Biography
Abbitt was born in Lynchburg, Virginia to George Francis Abbitt and Otway C. Moorman Abbit. He graduated from Appomattox Agricultural High School in Appomattox, Virginia in 1925. He earned an LL.B. from the University of Richmond in 1931 and began the practice of law in Appomattox. He married Corinne Hancock on March 20, 1937. He was the Commonwealth attorney of Appomattox County, Virginia from 1932 to 1948 and a member of the Virginia Constitutional Convention in 1945.
Abbitt served as a delegate to the 1964 Democratic National Convention. He was a bank executive, and then elected as a Democrat to the United States Congress, by special election to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Representative Patrick H. Drewry, and was reelected to the twelve succeeding Congresses (February 17, 1948 – January 3, 1973). He was a member of the agriculture committee.
He died from leukemia in Lynchburg, Virginia and was interred at Liberty Cemetery, Appomattox, Virginia.
His son, Watkins Abbitt, Jr., was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1986 to 2012.
Read more about this topic: Watkins Moorman Abbitt
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