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C/E Ross Abbott; USCG License
USCG License, Chief Engineer, Unlimited Steam,...
USCG License, Chief Engineer, Unlimited Steam,...
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C/E Ross Abbott; USCG License
USCG License, Chief Engineer, Unlimited Steam, Motor and Gas Turbine. on any oceans.
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SS Virginia V
The ship was built in 1922 in Kitsap County, the engine was a steam Triple Expansion Engine, built 1904. The Virginia V is the last Wooden Steam Passenger boat from Puget Sound still in service.
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Graduation Day, California Maritime Academy
California Maritime Academy, Class of 1968, 3rd Assistant Engine, BS Marine Engineering, and US Navy Ensign.
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I’ve been interested in genealogy for most of my life. It started for me a long time ago, as far back as 1950. Both my mother and father used to talk about family history, dating back just a few years, but much about our distant family history, where the roots of the families came from, other than my mom knew that they came from Norway, was unknown. My dad knew the family history back to about the 1880s in Wyoming, but before that did not know much about the family history and dad knew very little about his mother’s side of the family, the Rosses (Rosa), and where they came from.
For me it started in 1950. We packed up the family car, I think in the month of August and left for North Dakota. My aunt Gladys had married Arthur B. Nelson and Arthur had a great big farm in Steele County, North Dakota. It was about 8 miles west of Finley, North Dakota. He had about 5.5 sections of land and a number of other sections that he had under lease to grow wheat. Arthur B. Nelson was a great wheat farmer. Arthur was also a state representative to North Dakota. The Arthur B. Nelson Farm had the largest noncommercial barn in the state of North Dakota, it was huge and he had a very large farmhouse. Above the kitchen were a number of servants quarters and that is where I had a room to myself. I remember getting up at the crack of dawn and smelling fresh baked bread, donuts and pastries, coming up from the kitchen. My aunt Gladys and a number of other wives had gotten up in the middle of the night and started making many, many, loaves of bread, cakes, pies, and pastries for the field hands working out the wheat fields.
We had come to North Dakota to go to a family reunion of the Pladson family. The reunion was held on the Osten H. Pladson farm, just west of Hatton, North Dakota. Osten Pladson, when he had set up the farm, had set aside a large area for a picnic and a ballpark on the farm for family reunions. These family reunions were held every year on the farm and members were from all over Steele, Trail and Grand Forks Counties, would attend. There were many, many, people at these family reunions, I would estimate the number to be about 1500 people, this was a big get together. Most of all my family members came from Steele County and were farmers. It was late in the afternoon and we were heading back to the car to return to aunt Gladys’s farm, and I looked up at my mom and I asked her this question “Who are all these people”. My mother answered with “These are all your relatives”. I had never seen so many relatives in my life, and this was just the Norwegian side of the family. We returned to Gladys’s farm, and as I walked up to the second floor, through the stairwell, halfway up was a big genealogy tree chart and there were a lot of names on that tree. I looked on the tree and found my name and my sister’s name on one of the branches, I was duly impressed. This was the start of my interest in genealogy.
That same year and in the years after, we would quite often go down to San Pedro to see the grandparents, and there was one Thanksgiving, in which my relatives, on the Abbott side, came up from San Diego, that would be; Reed Abbott, John Deforest Abbott, Perry Abbott, Claire Abbott and John Abbott from Portland. After the Thanksgiving dinner, that was fixed by my grandparents, they would clear the big table off in the dining room, then all the men would gather around the table, they would drag out all the family books and records, and other paraphernalia about family genealogy. Claire Abbott had a book “Descendents of George Abbott of Rowley, Massachusetts” published in 1906. The men went through these books, over and over, trying to figure out the family history, but never could make any sense of what they knew versus what was in the book. The best the men could remember was that the family had come from Glen Rock, Wyoming and before that Nebraska, very little of the family was known before O.C. Abbott I, had moved from Iowa to Nebraska. Almost nothing was known about the family in Iowa.
There were bits and pieces of information that had been passed down through the family. My grandfather O.C. Abbott II, talk about when he was four years old, traveling over the Oregon Trail, on his way to Glen Rock, Wyoming, that was in 1886. My grandfather did not remember much about living in Nebraska or anything about the family before the 1880s. My second great aunt, Rena Electa Abbott, left a note that stated, in her recollection, the Abbott had come from old Virginia. From the family records, we did know that my great-grandfather, O.C. Abbott,s father, was Edwin Craig Abbott, but very little was known of Edwin Craig Abbott, other than the fact that he had come from Iowa and that he was born in Indiana.
