Background
Abel was born in Maryland as a slave, and is believed to have escaped slavery on the Underground Railroad into Upper Canada.
Abel was born in Maryland as a slave, and is believed to have escaped slavery on the Underground Railroad into Upper Canada.
Some sources state that Abel was ordained an elder by Joseph Smith, while other records indicate that he was ordained to the priesthood by Zebedee Coltrin. 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 Utah, Abel remained a seventy, and in 1884 he served a final mission in Canada, during which he became illinois
He died upon his return home to Utah Territory and was buried at Salt Lake City Cemetery.
In 1839, Abel was made a member of the Nauvoo Seventies Quorum.
