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{{Short description|Early African-American LDS Church member}}
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{{Infobox Latter Day Saint biography
{{Infobox Latter Day Saint biography
| name = Elijah Abel
| name = Elijah Abel
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| caption =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1808|07|25|mf=yes}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1808|07|25}}
| birth_place = [[Frederick, Maryland]]
| birth_place = [[Frederick, Maryland|Frederick-Town, Maryland]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1884|12|25|1808|07|25|mf=yes}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1884|12|25|1808|07|25}}
| death_place = [[Salt Lake City]], [[Utah Territory]]
| death_place = [[Salt Lake City]], [[Utah Territory]]
| resting_place = [[Salt Lake City Cemetery]]
| resting_place = [[Salt Lake City Cemetery]]
| resting_place_coordinates = {{Coord|40|46|37.92|N|111|51|28.8|W|type:landmark|display=inline}}
| resting_place_coordinates = {{Coord|40|46|37.92|N|111|51|28.8|W|type:landmark|display=inline}}
| position_or_quorum1 = [[Seventy (LDS Church)#Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Quorums of the Seventy|Third Quorum of the Seventy]]
| position_or_quorum1 = [[Seventy (LDS Church)#Area Seventies Quorums formed (Third–Twelfth Quorums)|Third Quorum of the Seventy]]
| portals = Movement
| portals = Movement
| called_by1 = [[Joseph Smith]]
| called_by1 = [[Joseph Smith]]
| start_date1 = 1839<!-- {{start date|yyyy|mm|dd|mf=yes}} -->
| start_date1 = {{start date|1836|12|20}}
| end_date1 = {{end date|1884|12|25|mf=yes}}
| end_date1 = {{end date|1884|12|25}}
| end_reason1 =
| end_reason1 =
| position_or_quorum2 = [[Elder (Mormonism)|Elder]]
| position_or_quorum2 = [[Elder (Mormonism)|Elder]]
| called_by2 = Joseph Smith
| called_by2 = Joseph Smith
| start_date2 = {{start date|1836|03|03|mf=yes}}
| start_date2 = {{start date|1836|01|25}}
| end_date2 = {{end date|1884|12|25|mf=yes}}
| end_date2 = {{end date|1836|12|20}}
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{{Black people and Latter Day Saint topics}}
'''Elijah Abel''' (July 25, 1808 – December 25, 1884)<ref>Grave Marker of Elijah Abel. [front] [[:File:ElijahAbelGraveFront.jpg]]</ref> Was one of the earliest [[African-American]] members of [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]. He was the first [[African-American]] [[Elder (Mormonism)|elder]] and [[Seventy (LDS Church)|seventy]] in the [[Latter Day Saint movement]]. Abel was also the first and one of the few black members in the early history of the [[Latter-day Saint]] movement to receive the [[Priesthood (Latter Day Saints)|priesthood]].<ref>Page 46 of ''The Mormon People: The Making of an American Faith'' Bowman, Matthew (2012). Random House. ISBN 978-0-679-64491-0</ref>


'''Elijah Abel''', or '''Able''' or '''Ables'''<ref name="AbleJSPbio">{{cite news|last1=Smith|first1=Joseph F.|title=Elijah Able|url=https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/person/elijah-able|access-date=February 15, 2019|work=The Joseph Smith Papers Project|date=1810–1884|location=Salt Lake City, Utah}}</ref> (July 25, 1808– December 25, 1884)<ref name="Abel Grave">Grave Marker of Elijah Abel. (Inscribed front). [[:File:ElijahAbelGraveFront.jpg]]</ref> was one of the earliest African-American members of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church), and was the church's first African-American [[Elder (Mormonism)|elder]] and [[Seventy (LDS Church)|Seventy]].{{sfn|Jackson|2013}} Abel was predominantly of Scottish and English descent{{sfn|Smith|c. 1879}} and appears to have been the first, and one of the few, black members in the early history of the church to have received [[Priesthood (Latter Day Saints)|Priesthood ordination]],{{sfn|Jackson|2013}}<ref name="Mormon People">{{cite book|last1=Bowman|first1=Matthew|title=The Mormon People: The Making of an American Faith|date=2012|publisher=Random House|location=New York|isbn=978-0679644903|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/mormonpeoplemaki00bowm_0/page/46|chapter=Chapter 2: Little Zions: 1831-1839|page=[https://archive.org/details/mormonpeoplemaki00bowm_0/page/46 46]}}</ref> later becoming the faith's first black [[Missionary (LDS Church)|missionary]].{{sfn|Jackson|2013}} Abel did not have his ordination revoked when the LDS Church officially announced its now-obsolete [[Priesthood Ban|restrictions on Priesthood]] ordination, but was denied a chance to receive his [[Endowment (Mormonism)|temple endowment]] by third church president [[John Taylor (Mormon)|John Taylor]].<ref>{{Citation|title=125: Elijah Ables' Attempt for Temple Blessings (Part 5 of 6 Russell Stevenson)|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGWc6FD_YBE&list=PLLhI8GMw9sJ4qzpg9UGJPLi5iiPkUvPi_&index=5 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/cGWc6FD_YBE| archive-date=December 12, 2021 |url-status=live|language=en|access-date=May 21, 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref> As a skilled carpenter, Abel often committed his services to the building of [[Temple (LDS Church)|LDS temples]] and chapels. He died in 1884 after serving a mission to Cincinnati, Ohio, his last of three total missions for the church.{{sfn|Stevenson|2013}}{{sfn|Reeve|2015}}
==Life==


==Early life==
Abel was born in [[Maryland]] on July 25 to Delilah and Andrew Abel.<ref name="They Had a Dream Article">{{cite news|last1=Reasons|last2=Patrick|title=They Had a Dream: Elijah Abel|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/59143835/?terms=elijah%2Babel|accessdate=July 6, 2016|work=The Troy Record|date=15 July 1971|location=Troy, New York|page=18}}</ref><ref name="blacklds.org article">{{cite web|title=Elijah Abel|url=http://www.blacklds.org/abel|website=www.blacklds.org|accessdate=July 11, 2016}}</ref> It is unclear what year he was born- some sources put the year at 1808, others at 1810.<ref name="They Had a Dream Article" /><ref name="Hawkins book">{{cite book|last1=Hawkins|first1=Chester L.|title=Report on Elijah Abel and His Priesthood|date=4 December 1985|publisher=Unpublished|location=L. Tom Perry Special Collections; Harold B. Lee Library|accessdate=July 12, 2016}}</ref> Abel's mother was a slave from South Carolina, and his family later moved to Canada, possibly by way of the underground railroad.<ref name="Hawkins book" /> {{rp|2}} He was [[Baptism (Latter Day Saints)|baptized]] into the [[Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)|Church of Christ]] in September 1832 by Ezekiel Roberts.<ref name="They Had a Dream Article" /> Soon after, Abel moved to [[Kirtland, Ohio]] to live with the main body of Latter-day Saints.<ref name="Black Saints in a White Church" />{{rp|38}}
Elijah Abel was born in [[Frederick, Maryland|Frederick-Town, Maryland]], on July 25, 1808, to Delilah Williams and Andrew Abel.{{sfn|Jackson|2013|pp=10–11}} There is some confusion surrounding Abel's birth year, given that some sources put the year at 1808 and others at 1810.{{sfn|Bringhurst|1984}}<ref name="They Had a Dream Article" />{{sfn|Hawkins|1985}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=Anderson|first=Martha|title=Black Pioneers of the Northwest 1800–1918|year=1980|pages=217}}</ref> However, the 1850 Census record marks 1808 as the year of Abel's birth,<ref name="1850 Census" /> and both Abel's [[patriarchal blessing]] and grave marker record 1808 as his birth year.<ref name="Abel Grave" /><ref name="Elijah Blessing">Patriarchal Blessing of Elijah Abel, c. 1836, recorded by W. A. Cowdery with penned preamble, "[Patriarchal] Blessing of Elijah Able [''sic''] who was born in Frederick County, Maryland, July 25th 1808." "Joseph Smith’s Patriarchal Blessing Record" (1833–1843), 88. LDS Church Archives.</ref> His mother was of [[Scots descendants|Scottish descent]] and his father of [[English people|English descent]]; one of his grandmothers was "half white", or [[mulatto]],<ref name="AbleJSPbio"/>{{sfn|Smith|c. 1879}}<ref name="They Had a Dream Article">{{cite news|last1=Reasons|last2=Patrick|date=July 15, 1971|title=They Had a Dream: Elijah Abel|page=18|work=The Troy Record|location=Troy, New York|url=http://basic.newspapers.com/clip/9304343//|access-date=July 6, 2016}}</ref>{{sfn|Jackson|2013}} and thus Abel was considered to be "[[octoroon]]," or one-eighth African.{{sfn|Smith|c. 1879}}


Abel's mother died when he was 8 years old.{{sfn|Smith|c. 1879}} Some believed that she was a [[Slavery in America|slave]] from South Carolina,<ref name="Neither2">{{cite book|last1=Bush, Jr.|first1=Lester E.|url=http://signaturebookslibrary.org/neither-white-nor-black/|title=Neither White nor Black: Mormon Scholars Confront the Race Issue in a Universal Church|date=1984|publisher=[[Signature Books]]|isbn=9780941214223|editor1-last=Bush Jr.|editor1-first=Lester E.|location=Midvale, Utah|chapter=Chapter 2: A Commentary on Stephen G. Taggart's 'Mormonism's Negro Policy: Social and Historical Origins'. Note 8|access-date=February 18, 2019|editor2-last=Mauss|editor2-first=Armand L.}}</ref> but evidence for this has never been produced.{{sfn|Jackson|2013}} Others have also speculated, based on the unproven assumption that Abel was the son of a slave, that he at some point migrated to Canada by way of the [[Underground Railroad]].{{sfn|Hawkins|1985|page=2}} Apart from circumstantial evidence, this claim remains entirely unsubstantiated, apart from a few sources stating that Abel spent some time in Canada in his early adulthood.{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=20}}
Elijah Abel was ordained an [[Elder (Latter Day Saints)|elder]] of the church March 3, 1836.<ref name="Hawkins book" />{{rp|2}} Some sources state that Abel was ordained by [[Joseph Smith]],<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jackson|first1=W. Kesler|title=Elijah Abel: The Life and Times of a Black Priesthood Holder|date=2013|publisher=Cedar Fort|isbn=1-4621-0356-1|page=1833|quote="--the ordination was performed by "Joseph the martyred propet" himself."}}</ref><ref>{{citation |url= http://www.lds.org/topics/race-and-the-priesthood |title= Gospel Topics: Race and the Priesthood |work= LDS.org |publisher= LDS Church |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141209182224/https://www.lds.org/topics/race-and-the-priesthood |archive-date= 2014-12-09 |deadurl= no }}</ref> while other records indicate that he was ordained to the priesthood by Zebedee Coltrin.<ref>Minutes of the Seventies Journal, Hazen Aldrich, entry for 20 December 1836. LDS Church Archives as cited by Alma Allred in, "The Traditions of Their Fathers, Myth versus Reality in LDS Scriptural Writings" in Newell G. Bringhurst and Darron T. Smith (eds.) (2006), Black and Mormon (Urbana: University of Illinois Press)</ref> Six months after his ordination, Abel was made a member of the [[Seventy (Latter Day Saints)|Seventies]] [[Quorum (Latter Day Saints)|Quorum]] on December 20, 1836.<ref name="Hawkins book" />{{rp|2}} At this time he was also given his [[patriarchal blessing]] from [[Joseph Smith, Sr]].<ref name="Black Saints in a White Church" />{{rp|38}} The common practice when giving patriarchal blessings was to declare an individual to be a descendant of a specific tribe of Israel. Abel, however, was declared an "orphan", but promised "Thou shalt be made equal to thy brethren, and thy soul be white in eternity and thy robes glittering."<ref name="Saints, Slaves, and Blacks" /> {{rp|131}} During the late 1830s, Abel worked as a missionary in New York and Canada.<ref name="Black Saints in a White Church" />{{rp|38}} In June 1838, while Abel was serving in St. Lawrence County, New York, he baptized Eunice Kenney.<ref name="Hawkins book" />{{rp|3}} Also at that time, Abel was accused by non-Mormons of murdering a mother and five children. Abel was never convicted of this crime, but his missionary travels were often punctuated with similar troubles and persecutions.<ref name="Hawkins book" />{{rp|3}}


