Elijah Abel
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Elijah Abel (July 25, 1810 – December 25, 1884) was the first black elder and seventy in the Latter Day Saint movement, and one of the few black members in the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to receive the priesthood.
Abel was born in Maryland as a slave, and is believed to have escaped slavery on the Underground Railroad into Canada. He was baptized into the Church of Christ in September 1832 by Ezekiel Roberts, and he married Mary Ann Adams, another African-American.
Abel was ordained an elder on March 3, 1836 in Kirtland, Ohio by Joseph Smith, Jr. In December 1836, he was ordained a seventy by Zebedee Coltrin and became a "duly licensed minister of the Gospel" for missionary work in Ohio.[citation needed] In 1839, Abel was made a member of the Nauvoo Seventies Quorum. While living in Nauvoo, Illinois, he worked as a mortician at the request of Joseph Smith. He was also a carpenter by profession and assisted in the construction of temples in Kirtland, Nauvoo, and Salt Lake City.
In 1841, when Smith was arrested in Quincy, Illinois, Abel was among a group of seven elders who set out from Nauvoo to try and rescue him, although by the time they reached Quincy, Smith had been taken back to Nauvoo.[1]
In 1843, Abel served a mission in New York.
In 1847, he accompanied Brigham Young to Utah Territory, where he managed a hotel. As a carpenter, he assisted in constructing the Salt Lake Temple; however, in 1853 he was barred by Young from receiving his own Endowment for reasons we know not, it might have done with him being black. There is no recorded history of why he was denied.
In Utah, Abel remained a seventy, and in 1884 he served a final mission in Canada, during which he became ill. He died upon his return home to Utah Territory.
At least two of Abel's descendants — his son Enoch and Enoch's son Elijah — were ordained to the priesthood: Enoch was ordained an elder on November 27, 1900; and Elijah was ordained an elder on September 29, 1935.[2]
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.[3]
[edit] See also
- Blacks and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- Blacks and the Latter Day Saint movement
- William McCary
- Walker Lewis
[edit] Notes
- ^ History of the Church, 4:365.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Lynn Arave, "Monument in S.L. erected in honor of black pioneer", Deseret Morning News, 2002-09-29, p. B3.
[edit] References
- "Elijah Abel and the Changing Status of Blacks Within Mormonism", 12(2) Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 22-36.
