When Abington was founded in 1812, it was much larger than it is now. At that time, it encompassed both East Abington and South Abington, which today are Rockland and Whitman. But a schism in 1874 separated the three communities, leaving Abingtonians to carry their banner forward alone. By that time the town was in its heyday as a shoe manufacturing center, but it also held a curious place in the history of the anti-slavery movement of the pre-Civil...