==Conversion to the LDS faith==
Abel moved from Kirtland to [[Nauvoo, Illinois]] in 1839. While living in Nauvoo, Abel continued to perform many duties for the church. One such duty was performing [[baptism for the dead|baptisms for the dead]], of which Abel is known to have performed at least two: one for a friend "John F. Lancaster" and for his mother.<ref name="Hawkins book" />{{rp|4}} Another of Abel's duties included acting as a [[mortician]] at the request of Joseph Smith.<ref name="Black Saints in a White Church" />{{rp|38}} Abel also worked in Nauvoo as a carpenter, and it is clear that while Abel was in Nauvoo he was personally acquainted with Joseph Smith. In 1841, Abel was part of a group of seven men who attempted to rescue Joseph Smith after his arrest in Quincy, Illinois, although by the time they reached Quincy, Smith had been taken back to Nauvoo.<ref>''[[History of the Church (Joseph Smith)|History of the Church]]'', '''4''':365.</ref>
Abel later moved to Ohio,{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=23}}{{sfn|Stevenson|2013}} and in [[Cincinnati]] he was [[Baptism (Latter Day Saints)|baptized]] and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in September 1832.{{sfn|Smith|c. 1879}} He was baptized by local [[Mormon missionary|Mormon elder]] and blacksmith Ezekiel Roberts.<ref name="They Had a Dream Article" />{{sfn|Stevenson|2013}} Shortly after his baptism, Abel moved to the area of [[Kirtland, Ohio]], to join in fellowship with the main body of church members congregating there.{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=31}}{{sfn|Stevenson|2013}}{{sfn|Embry|1994}}


===Priesthood ordination and church participation===
In 1842 Abel moved again, this time to Cincinnati,Ohio. Here he continued to be a carpenter and married Mary Ann Adams.<ref name="Black Saints in a White Church" />{{rp|38}} Abel acted as a leader of the church in Cincinnati, and was recognized as such by Joseph Smith, who stated "Go to Cincinnati&nbsp;... and find an educated negro, who rides in his carriage, and you will see a man who had risen by the power of his own mind to his exalted state of respectability."<ref name="Saints, Slaves, and Blacks" />{{rp|133}} Not all church leaders were as accepting of Abel, however. In June 1843, while presiding over a regional conference held in Cincinnati, [[Apostle (Latter Day Saints)|Apostle]] [[John E. Page]] stated that while "he respected a coloured Brother, wisdom forbid that we should introduce (him) before the public".<ref name="Hawkins book" />{{rp|5}} Apostles Orson Pratt and Heber C. Kimball supported Page's statements, and when Abel was called to his second mission (this time a local one) he was instructed to visit and teach only the "coloured population".<ref name="Hawkins book" />{{rp|5}}
Abel was ordained an [[Elder (Latter Day Saints)|elder]] of the LDS Church on January 25, 1836, following [[Joseph Smith]]'s declaration in 1836 that Abel was "entitled to the [[Melchizedek priesthood (Latter Day Saints)|Priesthood]] and all the blessings."{{sfn|Smith|c. 1879}}{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=55}} He had been an active participant in the construction of the [[Kirtland Temple]] over the preceding months.{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=47}} Abel participated in the "Pentecostal season" that accompanied the completion and dedication of the Kirtland Temple in 1836.{{sfn|Jackson|2013|pp=49–54}} In December of that year, 11 months after his priesthood ordination, Abel was ordained a [[Seventy (Latter Day Saints)|seventy]] and inducted into the Third [[Quorum (Latter Day Saints)|Quorum]] of the priesthood. In 1841, Abel was reconfirmed in [[Nauvoo, Illinois|Nauvoo]] by [[Joseph Young]] and [[Albert P. Rockwood]].{{sfn|Smith|c. 1879}}{{sfn|Hawkins|1985|page=2}} Abel was among the first church members to receive the ordinance of the [[Washing and anointing|initiatory]] in the [[Kirtland Temple]] following its dedication in 1836.{{sfn|Smith|c. 1879}}


==== Patriarchal blessing ====
In 1853, Abel and his family migrated in the Appleton Harmon [[Mormon pioneers|pioneer]] company to [[Utah Territory]], the new headquarters of [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]].<ref name="Coleman Book">{{cite book|last1=Coleman|first1=Ronald Gerald|title=A History of Blacks in Utah: 1825–1910|date=1980|publisher=Unpublished|location=Harold B. Lee Library; Provo, Utah|page=59}}</ref> Abel continued to work as a carpenter while in Utah as part of the L.D.S. public works program, one of his main projects being the Salt Lake Temple. In addition to his carpentry, the Abels managed the Farnham Hotel.<ref name="blacklds.org article" /> By 1860, two more children were born to Elijah and Mary Ann.<ref name="Coleman Book" /> Very little is known about the personal lives of the Abel family. It is known that they moved to [[Ogden, Utah]] for a short time before returning to Salt Lake City.<ref name="Hawkins book" />{{rp|6}} Although it is unclear how many children Elijah and Mary Ann had, there was at least one daughter named Delilah, after Abel's mother.<ref name="Jackson Book">{{cite book|last1=Jackson|first1=W. Kesler|title=Elijah Abel: The Life and Times of a Black Priesthood Holder|date=2013|publisher=Cedar Fort, Incorporated|location=Springville, Utah|isbn=978-1-4621-1151-0|page=10}}</ref>
Abel received his [[patriarchal blessing]] from [[Presiding Patriarch]] [[Joseph Smith, Sr|Joseph Smith Sr.]],<ref name="LDSBioEncyclo">{{cite book|last1=Jenson|first1=Andrew|title=[[Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia]]|date=1936|publisher=The Andrew Jenson History Company|isbn=978-1589580312|volume=4|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|page=697 (4 volumes: 1901-1936). It appears that the blessing was pronounced on or after March 30, 1836, when the "washing" ordinance was first introduced to the Saints and nearer the time of Abel's priesthood licensing on March 31; or perhaps in December, at the time of his ordination as a Seventy|author-link1=Andrew Jenson}}</ref> which was recorded by LDS Church scribe and [[Messenger and Advocate|newspaper]] editor [[Warren A. Cowdery]].{{sfn|Jackson|2013|pp=56–60}}{{sfn|Bringhurst|1984}}{{sfn|Embry|1994}} At the time, the common practice when giving patriarchal blessings was to declare an individual to be a descendant of a specific [[Twelve tribes of Israel|tribe of Israel]]. Abel, however, was declared an "orphan" from a father who "hath never done his duty toward [him]", but it was stated in the blessing that Abel would "be made equal to [his] brethren, and [his] soul be white in eternity and [his] robes glittering."<ref name="Elijah Blessing" />{{sfn|Bringhurst|1981}} Since the recorded blessing does not specifically declare his tribal lineage, Abel was perhaps "[[Law of adoption (Mormonism)|adopted]]" into the House of Israel.<ref name="Elijah Blessing" /> The blessing also included what seemed to be a foreshadowing of the [[American Civil War|civil war]] that would soon strike at the heart of the country:{{sfn|Jackson|2013}}<ref name="Mormon Millenarian" />


<blockquote>''Thou shalt see [the destroyer's] power in laying waste the nations, & the wicked slaying the wicked, while blood shall run down the streets like water, and thy heart shall weep over their calamities. Angels shall visit thee and thou shalt receive comfort. They shall call thee blessed and deliver thee from thine enemies. They shall break thy bands and keep thee from afflictions.''<ref name="Elijah Blessing" /></blockquote>
In Utah, Abel remained a seventy and continued to be active in church activities. He was re-baptized in 1857 as part of the "[[Mormon Reformation]]".<ref name="Black Saints in a White Church" />{{rp|39}} Abel's wife Mary Ann died in 1878.<ref name="Hawkins book" />{{rp|8}} In 1884 Abel served a final mission to Ohio and Canada, during which he became ill. His poor health caused him to return to Utah in December 1884. He died two weeks after his return, on Christmas Day, 1884.<ref name="Hawkins book" />{{rp|8}} Elijah Abel was buried at [[Salt Lake City Cemetery]].<ref>{{cite web|url =http://cemeteries.utah.gov/burials/execute/viewburial?id=3062&cemeteryid=SL2105|title=Cemeteries and Burials Database: Burial Information: ABLE, ELIJAH|publisher=Utah Division of State History|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|accessdate=2014-04-08}}</ref>


