A short history of the mormon pioneer, Isaac allred

8/7/2019 A short history of the mormon pioneer, Isaac allred

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Isaac ALLRED (010205)Allred Progenitors: (William, Thomas)Born: 01/27/1788 Pendleton, SCDied: 11/13/1870 Spring City, Sanpete Co., UTSubmitted by: Sharon Allred Jessop (www.allredfamily.org)

A Short History of the Mormon Pioneer,ISAAC ALLREDby Rulon C. Allred Contributed by Melba F. Allred William Allred, the father of Isaac, was born in Hillsborough District,Randolph County, North Carolina. John, Thomas, William and ElizabethAllred came to North Carolina before our Country was, a republic, andsettled in Randolph County near Morgan¶s Mill, now known as New Salem,

North Carolina. The above Thomas was the father of William, the father of Isaac. It is likely that Isaac¶s father, William, was married in RandolphCounty to Elizabeth Thresher; their two oldest children, James and MaryAllred, were born in Hillsborough District. Sometime before the year 1788 William Allred moved with his family toPendleton County, Georgia. It was here that Isaac, the subject of our sketchwas born on the 27th day of January 1788. Before Isaac was two years oldthe family again moved this time into Franklin County, Georgia. And it washere that William, Martha John and Sarah were born.

When Isaac Allred was twenty-two years of age he married Mary Calvert, thedaughter of John Calvert and Mary McCurdy. The Calverts were a finesouthern family who came into Virginia about the year 1608 and settledMaryland and Virginia with their colonists founding the City of Baltimore,which was named after Sir George Calvert, the 1st Lord Baltimore. AnneMynne, the wife of Sir George Calvert, and the 4th Great grandmother of Mary Calvert, wife of Isaac was a direct descendant of the Kings of England. From the records we find that Isaac Allred and Mary C. Calvert were marriedon the 14th of February 1811. They settled near Farmington, BedfordCounty, Tennessee. And it was here that Mary gave birth to their first four

children; i.e. Elizabeth, Martin, John Calvert, Nancy Weekly and SarahLovisa Allred. It seems that the family had attained some influence and financial affluenceby the year 1818 and had attained a home in the City of Nashville,Tennessee, where the following children were born to Isaac and MaryCalvert Allred, i.e.: William Moore, was born the 24th of Dec. 1819. Thetwins, Reddick Newton and Reddin Alexander were born on the 21



December 1822. Mary Caroline was born on the 9th of December 1824 andJames Riley was born on the 28th of January 1827. The next born son,Paulinus Harvey Allred, was likely brought into the world back on the oldfarm, for he was born near Farmington, in Bedford County of the 21st of January 1829. The family moved from Tennessee shortly after the birth of

this son and settled on the Salt River in Monroe County, Missouri. It washere that Isaac Allred and his family and his older brother James Allred andhis family and some of the older married sons of James Allred settled andformed what was known and referred to in history as ³Allred Settlement´. Itwas likely here, too, that these families were first visited by the Elders of theChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We find this place and thesepeople lovingly referred to in President Heber C. Kimball¶s life history andby other early Elders of the Church. Though James was the oldest member of the Allred family to join the Church in these last days, and was baptized intoit the 10th day of September 1832, it appears that Isaac his younger brother accepted the gospel at an earlier date for his Endowment records indicate that

he was baptized into the Church and Kingdom of God in the year 1831. The Prophet, Joseph Smith visited the Allred families on the Salt River andwith other Elders was instrumental in organizing the ³Salt River Branch of the Church´. Most of the members of these families accepted the gospel andwere baptized in 1832 and 1833. Isaac Allred and Mary Calvert had their next born son, Joseph Allred born atAllred Settlement on the 26th of April 1831. Two years later, on the 22nd of July 1833 Mary gave birth to Isaac Morley, also at the Allred Settlement.

During the expulsion of the Saints from Monroe and adjacent Counties IsaacAllred sought refuge for his family in Caldwell County where they lived until1838. It was at this place that Mary Calvert Allred gave birth to her last bornson, Sidney Rigdon Allred, on the 22nd of October 1837. We find in 1838that the family had moved to join the body of the Saints who had been drivenfrom their homes in Missouri and with them they settled at Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois. When on the 12th of July 1843, the revelation on ³The Plurality of Wivesand the Eternity of the Marriage Covenant´ was first written and was read byPresident Hyrum Smith to the members of the First High Council called by

the Prophet Joseph Smith, we find that Isaac Allred appears as a member of that council. He is mentioned as one of the nine faithful council memberswho accepted the revelation as the word of the Lord to the Saints in these lastdays. The other three members of the High Council rejected the revelationand in fulfillment of the prophecy made at that time by Hyrum, brother of theProphet they later apostatized. Isaac Allred and his family were among the 15 Allred families who fled



