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Jo Abbott

American politician (1840–1908)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 24, 2026
Entity authorityQ1706400 ↗
Source-derived summary

Joseph B. "Jo" Abbott (January 15, 1840 – February 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.

Biography

Joseph B. Abbott 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 and the president of Larissa College, 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. He fought in at least half a dozen battles 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.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Jo Abbott” as american politician (1840–1908). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Abbott, American and politician.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1840, 1908, 1812, 1853—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1840-01-15. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Abbott, American and politician providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Jo Abbott”, the useful work is to connect “american politician (1840–1908)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1706400. VIAF identifies the subject as 76152969. The Library of Congress control number is nr00010662. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1840, 1908, 1812 and 1853.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

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  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
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Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Jo Abbott”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Jo Abbott primary sources, Jo Abbott archive and Abbott research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Jo Abbott” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.