Seven Wives and Seven Prisons

In Short

Published in 1870, this autobiographical memoir recounts the tumultuous life of L. A. Abbott, an eccentric nineteenth-century American herb doctor. Abbott’s narrative follows his endless cycle of brief, ill-advised marriages, swift flights from angry families, and repeated imprisonments for bigamy and minor offenses across New England, New York, and New Jersey. Blending legal misadventures, jailbreaks, alternative medical practice, and rural travel, the book offers a vivid look at working-class social mobility and legal tangles in pre-Civil War America. Its enduring appeal lies in its straightforward, unvarnished portrait of an incorrigible optimist continually starting over.

The Story

The narrative opens with L. A. Abbott's early adulthood, where a series of quick, miscalculated romantic unions sets his life off course. After a failed first marriage, Abbott settles in Worthington, Massachusetts, to practice vegetable-based medicine. Believing himself legally separated from his previous wife, he privately marries a farmer's daughter. When her father discovers Abbott’s past and arrives with a posse, Abbott trades his horse and buggy to the father for a brief head start, fleeing across state lines. The escape fails to secure his freedom for long; he is caught in Massachusetts, convicted of bigamy, and sent to the state prison. There, he earns the warden's favor by expertly shoeing a horse that no one else can properly fit, securing early release through a full pardon.

Upon his release, Abbott establishes a medical practice in Dover, New Hampshire, but soon falls into another turbulent romance with Sarah Scheimer in New Jersey. Sarah’s family violently opposes the union, beating Abbott, locking Sarah away, and subjecting her to brutal punishment under the advice of a local doctor. Abbott orchestrates Sarah's escape with the help of accomplices, leading to a frantic midnight wedding. The Scheimer family retaliates through legal harassment, landing Abbott in a filthy local jail. He attempts multiple escapes by digging through crumbling masonry walls, only to be betrayed and punished with long stretches in a dark dungeon on bread and water. After signing a bond to secure his release, Abbott parts ways with Sarah.

Abbott resumes his travels, practicing medicine in New Hampshire and Connecticut. In Laconia, he treats a wealthy woman who believes his arrival fulfills a dream of a stranger bearing a healing blossom. Despite professional success, romantic entanglements continue to ruin his stability. A marriage to a widow in Newark leads to another bigamy trial and a ten-year sentence at Trenton State Prison, though he serves only seven months after an influential politician intervenes. Later, a wild trip to Saratoga results in a chaotic marriage to an unscrupulous milliner, followed immediately by another arrest in Montpelier.

In his later years, Abbott travels with his son Henry, visiting pre-war New Orleans and managing to avoid political strife while earning a living from his medical remedies. He eventually settles down, meets a woman to whom he fully discloses his past, and marries her with mutual respect. The book ends with Abbott living peacefully on a fertile farm in northeastern New York, surrounded by his children and a devoted wife, finally achieving the quiet domestic life that eluded him for decades.

How It Unfolds

The first escape After secretly marrying a farmer's daughter in Worthington, Abbott is cornered by an armed posse; he surrenders his horse and buggy to the bride's father to gain a five-mile head start, driving frantically across state lines toward New England.

Surviving the state pen Convicted of bigamy in Massachusetts, Abbott earns the warden's goodwill by demonstrating superior blacksmith skills and properly shoeing the official's favorite horse, transforming his prison stay into an early pardon.

The Scheimer feud Abbott rescues Sarah Scheimer from her hostile family, leading to a midnight wedding, a chaotic confrontation with a constable, and a retaliatory imprisonment where Abbott is thrown into a dark dungeon for attempting to dig through the jail walls.

The prophetic cure Traveling through New Hampshire, Abbott treats a bedridden woman who claims his arrival with herbal pills matches a dream of a miraculous healer, earning him a lucrative regional practice and widespread local fame.

Confinement and political favor After marrying a Newark widow, Abbott receives a harsh ten-year sentence for bigamy, but he avoids hard labor inside Trenton State Prison and gains his freedom in seven months through the aid of a sympathetic state senator.

A final sanctuary Following further trials, brief escapes, and a travel period in New Orleans with his son, Abbott tells his full life story to a new love, marries her, and retires to a prosperous farm in northeastern New York.

The People

• L. A. Abbott: The narrator and protagonist, an energetic self-taught botanical doctor and blacksmith. He desires professional independence and domestic peace, but his impulsive marriages and questionable legal status repeatedly land him in prison. By the end, he transitions from an unstable fugitive to a contented, settled patriarch.
• Sarah Scheimer: A young New Jersey woman whose desire to marry Abbott puts her in direct conflict with her authoritarian family. She endures harsh physical abuse from her relatives and legal pursuit by local authorities before ultimately separating from Abbott after the birth of their child.
• The Massachusetts Warden: A prison official who initially oversees Abbott’s sentence. Intrigued by Abbott's confidence, he allows the prisoner to shoe his horse; impressed by the result, he treats Abbott to meals from his own table and actively campaigns for his full pardon.
• Mrs. Blaisdell: A chronic invalid in New Hampshire who places her faith in Abbott after dreaming that a stranger carrying a blossom would heal her. Her belief enables Abbott to establish a thriving medical practice in Lake Village.
• Henry Abbott: Abbott’s loyal son, who accompanies his father on medical travels, endures wrongful arrest by Abbott's former in-laws, and joins him on a trip to pre-Civil War New Orleans before returning home to New York.

In Its Own Voice

"My horse and buggy were at the door. Hastily bidding my new and young wife 'good-bye,' I sprang into the buggy and drove rapidly away."

--- Abbott describes his sudden flight from Worthington after his second marriage ends in a sudden confrontation with his father-in-law and a local posse.

"I gladly led the horse to the shop where I had so signally failed in pick and tool sharpening, and was received with jeers by my old comrades who wanted to know what I was going to do to that horse."

--- Serving time in a Massachusetts prison, Abbott ignores the taunts of fellow inmates to demonstrate his blacksmithing skills to the warden.

"My dear sir, I didn't come down here to talk about secession, but to see if the southern climate would benefit my sick son."

--- Visiting New Orleans on the eve of the Civil War, Abbott deflects tense political discussions to focus strictly on his family and medical business.

What It's Really About

Beneath its sensational title, Seven Wives and Seven Prisons examines the precarious nature of identity, marriage, and law in nineteenth-century America. In an era before centralized record-keeping, individuals could easily reinvent themselves by moving to the next town, yet the legal boundaries of divorce and bigamy remained confusing and severely enforced. Abbott presents himself not as a malicious scoundrel, but as an ordinary man repeatedly caught between his desire for domestic companionship and the complex legal machinery of his era. The narrative explores the informal economy of rural herbal medicine, the stark realities of early American penitentiaries, and the endless search for social stability in a rapidly expanding, mobile nation.

Why Read It Today

This memoir offers a remarkably direct, unvarnished look at the underbelly of nineteenth-century American life. Readers interested in social history, early criminal justice, and authentic personal narratives will find Abbott’s account fascinating. Unlike polished literary works of the period, his writing is straightforward, candid, and entirely free of moralizing sentimentality.

The book’s main challenge lies in its repetitive episodic structure: Abbott frequently moves to a new town, sets up a medical practice, contracts a questionable marriage, and ends up in court or prison. His matter-of-fact treatment of severe hardships—including dark cell block confinements, family violence, and legal maneuverings—reflects the period's harsher realities without modern emotional introspection. Yet what remains with the reader is Abbott’s sheer resilience and lack of malice. He recounts betrayals and imprisonments with lighthearted humor and an unflagging determination to pick up his saddlebags, head down the road, and try again.