===Mission to Upper Canada===
==Persecution==
During the late 1830s, Abel labored as a missionary in New York and [[Upper Canada]], and preached among the African-American population in those areas.{{sfn|Stevenson|2013}}{{sfn|Embry|1994}}<ref name="Mormon Millenarian">{{cite book|last1=Underwood|first1=Grant|url=https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/48cbq6kr9780252068263.html|title=The Millenarian World of Early Mormonism|date=1999|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0252068263|location=Urbana|pages=26–36; 49–51; 63–72|author-link1=Grant Underwood|orig-year=1993}}</ref> In 1838, Abel baptized 25-year-old Eunice Ross Kinney while serving in [[St. Lawrence County, New York]], who after Abel's death remembered him as a "powerful" minister, and one who had been "ordained by Joseph the [[martyr]]".<ref>Kinney, Eunice. (July 5, 1885). Letter to Wingfield Watson. L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University. Provo, Utah. See also Eunice Kinney, "My Testimony of the Latter Day Work". (c. 1885). Microfilm typescript, MS 4226. LDS Church Archives.</ref>{{sfn|Reeve|2015}}{{sfn|Hawkins|1985|page=3}} Abel taught Kinney and others he baptized that "the time was drawing near for [Christ's] [[Second Coming (LDS Church)|coming]]",<ref name="Mormon Millenarian" /> but that He would not come "till God had a people prepared to receive Him, with [[Restoration (Latter Day Saints)|all the gifts]] and blessings that adorned [[Early Christianity|His church anciently]]."{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=65}} In his ministry, Abel often quoted the Apostle Peter: "Think it not strange, brethren, concerning the fiery trials which are to try you...".{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=66}}<ref name="Mormon Millenarian" />
Although Abel remained a faithful member of the church his entire life, he was not exempt from discrimination that existed in his church and state. His membership, participation, and leadership in the church was frequently questioned and challenged. After moving to Utah, Abel asked president of the church [[Brigham Young]] for permission to be [[Sealing (Mormonism)|sealed]] to his wife and children, which was denied.<ref name="Black Saints in a White Church" />{{rp|39}} Abel requested a sealing again five years later, this time to President [[John Taylor (Mormon)|John Taylor]].<ref name="Black Saints in a White Church" />{{rp|39}} His request was again denied, and he was also not allowed to enter the temple to be [[Endowment (Latter Day Saints)|endowed]].<ref name="Black Saints in a White Church">{{cite book|last1=Embry|first1=Jessie L.|title=Black Saints in a White Church: Contemporary African American Mormons|date=1994|publisher=Signature Books|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|isbn=1-56085-044-2|page=23}}</ref>


Due to [[Upper Canada Rebellion|civil unrest and rebellion]] in Upper Canada, Abel's missionary travels were frequently punctuated with dangerous situations and [[Anti-Mormonism|persecutions]]. Such circumstances were certainly not unfamiliar to many Mormon missionaries of the time, nor to their leaders.{{sfn|Hawkins|1985|page=3}} At one point during his mission, Abel was falsely accused of the murder of a family of six, and aggressively pursued by a [[vigilante|mob]] bearing hot [[tarring and feathering|tar and feathers]].{{sfn|Jackson|2013|pp=66–67}}{{sfn|Stevenson|2013}}
While there were no attempts to take away Abel's priesthood authority, that authority was repeatedly challenged by church leaders. In 1879 [[Zebedee Coltrin]] made the claim that Abel had been ordained to the Seventy in exchange for his work on the Nauvoo Temple, but that later Joseph Smith had "dropped" Abel from the Quorum.<ref name="Black Saints in a White Church" />{{rp|39}} John Taylor stated that Abel had been given the priesthood, but that it had later been removed.<ref name="Black Saints in a White Church" /> {{rp|39}} In 1904, Church President Joseph F. Smith declared Abel's ordination to the priesthood was "declared null and void by the [Joseph Smith] himself because of his blackness".<ref name="Saints, Slaves, and Blacks">{{cite book|last1=Bringhurst|first1=Newell G.|title=Saints, Slaves, and Blacks: The Changing Place of Black People Within Mormonism|date=1981|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, Connecticut|isbn=0-313-22752-7|page=149}}</ref> This statement was inaccurate, since Abel had served in the [[Third Quorum of the Seventy]] until 1883, and Joseph F. Smith had been the one to ordain Abel to serve a mission in 1884.<ref name="Black Saints in a White Church" />{{rp|24}} [[LDS Apostle]] Joseph Fielding Smith went so far as to suggest that there had been two Elijah Abels—one white and one black.<ref name="Black Saints in a White Church" /> {{rp|39}}


==Time in Nauvoo, temple building and civil marriage==
<gallery>
Abel moved from Kirtland to [[Nauvoo, Illinois|Commerce (later renamed Nauvoo), Illinois]], in 1839 upon returning from his mission to Canada.{{sfn|Bringhurst|1981}} He came to own a piece of property located northwest of the city on the banks of the [[Mississippi River]].{{sfn|Jackson|2013}} While living in Nauvoo, Abel continued to further immerse himself in church work and activity, and is known to have performed at least two [[baptism for the dead|baptisms for the dead]] by proxy: one for a friend by the name of "John F. Lancaster", and one for his mother, Delilah.{{sfn|Embry|1994}}{{sfn|Stevenson|2013}}{{sfn|Hawkins|1985|page=4}} One of Abel's duties included acting as an [[undertaker]] at the request of Joseph Smith—responsible for the fashioning of coffins and the digging of graves—in response to the [[malaria]] epidemic of 1839–40.{{sfn|Jackson|2013}}{{sfn|Embry|1994}} Abel continued to work as a carpenter; he was a member of the group called the House Carpenters of the Town of Nauvoo.{{Citation needed|date=February 2022}}
ElijahAbelGraveFront.jpg|<center>Front of Grave Marker</center>

ElijahAbelGraveBack.jpg|<center>Back of Grave Marker</center>
During Abel's time in Nauvoo he became personally acquainted with Joseph Smith.{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=7}} As part of Abel's priesthood license, Joseph wrote that he recommended Abel as his "worthy brother in the Lord", one who is "duly authorized" to spread the gospel in a manner "equal to the authority of that Office".<ref name="Elijah License">Priesthood License of Elijah Abel. (March 31, 1836). Recorded by Joseph Smith, Jr. and Frederick G. Williams. Michael Marquardt Papers, box 6, folder 1. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah. See also a [https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/d4a1c1df-65f9-4e82-93fc-d12c125c1e41/0/82?lang=eng scanned image] of the certificate at the online document repository of ''[[The Joseph Smith Papers]] Project''.</ref> In June 1841, Abel and six other men quickly mobilized themselves as an expeditionary militia force to attempt the rescue of Smith after his unlawful arrest by state officers at [[Quincy, Illinois]]. By the time they reached Quincy, however, Smith had obtained a writ of ''[[Habeas corpus in the United States|habeas corpus]]'' and had been returned safely to Nauvoo.<ref name="Hosea Stout">{{cite book|last1=Prince|first1=Stephen L.|title=Hosea Stout: Lawman, Legislator, Mormon Defender|date=2017|publisher=Utah State University Press|location=Logan|isbn=978-1607326403|url=https://upcolorado.com/utah-state-university-press/item/2910-hosea-stout|chapter=Chapter 7: Rising Through the Ranks|pages=87–88}}</ref><ref>''[[History of the Church (Joseph Smith)|History of the Church]]'', '''4''':365.</ref>
</gallery>

In 1842, Abel left the deed to his Nauvoo property to [[William Marks (Latter Day Saints)|William Marks]]{{sfn|Jackson|2013}} and returned to Cincinnati on assignment by Joseph Smith.{{sfn|Stevenson|2013}}{{sfn|Bringhurst|1981}} There, he continued his carpentry and boarded for a time with a local painter named John Price on Eighth Street.{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=79}} Abel continued to act as a leader of the church in Cincinnati, and was recognized as such by Joseph Smith, who pronounced to [[Orson Hyde]] and others: "Go to Cincinnati... and find an educated negro, who rides in his carriage, and you will see a man who has risen by the power of his own mind to his exalted state of respectability."<ref name="The Oxford Handbook of Mormonism">{{cite book|url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-mormonism-9780199778362?q=the%20oxford%20handbook%20of%20mormonism&lang=en&cc=us|title=The Oxford Handbook of Mormonism|date=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0199778362|editor1-last=Givens|editor1-first=Terryl L.|series=Oxford Handbooks|location=New York|chapter=Chapter 24: Mormons and Race|editor2-last=Barlow|editor2-first=Philip L.}}</ref>{{sfn|Bringhurst|1981}}

=== Marriage ===
On February 16, 1847, the 39-year-old Abel married 17-year-old Mary Ann Adams<ref name="Mary's Parents">Mary Adams' Parents. The Ohio county of residence of Mary Ann's parents ([https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KNXP-625 John and Anna Weston Adams]) at the time of their deaths —
Hamilton, located just 15 miles north of Cincinnati – is, curiously, the home county of Ezekiel Roberts, the Mormon elder who baptized Elijah Abel in 1832. Stevenson (2014) suggests, therefore, that Hamilton County may have been where Elijah was baptized. But also, as Mary's family were erstwhile residents of Hamilton (perhaps moving there, to Mount Healthy township, after Mary's birth in Nashville), it may also have been where Elijah was first introduced to Mary. Hamilton County lies 60 miles south of Miami County, where lived, according to Jackson (2013), a possible sister of Elijah, Nancy Abel Rousten.</ref> of [[Nashville, Tennessee|Tennessee]], who was residing in Ohio.<ref name="1850 Census">1850 Census. The census record registers Mary Ann Adams Abel as being 19 years old, and her husband Elijah Abel as being 42 years old, which effectively pushes back his birthdate to 1808.</ref>{{sfn|Stevenson|2013}}{{sfn|Embry|1994}} Adams was also one-eighth African-American.{{sfn|Embry|1994}}{{sfn|Smith|c. 1879}} Little is known about Adams, other than the date of her marriage to Abel and her residency status in both Tennessee and Ohio.{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=84}} The couple had eight known children: three were born in Cincinnati—Moroni, Enoch, and Anna Rebecca<ref name="Mary's Parents" />—and five more in Utah Territory—Delilah, Mary, Elijah Jr., Maggie, and Flora.{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=84}}{{sfn|Stevenson|2013}} They also took into their home a young woman (about the age of their oldest son) named Rola from Ohio, whom they later adopted.{{sfn|Stevenson|2013}}

==Migration and later years in Utah==
In May 1853, Abel and his family departed from [[Keokuk, Iowa]], and migrated as part of the [[Appleton Milo Harmon|Appleton M. Harmon]] pioneer company to [[Utah Territory]], where the new headquarters of the LDS Church were located.<ref name="Coleman Book">{{cite book|last1=Coleman|first1=Ronald Gerald|title=A History of Blacks in Utah: 1825–1910|date=1980|publisher=Unpublished|location=Harold B. Lee Library; Provo, Utah|page=59}}</ref>{{sfn|Bringhurst|1981}} After the company's arrival in the [[Salt Lake Valley]] on October 17, Abel's family moved to [[Millcreek, Utah|Millcreek]], a few miles south of Salt Lake City.{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=90}} Abel continued to work as a carpenter as part of the [[Perpetual Emigrating Fund|LDS public works program]]{{sfn|Jackson|2013|pp=94}}{{sfn|Embry|1994}} and assisted in the construction of the [[Salt Lake Temple]].{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=47}} By 1860, the Abel family had moved to Salt Lake City's Thirteenth Ward and lived only a short distance from the [[Temple Square|Temple Block]].{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=91}}

