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Rufus Abel was born September 12, 1851, at Knoxville, in Knox County, Tennessee, the son of Joseph Abel and Christina Kiesel.
Rufus' family moved to Keokuk County, Iowa prior to 1855. Rufus appears with his family on the 1860 and 1870 Keokuk County census in Jackson Township. The 1870 census lists him as 19 years old.
Rufus married Nancy Catherine Farmer on September 3, 1874, at Richland, in Keokuk County. Nancy Catherine Farmer was born April 5, 1853, at Mt. Pleasant, in Henry County, Iowa, the daughter of Charles C. Farmer and Lucy Mildred Menefee.
The 1880 Keokuk County census shows Rufus, 28, a farmer; Nancy, 27; Asbury, 5; Alta, 3; and Ivy, 4 months old, born in February. They were living in Jackson Township next door to his brother Christopher Columbus Abel and his family.
The family moved to North Dakota prior to 1900. The 1900 Benson County, North Dakota census, Knox Township, shows Rufus Able, 48, born September 1851, in Tennessee, father and mother born in Tennessee, married 26 years, a farmer who owned his farm; Nancy, wife, 47, born April 1853, in Iowa, father born in Kentucky, mother born in Virginia, married 26 years, had given birth to 5 children, 4 children still living; and Joseph, son, 16, born January 1884, in Iowa, a laborer.
Nancy died December 31, 1929, at New England, in Hettinger County, North Dakota. Rufus died there October 7, 1932.
Children of Rufus Abel and Nancy Farmer
1. Asbury Abel, b. 1875, Keokuk Co, IA
2. Alta Mae Abel, b. 1877, Keokuk Co, IA
3. Iva Elmina Abel, b. 1880, Keokuk Co, IA
4. Joseph Covington Abel, b. 1884, Keokuk Co, IA
5. Christina Lucy Abel, b. Jan 23, 1884, Keokuk Co, IA; d. Dec 11, 1894, Keokuk Co.
6. Charles Abel (?)