Federal census records for 1870 and 1880 listing his residence as Le Roy, Geneses Co., N.Y., place of birth CT, no occupation, age 72 (in 1870) and living with wife Mary, age 52 (in 1870), and another Mary Abbe, age 5 (in 1870), likely granddaughter, value of property listed at $6000.Robert Morrison Abbe was affectionately known as "Col. Bob" in some of the newspaper articles posted about his activities on genealogybank.com. (Bio by Lester Letson.)

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Historical notes: The land which was to become the Town and later include the Village of Enfield was purchased from the Native Americans by William Pynchon in 1636, and Major John Pynchon in 1689. Colonists had already begun to settle the area when two brothers from Salem Massachusetts, Robert and John Pease Jr., came to the Enfield area and camped there over the winter, to get an overview of the place. John Pease Jr. was a surveyor by trade, and drew the first map of Enfield in 1680.

Enfield, now in Hartford County, is located in north-central Connecticut and borders on Massachusetts, which named and incorporated the town in 1683. Following several boundary disputes, Enfield became part of Connecticut in 1749.

Meanwhile, settlers kept flowing in, some to farm, and some to work in various non-farming trades. The early Enfield Shaker community was formed in 1792.

An enterprising business man, Orrin Thompson, came to town in 1828, and after creating several successful businesses founded the Thompsonville Carpet Manufacturing Company. The area around the carpet company soon became known formally as Thompsonville.

Colonel Augustus Hazard, another early entrepreneur founded the Hazard Powder Company in 1842 to supply vast amounts of gun powder to the troops in the war with Mexico, and the area around his factory became known as Hazardville.

Enfield, Thompsonville and Hazardville, as well as a couple more small named areas all joined forces in the late 1880s, calling themselves jointly, Enfield, but Thompsonville and Hazardville remain today as named Federal Census districts, and while searching for historic information, one has to know in which area the subject was located. (From "Enfield Connecticut: Stories Carved in Stone" by Bob Clark, Dogpond Press, 2006)

Robert Morrison Abbe spent most of his adult "Enfield" life in Thompsonville...

Robert Morrison Abbe, son of Daniel Abbe Jr. and Elizabeth Morrison, was a Colonel in the Connecticut Militia, 1826, 19th Regiment Infantry, 5th Brigade, 2nd Division, and also, primarily known to his descendants today as an innkeeper.

His father's parents were Daniel Abbe and Sarah Pease. His mother's parents were John Morrison and Elizabeth Giffin.

All of these people were born in Enfield Connecticut. (Abbe-Abbey Genealogy by Cleveland Abbe, 1916, pp. 193 & 308)

On March 23 or 28, 1822, he married Maria Norcott of Warehouse Point, East Windsor, CT.

From "Abbe-Abbey Genealogy..." by Cleveland Abbe, 1916, p. 308 & 384; "Simon Giffin & His Descendants...", Florence Giffin Martin and Mary Alsted Strange, published privately at New York, 1971, pp. 79 & 128/29; and family records, their children were:

1. Caroline E. Abbe, b. Jan. 4, 1823; d. Oct. 16, 1898. Married in Windsor, Conn., June 9, 1842, Richard M. Brown of Windsor. According to the 1875-1898 Toledo, Ohio City Directories, Caroline E. Brown was living in Toledo at 334 Irving Street, as the widow of Richard M. Brown.

2. Daniel N. or Norcott Abbe, b. Feb. 10, 1825 d. May 1891 m. Abby Spear who was b. in Randolph, Mass. 3 Mar. 1883, d. Springfield Mass. Nov. 3, 1901, daughter of Isaac and Sarah (Thayer) Spear.

3. Julia Maria Abbe, b. Aug. 12, 1827; m. William B. Woodruff.

4. Horatio Sargent Abbe, b. Nov. 19, 1829; d. in Enfield, May 12, 1835.

5. Adeline Eliza Abbe, b. March 3, 1831; d. in Enfield, April 22, 1835.

6. Sarah J. or Jane Abbe, b. March 27, 1833; d. Oct. 20, 1858 in Enfield CT. Married June 15, 1853, William H. Osgood, born in Maine but living in Enfield CT at the time of his marriage, b. Oct. 1812; d. April 23, 1889. (The date of death is from family Bible records, and locations are from census records.)