before the mobs when the Saints were driven from Nauvoo. They crossed theMissouri River on the ice and escaped into the bleak surroundings of thatuninviting land with the faithful followers of President Brigham Young. It is well known how the United States Government officials, after having

permitted and assisted in the expulsion of the Saints from their homes andlands, later ordered that the fleeing body be overtaken and that 500 of their young men drafted into the Army to join in the war against Mexico. TheSaints were overtaken in Indian Territory and it was here that the ArmyOfficer had been directed to get 500 men or upon failure of the ³Mormons´to supply them to count them as traitors, fleeing under false pretenses, andtherefore worthy of extermination. This is according to the statement of Pres.Brigham Young before the Council of the Kingdom at that time. It was under these conditions that President Young advised the young men to join thatArmy. He promised them that they would not have to shed the blood of their fellow men, but that this added affliction heaped upon them in this hour of

their trials would turn out as a blessing upon their heads. Several of theyoung Allred boys joined the ³Mormon Battalion´ and per-formed with thatBattalion the longest march of foot soldiers in length of miles ever traversedby any army in the history of time. When President Young and his advance company proceeded on to the westhe advised the remaining body of Saints to stay where they were in IndianTerritory and raise crops and provide for themselves and lay up store for others in the long march which must eventually follow. Besides, he said atthat time many of their young men now in the army could join them andassist them in their track. James Allred and his family remained and at the

appropriate time in 1848 continued with a 100 wagon train, many of themAllreds, on their march to Salt Lake City, Utah. However, Isaac Allred wasselected with other brethren to go on ahead with President Brigham Young asan advance company. And he was with them when on the 24th of July 1847they entered the Salt Lake Valley. Mary Calvert mother of 13 fine children and one of those known andmentioned as one of the noble ³Women of Mormondom´ having a nameworthy to be perpetuated through all time and eternity died in SanpeteCounty on the 16th of September 1851. (According to one record she died inHolladay, Salt Lake County. Sanpete county had not been settled at that time

so she must have died in Holladay.) We find the incident of her passing inSanpete County referred to by her son, William Moore Allred in his diarywhile he was still on his way to Salt Lake City with his delayed brethren andtheir families and while they were camped at ³Loon Fork´ on the Platt River. On the 5th of November 1852 Isaac Allred married Matilda Stewart thewidow of John Miller she being sealed to him for time and to her deceasedhusband for eternity. By this marriage Isaac fathered one daughter Matilda



Stewart Allred who was born 12 May 1853 at Big Cotton-wood, Salt LakeCounty, Utah. Isaac joined members of the Allred family about 1853 aiding in thesettlement of the Sanpete Valley and in the formation of ³Allred Town´ later

known as ³Little Denmark´ then as Spring Town, and now as Spring City,Utah. Some of his sons were sent to establish settlements in Star Valley,Wyoming, in the Great Bear Lake, Idaho and other new places in the west. Isaac died the 13th of November 1870 at Spring City, Sanpete County, Utahafter fulfilling a noble life and leaving a name for good among all Saints. ISAAC ALLRED (1788-1870) Isaac Allred was the second son and fifth child in the family of eight children

born to William Allred and Elizabeth Thrasher. Between 1786 and the timeof Isaac¶s birth the family moved from Randolph County, North Carolina toPendleton, Anderson County, South Carolina, where Isaac was born on 27Jan. 1788. We have no record of his early life. He may, however, have beenemployed in Georgia as a young man, or the Calverts may have gone toSouth Carolina. Whatever the circumstances, on 14 Feb. 1811, Isaac marriedMary Calvert, who was born in Elbert County, Georgia. (The distancebetween these locations in 30 to 50 miles.) Isaac¶s older brother, James, had married previously and gonenorthwestwards to the Ohio River. Then, following Isaac¶s marriage, the two

brothers settled together in Tennessee, near Nashville. The newly-wed Isaacand Mary must have prepared for the move soon after, if not before, their marriage. We might also guess that they spent their first summer traveling,for their first child, Elizabeth M., was born in Bedford County, Tennessee, on6 Jan. 1812. (She lived only six years.) They remained in Tennessee until 1830, when both families moved about500 miles north-westward to Monroe County, Missouri. Isaac¶s son, William,described the location as, ³...on the State Road (with ?) in 3 miles one of thethree forks of Salt River...´ and son, Reddick, noted in his account, ³...Father purchased a home on the great highway from east to west. Today (1982) the

three forks of the Salt River are under the Clarence Cannon Reservoir andthere does not appear to be any great highway in the area. (This is also verynear the birthplace of Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain, born in 1835, the year the Allreds left.)According to William, they found the climate to be much colder than inTennessee and Isaac was hard pressed to provide - especially sufficientclothing - for his large family, which by May, 1831, numbered elevenchildren. He enjoyed one advantage, however. It was the abundance of game



