Grace May Abbott

The information presented here, including the photographs and vital documents, is largely based on the research work of Grace Abbott's daughter Karen (Thompson) Skinner, who is my 2nd cousin.¹ The photos, documents and other data are used here with Karen's permission. Karen and I found out about our family connections, which is via our mutual great-grandparents John Joseph Abbott and Elizabeth "Lizzie" (Gallagher) Abbott, in May of 2007. Karen has generously shared information with me, for which I'm very grateful.²

Grace May Abbott, born 09 December 1911, was the third child of Martin Dominck Abbott and Bertha (Underhill) Abbott. Grace was born in Port Chester, New York and was baptised in St. Peter's Church in Port Chester on 07 January 1917. She had two brothers, Albert M. Abbott (1906-1974) and Gordon Richard Abbott (1908-1988).

Her mother, Bertha, contracted tuberculosis and apparently was being treated for it at Saranac Lake, New York, where she died in 1917 when Grace was only six years old. As a young child, Grace lived in a number of homes. In the 1920 U.S. Census, we find Grace Abbott residing with John Eisler, her step-brother, and his family at 31 Midland Avenue in Port Chester, New York.³ Grace would have been about eight years old at the time. John Eisler, one of Bertha's children from her marriage to John Eisler, was already twenty-three years old, married, and had three children of his own, ranging in age from an infant to a boy who was three.

We next pick up Grace in the 1930 U.S. Census when she is eighteen years old and living with an aunt and uncle in Concord Township, Staten Island (Richmond County), New York.⁴ The household consisted of Grace's Aunt Eugenia (Underhill) Stockert, who was the younger sister of Grace's mother, her Uncle Frederick Stockert, and four of the couple's children - Henry, Viola, Margaret and Harold, who ranged in age from 17 to 23. On the day that the census was taken, April 12, Grace's father was residing with his step-son, John Eisler, in Yonkers, New York. Martin must have been quite ill by that time in his life because he died three days later on 15 April 1930 at St. John's Hospital in Port Chester.^{5, 6}

Grace met her future husband in New York where he was stationed in the U.S. Navy. Grace May Abbott and Edwin Lawrence Thompson were married in the Rosen Heights Baptist Church in Ft. Worth, Texas on 07 April 1946. They had one daughter, Karen, who was born in Harris Hospital. The family lived in Ft. Worth for many years, but later moved to Burleson, Texas. When Edwin retired, the couple moved to Alba, Texas. After her husband's death in 1981, Grace continued to live in Alba.

Grace May (Abbott) Thompson died on 29 July 1994 at East Texas Medical Center in Tyler, Texas from injuries received in an automobile accident. She was 82 years old at the time of her death. Grace was buried on 02 August 1994 at Roselawn Memorial Gardens in Mineola, Texas.

¹ Karen (Thompson) Skinner is the daughter of Grace May (Abbott) and Edwin Lawrence Thompson, and the granddaughter of Bertha (Underhill) Abbott and Martin Dominick Abbott.
² E-mail messages between Karen Skinner and Robert F. Delaney, webmaster of this site, May and June 2007.
³ 1920 U.S. Census, T625 Roll 1278 Page 12A ED 170 Sup Dist 6 - Port Chester, New York.
⁴ 1930 U.S. Census, T626 Roll 1614 Page 7A ED 48 Sup Dist 27 - Richmond, Richmond, New York.
⁵ 1930 U.S. Census, T626 Roll 1668 Page 17A ED 34 Sup Dist 20. Enumerated on April 12, 1930. Note: Indexed by Ancestry.com as Eesler instead of Eisler.
⁶ Certificate of Death, Port Chester, New York.
⁷ Certificate of Death, Tyler, Smith County, Texas, Registrar File # 02-0932-94.