Stevens, Abel

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Abel Stevens, 1815–97, American clergyman, noted as the historian of Methodism, b. Philadephia, studied Wesleyan Univ. He became (1834) a member of the New England Methodist Conference, and filled pastorates in Boston, Providence, and New York. His works include The History of the Religious Movement of the Eighteenth Century Called Methodism (3 vol.,1858–61), The History of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States (4 vol., 1864–67), and A Compendious History of American Methodism (1867).