On a mother’s side of the family, my mother would often talk of her Norwegian heritage. She knew as much about the family as far back as her grandfather but nothing beyond that. My mother could speak some Norwegian, so the family was not that far distant from Norway. My great-grandfather’s name was in question, sometimes it was listed as Bakken and sometimes is Iverson. In Norway, Norwegians do not use surnames, but place locations. So even though there was many, many, many families in Steele County, North Dakota, very little was known about their history more than two generations back. The general scenario was that the families had come over from Norway about 1860 to 1870. They first settled in Brookfield and Northwood, Iowa, in Worth County. In about 1872 the Northern Pacific Railroad was laying tracks into Fargo, North Dakota. The railroad put up an option to buy sections of land in North Dakota for $100 per section, (if you bought three sections of land, the US government would give you the fourth section free, if you planted trees on it). There were many, many, of my family units that sold their land in Worth County in 1872 and moved to Steele County and Grand Forks County, North Dakota. Very little is known of the history, of the families in Worth County.
My grandfather O.C. Abbott II passed away in 1960, at that point all the family records migrated to my dad’s house in Burbank and that’s when the work really started on studying genealogy. My dad, Raymond R. Abbott, continued to work in researching the Abbott family genealogy through the 1960s, but was unable to make any headway beyond Edwin Craig Abbott. There was a lot of misinformation generated about Edwin Craig Abbott. By the end of the 60s I had completed my college education and had gone out to sea for four years. After I got married in 1971, the family records migrated to my home on Bainbridge Island.
In 1985 I obtained a new PC computer, an IBM 5150, and I purchased a copy of Family Tree Maker v. 1.00, a DOS program. This is a computer program for genealogist. Over the next few years I entered as much information as I could into the program, but this was not much. No new information was obtained until the mid-1990s. At that point the girls were in college, at WSU. From time to time I would visit the girls and during the day, when I had time off, I would go over to the library at the University and research the U.S. Census files on record there. I was able to fill in some of the blanks, but still did not have very much information about either the Abbott’s or the Bakkens. It wasn’t until I retired in 2000 that I had enough time to go to the state archives throughout the USA and do more extensive research.
I retired in October 2000, and in the spring of 2001, we purchased a 35 foot, fifth wheel RV. In May 2002 we passed through Salt Lake City and stopped at the family history Library for the LDS. It was while we were at the LDS library that I first came across a connection with Edwin Craig Abbott and his father James Abbott. Someone at the LDS had done some research on our family line, and had come up with the name James Abbott. I now started to put together a family history as to what happened to the Abbott family. Right about this time, I happen to come across with a genealogical bulletin board, one Derek Dorian Wood. He was asking questions about the Abbott family. So I got in touch with Derek and asked him about the family history, but he was not much help, but he said that his aunt would be of more help, and that I should contact her. So I asked him where she lived, and his answer was that she lives somewhere on the West Coast, just where I said, near Seattle I think, I said, where near Seattle, and his response was on an island somewhere to the west, and I said Bainbridge Island, yes he said. So on further inquiry I was able to locate a cousin who lived down the block from me no more than 150 yards away, on Rockaway Beach. So I was able to fill in a lot more of the Abbott history, and the brothers of Edwin Craig Abbott.
Another major milestone occurred in 2004. We were traveling through Independence Missouri and I happen to call home and talk to Anita Kaufman. When she heard where we were at, she asked if we were going to go by the Everett family cemetery. I had some information on the Everett family, but hadn’t really thought about looking into it at this point, and so began the journey through the Everett’s. We located the family cemetery near Stewartsville, Missouri. At this point I was overwhelmed with new information. We went back to independence and went to the city library located across the street from the Truman Presidential Library, and continued our research into the Everett family. While sightseeing in the local area, we happen to stop by Liberty, Missouri. One of the sites to see was the bank in Liberty that Frank James robed in 1866, this is the first daylight bank robbery in the US history. In the gift shop, next to the bank, Gay found a genealogical chart of the James family, and on it she found the Laffoon branch of her family. After doing more research at the Independence public library we could see that there was a clear connection between the Everett family and the James family. Now this was getting interesting. We found newspaper clippings from the Liberty Tribune in Missouri on a trip West in 1850 by Johnson Everett and Robert James, to the California Gold Fields. Robert James had died two weeks after arriving in Placerville, California, at that time it was known as Hang Town. Johnson Everett hit pay dirt and returned to Clay County, Missouri, a rich man. On his arrival he had to go to Zerelda James and inform her of Robert James’ death. In 2005 we return to Independence Missouri to do more research into the Everett family line.
