Elijah Abel

Life

Abel was born in Maryland on July 25 to Delila Williams and Andrew Abel. It is unclear what year he was born. Some sources put the year at 1808, others at 1810. Abel's mother was a slave from South Carolina, and his family later moved to Canada, possibly by way of the underground railroad. He was baptized into the church in September 1832 by Ezekiel Roberts. Soon after, Abel moved to Kirtland, Ohio to live with the main body of Latter-day Saints.

Elijah Abel was ordained an elder of the church March 3, 1836. Six months after his ordination, Abel was made a member of the Seventies Quorum on December 20, 1836. At this time he was also given his patriarchal blessing from Joseph Smith, Sr. 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." During the late 1830s, Abel worked as a missionary in New York and Canada. In June 1838, while Abel was serving in St. Lawrence County, New York, he baptized Eunice Kenney. Abel's missionary travels were often punctuated with similar troubles and persecutions, a circumstance not unfamiliar to Mormon missionaries as many of them faced similar trials at that time.

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 baptisms for the dead, of which Abel is known to have performed at least two: one for a friend "John F. Lancaster" and one for his mother. Another of Abel's duties included acting as a mortician at the request of Joseph Smith. 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.

In 1842 Abel moved again, this time to Cincinnati, Ohio. Here he continued to be a carpenter and married Mary Ann Adams. Abel acted as a leader of the church in Cincinnati, and was recognized as such by Joseph Smith, who stated "Go to Cincinnati ... 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." Not all church leaders were as accepting of Abel, however.

Meeting in Cincinnati, 1843

In June 1843, a regional conference occurred in Cincinnati where the apostles John E. Page, Orson Pratt, and Heber C. Kimball presided. During the conference questions regarding Abel and his membership were addressed. Apostle John E. Page stated that while "he respected a coloured Brother, wisdom forbid that we should introduce (him) before the public". Pratt and Kimball supported Page's statements, and the leaders resolved to restrict Abel's activities as a member of the church. At the conclusion of the conference, Abel was called to serve a second mission locally and was instructed to visit and teach only the "coloured population". The meeting also met to address some of Abel's potentially threatening actions, but no disciplinary action was taken. Up until 1843, Abel suffered no discrimination in the church. The results of the conference, however, became a turning point to Abel and other colored, faithful members of the church. For the first time, race was used as a criterion for limiting church activities. The leaders of the conference, however, made no statement that would suggest the resolution of the meeting to be based on revelation or as some doctrinal order, but rather as an act of prudence to address the dynamic racial climate of the time.

Blacks enjoyed full fellowship in the church — holding priesthood office included — up until 1849 when Brigham Young, the prophet of the church at the time, issued a church-wide ban on blacks being able to have the priesthood. Young would then make the earliest known statement declaring a black priesthood ban, stating, "The Lord had cursed Cain's seed with blackness and prohibited them the priesthood." This decision may have been brought about by the actions of William McCary, an African American convert to the church who believed he was a prophet and claimed on various occasions to be Jesus and Adam, father of the human race. McCary was also known to perform sealings in his own house and was later excommunicated in 1847. Despite this banning of priesthood rights, many blacks were still able to hold church office and lead congregations. Joseph T. Ball, for example, was the leader of a Boston congregation, and supposedly the first black to do so. Abel himself also enjoyed opportunities for involvement in the church after this declaration. He completed three missions for the church: one in the 1830s, one in the 1840s, and the last in his local area in 1843. In addition, as the church moved out West, Mormons were exposed to a larger population of blacks and anti-black political attitudes continued to increase. Other influential black members include Black Pete, a member who came to Ohio and later became notorious for claiming to be a revelator. He was later disfellowshipped by Joseph Smith because of his false teachings. One Q. Walker Lewis from Lowell, Massachusetts also found himself a item of scrutiny during this period. Lewis was ordained an elder by William Smith, Joseph Smith Jr.'s younger brother. By 1847, his authority was challenged despite his being well-respected in the church community.

