Benjamin Abbot was an American educator. He is known for his work as a teacher and the second principal at Phillips Exeter Academy.
Background
Benjamin Abbot was born on September 17, 1762 in Andover, Massachusetts, United States. He was descended from George Abbot, who left Yorkshire, England, in 1640, to settle in Andover, Massachussets, where for five generations the eldest son of the family was named John and farmed the original acres wrested from the wilderness. Benjamin was the son of the fourth John Abbot.
Education
Abbot entered Phillips Academy, Andover, in 1782. Here he was taught by Jeremiah Smith, later a prominent jurist of New Hampshire. From Andover he went to Harvard, where he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1788, delivering the salutatory oration.
In 1811, he received a Doctor of Laws degree from Dartmouth College.
Career
On October 8, 1788, Abbot was appointed to the principalship of Phillips Exeter Academy, a position which he held for fifty years. Although assisted by young graduates from Harvard, he carried the burden of the teaching in Latin, Greek, and mathematics.
As principal, he maintained a high standard of morals and manners in the school. Without resorting to corporal punishment, --the usual penalty for misdemeanor being merely to carry wood or sweep the hall, --he nevertheless held his pupils under strict control.
Among distinguished pupils were Daniel Webster, Edward Everett, Jared Sparks, and Francis Bowen.
On the occasion of Abbot's retirement, August 23, 1838, hundreds of his old students were present, and Daniel Webster, in as brilliant a speech as he ever delivered, paid eloquent tribute to Abbot's training.
He lived on in the quiet of Exeter for eleven years after his retirement from teaching, and died there at the age of eighty-seven.
Achievements
Membership
Abbot became a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1815.
Personality
Abbot was an enthusiastic classical scholar and aroused the enthusiasm of his students while at the same time he was very insistent on accuracy and thoroughness.
Abbot was a man of medium height, dark complexion, and quiet manner.
Quotes from others about the person
"If Lewis was half as afraid of the Almighty as he is of you, I should never have any more trouble with him. " - the father of Lewis Cass, a rather unruly student.
Interests
Abbot's chief recreation was gardening.
Connections
Abbot was twice married: on November 1, 1791, to Hannah Tracy Emery of Exeter, who died on December 7, 1793, at the age of twenty-two, leaving him with an infant son; and five years later to Mary Perkins of Boston, by whom he had two daughters and one son.