Horace Abbott (July 29, 1806 – August 8, 1887) was an American iron manufacturer and banker. His work included the armor plating for , , , and . He was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts to Alpheus Abbott and Lydia Fay, who were both farmers. After his father's death and subsequent blacksmithing apprenticeship, Abbott moved to

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

in 1836 and purchased the Canton Iron Works in Canton, which specialized in the production of steamboat and railroad components. It was renamed the Abbott Iron Company. The company's 1850 mill was largest

iron mill An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloomer ...

in the United States at that time. It was said that iron plates were rolled here for shipment to New York City for

John Ericsson John Ericsson (born Johan Ericsson; July 31, 1803 – March 8, 1889) was a Swedish-American inventor. He was active in England and the United States. Ericsson collaborated on the design of the railroad steam locomotive ''Novelty'', which co ...

's revolutionary new ship, the ironclad which fought in the 1862 Battle of Hampton Roads during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. He also was the founder of Baltimore's First National Bank, and a director of the Second National Bank of Baltimore and the Union Railroad of Baltimore, acquired by the

Northern Central Railway The Northern Central Railway (NCRY) was a Class I Railroad connecting Baltimore, Maryland with Sunbury, Pennsylvania, along the Susquehanna River. Completed in 1858, the line came under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) in 1861, whe ...

in 1882, eventually becoming part of the Pennsylvania Railroad. He lived at his country estate "Abbotston" in northeast Baltimore near the present location of 33rd Street and The Alameda on one of the highest hills in the city near the village of Huntingdon (now Waverly) to the west and the Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello community off Harford Road to the east. A Victorian mansion was constructed in the 1870s near the earlier Federal-era estate of "Montebello" of Samuel Smith, (1752–1839), U.S. Senator, Baltimore mayor, and commanding general of the Maryland militia during the War of 1812 during the British attack against Baltimore and a later Victorian mansion of the same name belonging to

John Work Garrett John Work Garrett (July 31, 1820 – September 26, 1884), was an American merchant turned banker who became president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) in 1858 and led the railroad for nearly three decades. The B&O became one of the most ...

, Civil War-era president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.He also endowed the Abbott Memorial Presbyterian Church on Bank Street in the Highlandtown neighborhood of southeast Baltimore. Abbott died in Baltimore in 1887.

References

* ''Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607–1896''. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1963.

External links

Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, edited by James Grant Wilson, John Fiske and Stanley L. Klos. Six volumes, New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1887-1889
1806 births 1887 deaths Businesspeople from Baltimore People from Sudbury, Massachusetts American bankers American ironmasters 19th-century American businesspeople {{US-business-bio-1800s-stub