Picture of Lela and three of her children:
Standing: Lela Prewitt Abbott
Seated: Louis Abbott, Lela and John Abbott's first child
On chair's arm; John Abbott, Jr., their 2nd son
Gladys Abbott, daughter of Lela and W.B. Abbott, brother of John Abbott\
Lela's Parents:
Dudley Marion Prewitt 1830–1902
Frances Ottaway "Otta" Faver 1845–1912
-----
Lela was 4 years old when her parents left Alabama in a wagon train with relatives going West. This was the start of an adventurous life for her and her family. One of her sisters was born along the way, and another one died. Once they reached Texas they had to cope with many dangers from Indians, not only Indians but wild animals. When Lela was 17 years old she was happily married to a cowboy and rancher, John Abbott. That happiness was ended two years later when her young husband was murdered leaving her with their two young sons to raise. She knew happiness once after she married her husband's brother, Wilburn, and they had two daughter.
-----
About 1952 Lela wrote an auto-biography so her grandchildren and great-grandchildren would know a little about her life. She expressed her sense of humor at the end of it by saying that they would read it after she was gone and say "Oh Grandmother. What a life!"
I have edited it in part due to the length. In it she she gives the date of her birth as Nov. 2, 1865. She told about her parents and other family members (father, mother, brother, sisters, aunts, and cousins) leaving AL and traveling by wagon train going West. Her mother was the cousin of General Bedford Forest.
It appears they left AL in 1868, not 1869 as written by Lela. They stopped for winter in Arkansas where her sister, Lula, was born on Feb. 8 (1868). In the Spring they stopped in Waxahaxhie, where her sister, Ezille died. They traveled through Dallas, then on to Fort Worth where they stayed with Mrs. Wright for awhile. From there they moved to Parker Co, TX where they lived in a log house. It wasn't far from Mill Sap where Indians were on war path, killing people every day. She said the "Indians were as thick as grass hoppers." One night they came to their home taking their mules. Her father had forgotten to lock and chain to tree in back yard.
She wrote that her mother would often hide us children under the feather bed. One Sunday afternoon when she and her parents were coming home. As they crossed a creek they saw an Indian running up the creek. She was so frightened that she fell down in the wagon crying, knowing if the Indian caught them, he would kill them.
From there they moved to Henrietta in Clay County. Marauding Indians had been there the year before. One day they heard that Indians on a War Path were coming. All men armed themselves with guns and placed all the women and children in the home of Dr. Johnson (the only doctor) to wait for them. Happily they didn't show up. There were very few people in Henrietta, all who were living in log houses. The prairie grass was so tall that, “when a man on horse passed by, all you could see was his hat.” Lela said her father built the first frame residence in town. Her father was the Sheriff, serving two terms, having to hang Frank Smith. Frank had been hired to kill a woman's husband.
They wanted to move farther West, and in 1879 moved to uninhabited Cottle County. There weren't any ranches, nothing, but buffalo hunters, wide prairies, deer, antelope, plenty of buffalo, and turkeys galore. Lela recalls the first head of cattle coming by their home, going to a ranch of Mr. Sul. Carter coming through the Matador ranch. She said that Mr. H.H. Campbell and his wife were refined nice people, and she visited them at their ranch.
Wild animals were plentiful. One time a huge panther followed her and her sister from the spring where they had gone for a bucket of water. Men killed the panther in front of their house just after they had reached home.
Lela indicated that things began to pick up in the spring of 1880 through the efforts of her father writing to Washington several times, getting promise of a tri-weekly mail line from Cottle County to Seymour, and Baylor Counties. A post office had to be established and named, so it was named Otta for her mother, who was the postmistress. Her mother used to say mail tri-weekly was right, go one week, try to get back the next. Mail was carried on horse back, no roads, just trails. They were happy getting letters, papers, and magazines. her mother read to her father and "us children" till bed time. She and her sister went to school in Henrietta, which was a growing town.
Lela wrote that she married J.L. Abbott, a ranch-man, on March 23, 1882, and was very happy. They had very little furniture, which they bought in Fort Worth. There weren't any roads in winter time, so it took three months for the wagons to get through.
Lela had her own riding pony while living on the headquarter ranch. She would ride for half a day with her husband, riding line, pushing cattle back; no fences. They killed beef as they needed meat. Chickens were all over the place. Everything was furnished, including groceries. Her husband's salary was thirty dollars per month.
After living on the ranch for awhile they bought half interest in dry goods and grocery business with Mr. Armstrong at Ford City who was a fine business man . By this time there were ranches everywhere. They sold their interest back to Mr. Armstrong and moved near Otta, "going in business, a fine ranch trade." Neighbors lived from five to ten miles apart.
Lela wrote that people didn't think anything would grow. In 1884 her husband tried planting wheat, seeing if it would grown, sending to Washington and asking for bag of wheat seed to be sent in mail bag. They received what could come that way, and planted it in the fall of 1884. It made fine wheat, which they cut by hand wit scythe bade. For thrashing it they built a round pen laying tarpaulin on ground inside of pen with several horses in the pen with a man to keep them moving until the wheat was thrashed.
Lela wrote that their first son was born on October 21, 1884. Dr. Ditty came from Vernon and stayed one week.
Her husband planned to moved to Quanah if the railroad went that way. Margaret was the County Seat at that time. They waited to see how the railroad would go, but "never know as we make our plans, sometimes they have sad endings." On August 16, 1886, she was left with a baby not yet two and on Sept. 18, 1886, her second son was born. Their father died suddenly. She wrote, "I was 21 with two babies, our plans gone, the four years were happy years. God know best we know not why. After one-half years I married first husband's brother, that being happy marriage. having two daughters by this marriage. "
Lela wrote, "I have written this story of my life, or part of it, thinking my grandchildren and great grandchild would like to know something of my life when I was young. I am 86 years old now. Maybe after I am gone they will read this and say, 'Oh, Grandmother. What a Life.!"
Ella Elgar Bird Dumont (An autobiography of a West Texas Pioneer) mentions
"Otta, approximately twelve miles SE of where Paducah now stands was the location of the first post office in Cottle County. When the post office became official on December 22, 1879 on the land of Dudley M. Prewitt. Hog rancher Prewitt was appointed postmaster. The frontier post office was named for Prewitt's wife, Otta Prewitt. "
-----
Lela married John Lockhart Abbott, a cowboy, in Baylor Co, TX on Nov. 23, 1882. John had moved to the Otta area in southeastern Cottle County, TX around 1880.
