Abel Hutchins of Concord, New Hampshire.

Abel Hutchins worked in partnership with his older brother, Levi, from 1786 through 1803. Both boys were born in Harvard, Massachusetts, the sons of Colonel Gordon Hutchins & Dolly, or Dorothy Stone. They had eleven children. Levi was born on August 17, 1761, and Abel was born two years later, on March 16, 1763. Both men lived into their nineties. 

On December 6, 1777, the brothers began an apprenticeship with Simon Willard of Grafton, Massachusetts, a renowned clockmaker whose influence helped shape the early American clockmaking industry. At this time, Levi was sixteen, and Abel was fourteen, reflecting the common practice of early apprenticeships in the late 18th century. In 1780, Levi broadened his expertise by spending approximately eight months in Abington, Connecticut, studying watchmaking. Levi later relocated to Concord, New Hampshire, where he opened a shop on Main Street and became the first clockmaker in the state to manufacture brass clocks, marking a significant development in the region's horological history. After completing his apprenticeship, Abel worked briefly in Roxbury, Massachusetts. He appears in the Roxbury tax assessor's records of 1784 and was also appointed a fireward, an important municipal role, alongside Aaron Willard and Elijah Ward. Abel's marriage to Elizabeth Partridge on January 22, 1786, in Roxbury, further connected him to prominent clockmaking families—two of Elizabeth’s sisters married Aaron Willard Jr. and Elnathan Taber, both accomplished clockmakers. Shortly after their marriage, Abel moved to Concord, NH, and joined Levi in partnership around 1786, at a time when the clockmaking trade was burgeoning in New England.

Abel and his wife lived in Concord for 67 years, having five sons and eight daughters. Soon after their marriage, Abel partnered with his brother Levi in a three-story dwelling house in the central part of the main village. Here they began what must have been a very productive business of making clocks. In 1793, Levi & Abel purchased a farm approximately three miles from their original home on the western side of Rattlesnake Hill, also called Granite Hill. In early 1807, Abel bought out his brother's interest in the partnership. He continued making clocks in the same location downtown. (Levi lived on the farm.) The shop was destroyed by fire on November 25, 1817. Abel built the Phoenix Hotel on the same site. It opened for business on January 1, 1819. He prospered as an innkeeper until he retired in 1832, when his son Ephraim took over the business.