In 2005 I attended a meeting of people interested in starting a genealogical society here on Bainbridge Island. I volunteered to be the secretary of the group and in that capacity I did all the paperwork and the filings necessary to establish the Bainbridge Island Genealogical Society. I was a member of the Board of Directors for five years, then became a member of the Board of Directors for the Washington State Geological Society. I served in that capacity for five years.
On our return trip in 2005 from Independence Missouri we traveled to North Dakota. Gay and I stopped by the Arthur B Nelson farm and found that the farmhouse was gone, but the barn was there, and it had a new roof. I looked around the farm, and as far as I could see there were no more farmhouses within sight, everyone had moved off the planes. Jeanette and Rita Ray had not been to the farm for some years, they could find no one to live in the building, so they sold the building and the farmhouse was moved to Grand Forks. We drove into Finley, which is the county seat, but could find no information on the families in the area. We then drove up to Sharon, Steele County. We noted that the high school, middle school and grade schools were all boarded up and there was no City Hall. At this point the only governmental office in the town was the post office, a very small post office. I asked for some help as to the records of the town, and the postmistress said she would call Mr. Jensen, who was next-door at the senior center. When Mr. Jensen walked in he had a funny look on his face, as to who are you. Now Mr. Jensen was 96 years old, and when I told him that my mother was Lillian Bakken, his face lit up with a great smile. Yes, he could remember my mother, that was a very long time ago, since she left Sharon in 1920. We went over to Mr. Jensen’s house and he started to call around looking for city records, and cemeteries. We then figured out where the family cemetery was, about 3 miles to the north, so Mr. Jensen lead the way, like a bat out of hell, up to the family cemetery, Silent Hill Cemetery, Westfield Township. I was now able to put a great deal of information about my Norwegian family together.
In 2006 we made a trip to Salt Lake City and stayed there for three weeks. We spent most of the time in the Family History Library on Temple Street. I was able to fill in a great deal of information on the family lines while we were there. Then again in 2010 we spent an additional three weeks in Salt Lake City. Now I had a great deal of information about the family lines, both my family lines and Gay’s family lines. Our next big trip was in 2011, where we spent over a month in Lancaster County Pennsylvania, researching the Kauffman and Herr family lines. We were able to trace Gay’s family line back 10 and 12 generations, both to the Kaufman’s and the Herr’s of Lancaster County. On the way home we stopped by Steve and Kathy’s in Michigan and as it turns out Kathy Herr is a cousin of Gay. We moved on to Fountain County Indiana. Spent the next few days researching the family history at the county seat of Fountain County, found out a whole bunch of information about the Abbotts, specifically James Abbott. As it turned out James Abbott was the Justice of the Peace in that area of Fountain County. He is listed as the judge of record in the first entry in book number “1”, of Fountain County. James Abbott died suddenly in 1827, cause unknown. His widow, Rebecca, remarried quite early, to a Rowley. The farm was given up to the boys as they turned 18 and eventually sold to one of the daughters husbands. Edwin Craig Abbott married Mary Ann Wright and moved to Iowa. Mary Ann Wright’s brother married Edwin Craig Abbott’s sister and also moved to Iowa. The two families had farms connected to each other. Edwin Craig Abbott died suddenly, of unknown causes, in 1856. As you can see there were two generations with the patriot of the family dying at a very early age, and this was the cause of the loss of the family history. I had now run into a brick wall with James Abbott senior, 1754 – 1840. But since we are related to James Abbott 1755 – 1855, through y- DNA, there must be a common thread, which leads us back to George Abbott, who arrived in the New World about 1640 as an indentured servant. Family mythology states that one of the boys went off to sea, and was shipwrecked off the coast of Virginia, he was a ship’s captain at the time. This may be the reason that our family mythology has the family coming from “Old Virginia”. I think he ended up in Charleston, South Carolina, but cannot prove such. There is a record that states that his children moved back to Connecticut, to be with their cousins, but no names were given. I was not able to find any record of an Abbott in Charleston, South Carolina area.
