Origins of surname
This surname is most popular in the East of England and Southern Scotland. It is uptimately derived from the personal name, and thus from the son of Adam who was killed by his brother Cain.
It was introduced by returning 12th century Crusaders and was very popular as a personal name during the Middle Ages, when there was a cult of 'suffering innocence' which Abel represented.
Early records
The name first appears in Jersey church records in 1762, when Elizabeth, daughter of John and Elizabeth Abel, was baptised in St Helier. It was not uptil 1809, when Mary Elizabeth, the first of four children of Ludwig Friedrich Abel and Mary Vonburg, was baptised, that a family became established.
However, the baptism records for St Helier at this time are somewhat confusing. They show successive entries for baptisms of children of Ludwig Friedrich and Mary Vonberg, Michael and Mary Brumlot, Lewis Frederick and Mary Vanberg, Lewis Frederick and Mary Brumlot, Johann Michael and Mary Brumlot.
The marriage records do not help, because the first three Abel entries in St Helier are for Ludwig Frederick (German) and Mary Vivian in 1803, Ludwig Frederick and Mary Vonberg in 1807, and Michel and Marie Brumlot in 1810.
Ludwig Frederick and Johann Michael are believed to be the correct names for the fathers, and it is thought that they were brothers.
In the accompanying tree we have done our best to untangle the mess, but without any great confidence in the result.
Variants
- Abel
- Able
- Abele
- Abelle
- Abels
- Abeles
- Abells
- Abelson
- Ableson
Family records
Family trees
Church records
- Abel baptisms in Jersey
- Abel marriages in Jersey (groom)
- Abel marriages in Jersey (bride)
- Abel burials in Jersey
Occupation records
Family wills
These wills created by members of the Abel family are now held by Jersey Archive. By visiting the archive site and using the names, dates and reference numbers shown here, it is possible to view a copy of each will. You will have to subscribe to the Archive's online service to do this. To find out more about this collection, which covers the period from 1663 to 1980, and how to search for your family's wills there, visit our Jersey wills page
- Abel : Keith Edward Hadwin , of 38a, Crossfields, Tarvin, Cheshire and formerly of 27, Clydesdale, Whitby, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire - 04/Nov/1965 , 21/Aug/1975 , D/Y/B1/227/23
- Abel : Walter , of 41, Broom Lane, Salford, Lancashire - 28/May/1959 , 01/Jun/1971 , D/Y/B1/159/48
Burial records
Family businesses
1855 advert for John George Abel son of John Michael and Marie Brumlot ...
... the business did not last very long because in 1857 Mr Abel's possessions were being sold by order of the Court
1881 advert for Adolphus William Abel - see picture at top of page
Family album
Gertrude Ada Abel
Frederick Walter Abel
Abel - Roberts wedding
Abel wedding in 1906
Three Abel sisters with their husbands and children
Henriette Martha Abel (1853-1893) with her husband Charles William Hamon (top left), his brothers and his father
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Tips
The church record links above will open in a new tab in your browser and generate the most up-to-date list of each set of records from our database. These lists replace earlier Family page baptism lists, which were not regularly updated. They have the added advantage that they produce a chronological listing for the family name in all parishes, so you do not have to search through A-Z indexes, parish by parish.
We have included some important spelling variants on some family pages, but it may be worth searching for records for a different spelling variant. Think of searching for variants with or without a prefix, such as Le or De. To search for further variants, or for any other family name, just click on the appropriate link below for the first letter of the family name, and a new tab will open, giving you the option to choose baptism, marriage or burial records. You will then see a list of available names for that type of record and you can select any name from that list. That will display all records of the chosen type for that family name, and you can narrow the search by adding a given name, selecting a parish or setting start and end dates in the form you will see above. You can also change the family name, or search for a partial name if you are not certain of the spelling
The records are displayed 30 to a page, but by selecting the yellow Wiki Table option at the top left of the page you can open a full, scrollable list. This list will either be displayed in a new tab or a pop-up window. You may have to edit the settings of your browser to allow pop-up windows for www.jerripediabmd.net. For the small number of family names for which a search generates more than 1,500 records you will have to refine your search (perhaps using start or end dates) to reduce the number of records found.
New records
Since August 2020 we have added several thousand new records from the registers of Roman Catholic, Methodist and other non-conformist churches. These will appear in date order within a general search of the records and are also individually searchable within the database search form
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