Their children were:
Louis Cleveland Abbott 1884–1973 (first white child born in Cottle County on Oct. 21, 1884. )
John Lockhart Abbott 1886–1975
John was shot from an ambush on Aug. 16, 1886, and was killed by Bill Trumble. He was the first white man to die and be buried in Cottle Co, TX.
The Galveston Daily News (TX)
Wednesday, August 18, 1886
VERNON
"Vernon, August 17. - Yesterday evening at Alta, in Cottle county, Wm. Trumbull shot and killed John Abbott. No particulars. The men had two shooting affrays with each other some time ago, and Abbott was tried and acquitted in the District Court of Hardemann county last week of the charge of assault with intent to murder Trumbull."
-----
Ella Dumont wrote that she had known Lela for several year before her husband was murdered. Cattle were cheap, and her husband bought a bunch from John Abbott. In Spring time Ella and her husband moved down to the post office at Otta. Another family, Mr. Al Crawford, had moved there, which made three families of us. Mrs. Abbott and I were good friend of some years past.
She wrote, "All would have moved on peacefully and quietly, but it seems there is always something disagreeable that must come to take the joy our of one's life, or the life of a friend. For some time there had been a feud between Mr. Abbott and another man, Bill Trumble, who was a young cowboy. There had been several gunplays and shots fired, but friends had prevented any loss of life. Their gunplays were becoming more serious all the time, and everybody had to look out for number one. When Trumble came to the post office, the row usually began. ...
About the first thing we knew, shooting began in the store. Some shots penetrated the wall between the store and the Abbott dwelling, and they shot one of Mr. Abbott's fingers. Bullets were whistling in every direction. We women were all gathered in Mr. Crawford's picket house about twenty steps away. All the freighters began rushing out of the house, hiding behind wagons and everything. We women were crowded in and around the door looking to see what was going n. Trumble was then on his horse out in front of the store waving his gun in the air, daring Mr. Abbott and all his friends to show up. He would fight them all. About this time this Missouri Irishman (Wells was his name), gave a leap out at the door. He was pale and ashen, and he took a beeline for our picket house. He did not even slow up when he reached it. He just made a high dive right through the bunch of us, never stopping until he got to the back of the room behind everything.
About this time Mr. Abbott came out at a side door with a Winchester rifle, but two men were holding it and would not let him shoot. Some other men out on the front got around Trumble and persuaded him to leave, as Mr. Abbott was not allowed to fight him. All was calm once more. ...
We had been here but a short time when the sad news reached us one day that Trumble had killed Mr. Abbott that morning. He had shot him three times while Mr. Abbott was at the spring getting water. It was about four hundred yards away from the house. Mr. Abbott's little three-year old boy was left standing by his father, talking about 'poor Daddy' when some of them came up.
We got ready and hurried down to Otta that afternoon. Poor Mrs. Abbott was almost frantic with grief, as we knew she would be. Two other ladies were there, Mrs. Austin and Mrs. Colthorp who lived a few miles away. We did all we could to console Mrs. Abbott, but of course, there is not much we can do when the grief is at its earliest. She had him buried there near the house where she could tend his grave, which she did for several years afterward.
Trumble received a life sentence to the penitentiary but was released in fifteen years. he died two years late of tuberculosis contracted while in the penitentiary.
-----
Lela's second husband was John's younger brother, Wilburn Barton Abbott.
Their children were:
Gladys Mae Abbott 1891–1978
Dorothy Wilburn Abbott 1909–1984
-----
On June 9, 1900 (Federal Census)
Lela & Wilburn Abbott owned a home on Starr St. in Justice Precinct 1, Hardeman Co, TX. They had been married 11 years. Lela had given birth to 4 children - 3 were living. Wilburn was a day laborer.
Household Members:
Wilburn B Abbott 39 - born in AL - March 1861
Lila Abbott 34 - AL - Nov. 1865
Lewis C Abbott 15 - TX - Oct. 1884
John L Abbott 13 - TX - Sept. 1886
Gladys M Abbott 10 TX - Oct. 1889
-----
Wilburn died May 5, 1923.
-----
On June 1, 1940,
Lela (shown as Lea Abbott), widowed, age 75 lived with her son, Louis Abbott & his wife who owned a home on Old Aledo and Wfd Road in Parker Co, TX. Louis was the manager of a warehouse and storage company.
Household Members: Everyone born in TX except Lela
Louis C Abbott 55 head
Bertie Ruth Abbott 41 wife
Jane Abbott 19 daughter
Ann Abbott 13 daughter
Luis Abbott Junior 10 son
Lela 55 mother - born in AL
-----
Dallas Morning News
Thursday, Jun 16, 1955
"AT 90, A TANGLE TOWNS FAN
Mrs. Lela Abbott, 3616 North Fitzhugh, may well be the oldest Texan playing Tangle Towns, The Dallas News daily puzzle contest in which $15,000 in cash prizes are offered. She shows her daughter, Mrs. James J. Carnes, the answer to a puzzle. 'I'm going to win one of those 553 prizes,' Mrs. Abbott declares. She will be 91 next month."
-----
Lela, age 93, died in Fort Worth on August 16, 1958.
Dallas Morning News
Monday, Aug. 18, 1958
"MRS. LELA ABBOTT
Funeral services for Mrs. Lela Prewitt Abbott, 93, of 3616 North Fitzhugh, will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the Shannon Funeral Home at Fort Worth.
Mrs. Abbott, who had lived with her daughter, Mrs. James J. Carnes, at the Fitzhugh address for the last 12 years, died Saturday in a Fort Worth hospital after a heart attack. She had been visiting another daughter in Fort Worth.
Born in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Mrs. Abbott came to Texas as a child with her family to settle near Quanah, Hardeman County.
In addition to Mrs. Carnes, she is survived by another daughter, Mrs. Ferdie Johnson of Fort Worth; two sons, Louis C. Abbott and John L. Abbott, both of Fort Worth, and 10 grandchildren and 14 grand-grandchildren.
Burial will be in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Fort Worth."
-----
Dallas Morning News (TX)
Tuesday, August 19, 1958
"MRS. LELA ABBOTT
Fort Worth, Texas (Sp.) - Funeral for Mrs. Lela Abbott, 93, who died here Sunday, will be held at the Shannon Memorial Chapel in Fort Worth at 10 a.m. Tuesday. Burial will be in Mount Olivet Cemetery.
Mrs. Abbott had made her home with a daughter, Mrs. James J. Carnes, in Dallas. She lived in Dallas about 20 years.
In addition to Mrs. Carnes, survivors are another daughter, Mrs. Ferdie Johnson of Fort Worth; two sons, John L. Abbott and L.C. Abbott, both of Fort Worth; 10 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren."
