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As a result of a contact with his former roommate and fraternity brother, Arthur Greene, whose family lived on a large dairy farm on Hobson Road, he purchased a nearby farm from William Dailey. His farm was 210 acres bounded by 63rd Street on the north, route 53 on the west and Hobson Road on the south. At 3:30 am on March 15, 1914 his Arms Palace Horse Car was set out on the switch at the Lisle stockyard. He had made the two-day trip from Fairchild, Wisconsin in the company of 8 horses, 4 cows, 3 pigs, and a collie pup. This trip is described in detail in his autobiography. Upon arriving he telephoned Spencer Greene, who had made arrangements with Collins Goodrich and the two Dieters to give him a hand in getting the stock to the farm. The next four weeks were very busy ones, getting shaken down, fixing up his house, buying cows and seed, and getting machinery set up and ready to go. He was something of a curiosity because he did not have a wife. On June 24, 1914 he took care of that situation by marrying Helen Amanda Hood at a ceremony performed by hr brother, Rev. William F. Hood, at Christ Church in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Helen Hood lived in Fairchild and had graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She had prepared to teach Latin and German. After graduation, however, she had returned home to care for her mother who was very ill and died six months before she married Arthur Abbott. Arthur used to say he was married between corn planting and hay making. A new three story colonial house was built at Broadlawn Farm and Arthur and Helen moved into it in the Spring of 1915. Five children were born in this house-William Lamont Abbot, II on December 31, 1915; Margaret and John Hood Abbott on October 9, 1920; James Arthur Abbott on June 28, 1922 and Ruthanne Abbott on June 10, 1925. After war was declared in 1917, Arthur reported for duty at Camp Dodge, Iowa on December 17, 1917. He was commissioned a 1st Lt. Of Infantry, O.R.C. and was assigned to the 42nd Infantry Regiment of the Regular Army. He had rented his farm to Daniel Stiefbold from Naperville. Arthur was discharged from the Army on April 5, 1919 and returned to Broadlawn Farm. Daniel Stiefbold moved to a farm in Wheatland Township, southwest of Naperville. During his years of farming an outstanding herd of registered Holstein cattle was developed. It was unique in that no outside female animals were added to the herd. He shipped his milk all those years to the Chicago Grade A market. After graduating from high school, his son John joined in the farming operation and management of the dairy herd. By 1950 the tax load on the farm and the inevitability of having to give in to the outward march of the City of Chicago, convinced John and Arthur that the time had come to move the farming operation “out of the city” and on March 1, 1950, John moved the dairy herd and the farm machinery to a rented farm near St. Charles in Kane County. Following John’s move to St. Charles and until the farm was sold, he continued the farming operation at Broadlawn by means of hiring major work, such as plowing, planting and harvesting done on a custom basis by local people, and by doing some of it himself. In some years he leased out the land, or sold crops such as hay and even grain crops “in the field” to be harvested by the purchaser. After the dairy herd left Broadlawn, he became involved in the beef cattle business. He maintained about 25 Aberdeen Angus heifers who kept the grass mowed and at the same time produced a calf crop that was sold off each Fall as feeders and provided him with something to be concerned about. All in all it was a profitable sideline, and at the same time served one of his lifelong interests, animal husbandry. Several major setbacks occurred during the 48 years he farmed at Broadlawn, but each time he managed to recover. Early on the morning of February 18, 1941 the big house at Broadlawn Farm was completely destroyed by fire. On April 15, 1941 he moved into the 80-year-old completely remodeled and modernized tenant house. In the early morning of July 10, 1957 the barn was struck by lightning during a violent rain and thunderstorm and burned to the ground along with the adjacent granary. Since it was necessary to provide some winter shelter for the Angus cattle, a small pole barn was built to replace the old barn. Arthur and Helen lived at Broadlawn Farm until June of 1962, when they moved to 992 Sylvan Circle, Naperville. On June 24, 1964 they celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary amid family and friends at their home in Naperville. Helen was born at Fairchild, Wisconsin on August 28, 1889 and passed away at Naperville on November 25, 1965 and was buried in the family plot in Naperville Cemetery along with John and Margaret. Margaret was a 1st Lt. In the Army Nurse Corps until her untimely death from a brain tumor on September 14, 1950. John was killed in the crash of a company plane at Colby, Kansas on April 22, 1964 while on business trip for his employer, the B.C. Mathews Company, an agricultural equipment manufacturer. Following Helen’s death, Arthur remained at their home at Sylvan Circle in Naperville. He became involved in many projects, which he had always wanted to do, but never had time for as a farmer. In September 1968 he moved to Madison, Wisconsin and rented the apartment in the duplex owned by his son, William. He continued working on various projects and spent considerable time traveling around the state of Wisconsin in the company of Professor Larry Graber, who was retired from the University of Wisconsin and whom he had known before as a student. Arthur passed away on September 26, 1971 and is buried in the family plot at the Naperville Cemetery. By any standards, it can be safely said that his was a full, eventful and productive life, and that he will long be remembered. In his autobiography, he wrote that it had been his privilege to live during the days of the emergence of general usage of electricity, the telephone, the automobile, the airplane, the process of fixation of atmospheric nitrogen for the use as fertilizer, radio, and television; the development and use of nuclear fuels; and travel into outer space. It will remain to be seen how long it will be before there is again such a breakthrough and technological advance within the space of one person’s lifetime. The donation to the Naperville Riverwalk honoring the memory of Arthur William and Helen Hood Abbott has been made by: Dr. William L. Abbott, II of Madison, Wisconsin, James A. Abbott of Salinas, California, Ruthanne Abbott Baird of Elmhurst, Illinois, Douglas Hood Abbott of New Lenox, Illinois (son of John Hood Abbott). 11/01 |
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