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Gustavus Abeel

American religious writer (1801-1887)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionDec 27, 2025
Entity authorityQ5621534 ↗
Source-derived summary

Rev. Gustavus Abeel (June 6, 1801 – September 4, 1887) was an American pastor, missionary and writer. He was pastor of several Dutch Reformed Churches in New York and New Jersey.

Biography

Abeel was born in New York City, June 6, 1801, son of John Nielson Abeel, who was minister of the Arch Street Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Collegiate Reformed Protestant Dutch Church in New York, and grandson of Col. James S. Abeel, revolutionary soldier. He was a descendant of Albany, New York Mayor Johannes Abeel.

Abeel graduated from Union College in 1823 and then studied at New Brunswick Theological Seminary. He was ordained in the Classis of Bergen in 1824. In 1826 he became a minister of the Reformed church, and preached for a short time in English Neighborhood and in Belleville, New Jersey, while completing his Doctor of Divinity at Rutgers College. He then removed to Geneva N. Y., where in 1829 he was installed, and where he remained until 1844, when he accepted a call to preach at the new second Reformed church.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Gustavus Abeel” as american religious writer (1801-1887). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1801, 1887, 1823, 1824—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1801-06-06. The account is most persuasive where Gustavus, Abeel and American can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american religious writer (1801-1887). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 27, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q5621534. VIAF identifies the subject as 48205275. The Library of Congress control number is n85185922. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1801, 1887, 1823 and 1824.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Gustavus Abeel”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Gustavus Abeel primary sources, Gustavus Abeel archive and Gustavus research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Gustavus Abeel”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Gustavus Abeel” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.