[1] He was educated at the Fayette grammar school and upon completion attended the Washington University in St. Louis, and later Dartmouth College from where he graduated in 1870.

[1] Leonard was ordained deacon on June 29, 1873 in the Church of the Transfiguration, New York City, and priest on November 4, 1873 at St Mary's Church in Fayette, Missouri, on both occasion by the Bishop of Missouri Charles Franklin Robertson.

[6] He was then consecrated on January 25, 1888 at Christ Church in St. Louis by Bishop Thomas Hubbard Vail of Kansas.

After another realignment in 1898 the Missionary District of Salt Lake which included Nevada was created and this was overseen by Leonard until his death in 1903.

[8] Abiel Leonard died from typhoid fever in Salt Lake City on December 3, 1903.