Abigail (Abbie) Emry Royce was born on June 24, 1817. She was one of twelve children who were born to Jonathan and Polly Royce. The family had moved to Illinois to have room for the big family. They had lived in Walpole, New Hampshire, then moved to Essex County, New York on a farm near Lake Champlain.
The farm in Illinois was thirty miles from Chicago near Naperville. The farm house was built from trees on property. When Abbie married Alexander Fortune, The Fortune family they bought the farm near Lake Zurich, Illinois, and after Alexander Fortune's death she bought a farm in Grundy County, Iowa. Later when her brother-in law bought the farm she moved to Cedar Falls, Iowa.
Pearl, the daughter of another of Jonathan's brothers, was born on the farm. Her father, Franklin apparently bought the farm from his brother, who in turn sold the farm and moved to California in 1909.
Abigail Fortune's funeral was in Cedar Falls, Iowa in August of 1894. She is probably buried in the Grundy County cemetery, Iowa.
Grace Melton's postscript:
"Uncle "Rob" and Aunt Hannah lived at 1001 Ramona Street, Palo Alto. That is how our mother got our dad to come to California in 1912. We stayed there until we found a house to rent for 6 months. Then we bought 181 Addison, Palo Alto. Our dad always said the Uncle "Rob" skinned our grandmother out of her money and farm."
