Two Cousins Lived Past 100 Years
Emily Abbott Everett (1799-1904) and Anne Wales Abbott (1808-1908) were sisters and our second cousins who both lived to be 100 years old. Emily lived until 105. In the 1900 U.S. Census, Emily was still listed as the head of the household. Emily is pictured above.
I was trying to imagine living during the time of Emily’s life. Her father was born before the Revolutionary War and she died 10 years before the start of World War I.
Anne and Emily were daughters of Abiel Abbott (1770-1828) and Eunice Wales (1772-1831). Abiel Abbott was a Harvard graduate and a well-known minister. He developed yellow fever while on a ministry trip to Cuba when he returned through Charleston, South Carolina. He was quarantined on the ship in New York and died in quarantine.
Emily Abbott married Stevens Everett in 1824. They had four children. Emily was widowed in 1833 and did not remarry. One of the children of Emily and Stevens Everett was Emily. The younger Emily married Ezra Abbott – who, yes, is a cousin – and not only that he is from a double-Abbott family. Ezra’s parents were Ezra Abbott and Phebe Abbott who were first cousins to each other and our cousins.
Anne Wales Abbott was a game designer, magazine editor, and author. Her first game was Dr. Busby which was published in 1843. Other games that she authored were The Racers and Master Rodbury. She also did book reviews, and one of her reviews was of Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter which she did not like very much. She wrote children’s books and edited one volume of prose and verse designed for adult readers: Autumn Leaves: Original Pieces in Prose and Verse published in 1853. She contributed several of the items for Autumn Leaves. Other pieces were contributed by two of her sisters and her niece.
Here is the beginning of one of her poems:
The Sounds of Morning in Cambridge
I SING the melodies of early morn.
Hark! — 't is the distant roar of iron wheels,
First sound of busy life, and the shrill neigh
Of vapor-steed, the vale of Brighton threading.
Region of lowing kine and perfumed breeze.
Echoes the shore of blue meandering Charles.
Straightway the chorus of glad chanticleers
Proclaims the dawn. First comes one clarion note,
Loud, clear, and long drawn out; and hark! again
Rises the jocund song, distinct, though distant;
Now faint and far, like plaintive cry for help
Piercing the ear of Sleep. Each knight o' the spur,
Watchful as brave, and emulous in noise.
With mighty pinions beats a glad reveille.
All feathered nature wakes. Man's drowsy sense
Heeds not the trilling band, but slumbrous waits
The tardy god of day. Ah! sluggard, wake!
Family group sheet for Abiel Abbott and Eunice Wales: http://sites.rootsmagic.com/colonialgenealogy/family.php?f=4825