 Abbott's father was Jacob Abbott (1803-1879).Abbott graduated in 1860 at the New York University, studied from 1860 to 1862 at the Andover Theological Seminary, and in 1863 served in the United States Sanitary Commission at Washington with the Army of the Potomac.Abbott was ordained in 1863 to the Congregational ministry, and was pastor of Pilgrim Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts, from 1865 to 1869.