California Biographies Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm Source: History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from its earliest settlement to the present time. Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905 Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176 ARTHUR ABEL ABBEY. The name which heads this review is that of an old New England family that flourished in the state of Connecticut. It was noted for its pioneers � men of strength and endurance, and the ability to give their best efforts in the upbuilding of a new country. Luther Abbey left his home in Connecticut, where he was born, and located in Elvria, Lorain county, Ohio, and engaged in contracting and building until his death, January 5, 1850, at the early age of thirty-nine years. His wife was in maidenhood Lucy Allen, a native of Mas- sachusetts, and the daughter of Reuben Allen, a pioneer farmer of Lorain county. Mrs. Abbey died in Ohio at the age of seventy-six years. They became the parents of four children, of whom two are now living, namely : Roland, who served in the Forty-second Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry and was wounded at Vicksburg, now residing in Michigan ; and Arthur Abel, the second in order of birth. Arthur Abel Abbey was born in Elvria, Ohio, November 3, 1842, and was reared on a farm near that place until the breaking out of the Civil war, receiving his education in the district school in the vicinity of his home. In October. 1862, he responded to the pressing need for men, and enlisted in Company D, Sixth Ohio Cavalry, being mustered in at Cleveland, Ohio, for one year. He served until January, 1864, in the Army of the Potomac, taking part in the battles of Gettysburg and Fredericksburg, as well as seeing dangerous service in the path of the Con- federate army. After an honorable discharge he returned to civic life and once more entered into the life of an Ohio farmer. In 1866 he located in Ausable, Mich., and engaged for two years in the lumber mills of that region, after which he went to Oshkosh, Wis., and followed the same occupation until 1874. In February of the last named year he came to California, to which state he had previously made a trip in 1868, accompanied by his younger brother, An- drew, who continued to make his home here until his death in 1882, in Stockton. Mr. Abbey located at Portersville and engaged in the sheep business, which he continued for two years, when, in 1876, he established a livery stable and conducted it for about six years. He then pur- chased the grist mill and in partnership with C. A. McLean established the Portersville Flour Milling Company, operated by water power. They eventually changed to the roller process, but sold out in 1886, after a very successful career. Mr. Abbey then engaged in speculating and dealing in real estate for one year, when with Thomas Kelley, he bought eighty acres of orange land, being among the first to set out orange groves for commercial purposes. Later they sold a half of this property, each retaining twenty acres, which Mr. Abbey still owns, while he makes his home in Portersville. In Portersville, in 1882, Mr. Abbey married Emma Gilmer, a native of Tulare county, and the daughter of Rufus Gilmer, of Visalia, whose biographical record appears elsewhere in this work. Born of this union are five children, namely: Ernest, who was accidentally drowned at the age of nine years ; Alner, who died at the age of four years; Rosalind; Lawrence; and Hester. Mr. Abbey is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Grand Army of the Republic, both of Portersville. Politically he is a true-blue Republican and has often been called upon to serve his party in positions of trust and responsibility. In 1901, upon the organization of the present corporation of Portersville, he was made councilman from the third ward, and in 1903 was re-elected for four years as a representative of the same ward.