Abel was the twin brother of Theophilus Adgate; they were named for their grandfather, Theophilus Abell. Their mother, Mary Abell, seems to have died shortly after they were born.

Abel served in Capt. Schoonmaker's Company of the NY Militia during the War 0f 1812162,163.

From J.D. Dillenback:
“ Later in the same year (1836), Amos Russell, John S. Morse, and Abel Adgate, having heard much of the beauty of the “Otisco Plains”, started from Oakland (Michigan) to have a look at them. On arriving at Ionia, they obtained the services of John E. Morrison, then and now a resident of Ionia, to pilot them through the wilderness to their “Promised Land”, paying him fifteen dollars. Considering the value of money at that date, and the distance - as it seems now about fifteen miles - it seems like an exorbitant price for a guide. But numerous swamps and streams intervened in anything like a direct line to Otisco, and their guide took then by an Indian trail down Grand River to the mouth of Flat River; then up Flat River to the south line of Otisco, from which point our explorers made their way as best they could, as no section lines had then been surveyed, only the township lines having been run.
Russell and Morse made selections of land under the preemption law, and returned to Oakland County to arrange for bringing their families. But Adgate, appalled by the prospective hardships of the enterprise, concluded he did not want a “Lodge in such a Vast Wilderness” and made a settlement nearer, in Ionia.”164

Census Tracking:
* 1820 - Liberty, Sullivan Co., New York
* 1830 - Thompson, Sullivan Co., New York
* 1835 State Census of Virgil, Cortland Co., New York
* 1840 - Cass, Ionia Co., Michigan