Leon Abbett
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Leon Abbett (October 8, 1836 – December 4, 1894) was an American Democratic Party politician, who served two separate terms as the 26th Governor of New Jersey, from 1884-1887 and from 1890-1893.
He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Ezekiel and Sarah (Howell) Abbett. He was admitted to the Philadelphia bar in 1858. On his 26th birthday, in 1862, he married Mary Briggs. He shortly thereafter became a corporate attorney in Hoboken, New Jersey.
A lawyer, he soon entered politics in New Jersey and was elected as a Democrat to the New Jersey General Assembly, where he served from 1864-1866 and 1869-1870. He also served one term in the New Jersey Senate from 1875-1877. Active in New Jersey Democratic politics, he was elected Governor of New Jersey (defeating Civil War hero E. Burd Grubb), and served two non-consecutive terms from 1884-1887 and again from 1890-1893.
Following his service as Governor, he became an Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1893 until his death the following year. He is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.
[edit] References
Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896. Chicago, IL: Marquis Who's Who, 1967.
[edit] For further reading
- Richard A. Hogarty, Leon Abbett's New Jersey: The Emergence of the Modern Governor, Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 243, 2002. ISBN 0-87169-243-0
[edit] External links
- Biography of Leon Abbett (PDF), New Jersey State Library
- New Jersey Governor Leon Abbett, National Governors Association
- Dead Governors of New Jersey bio for George C. Ludlow
Preceded by George C. Ludlow |
Governor of New Jersey January 15, 1884 – January 18, 1887 |
Succeeded by Robert Stockton Green |
Preceded by Robert Stockton Green |
Governor of New Jersey January 21, 1890 – January 17, 1893 |
Succeeded by George Theodore Werts |
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