The son of a Protestant minister, Abraham Davel studied in Lausanne, where his family moved after the death of his father in 1676. In 1688 he began his career as a notary, and also worked as land commissioner in the neighbouring town of Cully. He started his military career in 1692 in the service of Prince Eugene of Savoy and John Churchill. Back in the Confederacy, he participated alongside the Bernese in the second Villmergen War of 1712. After the victory of the Protestant alliance, Davel settled in Vaud where he resumed judicial office. In 1717, he was given a sizeable pension and appointed to the rank of Major by the Bernese, and received the command of the Vaud militia of the district of Lavaux.