[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] 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.

[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.

[32][28] Due to civil unrest and rebellion in Upper Canada, Abel's missionary travels were frequently punctuated with dangerous situations and persecutions.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[7] 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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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] 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] 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.

[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.

[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.

[8][21][62] 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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

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