Benjamin Abbot

Benjamin Abbot
portrait by Chester Harding
2nd Principal of Phillips Exeter Academy
In office 1788–1838
Preceded by	William Woodbridge
Succeeded by	Gideon Lane Soule
Personal details
Born	(1762-09-17)September 17, 1762 Andover, Massachusetts, British America
Died	October 25, 1849(1849-10-25) (aged 87) Exeter, New Hampshire, U.S.
Alma mater	Harvard University Dartmouth College

Benjamin Abbot (September 17, 1762 – October 25, 1849) was an American schoolteacher. He is known for his work as a teacher and the second principal at Phillips Exeter Academy.^[1]

He was born in Andover, Massachusetts, the son of John Abbot from a family settled in Andover since its earliest days. He entered Phillips Academy, Andover in 1782, then entered Harvard University, graduating in 1788. He married his first wife, Hannah Tracy Emery, in 1791. Later, in 1798, he married again, to Mary Perkins. He had four children.^[2]

In 1811, he received a LLD degree from Dartmouth College.^[3] He was a teacher and the principal of the Phillips Exeter Academy, teaching such subjects as Latin, Greek, and mathematics.

His students included such prominent individuals as Lewis Cass, Daniel Webster, Edward Everett, Jared Sparks, and Francis Bowen. Daniel Webster paid tribute to him at his retirement. In 1815, Abbot was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society^[4]

He died in Exeter, New Hampshire in 1849, aged 87. Abbot Hall, the oldest dormitory at Phillips Exeter Academy, is named for Benjamin Abbot.^[5]

• Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, edited by James Grant Wilson, John Fiske and Stanley L. Klos. Six volumes, New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1887-1889