Researched and compiled by Virginia Brown
December 2019
Standing: Lela Prewitt Abbott
Seated: Louis Abbott, Lela and John Abbott's first child
On chair's arm; John Abbott, Jr., their 2nd son
Gladys Abbott, daughter of Lela and W.B. Abbott, brother of John Abbott\
Lela's Parents:
Dudley Marion Prewitt 1830–1902
Frances Ottaway "Otta" Faver 1845–1912
-----
Lela was 4 years old when her parents left Alabama in a wagon train with relatives going West. This was the start of an adventurous life for her and her family. One of her sisters was born along the way, and another one died. Once they reached Texas they had to cope with many dangers from Indians, not only Indians but wild animals. When Lela was 17 years old she was happily married to a cowboy and rancher, John Abbott. That happiness was ended two years later when her young husband was murdered leaving her with their two young sons to raise. She knew happiness once after she married her husband's brother, Wilburn, and they had two daughter.
-----
About 1952 Lela wrote an auto-biography so her grandchildren and great-grandchildren would know a little about her life. She expressed her sense of humor at the end of it by saying that they would read it after she was gone and say "Oh Grandmother. What a life!"
I have edited it in part due to the length. In it she she gives the date of her birth as Nov. 2, 1865. She told about her parents and other family members (father, mother, brother, sisters, aunts, and cousins) leaving AL and traveling by wagon train going West. Her mother was the cousin of General Bedford Forest.
It appears they left AL in 1868, not 1869 as written by Lela. They stopped for winter in Arkansas where her sister, Lula, was born on Feb. 8 (1868). In the Spring they stopped in Waxahaxhie, where her sister, Ezille died. They traveled through Dallas, then on to Fort Worth where they stayed with Mrs. Wright for awhile. From there they moved to Parker Co, TX where they lived in a log house. It wasn't far from Mill Sap where Indians were on war path, killing people every day. She said the "Indians were as thick as grass hoppers." One night they came to their home taking their mules. Her father had forgotten to lock and chain to tree in back yard.
She wrote that her mother would often hide us children under the feather bed. One Sunday afternoon when she and her parents were coming home. As they crossed a creek they saw an Indian running up the creek. She was so frightened that she fell down in the wagon crying, knowing if the Indian caught them, he would kill them.
From there they moved to Henrietta in Clay County. Marauding Indians had been there the year before. One day they heard that Indians on a War Path were coming. All men armed themselves with guns and placed all the women and children in the home of Dr. Johnson (the only doctor) to wait for them. Happily they didn't show up. There were very few people in Henrietta, all who were living in log houses. The prairie grass was so tall that, “when a man on horse passed by, all you could see was his hat.” Lela said her father built the first frame residence in town. Her father was the Sheriff, serving two terms, having to hang Frank Smith. Frank had been hired to kill a woman's husband.
They wanted to move farther West, and in 1879 moved to uninhabited Cottle County. There weren't any ranches, nothing, but buffalo hunters, wide prairies, deer, antelope, plenty of buffalo, and turkeys galore. Lela recalls the first head of cattle coming by their home, going to a ranch of Mr. Sul. Carter coming through the Matador ranch. She said that Mr. H.H. Campbell and his wife were refined nice people, and she visited them at their ranch.
Wild animals were plentiful. One time a huge panther followed her and her sister from the spring where they had gone for a bucket of water. Men killed the panther in front of their house just after they had reached home.
Lela indicated that things began to pick up in the spring of 1880 through the efforts of her father writing to Washington several times, getting promise of a tri-weekly mail line from Cottle County to Seymour, and Baylor Counties. A post office had to be established and named, so it was named Otta for her mother, who was the postmistress. Her mother used to say mail tri-weekly was right, go one week, try to get back the next. Mail was carried on horse back, no roads, just trails. They were happy getting letters, papers, and magazines. her mother read to her father and "us children" till bed time. She and her sister went to school in Henrietta, which was a growing town.
Lela wrote that she married J.L. Abbott, a ranch-man, on March 23, 1882, and was very happy. They had very little furniture, which they bought in Fort Worth. There weren't any roads in winter time, so it took three months for the wagons to get through.
Lela had her own riding pony while living on the headquarter ranch. She would ride for half a day with her husband, riding line, pushing cattle back; no fences. They killed beef as they needed meat. Chickens were all over the place. Everything was furnished, including groceries. Her husband's salary was thirty dollars per month.
After living on the ranch for awhile they bought half interest in dry goods and grocery business with Mr. Armstrong at Ford City who was a fine business man . By this time there were ranches everywhere. They sold their interest back to Mr. Armstrong and moved near Otta, "going in business, a fine ranch trade." Neighbors lived from five to ten miles apart.
Lela wrote that people didn't think anything would grow. In 1884 her husband tried planting wheat, seeing if it would grown, sending to Washington and asking for bag of wheat seed to be sent in mail bag. They received what could come that way, and planted it in the fall of 1884. It made fine wheat, which they cut by hand wit scythe bade. For thrashing it they built a round pen laying tarpaulin on ground inside of pen with several horses in the pen with a man to keep them moving until the wheat was thrashed.
Lela wrote that their first son was born on October 21, 1884. Dr. Ditty came from Vernon and stayed one week.
Her husband planned to moved to Quanah if the railroad went that way. Margaret was the County Seat at that time. They waited to see how the railroad would go, but "never know as we make our plans, sometimes they have sad endings." On August 16, 1886, she was left with a baby not yet two and on Sept. 18, 1886, her second son was born. Their father died suddenly. She wrote, "I was 21 with two babies, our plans gone, the four years were happy years. God know best we know not why. After one-half years I married first husband's brother, that being happy marriage. having two daughters by this marriage. "
Lela wrote, "I have written this story of my life, or part of it, thinking my grandchildren and great grandchild would like to know something of my life when I was young. I am 86 years old now. Maybe after I am gone they will read this and say, 'Oh, Grandmother. What a Life.!"
Ella Elgar Bird Dumont (An autobiography of a West Texas Pioneer) mentions
"Otta, approximately twelve miles SE of where Paducah now stands was the location of the first post office in Cottle County. When the post office became official on December 22, 1879 on the land of Dudley M. Prewitt. Hog rancher Prewitt was appointed postmaster. The frontier post office was named for Prewitt's wife, Otta Prewitt. "
-----
Lela married John Lockhart Abbott, a cowboy, in Baylor Co, TX on Nov. 23, 1882. John had moved to the Otta area in southeastern Cottle County, TX around 1880.
