US Congressman. He was born to Caleb Abbott and Mercy Abbott in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, and was educated at local common schools before attending the Chelmsford Academy in Concord, Massachusetts. He also attended Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he received his LL.D (Legum Doctor or "Doctor of Law") Degree when he graduated in 1832. Following his education, he worked as a teacher for a time and then studied law with Nathaniel Wright of Lowell, Massachusetts, before setting up a private practice. He then decided to run for public office and was elected as a Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and served in that position from 1836 to 1837. On July 18, 1838, he married Caroline Livermore, the daughter of United States Representative Edward St. Loe Livermore of New Hampshire and the couple would eventually have ten children. In 1840, he set up a law partnership with his friend Samuel Brown. He also served as a Member of the Massachusetts State Senate from 1841 to 1842, Aide to the Governor of Massachusetts Marcus Morton in 1843, Delegate to the Massachusetts State Constitutional Convention in 1853, Master in Chancery from 1850 to 1855, Superior Court Judge in Suffolk County, Massachusetts from 1855 to 1858, and Overseer of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from 1859 to 1865. During this time he was several times an unsuccessful Democratic Candidate for United States Senator. He declined an appointment to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Bench in 1860 and declined the Democratic Nomination for Attorney General in 1861. He was also a Delegate to the Democratic National Convention from Massachusetts in 1864 and 1876, and a Speaker of the Democratic National Convention from Massachusetts in 1880 and 1888. He then decided to run for a seat in the United States Congress and successfully contested the election of United States Representative Rufus S. Foster. A Democrat, he represented Massachusetts' 4th District (Forty-Fourth Congress) from 1876 to 1877. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1876. He was also a Member of the Electoral Commission created by the act of Congress approved January 29, 1877, to decide the Presidential Election of 1876. After his retirement from public service, he returned to his practice of law. He passed away from bronchitis in Wellesley, Massachusetts, at the age of 76. His funeral was held at the Emmanuel Church in Boston, Massachusetts, two days after his death and was presided over by Reverend Leighton Parkes, who read from the scripture while the church choir sang the hymn, "Abide With Me". In attendance were several famous politicians, judges and military leaders. After the funeral service was over his casket was carried out of the church while the choir sang the hymn, "Jerusalem The Golden" and then taken by train to his final resting place at St. Mary's Cemetery in Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts, where his father and mother are also buried.