Later years

In 1853, Abel and his family migrated in the Appleton Harmon pioneer company to Utah Territory, the new headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Abel continued to work as a carpenter while in Utah as part of the LDS public works program, one of his main projects being the Salt Lake Temple. In addition to his carpentry, the Abels managed the Farnham Hotel. By 1860, two more children were born to Elijah and Mary Ann. Very little is known about the personal lives of the Abel family. They moved to Ogden, Utah for a short time before returning to Salt Lake City. Although it is unclear how many children Elijah and Mary Ann had, they had at least one daughter named Delilah, after Abel's mother.

In Utah, Abel remained a member of the seventy and continued to be active in church activities. He was re-baptized in 1857 as part of the "Mormon Reformation". Abel's wife Mary Ann died in 1878. 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. Elijah Abel was buried at the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

Denial of temple ordinances

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 Brigham Young for permission to be sealed to his wife and children, which was denied. Abel requested a sealing again five years later, this time to President John Taylor. His request was again denied, and he was also not allowed to enter the temple to be endowed.

1879 meeting on ordination controversy

While there were no attempts to take away Abel's priesthood authority, that authority was repeatedly challenged by church leaders. In 1879, a meeting was held at Abraham Smoot's house to discuss the conflicting versions of Joseph Smith's views on blacks and the priesthood. According to L. John Nuttall, who detailed the meeting in his journal, John Taylor acknowledged an account of a discussion between Zebedee Coltrin and Joseph Smith. Allegedly, Coltrin had gone to Smith with questions regarding blacks and the priesthood, believing that they should not have those rights. Smith responded to him with the account of the Apostle Peter's vision in Acts 10, in which he was commanded by God to teach the Gentiles despite being a Jew himself. However, Coltrin, who was present at the meeting, denied that this conversation ever took place. It is unclear where Taylor received this information from.

Some sources state that Abel was ordained by Joseph Smith, while other records indicate that he was ordained to the priesthood by Zebedee Coltrin. Despite the incongruity of the sources, Abel's ordination to the Seventy was performed by Coltrin. In his own words Coltrin recounts "I said I never would again Annoint another person who had Negro blood in him. [sic] unless I was commanded by the Prophet to do so." It is apparent that Coltrin acted voluntarily, but did so with another motive than to solely have him anointed. 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. John Taylor stated that Abel had been given the priesthood, but that it had later been removed. Furthermore, another version of this encounter states that Joseph declared blacks could be baptized, but not have the priesthood. Neither version has proper evidence supporting it. In the end, the meeting of 1879 was not directly about Abel and his holding the priesthood, but resulted in the reaffirmation of the policy banning blacks from having the priesthood.

Seventy Meeting

Two months after the meeting in 1879, the Quorum of the Twelve met again to discuss Abel's situation in particular. This meeting was convened in response to Abel's petition to be sealed to his dying wife. John Taylor, John Muttall, Abraham O. Smoot, Zebedee Coltrin and Abel himself were all in attendance.

This meeting was held not to address the position that Brigham Young previously held about the issue, but rather to revisit Joseph Smith Jr.'s stance — one that seemed incongruent with Young's. In the meeting, Abel recounted his history with the church and his ordination. Abel defended himself and the authority given to him with accounts of Joseph's assurance that as a Melchizedek priesthood holder, he was promised the blessing to be "sealed up into eternal life" just as every other Melchizedek priesthood holder had been promised. To Abel, this meant a temple sealing with his family, a blessing that was later be denied to him on multiple occasions. Despite the confusing evidence, John Taylor was convinced enough to let Young's current ban stand.

In 1904, Church President Joseph F. Smith declared Abel's ordination to the priesthood as "declared null and void by the [Joseph Smith] himself because of his blackness". 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. LDS Apostle Joseph Fielding Smith went so far as to suggest that there had been two Elijah Abels—one white and one black.

Legacy

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 temple blessings arose, the story of Elijah Abel was often told.

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.

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