I got in touch with Bill Teie, who is a cousin, and he informed me of a family reunion with a Midoe and Pladson families, to be held in Hatton, North Dakota. This was to dedicate a building that was built by Osten H. Pladson, with homegrown logs from his farm. The Osten H. Pladson farm, has since been sold, and the new owners asked us to move the building into downtown Hatton. I worked with Bill Teie, for about a week doing research for the book “The Pladsons in of Newburgh Twp”. So Gay and I went to the family reunion at the Midboe farm. Instead of 1500 people being there, there was only 24 people. Looks like all the families had moved off the plains into the big cities. There is about six of us from Seattle, Bill and his brother were from California. Across the street from the Midboe farm was the Pladson farm. I was now well on the way to filling in my mom’s side of the family history.
The next year 2013, our trip took us all the way to New York, Connecticut, and up into Nova Scotia. While we were in Connecticut, we went to Ridgefield, Fairfield County and did research at the City Hall. I picked up some information about the Abbott family in Richfield. By this time I had narrowed the search down to two people, James Abbott, born about 1754 and died in 1840 and his cousin James Abbott born in 1755 and died in 1855. At this point I did the know which of the two was my ancestor, but since I had taken a y-DNA, test I had a pretty good idea that both of these men were related to me very closely. The next day we went to Hartford Connecticut to the state archives and spent the next few days doing research at the library. The last minute, on the last day, I was rewinding a spool of microfilm and happen to glance a name that I knew was a family member from Indiana. This was a probate file for James Abbott of Indiana who had died in 1827 against his father’s estate who died in 1840, by his ex-wife Rebecca Barnum/Rowley. She was filing on behalf of her daughters for a piece of land that it had been mistakenly given to James’s brother. So now I know who my ancestor was, James Abbott born 1754 and died in 1840, and that he was married to Catherine Woods. The other James Abbott in Ridgefield Connecticut, was married to Catherine Weeds. Both of these James Abbott’s had sons named James Abbott, and both of these men had served in the American Revolution from Ridgefield Connecticut. When I returned home, I started researching the Woods family line. It did not take me very long to connect up the Woods family line, with the Judds, Norths, and Richard Rich, and back onto the kings of England. So I’m a direct descendent of Edward III King of England. Once having gotten into the kings, I was able to work my ancestry back all the way to 536 A.D. to Uther Pendragon, the father of King Arthur. I’m a direct descendent of the Stewarts of Scotland, before Robert the Bruce. So my tree is grown quite large, I now have over 54,000 names in the tree. I was also able to trace my family line back to Mark Anthony and Octavia Caesar, 50 BCE.
The 2016 we took a trip to the “deep” South, and up the coast and into Virginia. While we were there around Richmond, Virginia, we did research into Gay’s side of the family. Working at the Virginia State Archives in Richmond, I was able to connect Gay’s family back to the early settlers of Virginia, and Jamestown. Her family line goes back to the Admiral of Virginia, Christopher Newport, nickname Capt. Hook, I was also able to connect her family back to the early plantations and settlers of Turkey Island, Bermuda Hundred and the area around the North Coast of the Appomattox River. Gay’s family line went back through the Bollings to Pocahontas. Gay is a direct descendent of John Rolfe and Pocahontas, I confirmed this information in the State Archives in Richmond. So like Gay says “her family was there to meet the first Europeans who arrived in America”.
Ross Stewart Abbott
March 15, 2020
Ross Abbott
Ross Abbott
C/E Ross Abbott; USCG License
USCG License, Chief Engineer, Unlimited Steam, Motor and Gas Turbine. on any oceans.
People tagged:
SS Virginia V
The ship was built in 1922 in Kitsap County, the engine was a steam Triple Expansion Engine, built 1904. The Virginia V is the last Wooden Steam Passenger boat from Puget Sound still in service.
People tagged:
Graduation Day, California Maritime Academy
California Maritime Academy, Class of 1968, 3rd Assistant Engine, BS Marine Engineering, and US Navy Ensign.
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MV President Washington
C-9 Container ship; American President Lines, 41,000dwt, Built 1982, Engine RND90-12, Served as Chief Engineer from 1988 to 1996. Ship transfered to Matson in 1996. and served as C/E until 2000.
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