Leigh Larson Home

WI Vacation Home: LEIGH R LARSON, N6865 SOUTH LN, PO BOX 308, JOHNSON CREEK WI 53038-0308

This website joins together the numerous descendants and cousins of Leigh Rex Larson's ancestors: Larson, Bickett, Abbey, Baker, Blake, and others. My grandmother, Emma Jane (Abbey) Larson, was inspired by the genealogy publication compiled by the niece of her first cousin, Irma Ruth (Mason) Anderson, who published the Blake/Ambrose Family History in 1970. Emma in her later years attempted, through letter writing, to discover her Abbey ancestors. It turned out that this was not a project she should have attempted at about age 85, especially since none of her surviving relatives knew anything beyond two generations back. After Emma passed away at age 101, my father suggested that sometime I might continue this research... so I did.

The Abbey family has a long presence in colonial America, dating back to 1635, well before the Revolutionary War. However, even the very comprehensive Cleveland Abbey book on the Abbe/Abbey families published in the early 1900s contained some “unconnected lines.” One unconnected Abbey line went from the Colony of Connecticut, to the Province of New York, and on to Upper Canada (Ontario) in 1798. After fifty years in Canada, about 1850 - 1860, some Abbey families left Canada West for the United States. One was Charles Oliver Abbey, who went to the Town of Oak Grove, Dodge Co., WI. Another was Abner Nathaniel Abbey, who went to the Dakota Territory (North Dakota). Francis "Frank" Abbey, Orrin Abbey, Orrin Abner Abbey, Sarah Jane Abbey, Isaac Abbey, and Wellington Abbey also came.

To help tie families together, I sometimes place “snippets” of names on a Web page whom I think might be related, so I can later revisit and try again to connect them to other relatives.

The Larson/Bickett ancestors immigrated to the United States from western Europe, including Sweden, England, Ireland and Germany. The family lineages were gleaned from numerous sources, including Ancestry, Familysearch, and Family Tree Maker files, Blake/Ambrose Family History by Irma Ruth (Mason) Anderson, and the work of Helen Means (Bickett) Fiegel. Contributions from many others have also been much appreciated. A special "thank you" to Leslie Wilson of Canada for her excellent research on the early Abbey families in Canada, who were some of the pioneer settlers of Durham Co., Upper Canada (Ontario). Thanks, also, to Per Carlzon of Sweden, for his genealogical research of the Olaus Larsson ancestry. Comments, additions and corrections are always welcome, and may be directed to Leigh Larson, shown above.

A major Abbey/Abbe researcher, Jeromey Kendall Ward, died March 5, 2009, in Mansfield, Richland Co., OH, at age 45. Fortunately for us, his genealogical research up to the time of his death was saved at Rootsweb: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=jeromeyward. This inactive link is promised by Ancestry to be working sometime in 2024.