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Abigail (Abbie) Ellsworth Danforth was born in Ontario County, New York, in 1841. She studied at Canton Theological School and was ordained by the Ohio Universalist Convention in 1878. For more than 20 years she served various Universalist churches in Ohio, including those in Kent, Peru, Flint, Huntington, Bryan, Margaretta, and Le Roy. During this time, she was active in the Ohio Women's Missionary Society. In 1902, she succeeded her son-in-law, Elmer J. Felt, as minister of the Universalist Society in Tacoma, Washington, and served there until 1904. In Tacoma, she was active in social work and in the temperance movement until her death on January 8, 1923.
For more information, see Catherine F. Hitchings, Universalist and Unitarian Women Ministers, 2nd ed., Unitarian Universalist Historical Society, 1985. [Carte de visite (credit: Chas. W. Lee, Norwalk, Ohio): Danforth, Abbie]