Birth: July 5, 1859
Death: March 6, 1933
Location: Lot 17, Section 3, Row 2, Old Cemetery-NW
Picture provided by Michelle Setlik
Carrie Abbott written by Michelle Setlik
Carrie Ella was the third child born to James and Jane (Irving) Weldon in Oswego County, New York on July 5, 1859. She had older twin sisters Fidelia and Adelia (the mother of W.W. Maltman) and a younger brother James.
Her father was a soldier for the Union, from New York, throughout the entire Civil War then served another two years in the U.S. Army after the war ended. In 1873 the family moved to Jackson Township in Hall County, Nebraska. Carrie and her siblings were remembered as being “liberally educated.” Before her arrival in Nebraska, Carrie had been a student in the high school at Sand Creek, New York. After arriving in Hall County, she then attended high school in Grand Island for a year before embarking on a teaching career. She was a teacher at District 27, located four miles southwest of Wood River for three terms from 1875-1876 until her marriage to Marcus Abbott in November 1876. The Abbotts lived on a farm four miles south of Wood River for 35 years. To their union two children, Sabra and Roscoe were born in 1881 and 1885 respectively. After Marcus’s death in 1912, Carrie moved into Wood River where she was actively involved in civic, social, and benevolent activities in the community.
In April 1914 a Woman’s Suffrage Organization was founded in Wood River following a speech at the A.O.U.W. Hall in Wood River by a suffragist from Kansas. Among the officers elected was Carrie Abbott who served as Chairman of Press Work.
During WWI, Carrie served as the Chairman of the Red Cross at Wood River, which was reported to have produced 2,000 hospital garments, 1800 knitted articles and 8,000 surgical dressings for the troops.
Carrie was also an active member of the Presbyterian church, the Ladies’ Aid Society (served as secretary), the Woman’s Missionary society, a member of the Eastern Star (serving as Worthy Matron in 1912 and as the chapter chaplain for many years), the Women’s Club (twice serving as president).
Carrie Abbott was remembered by the Wood River Sunbeam as “a cheerful, wholesome, Christian spirit in the community for half a century…(whose) influence in the lives of those who are left behind will live as a ray of sunshine. Her interest in others was never-ending and her boundless optimism and keen interest in the every-day affairs of those about her made her a leader, a counselor and friend whose memory is a benediction.” In the History of Hall County, it was noted that Carrie and Sabra’s “benefactions to many charities will never be wholly known.”