Abbe, Edward H.

Brothers Ed and Bill with their mother and grandparents.

Edward H. Abbe was born in March of 1915 in Syracuse, New York. His father, Harry Allen Abbe, worked as an engineer until his premature death in 1919 at age 35. Elsie Mayhew Peck Abbe, Edward's mother, was the daughter of the businessman Edward Folger Peck and his wife Mary Booth Peck. Edward Folger Peck, Edward's grandfather, introduced the two men who would found General Electric. As an adult, his grandson Edward Abbe would make his 36-year career with this same company. One of its founders, family friend Elihu Thomson, would marry into the Peck family and be remembered by Ed Abbe as Uncle Elihu. In addition to his pivotal role in the founding of General Electric, Edward Folger Peck conducted numerous business ventures primarily in transportation industries. Perhaps it was this influence from his grandfather that drove Ed Abbe's lifelong fascination with trains. William, or Bill, Abbe was born to Harry Allen and Elsie Peck Abbe in 1916, only one year after Edward's birth. Bill would go on to become a successful artist and educator remembered primarily for becoming the first teacher of Fine Arts at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire until his death in 1983.

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