Abel remained a member of the Seventy and continued to be active in the church in Utah. Along with his wife and oldest son, Abel was [[Rebaptism (Mormonism)|rebaptized]] on March 15, 1857, as part of the [[Mormon Reformation]].{{sfn|Jackson|2013|pp=90–91}}{{sfn|Embry|1994}} During the mass southern migration of LDS Church members in 1858 to avoid conflict with [[Albert Sidney Johnston|Johnston]]'s invading army during the [[Utah War]], Abel stayed behind with other watchmen who had been tasked with setting fire to the emptied city should the invaders make any false move; the U.S. troops marched through Salt Lake City without incident and the city remained intact.{{sfn|Stevenson|2013}}

Abel and his wife managed the Farnham House hotel, which was advertised as a "first class" boarding house that boasted "good stabling and corrals".{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=91}}<ref name="blacklds.org article">{{cite web|url=http://www.blacklds.org/abel|title=Elijah Abel|website=blacklds.org|date=May 27, 2014 |access-date=July 11, 2016}}</ref> By 1862, Abel and his family had relocated to the Tenth Ward in Salt Lake City.{{sfn|Jackson|2013}}<ref name="Coleman Book" /> Very little is known about the personal lives of the Abel family. In 1870 they moved to [[Ogden, Utah]], for a short time before returning to Salt Lake City.{{sfn|Hawkins|1985|page=6}} Utah residents during this period remembered the Abel family as traveling up and down the [[Wasatch front]] (a mountain valley stretch of contiguous towns from Provo to Ogden) entertaining audiences with their [[minstrel show]]s:

<blockquote>It seems most likely that Abel played the fiddle or violin, while the family – including eight children between the ages of about one and twenty years old – acted, danced, sang, or played along with their father on other instruments. "There was a family of colored folks by the name of Able [''sic'']," remembered one Utah resident, "who went around from ward to ward and put on performances for the public."{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=95}}</blockquote>

In 1871, Abel's son Moroni passed away, followed by Abel's wife in 1877 from pneumonia.{{sfn|Jackson|2013|pp=95–96}} Abel remained a faithful member of the LDS Church throughout his life and served a final mission to Ohio and Canada in 1883–84, during which he became ill. His worsening health resulted in his return to Utah in December 1884. Abel died two weeks after his return, on Christmas Day.{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=103}}{{sfn|Hawkins|1985|page=8}} His body was interred at the [[Salt Lake City Cemetery]] alongside his wife, and his original grave marker is inscribed with the words: "Elijah Able—At Rest."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://utahdcc.secure.force.com/burials/|title=Cemeteries and Burials Database: Burial Information: ABLE, ELIJAH and ABLE, MARY|publisher=Utah Division of State History|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|access-date=April 8, 2018|archive-date=April 11, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180411205101/https://utahdcc.secure.force.com/burials/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Disputes over priesthood ==

===Meeting in Cincinnati, 1843===
On June 25, 1843, a regional [[General conference (Latter Day Saints)|conference]] occurred in Cincinnati presided over by LDS Church [[Apostle (Latter Day Saints)|apostles]] [[John E. Page]], [[Orson Pratt]], [[Heber C. Kimball]], and future-apostle [[Lorenzo Snow]].{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=77}} During the conference, questions regarding Abel and his membership were addressed, including the acknowledgement of recent complaints about Abel's public preaching activity.{{sfn|Bringhurst|1984}}{{sfn|Stevenson|2013}} Page stated that while "he respected a coloured Brother, wisdom forbid that we should introduce [him] before the public."{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=77}} Pratt and Kimball supported Page's statements, and the leaders resolved to restrict Abel's activities as a member of the church.{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=77}}

While previously in Canada, Abel's activity to encourage flight from Canada and its [[Upper Canada rebellion|civil uprisings]] to the American "Zion" was viewed with disdain, and was seen by the Canadians as "pro-American sympathizing". The former missionary associates who accused him cited Abel's claims "that there would be [[Stake (Latter Day Saints)|stakes]] of Zion in all the world".{{sfn|Stevenson|2013}}<ref name="Mormon Millenarian" /> However, despite these allegations of teaching what was perceived by some to be "false doctrine",<ref name="Abel Allegations">The allegations against Abel had originally surfaced in a June 1, 1839, meeting convened at Quincy, Illinois – during the time when Joseph Smith was laboring with the struggling [[1838 Mormon War|Missouri-driven]] Saints in establishing their new home at Commerce (Nauvoo). As such, Smith was not present at the hearing. Convened at the Quincy meeting were quorum members and presiding officers of the Seventy, as well as a young [[Jedediah M. Grant]]. Grant had been selected as the priesthood representative to convey to the body of the Seventy the complaints brought before them by Abel's missionary associates. Abel himself was ''in absentia''. Also testifying at the hearing were John Broeffle and his cousins John & George Beckstead, Robert Burton, and Moses Smith. Abel had previously been offered refuge in the Becksteads' father's home while being pursued by a mob (Stevenson, 2013, p. 200).</ref> no disciplinary action was taken against Abel.{{sfn|Jackson|2013}}{{sfn|Stevenson|2013}} At the conclusion of the conference, Abel was called to serve a second mission locally, but he was instructed to visit and teach "only the coloured population".{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=77}} The leaders of the conference in Cincinnati made no statement that the resolution of the meeting had been based on divine [[Revelation#Latter Day Saint movement|revelation]] or that it constituted any sort of [[LDS doctrine|doctrinal]] mandate, but rather they deemed it prudent to address the dynamic [[Racism in the United States#Pre-Civil War|racial]] and politically turbulent climate of the times.{{sfn|Reeve|2015}}{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=77}}

===The 1849 priesthood ban===
{{See also|Black people and Mormon priesthood}}
In 1849, [[Brigham Young]] issued a church-wide [[Priesthood Ban|ban on black men]] from being [[Ordinance (Latter Day Saints)|ordained]] to the priesthood. The policy's initial reveal by Young to the Twelve may have occurred up to two years earlier at [[Winter Quarters, Nebraska]].<ref name="Priesthood Denial">{{cite news|last1=Esplin|first1=Ronald K.|year=1979|title=Brigham Young and Priesthood Denial to the Blacks: An Alternate View|volume=19|pages=394–402. Esplin's argument is not generally accepted, not only in light of Joseph Smith's 1836 priesthood sanctioning and licensing of Abel, but also given Young's conciliatory and apparently open views on the issue as evidenced in his March 1847 remarks to William McCary. Esplin does point out, however, that Young – in his remarks of February 5, 1852, to the Utah Territorial Legislature (the day after slavery had been codified into Utah law) — promised that there would be a future general bestowal of the priesthood to blacks: "That time will come when they will have the privilege of all we have the privilege of and more"|work=BYU Studies Quarterly|publisher=Brigham Young University|number=3|location=Provo, Utah|url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1995&context=byusq|access-date=March 4, 2019}}</ref> Young's pronouncements in 1849 constitute the earliest known statements which officially exclude those of African descent from a temple endowment or the wielding of priesthood power. This decision may have been brought about in part by the actions of [[William McCary]], an African-American [[Religious conversion#Latter Day Saint movement|convert]] to the church living in Cincinnati, who believed he was a prophet and claimed on various occasions to be Jesus and Adam, father of the human race.{{sfn|Bringhurst|1984}}{{sfn|Stevenson|2013}} In 1847, as the Saints resided at [[Winter Quarters (North Omaha, Nebraska)|Winter Quarters]], McCary was [[Excommunication (LDS Church)|excommunicated]], following the discovery of various unauthorized [[Mormonism and polygamy|polygamous sealings]] performed in his home.{{sfn|Jackson|2013}}{{sfn|Bringhurst|1984}}{{sfn|Stevenson|2013}} As members of the LDS Church continued to [[Mormon pioneers|migrate]] to the West, Mormons were exposed to a larger population of blacks, and anti-black political attitudes continued to increase among church members.{{sfn|Reeve|2015}}{{sfn|Bringhurst|1984}}{{sfn|Stevenson|2013}} Other black members of the church such as [[Walker Lewis|Q. Walker Lewis]]{{sfn|Jackson|2013}} also found themselves and their church membership under scrutiny during this period.

By 1847, Abel's priesthood authority had begun to be challenged, despite his well-respected status within the church community.{{sfn|Reeve|2015}}{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=99}} Even after the 1849 official prohibition for all Latter-day Saint "brethren of color," Abel remained involved in the church.<ref name="1852 Law-code">A formal reiteration of LDS Church policy regarding the 1849 priesthood ban was codified into law by Utah's territorial legislature on February 4, 1852, one month after Governor Brigham Young appeared before that body on January 16 to formally petition for the policy's codification. See Lester E. Bush, Jr. (1984). Chapter 3: "[http://signaturebookslibrary.org/neither-white-nor-black-03/ Mormonism’s Negro Doctrine: An Historical Overview]," in Lester E. Bush, Jr. and Armand L. Mauss (eds). ''Neither White nor Black: Mormon Scholars Confront the Race Issue in a Universal Church''. Midvale, Utah: Signature Books.</ref> As one who already held the priesthood, he continued to serve as a seventy in Cincinnati from 1842 to 1853,<ref>Meeting Minutes, June 25, 1843. "Conference of Elders of the Church," Cincinnati, Ohio. LDS Church Archives.</ref> and in the autumn of 1883 served another mission to Cincinnati shortly before his death.<ref>"Deaths," ''Deseret News'', December 25, 1884.</ref>

====Denial of temple ordinances====
After moving to Utah Territory, Abel asked Brigham Young for permission to be [[Sealing (Mormonism)|sealed]] to his wife and children, which was denied.{{sfn|Reeve|2015}}{{sfn|Embry|1994}} Abel again requested a sealing five years later to his deceased wife, son, and daughter—this time from President [[John Taylor (Mormon)|John Taylor]], who then passed it on for the body of the Twelve to consider.{{sfn|Jackson|2013}}{{sfn|Embry|1994}} Abel's request was again refused, and he was not allowed to enter the temple to be [[Endowment (Latter Day Saints)|endowed]].{{sfn|Reeve|2015}}{{sfn|Embry|1994}}{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=100}}