7. Adeline E. Abbe, b. March 17, 1836; d. April 10, 1840.

8. Robert Morrison Abbe, b. July 1, 1839; d. Feb. 16, 1840.

9. Betsy Abbe, b. Dec. 8, 1840; m. George N. Seymour and resides in Chicago: In the 1860 Chelsea, Suffolk, Massachusetts Federal Census, Bessie Abbe is still unmarried, and is living with her sister Julia Woodruff, Julia's husband William, and their children Stella and Frederick Woodruff.

In 1870 Caroline Brown is living in New York City as the head of a very extended family, with family members, but her brother-in-law William Osgood is not part of this group. Employed by a railroad, William Osgood may have been traveling at the time the census was taken. Included are Emma and Katie, the daughters of William and Sarah Osgood, George and Bessie (Abbe) Seymour (Caroline's youngest sister} and their baby Caroline Boody Seymour, and other Seymour family members.

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The career of Robert M. Abbe in Enfield can be followed from 1825 to 1856 by reading archived newspaper clippings (too many to reference here). For this purpose I used GenealogyBank.com.

In 1825, he was advertising his Enfield inn as being on the route from Hartford to Hanover and back. 1838 was the year he and many of his fellow citizens signed a petition to create a National Bank in Hartford. Besides being an innkeeper, Robert Abbe was a farmer. He had a patent for better hog fencing and was knowledgable about fine cattle breeding. His farm manager lived in the inn along with the barkeeper. If this wasn't enough, he also was a Connecticut State Senator, part of the time, and was also involved in local Enfield politics. His inn was sometimes the site where local property owners came to pay their taxes.

From the reference found on archive.org: "The Records Of Freemasonry In The State Of Connecticut Compiled from the Journals of the Proceedings of the Grand Lodge from 1845 to 1854", by R. W. E. G. Storer, New Haven, 1861, Vol II, pp 44 & 76, Robert Abbe was a member of the Morning Star Lodge of East Windsor CT in 1847 and 1848. In 1848 he also was the Secretary of that Lodge.

[Note: Several years ago I found a reference that the ballroom of Robert Abbe's Inn in Thompsonville was used, for a time, as a Lodge for the Freemasons of the area, but did not keep a copy of it. Trying to find it again.]

Robert Abbe's life changed dramatically in 1851 when his hotel burned to the ground. No one seemed to know the cause, but the hotel was insured. In 1854 he placed 26 acres, house and farm buildings on the market for sale. At this point he must have moved to East Windsor with Maria for a short time, because in 1856 he was one of the village trustees for East Windsor Connecticut. But then he moved back to Enfield for a little while, because the Enfield Town Records show that Maria passed away in Enfield in 1857.

By the time of the 1860 LeRoy New York Federal Census, Robert Abbe was married to and living with Mary Abbe in a boarding house. According to church records, this marriage took place February 14, 1860 in the Methodist Episcopal Church, Le Roy, New York.

As part of the 1870 census, he and Mary had a five year old daughter, Mary. The Abbe-Abbey Genealogy names the child as Mary Maria Abbe, born Oct. 3, 1864. This family was still intact in 1880, and Robert Morrison Abbe passed away in 1883. Mary Maria Abbe married Charles F. Witter in Le Roy, New York at the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1890. The confusion lies in the fact that the Abbe-Abbey Genealogy names Robert Abbe's second wife as Mary S. Meade, when her name should have read Mary M. (Northrup) Smead.

The Connecticut Historical Society furnished a copy of his obituary, from the March 5, 1883, Hartford Daily Courant. "Col. Robert M. Abbe, formerly of Enfield died at the age of 86 at LeRoy, N.Y...he was one of the best hotel men in this region...he had a tender heart and was kind and gentle to the sick...His funeral was attended on Saturday at the First church in Enfield, opposite where his hotel formerly stood."

Bio by dd.