Abigail "Abby" Atherton Means

She was hostess at the "President's House" in Washington in 1853-54 for Pres. and Mrs. Franklin Pierce, as Mrs. Pierce was a semi- invalid saddened by the loss of an only son in a train wreck.

link: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/31096703/abigail-atherton-means

GEDCOM Note

{geni:about_me} She was hostess at the "President's House" in Washington in 1853-54 for Pres. and Mrs. Franklin Pierce, as Mrs. Pierce was a semi- invalid saddened by the loss of an only son in a train wreck.

DEATHS - In this town [Amherst NH], Tuesday evening, Mrs. Abby Atherton Means, widow of the late Robert Means, Esq., aged 55. [The Farmers' Cabinet, 5 Aug 1857]
[Note: According to the Family Tree Maker Date Calculator, Tuesday was August 4th, 1857.]

THE LATE MRS. ABBY A. MEANS. The decease of this excellent and gifted woman, which we announced last week, creates a very general expression of sorrow. ... For the last fortnight she sunk rapidly, and on the 4th instant, "fell asleep." ... funeral Thursday afternoon ... the remains were deposited in the family tomb in the old graveyard adjoining the Court House. "Her sun has gone down while it was yet day." Who will reproduce her virtues, and emulate the example of that beautiful and well directed life? [The Farmers' Cabinet, 12 Aug 1857, page 2]

7 Jun 2014 Bill V wrote: Letter from James McGregor to his cousin-in-law Mary Jane (Means) Adams, August 8, 1857, Anne Middleton Means Papers, Historical Society of Amherst, N.H.; Abigail Means is buried in the Means family tomb in the Old Burying Ground, Amherst, N.H. Secomb writes (p. 658) she died on 3 August, but the newspapers report she died on 4 August. James McGregor's letter confirms the 4 August date.

Inscription

David McGregor Means died 1835 aged 54 years / Catherine Means died 1838 aged 54 years / Catherine Atherton Cleveland died 1846 aged 29 years / Robert Means died 1842 aged 55 years / Abby Atherton Means died 1857 aged 55 years / "Whosoever trusteth and believeth in me, shall never die." //