===1879 meeting regarding Joseph Smith's statements===
On May 31, 1879, a meeting was held at the residence of [[Provo, Utah|Provo]] mayor [[Abraham O. Smoot]] to discuss the conflicting versions of Joseph Smith's views on black men and the priesthood, in response to Abel's petition to be sealed to his recently deceased wife.{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=96}}<ref name="The Oxford Handbook of Mormonism"/> 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.<ref name="AbleJSPbio" />{{sfn|Smith|c. 1879}} Coltrin claimed, however, that Abel had been ordained as a Seventy in exchange for his work on the temples at Kirtland and Nauvoo, but that Joseph Smith had later realized his "error" and promptly "dropped" Abel from the quorum because of "his lineage".{{sfn|Embry|1994}}<ref name="The Oxford Handbook of Mormonism" /> Coltrin reported having this conversation with Joseph Smith in 1834—yet Abel had not received the priesthood nor had been made a Seventy until 1836, and construction had not even begun on the Nauvoo Temple until 1841, thus making it impossible to have been "dropped" from any such capacity in 1834.<ref name="The Oxford Handbook of Mormonism" /> [[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.{{sfn|Jackson|2013}}{{sfn|Embry|1994}}

The "Smoot meeting" was essentially a reaffirmation of the church's 1849 policy of excluding black men from receiving the priesthood. Beyond suddenly bringing into question Abel's long-held authority in a high-profile and likely humiliating setting, the meeting did not change the fact that Abel held the priesthood.<ref name="The Oxford Handbook of Mormonism" />

===1879 meetings with Taylor, Smith, and the Seventy===
In 1879, Abel was present at two separate meetings regarding his priesthood authority.<ref name="AbleJSPbio"/>{{sfn|Smith|c. 1879}} At these meetings 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. He had also recounted "his appointment an[d] ordination as a Seventy, and a member of the 3rd Quorum." Abel recalled for them Joseph's personal words to him: "that those… called to the Melchisadec [''sic''] Priesthood [having] magnified that calling would be sealed up unto eternal life."<ref>"A Record of all the Quorums of Seventies in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints". (March 5, 1879). CR3/51, box 3, folder 2. LDS Church Archives.</ref>{{sfn|Reeve|2015}}{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=99}} At these meetings, Abel himself defended his priesthood before church authorities, outlining its timeline and reaffirming that Joseph Smith himself had told him he was "entitled to the priesthood".<ref>"Council Meeting Minutes". (June 4, 1879). Lester E. Bush papers, Special Collections, J. Williard Marriott Library, University of Utah.</ref>{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=99}} 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.{{sfn|Stevenson|2013}} At the end of these meetings, John Taylor concluded that Joseph Smith had made "an exception" and had given Abel the priesthood despite his race—perhaps because he was of primarily European descent, and perhaps because he had further proved his worthiness by helping to advance and to build the early church. Taylor moved to honor Smith's decision and ruled that Abel's priesthood would be "allowed to remain".{{sfn|Reeve|2015}}{{sfn|Jackson|2013|page=99}}

===Posthumous commentary on Abel's priesthood===
After Abel's death, LDS Church president [[Joseph F. Smith]] on multiple occasions{{sfn|Jackson|2013}}{{sfn|Reeve|2015}}<ref name="The Oxford Handbook of Mormonism" /> declared Abel's ordination to the priesthood as "null and void by [Joseph Smith] himself because of his blackness", suggesting based on Coltrin's previous testimony that Joseph Smith before his death had indeed repented of his initial decision that Abel receive the priesthood.{{sfn|Reeve|2015}}{{sfn|Bringhurst|1981}} Scarcely a few years had passed since Joseph F. Smith had himself been the one to ordain Abel and to [[Setting apart|set him apart]] to serve his final church mission.{{sfn|Reeve|2015}}{{sfn|Embry|1994}} [[LDS Apostle|Apostle]] [[Joseph Fielding Smith]], who later became president of the church, went so far as to suggest that there had been two Elijah Abels – one white and one black.<ref>Letter of Joseph Fielding Smith to Mrs. Floren S. Preece, January 18, 1955. S. George Ellsworth Papers, Utah State University, Logan (see also Letter from Joseph Fielding Smith to Joseph H. Henderson, April 10, 1963).</ref>{{sfn|Embry|1994}}


==Legacy==
==Legacy==
Following Abel's death in 1884, his life and ordination to the priesthood remained a topic of conversation and debate for decades. The circumstance and story of Elijah Abel often were referenced with the rise of questions concerning black men receiving the priesthood or temple blessings.{{sfn|Hawkins|1985|page=8}} All eligible men within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were admitted to the priesthood beginning in 1978, when all former restrictions based on race were lifted with the [[1978 Revelation on Priesthood|revelation]] received by then-prophet and church president [[Spencer W. Kimball]]. Long before this, however, Abel's son and grandson, Enoch and Elijah, had both been ordained already to the Melchizedek priesthood; Enoch was ordained an elder on November 27, 1900, and Elijah to the same office on September 29, 1935.{{sfn|Reeve|2015}}<ref name=":0">Bringhurst, Newell G.; Smith, Darron T., eds. (2006). "The 'Missouri Thesis' Revisisted: Early Mormonism, Slavery, and the Status of Black People". ''[https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/46yhy7sw9780252029479.html Black and Mormon]''. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. pp. 13–33, at p. 30. {{ISBN|978-0252029479}}</ref>
Though Abel died in 1884, his life and in particular his ordination to the priesthood were a topic of conversation and debate long after his death. When questions concerning Blacks receiving the priesthood or [[Mormon temples|temple blessings]] arose, the story of Elijah Abel was often told.<ref name="Hawkins book" />{{rp|8}}


In 2002, a monument was erected in [[Salt Lake City]] over Abel's gravesite by the Missouri Mormon Frontier Foundation and the [[Genesis Group]], to memorialize Abel, his wife, and his descendants.{{sfn|Stevenson|2013}}<ref name=":0" /> The monument was dedicated by LDS Church [[Apostle (Latter Day Saints)|Apostle]] [[M. Russell Ballard]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Arave|first1=Lynn|title=Monument in S.L. erected in honor of black pioneer|work=[[Deseret Morning News]]|date=September 30, 2002|page=B3|url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/939845/Monument-in-SL-erected-in-honor-of-black-pioneer.html?pg=all|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150623015916/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/939845/Monument-in-SL-erected-in-honor-of-black-pioneer.html?pg=all|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 23, 2015|access-date=June 30, 2009}}</ref>
Abel's son and grandson, Enoch and 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.<ref>Newell G. Bringhurst, "The 'Missouri Thesis' Revisisted: Early Mormonism, Slavery, and the Status of Black People" in Newell G. Bringhurst and Darron T. Smith (eds.) (2006). ''Black and Mormon'' (Urbana: University of Illinois Press) pp. 13–33 at p. 30.</ref>


<gallery mode="packed">
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 (Latter Day Saints)|Apostle]] [[M. Russell Ballard]].<ref>{{cite news | author=Lynn Arave | title=Monument in S.L. erected in honor of black pioneer | work=[[Deseret Morning News]] | date=September 30, 2002 | page=B3 | url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/939845/Monument-in-SL-erected-in-honor-of-black-pioneer.html?pg=all | accessdate=2009-06-30}}</ref>
File:ElijahAbelGraveFront.jpg|{{center|Front of Grave Marker}}
File:ElijahAbelGraveBack.jpg|{{center|Back of Grave Marker}}
</gallery>


==See also==
==See also==
Line 61: Line 116:
*[[Black people and early Mormonism]]
*[[Black people and early Mormonism]]
*[[Black people and Mormonism]]
*[[Black people and Mormonism]]
*[[Joseph Freeman (Mormon)]]
*[[Black people and Mormon priesthood]]
*[[Walker Lewis]]
*[[Walker Lewis]]
*[[List of slaves]]
*[[William McCary]]
*[[William McCary]]


Line 69: Line 123:
{{Reflist|40em}}
{{Reflist|40em}}


==References==
==Sources==
{{refbegin}}
*"Elijah Abel and the Changing Status of Blacks Within Mormonism", 12(2) ''[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought]]'' 22–36.
* {{cite book|last1=Jackson|first1=W. Kesler|title=Elijah Abel: The Life and Times of a Black Priesthood Holder|date=2013|publisher=Cedar Fort, Incorporated|location=Springville, Utah|isbn=978-1462111510|url=https://ldsbooksandthings.com/products/elijah-abel-the-life-and-times-of-a-black-priesthood-holder|access-date=February 24, 2019|archive-date=February 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190224174913/https://ldsbooksandthings.com/products/elijah-abel-the-life-and-times-of-a-black-priesthood-holder|url-status=dead}}
*"Deaths," ''Deseret News'', 31 Dec. 1884:16.
* {{cite book|last1=Hawkins|first1=Chester L.|url=https://search.lib.byu.edu/byu/record/lee.702521?holding=996a2lati3p3ywfx|title=Report on Elijah Abel and His Priesthood|date=December 4, 1985|publisher=Unpublished|location=L. Tom Perry Special Collections; Harold B. Lee Library|access-date=July 12, 2016}}
* {{cite book|last1=Bringhurst|first1=Newell G.|author-link1=Newell G. Bringhurst|title=Saints, Slaves, and Blacks: The Changing Place of Black People Within Mormonism|date=1981|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, Connecticut|pages=131–133, 149|isbn=978-0313227523|url=https://archive.org/details/saintsslavesblac0000brin/page/n5/mode/2up}}
* {{cite book|last1=Embry|first1=Jessie L.|title=Black Saints in a White Church: Contemporary African American Mormons|date=1994|publisher=[[Signature Books]]|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|isbn=978-1560850441|url=https://archive.org/details/blacksaintsinwhi0000embr|chapter=Chapter 3: Impact of the LDS 'Negro Policy'}}
* {{cite book|last=Stevenson|first=Russell W.|title=Black Mormon: The Story of Elijah Ables|publisher=[[Amazon.com#Acquisitions and investments|CreateSpace]]|year=2014|isbn=978-1500843137|type=self-published}}
* {{cite book|last1=Bringhurst|first1=Newell G.|url=http://signaturebookslibrary.org/neither-white-nor-black/|title=Neither White nor Black: Mormon Scholars Confront the Race Issue in a Universal Church|date=1984|publisher=[[Signature Books]]|isbn=9780941214223|editor1-last=Bush Jr.|editor1-first=Lester E.|location=Midvale, Utah|chapter=Chapter 4: Elijah Abel and the Changing Status of Blacks Within Mormonism|access-date=May 18, 2017|editor2-last=Mauss|editor2-first=Armand L.}}
* {{cite book|author1-link=W. Paul Reeve|last1=Reeve|first1=W. Paul|title=Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness|isbn=978-0199754076|url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/religion-of-a--different-color-9780199754076?lang=en&cc=us|date=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|chapter=Chapter 7: Black, White, and Mormon: 'One Drop'|pages=194–210}}
* {{cite news|last1=Stevenson|first1=Russell W.|year=2013|title=A Negro Preacher: The Worlds of Elijah Ables|volume=39|pages=250|work=Journal of Mormon History|number=2|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|url=https://www.uvu.edu/philhum/affiliated-programs/religious-studies/docs/2017_msc/russell_stevenson.pdf|access-date=February 17, 2019}}{{Dead link|date=March 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* {{cite news|last1=Smith|first1=Joseph F.|title=Joseph F. Smith biographical transcript for Elijah Able, Joseph F. Smith Papers|url=https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/bc-jsp/content/jsp/images/content/pdf/Docs/Able_bio_sketch.pdf|access-date=February 15, 2019|work=The Joseph Smith Papers Project|date=c. 1879|location=Salt Lake City, Utah}}
{{refend}}