Their children were:
Louis Cleveland Abbott 1884–1973 (first white child born in Cottle County on Oct. 21, 1884. )
John Lockhart Abbott 1886–1975
John was shot from an ambush on Aug. 16, 1886, and was killed by Bill Trumble. He was the first white man to die and be buried in Cottle Co, TX.
The Galveston Daily News (TX)
Wednesday, August 18, 1886
VERNON
"Vernon, August 17. - Yesterday evening at Alta, in Cottle county, Wm. Trumbull shot and killed John Abbott. No particulars. The men had two shooting affrays with each other some time ago, and Abbott was tried and acquitted in the District Court of Hardemann county last week of the charge of assault with intent to murder Trumbull."
-----
Ella Dumont wrote that she had known Lela for several year before her husband was murdered. Cattle were cheap, and her husband bought a bunch from John Abbott. In Spring time Ella and her husband moved down to the post office at Otta. Another family, Mr. Al Crawford, had moved there, which made three families of us. Mrs. Abbott and I were good friend of some years past.
She wrote, "All would have moved on peacefully and quietly, but it seems there is always something disagreeable that must come to take the joy our of one's life, or the life of a friend. For some time there had been a feud between Mr. Abbott and another man, Bill Trumble, who was a young cowboy. There had been several gunplays and shots fired, but friends had prevented any loss of life. Their gunplays were becoming more serious all the time, and everybody had to look out for number one. When Trumble came to the post office, the row usually began. ...
About the first thing we knew, shooting began in the store. Some shots penetrated the wall between the store and the Abbott dwelling, and they shot one of Mr. Abbott's fingers. Bullets were whistling in every direction. We women were all gathered in Mr. Crawford's picket house about twenty steps away. All the freighters began rushing out of the house, hiding behind wagons and everything. We women were crowded in and around the door looking to see what was going n. Trumble was then on his horse out in front of the store waving his gun in the air, daring Mr. Abbott and all his friends to show up. He would fight them all. About this time this Missouri Irishman (Wells was his name), gave a leap out at the door. He was pale and ashen, and he took a beeline for our picket house. He did not even slow up when he reached it. He just made a high dive right through the bunch of us, never stopping until he got to the back of the room behind everything.
About this time Mr. Abbott came out at a side door with a Winchester rifle, but two men were holding it and would not let him shoot. Some other men out on the front got around Trumble and persuaded him to leave, as Mr. Abbott was not allowed to fight him. All was calm once more. ...
We had been here but a short time when the sad news reached us one day that Trumble had killed Mr. Abbott that morning. He had shot him three times while Mr. Abbott was at the spring getting water. It was about four hundred yards away from the house. Mr. Abbott's little three-year old boy was left standing by his father, talking about 'poor Daddy' when some of them came up.
We got ready and hurried down to Otta that afternoon. Poor Mrs. Abbott was almost frantic with grief, as we knew she would be. Two other ladies were there, Mrs. Austin and Mrs. Colthorp who lived a few miles away. We did all we could to console Mrs. Abbott, but of course, there is not much we can do when the grief is at its earliest. She had him buried there near the house where she could tend his grave, which she did for several years afterward.
Trumble received a life sentence to the penitentiary but was released in fifteen years. he died two years late of tuberculosis contracted while in the penitentiary.
-----
Lela's second husband was John's younger brother, Wilburn Barton Abbott.
Their children were:
Gladys Mae Abbott 1891–1978
Dorothy Wilburn Abbott 1909–1984
-----
On June 9, 1900 (Federal Census)
Lela & Wilburn Abbott owned a home on Starr St. in Justice Precinct 1, Hardeman Co, TX. They had been married 11 years. Lela had given birth to 4 children - 3 were living. Wilburn was a day laborer.
Household Members:
Wilburn B Abbott 39 - born in AL - March 1861
Lila Abbott 34 - AL - Nov. 1865
Lewis C Abbott 15 - TX - Oct. 1884
John L Abbott 13 - TX - Sept. 1886
Gladys M Abbott 10 TX - Oct. 1889
-----
Wilburn died May 5, 1923.
-----
On June 1, 1940,
Lela (shown as Lea Abbott), widowed, age 75 lived with her son, Louis Abbott & his wife who owned a home on Old Aledo and Wfd Road in Parker Co, TX. Louis was the manager of a warehouse and storage company.
Household Members: Everyone born in TX except Lela
Louis C Abbott 55 head
Bertie Ruth Abbott 41 wife
Jane Abbott 19 daughter
Ann Abbott 13 daughter
Luis Abbott Junior 10 son
Lela 55 mother - born in AL
-----
Dallas Morning News
Thursday, Jun 16, 1955
"AT 90, A TANGLE TOWNS FAN
Mrs. Lela Abbott, 3616 North Fitzhugh, may well be the oldest Texan playing Tangle Towns, The Dallas News daily puzzle contest in which $15,000 in cash prizes are offered. She shows her daughter, Mrs. James J. Carnes, the answer to a puzzle. 'I'm going to win one of those 553 prizes,' Mrs. Abbott declares. She will be 91 next month."
-----
Lela, age 93, died in Fort Worth on August 16, 1958.
Dallas Morning News
Monday, Aug. 18, 1958
"MRS. LELA ABBOTT
Funeral services for Mrs. Lela Prewitt Abbott, 93, of 3616 North Fitzhugh, will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the Shannon Funeral Home at Fort Worth.
Mrs. Abbott, who had lived with her daughter, Mrs. James J. Carnes, at the Fitzhugh address for the last 12 years, died Saturday in a Fort Worth hospital after a heart attack. She had been visiting another daughter in Fort Worth.
Born in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Mrs. Abbott came to Texas as a child with her family to settle near Quanah, Hardeman County.
In addition to Mrs. Carnes, she is survived by another daughter, Mrs. Ferdie Johnson of Fort Worth; two sons, Louis C. Abbott and John L. Abbott, both of Fort Worth, and 10 grandchildren and 14 grand-grandchildren.
Burial will be in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Fort Worth."
-----
Dallas Morning News (TX)
Tuesday, August 19, 1958
"MRS. LELA ABBOTT
Fort Worth, Texas (Sp.) - Funeral for Mrs. Lela Abbott, 93, who died here Sunday, will be held at the Shannon Memorial Chapel in Fort Worth at 10 a.m. Tuesday. Burial will be in Mount Olivet Cemetery.
Mrs. Abbott had made her home with a daughter, Mrs. James J. Carnes, in Dallas. She lived in Dallas about 20 years.
In addition to Mrs. Carnes, survivors are another daughter, Mrs. Ferdie Johnson of Fort Worth; two sons, John L. Abbott and L.C. Abbott, both of Fort Worth; 10 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren."
