Richard Abbay

American politician

Richard Abbay


Member of the Mississippi Senate from the 34th district
In office January 1900 – January 1904
Member of the Mississippi House of Representatives from the Tunica County district
In office January 1896 – January 1900
In office January 1888 – January 1892

Personal details
Born	(1838-06-09)June 9, 1838 Davidson County, Tennessee
Died	June 5, 1919(1919-06-05) (aged 80) Commerce, Mississippi
Political party	Democrat

Richard Felix Abbay (June 9, 1838 - June 5, 1919) was an American politician and planter and a Democratic Mississippi state legislator in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Biography

Richard Felix Abbay was born in Davidson County, Tennessee, on June 9, 1838.^[1]^[2] He was the son of Richard, a planter, and Mary (Compton) Abbay.^[1] Abbay was raised in Mississippi, and received his early education in Tennessee.^[1]^[2] He graduated from Cumberland University in 1858.^[1] He then had to go to Cuba due to poor health.^[1] He was able to return to New Orleans on the last ship to enter the port before the Union blockade, the Habana.^[1] After returning, Richard joined the Confederate States Army, but, after briefly serving, he had to return home (to Tunica County, Mississippi) after suffering a stroke of paralysis.^[1]

Career

Abbay read law under General James R. Chalmers and was admitted to the Tennessee bar in 1867.^[1]^[2] After four years, he stopped practicing law to focus on his family plantation in Tunica County, Mississippi.^[1]^[3] Abbay was first elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives, representing Tunica County as a Democrat in 1887 for the 1888-1890 term.^[1]^[4] He was re-elected (in 1889) for the 1890-1892 term.^[1] Abbay also served on the 1890 Mississippi Constitutional Convention.^[1] Abbay served again in the House from 1896 to 1900.^[4]^[5] He was elected to the Mississippi State Senate in 1899 to represent the 34th district, which composed of Mississippi's Coahoma, Quitman, and Tunica counties, from 1900 to 1904.^[3]^[6]

Later life

Abbay died at his home in Commerce, Mississippi,^[7] on June 5, 1919.^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi: Embracing an Authentic and Comprehensive Account of the Chief Events in the History of the State and a Record of the Lives of Many of the Most Worthy and Illustrious Families and Individuals. Goodspeed. 1891. p. 276.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Mooney, Charles Patrick Joseph (1920). The Mid-South and Its Builders: Being the Story of the Development and a Forecast of the Future of the Richest Agricultural Region in the World. Mid-South Biographic and Historical Association. p. 656.
^ ^a ^b Mississippi (1900). Department Reports. pp. 54, 85.
^ ^a ^b Rowland, Dunbar (1917). The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi. Department of Archives and History. p. 209.
^ Mississippi (1898). Department Reports. p. 16.
^ Mississippi Official and Statistical Register. Secretary of State. 1900.
^ "Obituary for COL. R. F. ABBAY". Nashville Banner. 1919-06-06. p. 20. Retrieved 2022-02-17.