==Further reading==
==Further reading==
*"[https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/person/elijah-able Elijah Able]," ''[[The Joseph Smith Papers]]''.
*{{citation |year= 2013 |title= Elijah Abel: The Life and Times of a Black Priesthood Holder |first= William Kesler |last= Jackson |place= Springville, Utah |publisher= CFI (Cedar Fort, Inc.) |isbn= 978-1-4621-1151-0 |lccn= 2012044964 |oclc= 808415486 }}
*Joseph F. Smith [https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/bc-jsp/content/jsp/images/content/pdf/Docs/Able_bio_sketch.pdf biographical transcript] for Elijah Able, as catalogued by ''The Joseph Smith Papers''.
*{{citation |year= 2014 |title= Black Mormon: The Story of Elijah Ables |first= Russell |last= Stevenson |publisher= [[Amazon.com#Acquisitions and investments|CreateSpace]] |type= self-published |isbn= 978-1-5008-4313-7 }}
*"[http://signaturebookslibrary.org/neither-white-nor-black-04/ Elijah Abel and the Changing Status of Blacks Within Mormonism]". (1979). ''[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought]]'', 12(2):22–36.
*Stevenson, Russel W. 2013. A Negro Preacher: The Worlds of Elijah Ables. ''Journal of Mormon History'' Vol. 39, No. 2, pp.&nbsp;165–254.
*"Deaths," ''Deseret News'', 31 December 1884:16.
*Sessions, Gene A. (2008) [1982]. ''[https://gregkofford.com/products/mormon-thunder-a-documentary-history-of-jedediah-morgan-grant Mormon Thunder: A Documentary History of Jedediah Morgan Grant].'' Second Edition. Greg Kofford Books: Draper, Utah. {{ISBN|978-0252009440}}. Original publisher: Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
*[[Grant Underwood|Underwood, Grant]]. (1999) [1993]. ''[https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/48cbq6kr9780252068263.html The Millenarian World of Early Mormonism].'' Urbana: University of Illinois Press. {{ISBN|978-0252068263}}


==External links==
==External links==
* [http://www.blacklds.org/mormon/abel.html Elijah Abel] at [http://www.blacklds.org BlackLDS web site]
* [http://www.blacklds.org/abel Elijah Abel] Black LDS site
* [https://user.xmission.com/~research/central/chorg2.htm Mormon Central] Catalogued LDS Church documentation and correspondence regarding blacks and the priesthood
* [http://www.blacklds.org/mormon/kinney.html Account of Abel's mission activities] at [http://www.blacklds.org BlackLDS web site]

* {{findagrave|9332072}}
{{Black people and the Latter Day Saint movement}}


{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Abel, Elijah}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abel, Elijah}}
[[Category:1810 births]]
[[Category:1808 births]]
[[Category:1884 deaths]]
[[Category:1884 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century Mormon missionaries]]
[[Category:People from Frederick, Maryland]]
[[Category:African-American Latter Day Saints]]
[[Category:Latter Day Saints from Maryland]]
[[Category:African-American Christian clergy]]
[[Category:People from Cincinnati]]
[[Category:American Mormon missionaries in Canada]]
[[Category:American Mormon missionaries in the United States]]
[[Category:American Mormon missionaries in the United States]]
[[Category:American slaves]]
[[Category:Burials at Salt Lake City Cemetery]]
[[Category:Converts to Mormonism]]
[[Category:Converts to Mormonism]]
[[Category:Disease-related deaths in Utah]]
[[Category:African-American Latter Day Saints]]
[[Category:Mormon pioneers]]
[[Category:Mormonism and race]]
[[Category:Mormonism and race]]
[[Category:People from Barberton, Ohio]]
[[Category:People from Kirtland, Ohio]]
[[Category:Latter Day Saints from Ohio]]
[[Category:Religious leaders from Ohio]]
[[Category:American Christian clergy]]
[[Category:Seventies (LDS Church)]]
[[Category:Seventies (LDS Church)]]
[[Category:American Latter Day Saints]]
[[Category:African-American Christian clergy]]
[[Category:African American missionaries]]
[[Category:19th-century Mormon missionaries]]
[[Category:African-American missionaries]]
[[Category:American Mormon missionaries in Canada]]
[[Category:People from Nauvoo, Illinois]]
[[Category:Latter Day Saints from Illinois]]
[[Category:Mormon pioneers]]
[[Category:People from Ogden, Utah]]
[[Category:Latter Day Saints from Utah]]
[[Category:Burials at Salt Lake City Cemetery]]
[[Category:19th-century American slaves]]

Latest revision as of 02:10, 12 November 2024

Elijah Abel
Photo of Elijah Abel
Third Quorum of the Seventy
December 20, 1836 (1836-12-20) – December 25, 1884 (1884-12-25)
Called byJoseph Smith
Elder
January 25, 1836 (1836-01-25) – December 20, 1836 (1836-12-20)
Called byJoseph Smith
Personal details
Born(1808-07-25)July 25, 1808
Frederick-Town, Maryland
DiedDecember 25, 1884(1884-12-25) (aged 76)
Salt Lake City, Utah Territory
Resting placeSalt Lake City Cemetery
40°46′37.92″N 111°51′28.8″W / 40.7772000°N 111.858000°W / 40.7772000; -111.858000

Elijah Abel, or Able or Ables[1] (July 25, 1808– December 25, 1884)[2] was one of the earliest African-American members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), and was the church's first African-American elder and Seventy.[3] Abel was predominantly of Scottish and English descent[4] and appears to have been the first, and one of the few, black members in the early history of the church to have received Priesthood ordination,[3][5] later becoming the faith's first black missionary.[3] 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.[6] As a skilled carpenter, Abel often committed his services to the building of LDS temples and chapels. He died in 1884 after serving a mission to Cincinnati, Ohio, his last of three total missions for the church.[7][8]

Early life

[edit]

Elijah Abel was born in Frederick-Town, Maryland, on July 25, 1808, to Delilah Williams and Andrew Abel.[9] There is some confusion surrounding Abel's birth year, given that some sources put the year at 1808 and others at 1810.[10][11][12][13] However, the 1850 Census record marks 1808 as the year of Abel's birth,[14] and both Abel's patriarchal blessing and grave marker record 1808 as his birth year.[2][15] His mother was of Scottish descent and his father of English descent; one of his grandmothers was "half white", or mulatto,[1][4][11][3] and thus Abel was considered to be "octoroon," or one-eighth African.[4]

Abel's mother died when he was 8 years old.[4] Some believed that she was a slave from South Carolina,[16] but evidence for this has never been produced.[3] Others have also speculated, based on the unproven assumption that Abel was the son of a slave, that he at some point migrated to Canada by way of the Underground Railroad.[17] Apart from circumstantial evidence, this claim remains entirely unsubstantiated, apart from a few sources stating that Abel spent some time in Canada in his early adulthood.[18]

Conversion to the LDS faith

[edit]

Abel later moved to Ohio,[19][7] and in Cincinnati he was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in September 1832.[4] He was baptized by local Mormon elder and blacksmith Ezekiel Roberts.[11][7] Shortly after his baptism, Abel moved to the area of Kirtland, Ohio, to join in fellowship with the main body of church members congregating there.[20][7][21]

Priesthood ordination and church participation

[edit]

Abel was ordained an elder of the LDS Church on January 25, 1836, following Joseph Smith's declaration in 1836 that Abel was "entitled to the Priesthood and all the blessings."[4][22] He had been an active participant in the construction of the Kirtland Temple over the preceding months.[23] Abel participated in the "Pentecostal season" that accompanied the completion and dedication of the Kirtland Temple in 1836.[24] In December of that year, 11 months after his priesthood ordination, Abel was ordained a seventy and inducted into the Third Quorum of the priesthood. In 1841, Abel was reconfirmed in Nauvoo by Joseph Young and Albert P. Rockwood.[4][17] Abel was among the first church members to receive the ordinance of the initiatory in the Kirtland Temple following its dedication in 1836.[4]

Patriarchal blessing

[edit]

Abel received his patriarchal blessing from Presiding Patriarch Joseph Smith Sr.,[25] which was recorded by LDS Church scribe and newspaper editor Warren A. Cowdery.[26][10][21] At the time, the common practice when giving patriarchal blessings was to declare an individual to be a descendant of a specific tribe of Israel. Abel, however, was declared an "orphan" from a father who "hath never done his duty toward [him]", but it was stated in the blessing that Abel would "be made equal to [his] brethren, and [his] soul be white in eternity and [his] robes glittering."[15][27] Since the recorded blessing does not specifically declare his tribal lineage, Abel was perhaps "adopted" into the House of Israel.[15] The blessing also included what seemed to be a foreshadowing of the civil war that would soon strike at the heart of the country:[3][28]

Thou shalt see [the destroyer's] power in laying waste the nations, & the wicked slaying the wicked, while blood shall run down the streets like water, and thy heart shall weep over their calamities. Angels shall visit thee and thou shalt receive comfort. They shall call thee blessed and deliver thee from thine enemies. They shall break thy bands and keep thee from afflictions.[15]

Mission to Upper Canada

[edit]

During the late 1830s, Abel labored as a missionary in New York and Upper Canada, and preached among the African-American population in those areas.[7][21][28] In 1838, Abel baptized 25-year-old Eunice Ross Kinney while serving in St. Lawrence County, New York, who after Abel's death remembered him as a "powerful" minister, and one who had been "ordained by Joseph the martyr".[29][8][30] Abel taught Kinney and others he baptized that "the time was drawing near for [Christ's] coming",[28] but that He would not come "till God had a people prepared to receive Him, with all the gifts and blessings that adorned His church anciently."[31] In his ministry, Abel often quoted the Apostle Peter: "Think it not strange, brethren, concerning the fiery trials which are to try you...".[32][28]

Due to civil unrest and rebellion in Upper Canada, Abel's missionary travels were frequently punctuated with dangerous situations and persecutions. Such circumstances were certainly not unfamiliar to many Mormon missionaries of the time, nor to their leaders.[30] At one point during his mission, Abel was falsely accused of the murder of a family of six, and aggressively pursued by a mob bearing hot tar and feathers.[33][7]

Time in Nauvoo, temple building and civil marriage

[edit]