Researched and compiled by Virginia Brown
December 2019
Picture of Lela and three of her children:
Standing: Lela Prewitt Abbott
Seated: Louis Abbott, Lela and John Abbott's first child
On chair's arm; John Abbott, Jr., their 2nd son
Gladys Abbott, daughter of Lela and W.B. Abbott, brother of John Abbott\
Lela's Parents:
Dudley Marion Prewitt 1830–1902
Frances Ottaway "Otta" Faver 1845–1912
-----
Lela was 4 years old when her parents left Alabama in a wagon train with relatives going West. This was the start of an adventurous life for her and her family. One of her sisters was born along the way, and another one died. Once they reached Texas they had to cope with many dangers from Indians, not only Indians but wild animals. When Lela was 17 years old she was happily married to a cowboy and rancher, John Abbott. That happiness was ended two years later when her young husband was murdered leaving her with their two young sons to raise. She knew happiness once after she married her husband's brother, Wilburn, and they had two daughter.
-----
About 1952 Lela wrote an auto-biography so her grandchildren and great-grandchildren would know a little about her life. She expressed her sense of humor at the end of it by saying that they would read it after she was gone and say "Oh Grandmother. What a life!"
I have edited it in part due to the length. In it she she gives the date of her birth as Nov. 2, 1865. She told about her parents and other family members (father, mother, brother, sisters, aunts, and cousins) leaving AL and traveling by wagon train going West. Her mother was the cousin of General Bedford Forest.
It appears they left AL in 1868, not 1869 as written by Lela. They stopped for winter in Arkansas where her sister, Lula, was born on Feb. 8 (1868). In the Spring they stopped in Waxahaxhie, where her sister, Ezille died. They traveled through Dallas, then on to Fort Worth where they stayed with Mrs. Wright for awhile. From there they moved to Parker Co, TX where they lived in a log house. It wasn't far from Mill Sap where Indians were on war path, killing people every day. She said the "Indians were as thick as grass hoppers." One night they came to their home taking their mules. Her father had forgotten to lock and chain to tree in back yard.
She wrote that her mother would often hide us children under the feather bed. One Sunday afternoon when she and her parents were coming home. As they crossed a creek they saw an Indian running up the creek. She was so frightened that she fell down in the wagon crying, knowing if the Indian caught them, he would kill them.
From there they moved to Henrietta in Clay County. Marauding Indians had been there the year before. One day they heard that Indians on a War Path were coming. All men armed themselves with guns and placed all the women and children in the home of Dr. Johnson (the only doctor) to wait for them. Happily they didn't show up. There were very few people in Henrietta, all who were living in log houses. The prairie grass was so tall that, “when a man on horse passed by, all you could see was his hat.” Lela said her father built the first frame residence in town. Her father was the Sheriff, serving two terms, having to hang Frank Smith. Frank had been hired to kill a woman's husband.
They wanted to move farther West, and in 1879 moved to uninhabited Cottle County. There weren't any ranches, nothing, but buffalo hunters, wide prairies, deer, antelope, plenty of buffalo, and turkeys galore. Lela recalls the first head of cattle coming by their home, going to a ranch of Mr. Sul. Carter coming through the Matador ranch. She said that Mr. H.H. Campbell and his wife were refined nice people, and she visited them at their ranch.
Wild animals were plentiful. One time a huge panther followed her and her sister from the spring where they had gone for a bucket of water. Men killed the panther in front of their house just after they had reached home.
Lela indicated that things began to pick up in the spring of 1880 through the efforts of her father writing to Washington several times, getting promise of a tri-weekly mail line from Cottle County to Seymour, and Baylor Counties. A post office had to be established and named, so it was named Otta for her mother, who was the postmistress. Her mother used to say mail tri-weekly was right, go one week, try to get back the next. Mail was carried on horse back, no roads, just trails. They were happy getting letters, papers, and magazines. her mother read to her father and "us children" till bed time. She and her sister went to school in Henrietta, which was a growing town.
Lela wrote that she married J.L. Abbott, a ranch-man, on March 23, 1882, and was very happy. They had very little furniture, which they bought in Fort Worth. There weren't any roads in winter time, so it took three months for the wagons to get through.
Lela had her own riding pony while living on the headquarter ranch. She would ride for half a day with her husband, riding line, pushing cattle back; no fences. They killed beef as they needed meat. Chickens were all over the place. Everything was furnished, including groceries. Her husband's salary was thirty dollars per month.
After living on the ranch for awhile they bought half interest in dry goods and grocery business with Mr. Armstrong at Ford City who was a fine business man . By this time there were ranches everywhere. They sold their interest back to Mr. Armstrong and moved near Otta, "going in business, a fine ranch trade." Neighbors lived from five to ten miles apart.
Lela wrote that people didn't think anything would grow. In 1884 her husband tried planting wheat, seeing if it would grown, sending to Washington and asking for bag of wheat seed to be sent in mail bag. They received what could come that way, and planted it in the fall of 1884. It made fine wheat, which they cut by hand wit scythe bade. For thrashing it they built a round pen laying tarpaulin on ground inside of pen with several horses in the pen with a man to keep them moving until the wheat was thrashed.
Lela wrote that their first son was born on October 21, 1884. Dr. Ditty came from Vernon and stayed one week.
Her husband planned to moved to Quanah if the railroad went that way. Margaret was the County Seat at that time. They waited to see how the railroad would go, but "never know as we make our plans, sometimes they have sad endings." On August 16, 1886, she was left with a baby not yet two and on Sept. 18, 1886, her second son was born. Their father died suddenly. She wrote, "I was 21 with two babies, our plans gone, the four years were happy years. God know best we know not why. After one-half years I married first husband's brother, that being happy marriage. having two daughters by this marriage. "
Lela wrote, "I have written this story of my life, or part of it, thinking my grandchildren and great grandchild would like to know something of my life when I was young. I am 86 years old now. Maybe after I am gone they will read this and say, 'Oh, Grandmother. What a Life.!"
Ella Elgar Bird Dumont (An autobiography of a West Texas Pioneer) mentions
"Otta, approximately twelve miles SE of where Paducah now stands was the location of the first post office in Cottle County. When the post office became official on December 22, 1879 on the land of Dudley M. Prewitt. Hog rancher Prewitt was appointed postmaster. The frontier post office was named for Prewitt's wife, Otta Prewitt. "
-----
Lela married John Lockhart Abbott, a cowboy, in Baylor Co, TX on Nov. 23, 1882. John had moved to the Otta area in southeastern Cottle County, TX around 1880.
