is a nephew of Mrs. Abbett.

All of Mrs. Abbett’s children came home for the funeral of their mother. Prof. Merle Abbett and Miss Hazel Abbett came to Franklin Sa­turday evening. Emmett Cheney and Prof. Roscoe Abbett arrived Sunday.

Link to Harriett (Mitchell) Abbett Cheney’s grave

Submitted by Lois Johnson