30 Facts About Elijah Abel

Elijah Abel did not have his ordination revoked when the LDS Church officially announced its now-obsolete restrictions on Priesthood ordination, but was denied a chance to receive his temple endowment by third church president John Taylor.

Elijah Abel died in 1884 after serving a mission to Cincinnati, Ohio, his last of three total missions for the church.

Elijah Abel was born in Frederick-Town, Maryland, on July 25,1808, to Delilah Williams and Andrew Abel.

Elijah Abel's mother was of Scottish descent and his father of English descent; one of his grandmothers was "half white", or mulatto, and thus Abel was considered to be "octoroon," or one-eighth African.

Apart from circumstantial evidence, this claim remains entirely unsubstantiated, apart from a few sources stating that Elijah Abel spent some time in Canada in his early adulthood.

Elijah Abel later moved to Ohio, and in Cincinnati he was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in September 1832.

Elijah Abel was baptized by local Mormon elder and blacksmith Ezekiel Roberts.

Shortly after his baptism, Elijah Abel moved to the area of Kirtland, Ohio, to join in fellowship with the main body of church members congregating there.

Elijah Abel participated in the "Pentecostal season" that accompanied the completion and dedication of the Kirtland Temple in 1836.

In 1841, Abel was reconfirmed in Nauvoo by Joseph Young and Albert P Rockwood.

Elijah Abel was among the first church members to receive the ordinance of the initiatory in the Kirtland Temple following its dedication in 1836.

Elijah Abel received his patriarchal blessing from Presiding Patriarch Joseph Smith Sr.

In 1838, Elijah Abel baptized 25-year-old Eunice Ross Kinney while serving in St Lawrence County, New York, who after Elijah Abel's death remembered him as a "powerful" minister, and one who had been "ordained by Joseph the martyr".

At one point during his mission, Elijah Abel was falsely accused of the murder of a family of six, and aggressively pursued by a mob bearing hot tar and feathers.

Elijah Abel moved from Kirtland to Commerce, Illinois, in 1839 upon returning from his mission to Canada.

Elijah Abel came to own a piece of property located northwest of the city on the banks of the Mississippi River.

Elijah Abel continued to work as a carpenter; he was a member of the group called the House Carpenters of the Town of Nauvoo.

In 1842, Elijah Abel left the deed to his Nauvoo property to William Marks and returned to Cincinnati on assignment by Joseph Smith.

On February 16,1847, the 39-year-old Elijah Abel married 17-year-old Mary Ann Adams of Tennessee, who was residing in Ohio.

Elijah Abel continued to work as a carpenter as part of the LDS public works program and assisted in the construction of the Salt Lake Temple.

Elijah Abel remained a member of the Seventy and continued to be active in the church in Utah.

Elijah Abel's worsening health resulted in his return to Utah in December 1884.

Elijah Abel died two weeks after his return, on Christmas Day.

Elijah Abel's request was again refused, and he was not allowed to enter the temple to be endowed.

Elijah Abel had first been ordained to the priesthood by Ambrose Palmer in January 1836, then as a Seventy by Zebedee Coltrin in December of the same year.

Joseph F Smith contradicted Coltrin by pointing out that he had verified as being in Abel's possession two certificates which notarized his 1836 and 1841 priesthood licensings that declared Abel to be an elder of the church and a seventy.

In 1879, Elijah Abel was present at two separate meetings regarding his priesthood authority.

At these meetings Elijah Abel had addressed the church members and authorities present and reflected upon his nearly 45 years of experience as a priesthood-bearing Latter-day Saint.

Elijah Abel expressed to President Taylor his lifelong hope that his endowment of priesthood might prove one day "the welding link" to bond all of God's people together regardless of race.

The circumstance and story of Elijah Abel often were referenced with the rise of questions concerning black men receiving the priesthood or temple blessings.