Their children were:
Louis Cleveland Abbott 1884–1973 (first white child born in Cottle County on Oct. 21, 1884. )
John Lockhart Abbott 1886–1975
John was shot from an ambush on Aug. 16, 1886, and was killed by Bill Trumble. He was the first white man to die and be buried in Cottle Co, TX.
The Galveston Daily News (TX)
Wednesday, August 18, 1886
VERNON
"Vernon, August 17. - Yesterday evening at Alta, in Cottle county, Wm. Trumbull shot and killed John Abbott. No particulars. The men had two shooting affrays with each other some time ago, and Abbott was tried and acquitted in the District Court of Hardemann county last week of the charge of assault with intent to murder Trumbull."
-----
Ella Dumont wrote that she had known Lela for several year before her husband was murdered. Cattle were cheap, and her husband bought a bunch from John Abbott. In Spring time Ella and her husband moved down to the post office at Otta. Another family, Mr. Al Crawford, had moved there, which made three families of us. Mrs. Abbott and I were good friend of some years past.
She wrote, "All would have moved on peacefully and quietly, but it seems there is always something disagreeable that must come to take the joy our of one's life, or the life of a friend. For some time there had been a feud between Mr. Abbott and another man, Bill Trumble, who was a young cowboy. There had been several gunplays and shots fired, but friends had prevented any loss of life. Their gunplays were becoming more serious all the time, and everybody had to look out for number one. When Trumble came to the post office, the row usually began. ...
About the first thing we knew, shooting began in the store. Some shots penetrated the wall between the store and the Abbott dwelling, and they shot one of Mr. Abbott's fingers. Bullets were whistling in every direction. We women were all gathered in Mr. Crawford's picket house about twenty steps away. All the freighters began rushing out of the house, hiding behind wagons and everything. We women were crowded in and around the door looking to see what was going n. Trumble was then on his horse out in front of the store waving his gun in the air, daring Mr. Abbott and all his friends to show up. He would fight them all. About this time this Missouri Irishman (Wells was his name), gave a leap out at the door. He was pale and ashen, and he took a beeline for our picket house. He did not even slow up when he reached it. He just made a high dive right through the bunch of us, never stopping until he got to the back of the room behind everything.
About this time Mr. Abbott came out at a side door with a Winchester rifle, but two men were holding it and would not let him shoot. Some other men out on the front got around Trumble and persuaded him to leave, as Mr. Abbott was not allowed to fight him. All was calm once more. ...
We had been here but a short time when the sad news reached us one day that Trumble had killed Mr. Abbott that morning. He had shot him three times while Mr. Abbott was at the spring getting water. It was about four hundred yards away from the house. Mr. Abbott's little three-year old boy was left standing by his father, talking about 'poor Daddy' when some of them came up.
We got ready and hurried down to Otta that afternoon. Poor Mrs. Abbott was almost frantic with grief, as we knew she would be. Two other ladies were there, Mrs. Austin and Mrs. Colthorp who lived a few miles away. We did all we could to console Mrs. Abbott, but of course, there is not much we can do when the grief is at its earliest. She had him buried there near the house where she could tend his grave, which she did for several years afterward.
Trumble received a life sentence to the penitentiary but was released in fifteen years. he died two years late of tuberculosis contracted while in the penitentiary.
-----
Lela's second husband was John's younger brother, Wilburn Barton Abbott.
Their children were:
Gladys Mae Abbott 1891–1978
Dorothy Wilburn Abbott 1909–1984
-----
On June 9, 1900 (Federal Census)
Lela & Wilburn Abbott owned a home on Starr St. in Justice Precinct 1, Hardeman Co, TX. They had been married 11 years. Lela had given birth to 4 children - 3 were living. Wilburn was a day laborer.
Household Members:
Wilburn B Abbott 39 - born in AL - March 1861
Lila Abbott 34 - AL - Nov. 1865
Lewis C Abbott 15 - TX - Oct. 1884
John L Abbott 13 - TX - Sept. 1886
Gladys M Abbott 10 TX - Oct. 1889
-----
Wilburn died May 5, 1923.
-----
On June 1, 1940,
Lela (shown as Lea Abbott), widowed, age 75 lived with her son, Louis Abbott & his wife who owned a home on Old Aledo and Wfd Road in Parker Co, TX. Louis was the manager of a warehouse and storage company.
Household Members: Everyone born in TX except Lela
Louis C Abbott 55 head
Bertie Ruth Abbott 41 wife
Jane Abbott 19 daughter
Ann Abbott 13 daughter
Luis Abbott Junior 10 son
Lela 55 mother - born in AL
-----
Dallas Morning News
Thursday, Jun 16, 1955
"AT 90, A TANGLE TOWNS FAN
Mrs. Lela Abbott, 3616 North Fitzhugh, may well be the oldest Texan playing Tangle Towns, The Dallas News daily puzzle contest in which $15,000 in cash prizes are offered. She shows her daughter, Mrs. James J. Carnes, the answer to a puzzle. 'I'm going to win one of those 553 prizes,' Mrs. Abbott declares. She will be 91 next month."
-----
Lela, age 93, died in Fort Worth on August 16, 1958.
Dallas Morning News
Monday, Aug. 18, 1958
"MRS. LELA ABBOTT
Funeral services for Mrs. Lela Prewitt Abbott, 93, of 3616 North Fitzhugh, will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the Shannon Funeral Home at Fort Worth.
Mrs. Abbott, who had lived with her daughter, Mrs. James J. Carnes, at the Fitzhugh address for the last 12 years, died Saturday in a Fort Worth hospital after a heart attack. She had been visiting another daughter in Fort Worth.
Born in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Mrs. Abbott came to Texas as a child with her family to settle near Quanah, Hardeman County.
In addition to Mrs. Carnes, she is survived by another daughter, Mrs. Ferdie Johnson of Fort Worth; two sons, Louis C. Abbott and John L. Abbott, both of Fort Worth, and 10 grandchildren and 14 grand-grandchildren.
Burial will be in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Fort Worth."
-----
Dallas Morning News (TX)
Tuesday, August 19, 1958
"MRS. LELA ABBOTT
Fort Worth, Texas (Sp.) - Funeral for Mrs. Lela Abbott, 93, who died here Sunday, will be held at the Shannon Memorial Chapel in Fort Worth at 10 a.m. Tuesday. Burial will be in Mount Olivet Cemetery.
Mrs. Abbott had made her home with a daughter, Mrs. James J. Carnes, in Dallas. She lived in Dallas about 20 years.
In addition to Mrs. Carnes, survivors are another daughter, Mrs. Ferdie Johnson of Fort Worth; two sons, John L. Abbott and L.C. Abbott, both of Fort Worth; 10 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren."
