Benjamin Suit Abbott

BENJAMIN SUIT ABBOTT, a coal operator and merchant at Weir City, and one of the ex-mayors of the city, was born in 1855 in Indiana, and is a son of Benjamin and Catherine (Suit) Abbott.

The parents of Mr. Abbott were born in what is now West Virginia, the father in 1803, and the mother in 1813, and both died in Indiana, the former in 1865, and the latter in 1876. The subject of this sketch is the youngest of their four children, the only other survivor being Virginia, who was born in Indiana, where she married Dr. T. W. Curry, and has one child, Idelle. Benjamin Abbott was a son of Benjamin Abbott, who was born in Scotland, and was a son of Thomas Abbott. Both the grandfather and the great-grandfather of our subject were Presbyterian preachers and spent their lives in what is now West Virginia.

Benjamin Suit Abbott grew to manhood on a farm in Indiana, where he remained until 1877, when the home was broken up by the death of his mother, and he went to Arkansas. There he worked on a railroad until 1879, when he came to Columbus, Kansas. Here he was engaged in clerking for four years in a hardware store, and then went into a venture of his own, at McCune, Crawford County, under the firm name of Crewsen & Abbott. This continued until 1886, when he settled at Weir City and embarked in the general mercantile business giving his establishment the name of the "Blue Front." Here Mr. Abbott, through his energy and enterprise, prospered greatly for some years, in the meantime building a number of business houses and taking an active part in promoting the prosperity and good name of the city. In 1888 he formed the firm of Abbott & Crowe, hardware merchants. He later sold his interest in this business and in 1893 established a hardware store at Scammon, which he conducted until 1896, when he sold out there. He continued his general merchandise store in Weir City until 1903, when he disposed of his interest in that. He is one of the city's large and successful coal operators, a wholesale dealer and owns a number of coal shafts and a large amount of land through Cherokee township and the county, having fully 50 men in his employ.

In 1883 Mr. Abbott was married to Mary C. Crowe, who is a daughter of David Crowe, and they have two children: Nellie, born at McCune, Kansas; and Vida, born at Weir City.

Mr. Abbott is a prominent politician of this section and has been honored by his party on numerous occasions. He has served in the City Council, and has twice been mayor of Weir City. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and has held official positions in both bodies. He holds a place among the representative men of Weir City and Cherokee County.

History of Cherokee County Kansas and its representative citizens, ed. & comp. by Nathaniel Thompson Allison, 1904, transcribed by Natalie Tunnell, student from USD 508, Baxter Springs Middle School, Baxter Springs, Kansas, 1-20-97