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The earliest ABEL's of this family originated from the western highlands of Connecticut, in the northwestern part of the state in a small village town called Sharon, in Litchfield County, at the base of Indian Mountain, along the Webatuk River. Sharon is made up of mountains on the east and rolling plains to the west, along the New York line. The entire area was a rugged and rocky area, resulting in miles of stone fences, built by residents to clear the land for farming. (See more on Sharon...)

Ira ABEL first shows up in the Census in 1830. According to subsequent censuses, Ira was born in Connecticut in 1800, and Almira in 1805. Ira and Almira HINE married in Sharon, in 1826, on September 10th. Their son Myron was born in Connecticut four years later in 1829. Daughter Adeline's date of birth is anywhere from 1829 to 1835, and Ruth was born in 1834. Then came sons Henry in 1836, and William in 1838.

By the 1840 census, Ira (40) and his wife (35), were living in Ohio, Medina co, Litchfield township, with three sons, one under the age of 5 (William, 2), one between the ages of 5 and 10 (Henry, 5), and one between the ages 10 and 15 (Myron, 12), and three daughters, one under five (Sarah, born in 1840), and two of them between the ages of 5 and 10 (Ruth A, 7 and Adeline, age uncertain). Charles, the fourth son of Ira and Almira, was born in Ohio, in 1843.

By 1848, the family had moved to Alpine, Michigan, in Kent county. The 1850 census shows Ira was then 50, his wife Almira, 46, and their childen, Ruth A, 17, Henry, 15, William, 12, Sarah, 10, Charles, 7, Favorite, 3, and Myron, 22. One year later in 1851, daughter Amy J. was born. 

Adeline, Ira and Almira's eldest daughter, married Levi WATERS on December 30, 1848 and had three children, David Leroy, Luesa J. and Frances Addella. (See Sketch of Levi Waters)

Ira and Almira ABEL's daughter, Ruth, married Robert GIBSON, October 28, 1854, and died on November 3, 1871. Sarah married Andrew LAMOREAUX. Favorite married George GILBERT.

In 1860, at the age of 24, son Henry was living in the home of Henry Brock, in Grand Rapids, Illlinois, in LaSalle county, working as a farm laborer. Ira and Almira lived nearby in the Farm Ridge, community, SW of Ottowa, with William, 22, still living at home, along with Charles, 17, Favorite, 12, and Amy J. just 9 years old. 

Charles enlisted into the Civil War in 1862 with the Illinois Volunteer Infantry from LaSalle county, Illinois. Henry and William also served in the same unit. (See Civil War sketch of Charles military service.) (See sketch of William Abel, including Civil War experiences.)

In 1865, with Ira and his family still in Farm Ridge, William (now 27) and Charles (22) were still living with their parents. Ira was still listed as a farmer as his occupation. Daughters Amy J., (14), and Favorite, (17) were also shown living with their parents.

By August 9, of the same year (1865), Charles married Anna Maria TAYLOR (b.April 27, 1847, Dover/Folkstone, Kent county, England), in Ottowa, Illinois, in the home of Miss Lizzie Stanley. Their son, Henry Milton, was born two years later, in 1867, in Springfield, Sangamon county, Illinois.

By 1870, 70 year old Ira, and his 66 year old wife (Almira) were still living in LaSalle county in Illinois. In 1874, Ir and Almira began a train ride on their way to live with their eldest son, Myron, in Kent county, Michigan. Along the way, there was a train wreck (See account of train wreck), which resulted in the death of Ira. After Ira's death, Almira lived with Myron until she died several years later in 1888, also in Michigan. Myron died in 1905 at the home of his son's, Ed's, who lived in Pierson Township, Montcalm County. Myron also had two daughters, Louise (who married a WOODHALL), and Edith (who married a SIMCOE), and another son, Robert H., who died as an infant, of brain fever, at 1 year, 7 months, and 28 days, on September 24, 1869, in Vergenes, Kent county, Michigan. Myron was married to Sarah LAMBERTON on April 21, 1866.

Charles moved his wife and son to Nebraska in 1872. (Perhaps this was when Ira moved back to Michigan.) Alice Edna was born here in 1873 and Mary A. in 1875..

By 1879, son Charles, 34, lived with his family in Dodge county, Nebraska, including his wife Annie M., 33, and their children, Henry, 12, Alice, 6, and Mary A., 5. Both of the girls were born in Nebraska. Charles farmed a piece of land near Hooper, Nebraska in Maple township.

In 1883, Charles and Annie lost their two youngest children just weeks apart. Little Mima (Mary), at eight and a half years old, died on September 22, and baby Frankie, barely eight months old, died less than two weeks later, on October 5, 1883. The two little ones share a tombstone in Bethel Methodist Cemetery, near Hooper, Nebraska in Dodge County.

Charles died April 19, 1895, in Hooper, of rheumatism and heart disease. On April 29, 1893, in Hooper, Nebraska, Annie remarried to Samuel MILGRIM, originally from Virginia, but whose parents were born in Germany. This marriage took place in Hooper on April 29, 1895. Annie died December 18, 1915 of gallstones. Both Charles and Annie are buried side by side at the Hooper Cemetery just outside of Hooper, Nebraska.

Henry, Charles and Annie's son, married Clara May OLDS-COWAN (b.February 26, 1865, Fairfield, Jefferson County, Iowa) on December 26, 1892, in Corning, Adams County, Iowa.

Charles died in 1895. April 29, 1895, in Hooper, Annie was married to Samuel MILGRIM, originally from Virginia, but whose parents were born in Germany.

Henry married Clara May OLDS-COWAN on December 26, 1892, in Fremont, Nebraska, in Dodge county. Alice married Alvin A. COOPER September 21, 1896 in Hooper, Nebraska.

Marriage Announcement of
Henry Abel & Clara Olds-Cowan
December 26, 1892

There were seven children born to Henry and Clara ABEL: Ruth Cowan, b. 1893, Paul Charles, b. 1897, Catherine, b. 1899, Alfred, b. 1902 in Oelwein, Fayette county, Iowa, Ernest, b. 1905, and Fern, born in 1908. The family lived in Washington state for about an eight year period. Clara died in Fremont, Nebraska, on October 7, 1927, and Henry on April 26, 1955, also in Fremont. He had been in failing health, suffering a stroke one week before his death, and never regained consciousness, dying at the Fremont Rest Home.

Alice, Charles and Annie's daughter, married Alvin A. COOPER, September 23, 1896 in Hooper, Nebraska. They had five children:
Floyd, b.Feb 10, 1898 - Mar 1970,
Maima A. b.1889, and married to George English,
Alice Belle, b.Aug 10 1905 - Apr 20, 1968, married to John Green Ravenscroft,
and Harold, dates unknown.