Researched and compiled by Virginia Brown
December 2019
Standing: Lela Prewitt Abbott
Seated: Louis Abbott, Lela and John Abbott's first child
On chair's arm; John Abbott, Jr., their 2nd son
Gladys Abbott, daughter of Lela and W.B. Abbott, brother of John Abbott\
Lela's Parents:
Dudley Marion Prewitt 1830–1902
Frances Ottaway "Otta" Faver 1845–1912
-----
Lela was 4 years old when her parents left Alabama in a wagon train with relatives going West. This was the start of an adventurous life for her and her family. One of her sisters was born along the way, and another one died. Once they reached Texas they had to cope with many dangers from Indians, not only Indians but wild animals. When Lela was 17 years old she was happily married to a cowboy and rancher, John Abbott. That happiness was ended two years later when her young husband was murdered leaving her with their two young sons to raise. She knew happiness once after she married her husband's brother, Wilburn, and they had two daughter.
-----
About 1952 Lela wrote an auto-biography so her grandchildren and great-grandchildren would know a little about her life. She expressed her sense of humor at the end of it by saying that they would read it after she was gone and say "Oh Grandmother. What a life!"
I have edited it in part due to the length. In it she she gives the date of her birth as Nov. 2, 1865. She told about her parents and other family members (father, mother, brother, sisters, aunts, and cousins) leaving AL and traveling by wagon train going West. Her mother was the cousin of General Bedford Forest.
It appears they left AL in 1868, not 1869 as written by Lela. They stopped for winter in Arkansas where her sister, Lula, was born on Feb. 8 (1868). In the Spring they stopped in Waxahaxhie, where her sister, Ezille died. They traveled through Dallas, then on to Fort Worth where they stayed with Mrs. Wright for awhile. From there they moved to Parker Co, TX where they lived in a log house. It wasn't far from Mill Sap where Indians were on war path, killing people every day. She said the "Indians were as thick as grass hoppers." One night they came to their home taking their mules. Her father had forgotten to lock and chain to tree in back yard.
She wrote that her mother would often hide us children under the feather bed. One Sunday afternoon when she and her parents were coming home. As they crossed a creek they saw an Indian running up the creek. She was so frightened that she fell down in the wagon crying, knowing if the Indian caught them, he would kill them.
From there they moved to Henrietta in Clay County. Marauding Indians had been there the year before. One day they heard that Indians on a War Path were coming. All men armed themselves with guns and placed all the women and children in the home of Dr. Johnson (the only doctor) to wait for them. Happily they didn't show up. There were very few people in Henrietta, all who were living in log houses. The prairie grass was so tall that, “when a man on horse passed by, all you could see was his hat.” Lela said her father built the first frame residence in town. Her father was the Sheriff, serving two terms, having to hang Frank Smith. Frank had been hired to kill a woman's husband.
They wanted to move farther West, and in 1879 moved to uninhabited Cottle County. There weren't any ranches, nothing, but buffalo hunters, wide prairies, deer, antelope, plenty of buffalo, and turkeys galore. Lela recalls the first head of cattle coming by their home, going to a ranch of Mr. Sul. Carter coming through the Matador ranch. She said that Mr. H.H. Campbell and his wife were refined nice people, and she visited them at their ranch.
Wild animals were plentiful. One time a huge panther followed her and her sister from the spring where they had gone for a bucket of water. Men killed the panther in front of their house just after they had reached home.
Lela indicated that things began to pick up in the spring of 1880 through the efforts of her father writing to Washington several times, getting promise of a tri-weekly mail line from Cottle County to Seymour, and Baylor Counties. A post office had to be established and named, so it was named Otta for her mother, who was the postmistress. Her mother used to say mail tri-weekly was right, go one week, try to get back the next. Mail was carried on horse back, no roads, just trails. They were happy getting letters, papers, and magazines. her mother read to her father and "us children" till bed time. She and her sister went to school in Henrietta, which was a growing town.
Lela wrote that she married J.L. Abbott, a ranch-man, on March 23, 1882, and was very happy. They had very little furniture, which they bought in Fort Worth. There weren't any roads in winter time, so it took three months for the wagons to get through.
Lela had her own riding pony while living on the headquarter ranch. She would ride for half a day with her husband, riding line, pushing cattle back; no fences. They killed beef as they needed meat. Chickens were all over the place. Everything was furnished, including groceries. Her husband's salary was thirty dollars per month.
After living on the ranch for awhile they bought half interest in dry goods and grocery business with Mr. Armstrong at Ford City who was a fine business man . By this time there were ranches everywhere. They sold their interest back to Mr. Armstrong and moved near Otta, "going in business, a fine ranch trade." Neighbors lived from five to ten miles apart.
Lela wrote that people didn't think anything would grow. In 1884 her husband tried planting wheat, seeing if it would grown, sending to Washington and asking for bag of wheat seed to be sent in mail bag. They received what could come that way, and planted it in the fall of 1884. It made fine wheat, which they cut by hand wit scythe bade. For thrashing it they built a round pen laying tarpaulin on ground inside of pen with several horses in the pen with a man to keep them moving until the wheat was thrashed.
Lela wrote that their first son was born on October 21, 1884. Dr. Ditty came from Vernon and stayed one week.
Her husband planned to moved to Quanah if the railroad went that way. Margaret was the County Seat at that time. They waited to see how the railroad would go, but "never know as we make our plans, sometimes they have sad endings." On August 16, 1886, she was left with a baby not yet two and on Sept. 18, 1886, her second son was born. Their father died suddenly. She wrote, "I was 21 with two babies, our plans gone, the four years were happy years. God know best we know not why. After one-half years I married first husband's brother, that being happy marriage. having two daughters by this marriage. "
Lela wrote, "I have written this story of my life, or part of it, thinking my grandchildren and great grandchild would like to know something of my life when I was young. I am 86 years old now. Maybe after I am gone they will read this and say, 'Oh, Grandmother. What a Life.!"
Ella Elgar Bird Dumont (An autobiography of a West Texas Pioneer) mentions
"Otta, approximately twelve miles SE of where Paducah now stands was the location of the first post office in Cottle County. When the post office became official on December 22, 1879 on the land of Dudley M. Prewitt. Hog rancher Prewitt was appointed postmaster. The frontier post office was named for Prewitt's wife, Otta Prewitt. "
-----
Lela married John Lockhart Abbott, a cowboy, in Baylor Co, TX on Nov. 23, 1882. John had moved to the Otta area in southeastern Cottle County, TX around 1880.
