Kate’s notes: I find it fascinating that Mary Gilleland Abbott and her three sisters headed west to stake out early land claims in Washington State. I would love to know more about their journey and life in the northwest territory, as well as what it must have been like for those left behind when a generation of one family departs for new homes thousands of miles away. 

From The Pittsburgh Press
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
11 July, 1912

Mrs. Mary A Gilleland Abbott.

   Mrs. Mary Agnes Gilleland Abbott, aged 71, a former resident of this city, is dead at her home, Tacoma, Wash. She was born on the old Gilleland farm, Mt. Nebo rd,. Ohio township, this county, the daughter of Andrew and Jennie Taylor Gilleland. Later in life, Mrs. Abbott moved to the Northside, where she resided for a number of years. At the time the United States government opened Washington territory in the northwest, she and her three sisters went to that section of the country and staked off claims on what is now the city of Tacoma, where she continued to reside until her death. Mrs. Abbott was a member of the First Presbyterian church of Tacoma and was active in its various organizations. She leaves two sisters, Mrs. Samuel C. Brooks and Mrs. Emma C. Haskin, of Tacoma.

-- transcription by Kate Maynard, 2010