Abel Bliss, Jr. was born on August 8, 1853. His father, Abel Bliss, Sr., was a native of Wilbraham, Massachusetts, and was born on February 9, 1810. His mother was Lucinda Blake, a native of the Bay State and born in Springfield, Illinois, October 14, 1816. He was the sixth of the seven children born into his family, and attended high school at Englewood, and afterward was a student of engineering at University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. He was married, on February 21, 1877, to Nettie Lynk. He gave up engineering partway through his degree, due to circumstances that required him to take charge of the family farm, where he grew wealthy through his agricultural business and real estate investments. In June 1874, the University granted him a partial certificate in civil engineering. His