Their children were:
Louis Cleveland Abbott 1884–1973 (first white child born in Cottle County on Oct. 21, 1884. )
John Lockhart Abbott 1886–1975
John was shot from an ambush on Aug. 16, 1886, and was killed by Bill Trumble. He was the first white man to die and be buried in Cottle Co, TX.
The Galveston Daily News (TX)
Wednesday, August 18, 1886
VERNON
"Vernon, August 17. - Yesterday evening at Alta, in Cottle county, Wm. Trumbull shot and killed John Abbott. No particulars. The men had two shooting affrays with each other some time ago, and Abbott was tried and acquitted in the District Court of Hardemann county last week of the charge of assault with intent to murder Trumbull."
-----
Ella Dumont wrote that she had known Lela for several year before her husband was murdered. Cattle were cheap, and her husband bought a bunch from John Abbott. In Spring time Ella and her husband moved down to the post office at Otta. Another family, Mr. Al Crawford, had moved there, which made three families of us. Mrs. Abbott and I were good friend of some years past.
She wrote, "All would have moved on peacefully and quietly, but it seems there is always something disagreeable that must come to take the joy our of one's life, or the life of a friend. For some time there had been a feud between Mr. Abbott and another man, Bill Trumble, who was a young cowboy. There had been several gunplays and shots fired, but friends had prevented any loss of life. Their gunplays were becoming more serious all the time, and everybody had to look out for number one. When Trumble came to the post office, the row usually began. ...
About the first thing we knew, shooting began in the store. Some shots penetrated the wall between the store and the Abbott dwelling, and they shot one of Mr. Abbott's fingers. Bullets were whistling in every direction. We women were all gathered in Mr. Crawford's picket house about twenty steps away. All the freighters began rushing out of the house, hiding behind wagons and everything. We women were crowded in and around the door looking to see what was going n. Trumble was then on his horse out in front of the store waving his gun in the air, daring Mr. Abbott and all his friends to show up. He would fight them all. About this time this Missouri Irishman (Wells was his name), gave a leap out at the door. He was pale and ashen, and he took a beeline for our picket house. He did not even slow up when he reached it. He just made a high dive right through the bunch of us, never stopping until he got to the back of the room behind everything.
About this time Mr. Abbott came out at a side door with a Winchester rifle, but two men were holding it and would not let him shoot. Some other men out on the front got around Trumble and persuaded him to leave, as Mr. Abbott was not allowed to fight him. All was calm once more. ...
We had been here but a short time when the sad news reached us one day that Trumble had killed Mr. Abbott that morning. He had shot him three times while Mr. Abbott was at the spring getting water. It was about four hundred yards away from the house. Mr. Abbott's little three-year old boy was left standing by his father, talking about 'poor Daddy' when some of them came up.
We got ready and hurried down to Otta that afternoon. Poor Mrs. Abbott was almost frantic with grief, as we knew she would be. Two other ladies were there, Mrs. Austin and Mrs. Colthorp who lived a few miles away. We did all we could to console Mrs. Abbott, but of course, there is not much we can do when the grief is at its earliest. She had him buried there near the house where she could tend his grave, which she did for several years afterward.
Trumble received a life sentence to the penitentiary but was released in fifteen years. he died two years late of tuberculosis contracted while in the penitentiary.
-----
Lela's second husband was John's younger brother, Wilburn Barton Abbott.
Their children were:
Gladys Mae Abbott 1891–1978
Dorothy Wilburn Abbott 1909–1984
-----
On June 9, 1900 (Federal Census)
Lela & Wilburn Abbott owned a home on Starr St. in Justice Precinct 1, Hardeman Co, TX. They had been married 11 years. Lela had given birth to 4 children - 3 were living. Wilburn was a day laborer.
Household Members:
Wilburn B Abbott 39 - born in AL - March 1861
Lila Abbott 34 - AL - Nov. 1865
Lewis C Abbott 15 - TX - Oct. 1884
John L Abbott 13 - TX - Sept. 1886
Gladys M Abbott 10 TX - Oct. 1889
-----
Wilburn died May 5, 1923.
-----
On June 1, 1940,
Lela (shown as Lea Abbott), widowed, age 75 lived with her son, Louis Abbott & his wife who owned a home on Old Aledo and Wfd Road in Parker Co, TX. Louis was the manager of a warehouse and storage company.
Household Members: Everyone born in TX except Lela
Louis C Abbott 55 head
Bertie Ruth Abbott 41 wife
Jane Abbott 19 daughter
Ann Abbott 13 daughter
Luis Abbott Junior 10 son
Lela 55 mother - born in AL
-----
Dallas Morning News
Thursday, Jun 16, 1955
"AT 90, A TANGLE TOWNS FAN
Mrs. Lela Abbott, 3616 North Fitzhugh, may well be the oldest Texan playing Tangle Towns, The Dallas News daily puzzle contest in which $15,000 in cash prizes are offered. She shows her daughter, Mrs. James J. Carnes, the answer to a puzzle. 'I'm going to win one of those 553 prizes,' Mrs. Abbott declares. She will be 91 next month."
-----
Lela, age 93, died in Fort Worth on August 16, 1958.
Dallas Morning News
Monday, Aug. 18, 1958
"MRS. LELA ABBOTT
Funeral services for Mrs. Lela Prewitt Abbott, 93, of 3616 North Fitzhugh, will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the Shannon Funeral Home at Fort Worth.
Mrs. Abbott, who had lived with her daughter, Mrs. James J. Carnes, at the Fitzhugh address for the last 12 years, died Saturday in a Fort Worth hospital after a heart attack. She had been visiting another daughter in Fort Worth.
Born in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Mrs. Abbott came to Texas as a child with her family to settle near Quanah, Hardeman County.
In addition to Mrs. Carnes, she is survived by another daughter, Mrs. Ferdie Johnson of Fort Worth; two sons, Louis C. Abbott and John L. Abbott, both of Fort Worth, and 10 grandchildren and 14 grand-grandchildren.
Burial will be in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Fort Worth."
-----
Dallas Morning News (TX)
Tuesday, August 19, 1958
"MRS. LELA ABBOTT
Fort Worth, Texas (Sp.) - Funeral for Mrs. Lela Abbott, 93, who died here Sunday, will be held at the Shannon Memorial Chapel in Fort Worth at 10 a.m. Tuesday. Burial will be in Mount Olivet Cemetery.
Mrs. Abbott had made her home with a daughter, Mrs. James J. Carnes, in Dallas. She lived in Dallas about 20 years.
In addition to Mrs. Carnes, survivors are another daughter, Mrs. Ferdie Johnson of Fort Worth; two sons, John L. Abbott and L.C. Abbott, both of Fort Worth; 10 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren."
Researched and compiled by Virginia Brown
December 2019
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