Abel moved from Kirtland to Commerce (later renamed Nauvoo), Illinois, in 1839 upon returning from his mission to Canada.[27] He came to own a piece of property located northwest of the city on the banks of the Mississippi River.[3] While living in Nauvoo, Abel continued to further immerse himself in church work and activity, and is known to have performed at least two baptisms for the dead by proxy: one for a friend by the name of "John F. Lancaster", and one for his mother, Delilah.[21][7][34] One of Abel's duties included acting as an undertaker at the request of Joseph Smith—responsible for the fashioning of coffins and the digging of graves—in response to the malaria epidemic of 1839–40.[3][21] Abel continued to work as a carpenter; he was a member of the group called the House Carpenters of the Town of Nauvoo.[citation needed]

During Abel's time in Nauvoo he became personally acquainted with Joseph Smith.[35] As part of Abel's priesthood license, Joseph wrote that he recommended Abel as his "worthy brother in the Lord", one who is "duly authorized" to spread the gospel in a manner "equal to the authority of that Office".[36] In June 1841, Abel and six other men quickly mobilized themselves as an expeditionary militia force to attempt the rescue of Smith after his unlawful arrest by state officers at Quincy, Illinois. By the time they reached Quincy, however, Smith had obtained a writ of habeas corpus and had been returned safely to Nauvoo.[37][38]

In 1842, Abel left the deed to his Nauvoo property to William Marks[3] and returned to Cincinnati on assignment by Joseph Smith.[7][27] There, he continued his carpentry and boarded for a time with a local painter named John Price on Eighth Street.[39] Abel continued to act as a leader of the church in Cincinnati, and was recognized as such by Joseph Smith, who pronounced to Orson Hyde and others: "Go to Cincinnati... and find an educated negro, who rides in his carriage, and you will see a man who has risen by the power of his own mind to his exalted state of respectability."[40][27]

Marriage

[edit]

On February 16, 1847, the 39-year-old Abel married 17-year-old Mary Ann Adams[41] of Tennessee, who was residing in Ohio.[14][7][21] Adams was also one-eighth African-American.[21][4] Little is known about Adams, other than the date of her marriage to Abel and her residency status in both Tennessee and Ohio.[42] The couple had eight known children: three were born in Cincinnati—Moroni, Enoch, and Anna Rebecca[41]—and five more in Utah Territory—Delilah, Mary, Elijah Jr., Maggie, and Flora.[42][7] They also took into their home a young woman (about the age of their oldest son) named Rola from Ohio, whom they later adopted.[7]

Migration and later years in Utah

[edit]

In May 1853, Abel and his family departed from Keokuk, Iowa, and migrated as part of the Appleton M. Harmon pioneer company to Utah Territory, where the new headquarters of the LDS Church were located.[43][27] After the company's arrival in the Salt Lake Valley on October 17, Abel's family moved to Millcreek, a few miles south of Salt Lake City.[44] Abel continued to work as a carpenter as part of the LDS public works program[45][21] and assisted in the construction of the Salt Lake Temple.[23] By 1860, the Abel family had moved to Salt Lake City's Thirteenth Ward and lived only a short distance from the Temple Block.[46]

Abel remained a member of the Seventy and continued to be active in the church in Utah. Along with his wife and oldest son, Abel was rebaptized on March 15, 1857, as part of the Mormon Reformation.[47][21] During the mass southern migration of LDS Church members in 1858 to avoid conflict with Johnston's invading army during the Utah War, Abel stayed behind with other watchmen who had been tasked with setting fire to the emptied city should the invaders make any false move; the U.S. troops marched through Salt Lake City without incident and the city remained intact.[7]

Abel and his wife managed the Farnham House hotel, which was advertised as a "first class" boarding house that boasted "good stabling and corrals".[46][48] By 1862, Abel and his family had relocated to the Tenth Ward in Salt Lake City.[3][43] Very little is known about the personal lives of the Abel family. In 1870 they moved to Ogden, Utah, for a short time before returning to Salt Lake City.[49] Utah residents during this period remembered the Abel family as traveling up and down the Wasatch front (a mountain valley stretch of contiguous towns from Provo to Ogden) entertaining audiences with their minstrel shows:

It seems most likely that Abel played the fiddle or violin, while the family – including eight children between the ages of about one and twenty years old – acted, danced, sang, or played along with their father on other instruments. "There was a family of colored folks by the name of Able [sic]," remembered one Utah resident, "who went around from ward to ward and put on performances for the public."[50]

In 1871, Abel's son Moroni passed away, followed by Abel's wife in 1877 from pneumonia.[51] Abel remained a faithful member of the LDS Church throughout his life and served a final mission to Ohio and Canada in 1883–84, during which he became ill. His worsening health resulted in his return to Utah in December 1884. Abel died two weeks after his return, on Christmas Day.[52][53] His body was interred at the Salt Lake City Cemetery alongside his wife, and his original grave marker is inscribed with the words: "Elijah Able—At Rest."[54]

Disputes over priesthood

[edit]

Meeting in Cincinnati, 1843

[edit]

On June 25, 1843, a regional conference occurred in Cincinnati presided over by LDS Church apostles John E. Page, Orson Pratt, Heber C. Kimball, and future-apostle Lorenzo Snow.[55] During the conference, questions regarding Abel and his membership were addressed, including the acknowledgement of recent complaints about Abel's public preaching activity.[10][7] Page stated that while "he respected a coloured Brother, wisdom forbid that we should introduce [him] before the public."[55] Pratt and Kimball supported Page's statements, and the leaders resolved to restrict Abel's activities as a member of the church.[55]

While previously in Canada, Abel's activity to encourage flight from Canada and its civil uprisings to the American "Zion" was viewed with disdain, and was seen by the Canadians as "pro-American sympathizing". The former missionary associates who accused him cited Abel's claims "that there would be stakes of Zion in all the world".[7][28] However, despite these allegations of teaching what was perceived by some to be "false doctrine",[56] no disciplinary action was taken against Abel.[3][7] At the conclusion of the conference, Abel was called to serve a second mission locally, but he was instructed to visit and teach "only the coloured population".[55] The leaders of the conference in Cincinnati made no statement that the resolution of the meeting had been based on divine revelation or that it constituted any sort of doctrinal mandate, but rather they deemed it prudent to address the dynamic racial and politically turbulent climate of the times.[8][55]

The 1849 priesthood ban

[edit]

In 1849, Brigham Young issued a church-wide ban on black men from being ordained to the priesthood. The policy's initial reveal by Young to the Twelve may have occurred up to two years earlier at Winter Quarters, Nebraska.[57] Young's pronouncements in 1849 constitute the earliest known statements which officially exclude those of African descent from a temple endowment or the wielding of priesthood power. This decision may have been brought about in part by the actions of William McCary, an African-American convert to the church living in Cincinnati, who believed he was a prophet and claimed on various occasions to be Jesus and Adam, father of the human race.[10][7] In 1847, as the Saints resided at Winter Quarters, McCary was excommunicated, following the discovery of various unauthorized polygamous sealings performed in his home.[3][10][7] As members of the LDS Church continued to migrate to the West, Mormons were exposed to a larger population of blacks, and anti-black political attitudes continued to increase among church members.[8][10][7] Other black members of the church such as Q. Walker Lewis[3] also found themselves and their church membership under scrutiny during this period.

By 1847, Abel's priesthood authority had begun to be challenged, despite his well-respected status within the church community.[8][58] Even after the 1849 official prohibition for all Latter-day Saint "brethren of color," Abel remained involved in the church.[59] As one who already held the priesthood, he continued to serve as a seventy in Cincinnati from 1842 to 1853,[60] and in the autumn of 1883 served another mission to Cincinnati shortly before his death.[61]

Denial of temple ordinances

[edit]

After moving to Utah Territory, Abel asked Brigham Young for permission to be sealed to his wife and children, which was denied.[8][21] Abel again requested a sealing five years later to his deceased wife, son, and daughter—this time from President John Taylor, who then passed it on for the body of the Twelve to consider.[3][21] Abel's request was again refused, and he was not allowed to enter the temple to be endowed.[8][21][62]

1879 meeting regarding Joseph Smith's statements

[edit]

On May 31, 1879, a meeting was held at the residence of Provo mayor Abraham O. Smoot to discuss the conflicting versions of Joseph Smith's views on black men and the priesthood, in response to Abel's petition to be sealed to his recently deceased wife.[63][40] 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.[1][4] Coltrin claimed, however, that Abel had been ordained as a Seventy in exchange for his work on the temples at Kirtland and Nauvoo, but that Joseph Smith had later realized his "error" and promptly "dropped" Abel from the quorum because of "his lineage".[21][40] Coltrin reported having this conversation with Joseph Smith in 1834—yet Abel had not received the priesthood nor had been made a Seventy until 1836, and construction had not even begun on the Nauvoo Temple until 1841, thus making it impossible to have been "dropped" from any such capacity in 1834.[40] 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.[3][21]

The "Smoot meeting" was essentially a reaffirmation of the church's 1849 policy of excluding black men from receiving the priesthood. Beyond suddenly bringing into question Abel's long-held authority in a high-profile and likely humiliating setting, the meeting did not change the fact that Abel held the priesthood.[40]

1879 meetings with Taylor, Smith, and the Seventy

[edit]

In 1879, Abel was present at two separate meetings regarding his priesthood authority.[1][4] At these meetings 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. He had also recounted "his appointment an[d] ordination as a Seventy, and a member of the 3rd Quorum." Abel recalled for them Joseph's personal words to him: "that those… called to the Melchisadec [sic] Priesthood [having] magnified that calling would be sealed up unto eternal life."[64][8][58] At these meetings, Abel himself defended his priesthood before church authorities, outlining its timeline and reaffirming that Joseph Smith himself had told him he was "entitled to the priesthood".[65][58] 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.[7] At the end of these meetings, John Taylor concluded that Joseph Smith had made "an exception" and had given Abel the priesthood despite his race—perhaps because he was of primarily European descent, and perhaps because he had further proved his worthiness by helping to advance and to build the early church. Taylor moved to honor Smith's decision and ruled that Abel's priesthood would be "allowed to remain".[8][58]

Posthumous commentary on Abel's priesthood

[edit]

After Abel's death, LDS Church president Joseph F. Smith on multiple occasions[3][8][40] declared Abel's ordination to the priesthood as "null and void by [Joseph Smith] himself because of his blackness", suggesting based on Coltrin's previous testimony that Joseph Smith before his death had indeed repented of his initial decision that Abel receive the priesthood.[8][27] Scarcely a few years had passed since Joseph F. Smith had himself been the one to ordain Abel and to set him apart to serve his final church mission.[8][21] Apostle Joseph Fielding Smith, who later became president of the church, went so far as to suggest that there had been two Elijah Abels – one white and one black.[66][21]

Legacy

[edit]

