Elijah Abel

Elijah Abel
Third Quorum of the Seventy
1839 – December 25, 1885 (1885-12-25)
Called by	Joseph Smith
Elder
March 3, 1836 (1836-03-03) – December 25, 1885 (1885-12-25)
Called by	Joseph Smith
Personal details
Born	July 25, 1808 – December 25, 1885 July 25, 1808(1808-07-25) Frederick, Maryland
Died	December 25, 1885(1885-12-25) (aged 77) Salt Lake City, Utah Territory
Resting place	Salt Lake City Cemetery 40°46′37.92″N 111°51′28.8″W

Elijah Abel (July 25, 1808 – December 25, 1885) was the first black elder and seventy in the Latter Day Saint movement, and one of the few black members in the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to receive the priesthood.

Life

Abel was born in Maryland as a slave, and is believed to have escaped slavery on the Underground Railroad into Canada. He was baptized into the Church of Christ in September 1832 by Ezekiel Roberts, and he married Mary Ann Adams, another African-American.^{[citation needed]}

Abel was ordained an elder on March 3, 1836 in Kirtland, Ohio by Joseph Smith. In 1839, Abel was made a member of the Nauvoo Seventies Quorum. While living in Nauvoo, Illinois, he worked as a mortician at the request of Joseph Smith.

In 1841, when Smith was arrested in Quincy, Illinois, Abel was among a group of seven elders who set out from Nauvoo to try to rescue him, although by the time they reached Quincy, Smith had been taken back to Nauvoo. In 1842 he was a carpenter in Cincinnati, working for John Price at the corner of 6th and Smith Streets, per the Cincinnati city directory. He remained in Cincinnati for a number of years.

In 1843, Abel served a mission in New York,^{[citation needed]} but returned to Cincinnati, where he married Mary Ann Adams about 1847. Their first child, Moroni Abel was born there in 1849, and in 1850, per the 1850 Census of Cincinnati, they were boarding Henry Nisonger and his family; Nisonger was an Apostle in the schismatic Williamite Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which recognized William Smith, the only surviving brother of Joseph Smith as its prophet.

In 1853 he and his family migrated in the Appleton Harmon pioneer company to Utah Territory, where he managed a hotel.

In Utah, Abel remained a seventy, and in 1884 he served a final mission in Canada, during which he became ill. He died upon his return home to Utah Territory^{[citation needed]} and was buried at Salt Lake City Cemetery.

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Legacy

At least two of Abel's descendants — his son Enoch and Enoch's son Elijah — were ordained to the priesthood: Enoch was ordained an elder on November 27, 1900; and Elijah was ordained an elder on September 29, 1935.

In 2002, a monument was erected in Salt Lake City over Abel's grave site to memorialize him, his wife and his descendants. The monument was dedicated by LDS Church Apostle M. Russell Ballard.

See also

• Blacks and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Blacks and the Latter Day Saint movement
• William McCary
• Walker Lewis
• Joseph Freeman (Mormon)

References

• "Elijah Abel and the Changing Status of Blacks Within Mormonism", 12(2) Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 22-36.

External links

• Elijah Abel at BlackLDS web site.
• Account of Abel's mission activities