175 years ago today - 1836. December 20

[General] (Elijah Abel) : Ordained a member of the Third Quorum of Seventy in Kirtland, Ohio. His ordination was certified in Nauvoo. In 1902 President Joseph F. Smith recalled a seventies meeting held in Utah on March 4, 1879: "Bro Elijah Able [sic] gave an outline of his history and experiences during a period of forty years. Of his being in Kirtland. Of his appointment an[d] ordination as a Seventy, and a member of the 3rd Quorum. He related some of the saying[s] of the prophet Joseph who told him that those who were called to the Melchisadec [sic] Priesthood and had magnified that calling would be sealed up unto eternal life."

[Source: Van Wagoner, Richard and Walker, Steven C., A Book of Mormons, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]