| Jo Abbott | |
| State: | Texas |
| District: | 6th |
| Term Start: | March 4, 1887 |
| Term End: | March 3, 1897 |
| Predecessor: | Olin Wellborn |
| Successor: | Robert E. Burke |
| State House2: | Texas |
| District2: | 20th |
| Term Start2: | February 9, 1870 |
| Term End2: | January 14, 1873 |
| Predecessor2: | William E. Estes |
| Successor2: | Levi Gillette |
| Birth Date: | 15 January 1840 |
| Birth Place: | Morgan County, Alabama, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Hillsboro, Texas, U.S. |
| Party: | Democratic |
| Allegiance: | Confederacy |
| Branch: | Confederate States Army |
| Serviceyears: | 1861–1865 |
| Rank: | First lieutenant |
| Unit: | Company B, 12th Texas Cavalry Regiment |
| Battles: | |
Joseph B. "Jo" Abbott (January 15, 1840February 11, 1908) was a lawyer, judge, Confederate Army officer, member of the Texas House of Representatives and a member of the United States House of Representatives from Texas.
The city of Abbott, Texas, is named for him.[1]
Joseph B. Abbott[2] was born January 15, 1840, to William and Mary (née McMillan) Abbott in Morgan County, Alabama, near Decatur, and attended the public schools. His parents were both born near Petersburg, Virginia. His father William had been a soldier in the War of 1812, and was stationed at Norfolk, Virginia. Abbott moved with his parents to Freestone County, Texas, in 1853. He was educated by the scholar Franklin Laughlin Yoakum, the father of Benjamin Franklin Yoakum[3] and the president of Larissa College,[4] and George F. Allison, who operated a classical school in Freestone County. He began to read law in 1859 and continued in this practice until the beginning of the American Civil War.
Abbott entered into service of the Confederate Army in the Civil War as a junior second lieutenant, eventually becoming a first lieutenant in Company B of the Twelfth Texas Cavalry Regiment.[2] [5] He fought in at least half a dozen battles[6] including the Battle of Cotton Plant, the Battle of Pleasant Hill, and the Battle of Yellow Bayou, in which he was wounded and disabled for many months. He later rejoined his command and remained with it until the end of the war.
After the end of the war he resumed his studies of law and entered the office of Lochlin J. Farrar in Springfield, Limestone County, Texas,[6] and received instructions from D. W. Pendergast. Abbott was admitted to the bar by Robert S. Gould, who became a chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court. After he became licensed in October 1866, he began to practice law in Springfield as a partner of Farrar.[6] He moved to Hill County in 1867, where he taught a school for five months. He returned to his legal profession after the county court system was organized in 1868. On December 15, 1868, he married Rowena Sturgis of Hillsboro, daughter of James W. L. and Martha Sturgis.[7]
He was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1870 to 1873[8] He was appointed a district judge in the Twenty-eighth judicial district by Governor Oran M. Roberts. In 1880, he was elected for a full four-year term for that position. In 1886, he was elected as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives, and served in that capacity through the end of Fifty-Fourth Congress in 1897. Upon leaving Congress, he resumed his legal career in Hillsboro, Texas, where he died on February 11, 1908.[5]