This is a transcription of the Frances Matilda Abbott biography from New Hampshire Women: A Collection of Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Daughters and Residents of the Granite State, Who are Worthy Representatives of their Sex in the Various Walks and Conditions of Life, The New Hampshire Publishing Co., Concord, NH, 1895, page 177.
Frances Matilda Abbott
THOROUGH, conscientious, and excellent literary work has made the name of Frances Matilda Abbott conspicuous upon the roll of prominent New Hampshire women. Miss Abbott is the eldest child and only daughter of John and Matilda (Brooks) Abbott, and was born in Concord, in the house where she now lives. Her father’s family were among the pioneers of the town, and on her mother’s side she is a descendant of the Brookses, Boylstons, and Cogswells of Massachusetts. Her father, familiarly known as “Honest John Abbott,” was six times elected mayor of Concord. Her mother was a woman of superior intellectual ability, who received a part of her education at Brook Farm under the tutelage of George Ripley and other eminent men and women associated with that movement. Miss Abbott was graduated from the Concord High School in 1875. She took freshman college work with Mr. Moses Woolson, and entered the sophomore class of Vassar college, from which institution she was graduated in 1881. She early gave evidence of literary ability, and at the age of fourteen was a paid contributor to Our Young Folks, at that time the leading juvenile monthly in the country. Since then her articles have been accepted by the Forum, New England Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Wide Awake, Frank Leslie’s, and other periodicals of national repute. She has contributed extensively to New Hampshire, Boston, and New York newspapers. For the past six years she has been the guest of Vassar college during commencement week, reporting the exercises for the Poughkeepsie and New York papers. She belongs to the Association of Collegiate Alumnae and to the Boston branch of Vassar Alumnae. She is a life member of the historic Concord Female Charitable Society and the Woman’s Auxiliary to the Y. M. C. A., and is active in many forms of local club and philanthropic work. She is prominently identified with the Shakespeare clubs of Concord, and is much interested in historical matters.