Posterity, ever desirous of doing honor to all those who, by their lives and works, have made the world so much the better for their having toiled within it, will not soon forget the late Carlisle S. Abbott, the well-known California pioneer and the father of Harvey E. Abbott, whose biography is briefly presented elsewhere in this volume. Mr. Abbott was born on the shores of Lake Memphremagog, twelve miles north of the line between Canada and Vermont, on February 26, 1828, and he was therefore a native of Ontario, while his parents were natives of Connecticut. On March 3, 1850, he started from Beloit, Wisconsin, across the great plains to California as one of a company of twelve men, and after spending some time in the mines of Sacramento county, he located at Point Reyes, Marin county, in 1858. The country for miles and miles about was stocked with Spanish cattle and he engaged in dairying.
In 1865, however, he removed to the Salinas valley in Monterey county, and leased from David Spence two leagues of land, or about eight thousand, eight hundred and eighty-six acres, for a term of five years. Later he bought land for three dollars and fifty cents per acre, and there engaged in dairying, milking one thousand and five hundred cows a day. Salinas then consisted of a stage station, a blacksmith shop, and a saloon. This land was covered with mustard growing twelve feet high and the place that he owned and farmed is now the site of the thriving town of Spreckels. Still later, Mr. Abbott bought twelve thousand acres of the San Lorenzo rancho, at the southern end of the valley, and carried on farming and sheep-raising. In 1874, in Salinas, he built the Abbott House, which is still standing.
In 1872 Mr. Abbott was made one of the delegates to the national republican convention that nominated President Grant for his second term and in 1875 he was elected a member of the California assembly, to which he was re-elected in 1877. While thus serving his fellowmen, he also promoted the organization of the Monterey & Salinas Valley Railroad, a narrow-guage extending for twenty-eight miles from Salinas to Monterey. He really made two trips across the plains, and there was never any doubt thereafter where Carlisle Abbott wished to live.
Mr. Abbott was married, at Beloit, Wisconsin, to Miss Alice Elizabeth Merriman and they became parents of three children who are living : Harvey E. Abbott, Francis A. Abbott and Mrs. Clara Giberson. Mr. Abbott was a member of Salinas Lodge, No. 204, F. & A. M., and nowhere was he ever a more welcome guest than when among his brother Masons. He wrote a book of his life when eighty-nine years of age, and he passed away at the very advanced age of ninety-two years.
Source: History of Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties, California : cradle of California’s history and romance : dating from the planting of the cross of Christendom upon the shores of Monterey Bay by Fr. Junipero Serra, and those intrepid adventurers who accompanied him, down to the present day. Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1925.
CARLYLE S. ABBOTT
This gentleman was born in the Province of Quebec, on the 26th of February, 1828. As his parents were citizens of the United States, residing for the time in Quebec, and the subject of this sketch came to the United States to reside at the age of eighteen years, he is therefore a citizen of the United States without the aid of the naturalization law. His parents were farmers, and his early life was passed on a farm, his early education being acquired in the district schools of Canada. At fifteen years of age he attended a select school in Sycamore, De Kalb County, Illinois, alternately going to school and working, as the exigences of his life permitted.
In 1850 he crossed the plains for California. After mining on the middle fork of the American River, in 1850 and 1851, where he made some money, he went East and married Elizabeth Merryman. In 1852 he re-crossed the plains with his young wife, and located near Sacramento, where he followed farming for two years, when he went to Nevada City, and began the dairy business. In 1857 he removed to Marin County, and pursued dairying and stock-raising upon an extensive scale. He remained here until 1865, prospering in business and accumulating considerable property and money. When, in the year 1865, he came to Monterey County, he brought, as his capital, some six hundred head of stock. Purchasing a league of the Buena Vista Rancho, he continued his former business of dairying and stock-raising, with unprecedented success, until he had a dairy of fifteen hundred cows, at that time probably the largest in the United States.
In 1868 he built the Abbott House, in Salinas City, at a cost of $45,000. He also bought eight thousand acres of the San Lorenzo Rancho, and raised cattle for the market. He was the principal promoter and organizer of the Monterey and Salinas Valley Railway Company?peace to its ashes. This last venture proved his financial Waterloo, and he went to Arizona, in 1879, to recuperate his fortunes. He began raising and slaughtering cattle, and is now a member of a syndicate owning a band of four thousand head of cattle, and an extensive cattle ranch.
In 1887 he returned to Monterey and leased from Alberto Trescony the Tularcitos Rancho, of thirteen thousand acres, near Monterey, his lease extending five years, with the privilege of purchase, at any time before its expiration, at the present valuation. His chances are now bright for occupying his former financial position in the county.
During Governor Irwin’s administration, Mr. Abbott was elected to the Legislature from this county, in which position he rendered valuable services. He was a delegate to the National Republican Convention in Philadelphia, in 1872, when General Grant was nominated. He has always been a consistent and enthusiastic Republican, and has taken an active part in politics. His positions have come to him unsought. His wife, and three of the four children which blessed his married life, are yet living. His son, H. E. Abbott, is a prominent and highly respected merchant of Salinas.
Source: Harrison, E. S., Monterey County, part of Harrison’s Series of Pacific Coast Pamphlets, No. 3, Salinas, Calif. : E. S. Harrison, 1890.