John Abbot (1751—c. 1840) was an American naturalist and artist. He was the first artist in the New World to create an extensive series of insect drawings and to show insects in all stages of development. In addition to more than 3,000 insect illustrations, he also produced drawings of birds and plants. To facilitate his work he collected a great number of insects and reared thousands more. He was considered one of the best insect illustrators of his era and his art and insect collections were sold to an eager market in London.
Early life By his own recollection, Abbot was born in London on June 1, 1751 but parish records indicate his birthday on May 31. He was the eldest son of James Abbot, a successful attorney, and Ann (Clousinger) Abbot. He grew up in a fashionable London neighborhood of Bennet Street, St. James, and spent part of his time at his family's country house. He was tutored at home and showed an early interest in collecting and drawing. Abbot studied art with Jacob Bonneau and his first known entomological paintings were created in 1766. Abbot's technique improved rapidly and in a few years he was producing some of the best entomological illustrations of the eighteenth-century. The Russian naturalist Andrey Avinoff, an accomplished artist himself, described Abbot's work as "among the masterpieces of entomological portraiture". Sometime after 1767, Bonneau used his connections to introduce his talented student to Dru Drury, a wealthy naturalist and owner of one of the best insect collections in England. Drury gave Abbot access to his collection and introduced him to other prominent entomologists and naturalists in London. His interest in natural history art was boosted after he received a gift of Catesby's Natural History of Carolina from Lady Sarah Honywood (widow of Sir Philip Honywood). Drury and other members of the Royal Society recognized his talent as an illustrator and encouraged him to go to America to collect insects. Abbot was eager for the adventure and settled on Virginia as his destination. He made arrangements with Thomas Martyn and John Francillon, both naturalists and dealers in natural history collections, to purchase whatever specimens he might ship back to London.
Virginia Abbot set sail for Jamestown in July 1773. On the voyage he befriended the Goodall family from Virginia and agreed to stay with them at their plantation in Hanover County. He started collecting insects immediately on arrival but his first few years were difficult. The diversity and number of insects in Virginia did not meet his expectations and two of his first three shipments back to London were lost at sea. In addition, politics in Virginia were becoming increasingly divisive as revolution approached. Abbot considered returning to London and Drury encouraged him to travel to Surinam. Instead he decided to join members of the Goodall family and head down to Georgia where he hoped to avoid the upcoming war and find better opportunities for collecting specimens.
Georgia Abbot left Virginia in December 1775, travelling overland in harsh winter weather. When he arrived in Georgia, he again stayed with the Goodall family in a log cabin constructed about 100 miles south of Augusta. Although he had hoped to escape the war, hostilities broke out almost as soon as he had settled in Georgia. Abbot served with the Continental Army as a private in the 3rd Georgia Regiment. As a veteran after the war he was granted 575 acres of land where he established a plantation. At some point, Abbot married Penelope Warren and they had one son, John Abbot Jr., in 1779. Abbot became a successful planter and lived with his family in a large and comfortable house in Burke County. He also continued his work as a naturalist, exploring the Ogeechee and Savannah River basins as well as the coastal area near the port of Savannah. His insect collections and watercolor illustrations were in great demand. In 1797, The Natural History of the Rarer Lepidopterous Insects of Georgia... Collected from the Observations of Mr. John Abbot was edited by James Edward Smith and published in two volumes. It was the first major work on North American insects and contained 104 etchings of watercolors of species that Abbot had collected. Abbot had a change of fortune around 1795; his wife died and he had some sort of financial difficulties. The details are unknown but by 1806 he was living with his son in Savannah and teaching school to supplement his income. However, he continued his work as a naturalist with a new focus on birds. In the early 1790s he became interested in ornithology and completed more than 1,300 bird illustrations in his lifetime. He collaborated with ornithologist Alexander Wilson and the two of them exchanged a good deal of data on birds. In 1818 Abbot moved to Bulloch County where he continued to live and work for the rest of his life. as he grew older both his vision and hearing were impaired. His last known shipment of insects occurred in 1836. He died sometime in 1840 or early 1841.
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