Following Abel's death in 1884, his life and ordination to the priesthood remained a topic of conversation and debate for decades. The circumstance and story of Elijah Abel often were referenced with the rise of questions concerning black men receiving the priesthood or temple blessings.[53] All eligible men within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were admitted to the priesthood beginning in 1978, when all former restrictions based on race were lifted with the revelation received by then-prophet and church president Spencer W. Kimball. Long before this, however, Abel's son and grandson, Enoch and Elijah, had both been ordained already to the Melchizedek priesthood; Enoch was ordained an elder on November 27, 1900, and Elijah to the same office on September 29, 1935.[8][67]

In 2002, a monument was erected in Salt Lake City over Abel's gravesite by the Missouri Mormon Frontier Foundation and the Genesis Group, to memorialize Abel, his wife, and his descendants.[7][67] The monument was dedicated by LDS Church Apostle M. Russell Ballard.[68]

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d Smith, Joseph F. (1810–1884). "Elijah Able". The Joseph Smith Papers Project. Salt Lake City, Utah. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
  2. ^ a b Grave Marker of Elijah Abel. (Inscribed front). File:ElijahAbelGraveFront.jpg
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Jackson 2013.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Smith c. 1879.
  5. ^ Bowman, Matthew (2012). "Chapter 2: Little Zions: 1831-1839". The Mormon People: The Making of an American Faith. New York: Random House. p. 46. ISBN 978-0679644903.
  6. ^ 125: Elijah Ables' Attempt for Temple Blessings (Part 5 of 6 Russell Stevenson), archived from the original on December 12, 2021, retrieved May 21, 2021
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Stevenson 2013.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Reeve 2015.
  9. ^ Jackson 2013, pp. 10–11.
  10. ^ a b c d e f Bringhurst 1984.
  11. ^ a b c Reasons; Patrick (July 15, 1971). "They Had a Dream: Elijah Abel". The Troy Record. Troy, New York. p. 18. Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  12. ^ Hawkins 1985.
  13. ^ Anderson, Martha (1980). Black Pioneers of the Northwest 1800–1918. p. 217.
  14. ^ a b 1850 Census. The census record registers Mary Ann Adams Abel as being 19 years old, and her husband Elijah Abel as being 42 years old, which effectively pushes back his birthdate to 1808.
  15. ^ a b c d Patriarchal Blessing of Elijah Abel, c. 1836, recorded by W. A. Cowdery with penned preamble, "[Patriarchal] Blessing of Elijah Able [sic] who was born in Frederick County, Maryland, July 25th 1808." "Joseph Smith’s Patriarchal Blessing Record" (1833–1843), 88. LDS Church Archives.
  16. ^ Bush, Jr., Lester E. (1984). "Chapter 2: A Commentary on Stephen G. Taggart's 'Mormonism's Negro Policy: Social and Historical Origins'. Note 8". In Bush Jr., Lester E.; Mauss, Armand L. (eds.). Neither White nor Black: Mormon Scholars Confront the Race Issue in a Universal Church. Midvale, Utah: Signature Books. ISBN 9780941214223. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
  17. ^ a b Hawkins 1985, p. 2.
  18. ^ Jackson 2013, p. 20.
  19. ^ Jackson 2013, p. 23.
  20. ^ Jackson 2013, p. 31.
  21. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Embry 1994.
  22. ^ Jackson 2013, p. 55.
  23. ^ a b Jackson 2013, p. 47.
  24. ^ Jackson 2013, pp. 49–54.
  25. ^ Jenson, Andrew (1936). Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. Salt Lake City, Utah: The Andrew Jenson History Company. p. 697 (4 volumes: 1901-1936). It appears that the blessing was pronounced on or after March 30, 1836, when the "washing" ordinance was first introduced to the Saints and nearer the time of Abel's priesthood licensing on March 31; or perhaps in December, at the time of his ordination as a Seventy. ISBN 978-1589580312.
  26. ^ Jackson 2013, pp. 56–60.
  27. ^ a b c d e f Bringhurst 1981.
  28. ^ a b c d e Underwood, Grant (1999) [1993]. The Millenarian World of Early Mormonism. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. pp. 26–36, 49–51, 63–72. ISBN 978-0252068263.
  29. ^ Kinney, Eunice. (July 5, 1885). Letter to Wingfield Watson. L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University. Provo, Utah. See also Eunice Kinney, "My Testimony of the Latter Day Work". (c. 1885). Microfilm typescript, MS 4226. LDS Church Archives.
  30. ^ a b Hawkins 1985, p. 3.
  31. ^ Jackson 2013, p. 65.
  32. ^ Jackson 2013, p. 66.
  33. ^ Jackson 2013, pp. 66–67.
  34. ^ Hawkins 1985, p. 4.
  35. ^ Jackson 2013, p. 7.
  36. ^ Priesthood License of Elijah Abel. (March 31, 1836). Recorded by Joseph Smith, Jr. and Frederick G. Williams. Michael Marquardt Papers, box 6, folder 1. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah. See also a scanned image of the certificate at the online document repository of The Joseph Smith Papers Project.
  37. ^ Prince, Stephen L. (2017). "Chapter 7: Rising Through the Ranks". Hosea Stout: Lawman, Legislator, Mormon Defender. Logan: Utah State University Press. pp. 87–88. ISBN 978-1607326403.
  38. ^ History of the Church, 4:365.
  39. ^ Jackson 2013, p. 79.
  40. ^ a b c d e f Givens, Terryl L.; Barlow, Philip L., eds. (2015). "Chapter 24: Mormons and Race". The Oxford Handbook of Mormonism. Oxford Handbooks. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199778362.
  41. ^ a b Mary Adams' Parents. The Ohio county of residence of Mary Ann's parents (John and Anna Weston Adams) at the time of their deaths — Hamilton, located just 15 miles north of Cincinnati – is, curiously, the home county of Ezekiel Roberts, the Mormon elder who baptized Elijah Abel in 1832. Stevenson (2014) suggests, therefore, that Hamilton County may have been where Elijah was baptized. But also, as Mary's family were erstwhile residents of Hamilton (perhaps moving there, to Mount Healthy township, after Mary's birth in Nashville), it may also have been where Elijah was first introduced to Mary. Hamilton County lies 60 miles south of Miami County, where lived, according to Jackson (2013), a possible sister of Elijah, Nancy Abel Rousten.
  42. ^ a b Jackson 2013, p. 84.
  43. ^ a b Coleman, Ronald Gerald (1980). A History of Blacks in Utah: 1825–1910. Harold B. Lee Library; Provo, Utah: Unpublished. p. 59.
  44. ^ Jackson 2013, p. 90.
  45. ^ Jackson 2013, pp. 94.
  46. ^ a b Jackson 2013, p. 91.
  47. ^ Jackson 2013, pp. 90–91.
  48. ^ "Elijah Abel". blacklds.org. May 27, 2014. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
  49. ^ Hawkins 1985, p. 6.
  50. ^ Jackson 2013, p. 95.
  51. ^ Jackson 2013, pp. 95–96.
  52. ^ Jackson 2013, p. 103.
  53. ^ a b Hawkins 1985, p. 8.
  54. ^ "Cemeteries and Burials Database: Burial Information: ABLE, ELIJAH and ABLE, MARY". Salt Lake City, Utah: Utah Division of State History. Archived from the original on April 11, 2018. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  55. ^ a b c d e Jackson 2013, p. 77.
  56. ^ The allegations against Abel had originally surfaced in a June 1, 1839, meeting convened at Quincy, Illinois – during the time when Joseph Smith was laboring with the struggling Missouri-driven Saints in establishing their new home at Commerce (Nauvoo). As such, Smith was not present at the hearing. Convened at the Quincy meeting were quorum members and presiding officers of the Seventy, as well as a young Jedediah M. Grant. Grant had been selected as the priesthood representative to convey to the body of the Seventy the complaints brought before them by Abel's missionary associates. Abel himself was in absentia. Also testifying at the hearing were John Broeffle and his cousins John & George Beckstead, Robert Burton, and Moses Smith. Abel had previously been offered refuge in the Becksteads' father's home while being pursued by a mob (Stevenson, 2013, p. 200).
  57. ^ Esplin, Ronald K. (1979). "Brigham Young and Priesthood Denial to the Blacks: An Alternate View". BYU Studies Quarterly. Vol. 19, no. 3. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University. pp. 394–402. Esplin's argument is not generally accepted, not only in light of Joseph Smith's 1836 priesthood sanctioning and licensing of Abel, but also given Young's conciliatory and apparently open views on the issue as evidenced in his March 1847 remarks to William McCary. Esplin does point out, however, that Young – in his remarks of February 5, 1852, to the Utah Territorial Legislature (the day after slavery had been codified into Utah law) — promised that there would be a future general bestowal of the priesthood to blacks: "That time will come when they will have the privilege of all we have the privilege of and more". Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  58. ^ a b c d Jackson 2013, p. 99.
  59. ^ A formal reiteration of LDS Church policy regarding the 1849 priesthood ban was codified into law by Utah's territorial legislature on February 4, 1852, one month after Governor Brigham Young appeared before that body on January 16 to formally petition for the policy's codification. See Lester E. Bush, Jr. (1984). Chapter 3: "Mormonism’s Negro Doctrine: An Historical Overview," in Lester E. Bush, Jr. and Armand L. Mauss (eds). Neither White nor Black: Mormon Scholars Confront the Race Issue in a Universal Church. Midvale, Utah: Signature Books.
  60. ^ Meeting Minutes, June 25, 1843. "Conference of Elders of the Church," Cincinnati, Ohio. LDS Church Archives.
  61. ^ "Deaths," Deseret News, December 25, 1884.
  62. ^ Jackson 2013, p. 100.
  63. ^ Jackson 2013, p. 96.
  64. ^ "A Record of all the Quorums of Seventies in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints". (March 5, 1879). CR3/51, box 3, folder 2. LDS Church Archives.
  65. ^ "Council Meeting Minutes". (June 4, 1879). Lester E. Bush papers, Special Collections, J. Williard Marriott Library, University of Utah.
  66. ^ Letter of Joseph Fielding Smith to Mrs. Floren S. Preece, January 18, 1955. S. George Ellsworth Papers, Utah State University, Logan (see also Letter from Joseph Fielding Smith to Joseph H. Henderson, April 10, 1963).
  67. ^ a b Bringhurst, Newell G.; Smith, Darron T., eds. (2006). "The 'Missouri Thesis' Revisisted: Early Mormonism, Slavery, and the Status of Black People". Black and Mormon. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. pp. 13–33, at p. 30. ISBN 978-0252029479
  68. ^ Arave, Lynn (September 30, 2002). "Monument in S.L. erected in honor of black pioneer". Deseret Morning News. p. B3. Archived from the original on June 23, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2009.

Sources

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Further reading

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  • Elijah Abel Black LDS site
  • Mormon Central Catalogued LDS Church documentation and correspondence regarding blacks and the priesthood