animals. William tells of his father going out and bagging two deer beforebreak-fast, and William, himself, killed one at age 12. We may well guess,then, that Isaac¶s family was largely buckskin-clad. Reddick has left the best explanation I have seen concerning the coming of

the LDS missionaries to the Salt River Settlement (also known as AllredSettlement): ³...My parents were members of a school of Presbyterians andbrought up their children to reverence a God and were very exemplary intheir lives, so that when a new religion was introduced they naturally lookedat it with suspicion, having been taught that Prophets and Apostles were nolonger needed, so some cried false Prophet. In 1831 two men preached in our settlement saying a new Prophet had organized a new church and introduceda new gospel or rather the old one come again. His name was Joseph Smith.Their names were Hyrum Smith, brother of the Prophet and John Mur-dock.Other Elders were passing every few months from Kirtland to JacksonCounty - the gathering place for the Saints, and father opened his house for

meetings...´ I was baptized in Salt River on the 10th of Sept., 1832. Therewere 19 baptized that day including my Parents and one or two of mysisters...´ The Salt River Branch of the Church was organized that same day.William indicates that his father Isaac sold his farm on Salt River in 1832 or 1833 in anticipation of moving to Jackson County, the gathering place for theChurch. But when the Saints were expelled from Jackson County, he rentedhis farm back from the buyer and remained in the area for a time, though thefamily had to relinquish the house to the buyer and find other accommodations. They stayed there for one more year, during which theProphet, Joseph Smith, came to their settlement with his ³Zion¶s Camp´expedition in an attempt to reclaim the homes and property of those evicted

from Jackson County. In 1835, in response to the call of the Prophet to assemble at Clay County,Missouri, Isaac and his family moved. From Reddick¶s account,´ ...in 1835father moved up to Clay and located on Fishing River where he raised onecrop, and the influx was so great that the old settlers became alarmed and themob spirit began to raise, which was checked only by a compromise bywhich the old settlers were to buy out the Saints, and were to move into anew county adjoining called Caldwell County. ³1837 Father preempted and on Long Creek where he hoped to be able to

build and inhabit - to plant and eat the fruit in peace thereof. This was eightmiles from the newly laid out city of Far West. On the 14th of March 1838the Prophet and other leading men came in from Kirtland and settled in Far West and the Saints began to gather and spread out so that two counties hadto be organized, Caldwell and Davis were two Stakes of Zion was organized. William¶s account tells us something about the circumstances and results:³...We lived there about two years and was getting a pretty good start. Broke



ground for a temple in 1837. My father had quite a large family, in all nineboys and four girls, the oldest girl died before I was born, and we sufferedconsiderable from persecution and exposure...´ Isaac and Mary¶s oldest son,John, married in 1833. This left William (age 19 in 1838) as the oldestunmarried son. But William fled the area after it was learned that the

Missourians were seeking him because he had been involved in the battle of Crooked River and in the defense of Far West. This left Isaac and hisdaughters and youngest sons - with only one or two ox teams which had notbeen either stolen or destroyed - to transport family and goods in thewintertime exodus from Missouri. At length the family reached Illinois andwere reunited. Isaac rented a farm a few miles down the Mississippi River from the town of Quincy. The family resided there until the Prophet, Joseph,made his escape from Missouri and founded Nauvoo, on a bend in theMississippi on the Illinois side. Isaac moved his family there in 1840. Wehave little information about him from then until the exodus from Nauvoo.Isaac¶s family were not among those leaving there early. William noted that

it was in the spring of 1846. Reddick¶s record is that as he returned toNauvoo after assisting some of the early movers to camps in Iowa, he foundhis family (Isaac, Mary and children, and his wife, Lucy) on the Iowa side of the Mississippi awaiting his return so they could resume the journey. Henoted that weather conditions had improved so much that they actually had apleasant trip across Iowa to Council Bluffs (a great contrast to theexperiences of those who left Nauvoo early. It appears that most of the quitenumerous Allred clan - Isaac and James now being the patriarchs of largeposterity¶s of children and grandchildren - settled about five miles east of Council Bluffs at what became known as Allred settlement. According toReddick, it was at ³Little Pidgeon´ (probably a stream). A branch of the

Church was organized there. About the time they reached this camp two of Isaac¶s sons, Reddick andJames Riley, en-listed in the Mormon Battalion. Reddick¶s wife and babyremained with Isaac¶s family. These soldiers¶ pay was received by theChurch and helped the families financially, but the great strength of the twosons was missed. Isaac, with other remaining family members, began makingpreparations to over winter there.After Reddick¶s return in December of 1847 (James Riley remained inCalifornia), preparations to move west were hastened. The journey wascommenced in the spring of 1849. Reddick was a captain of 50. Isaac and

family traveled with him. They arrived at the Salt Lake valley on 16 Oct. andremained in Salt Lake City that winter. In 1850 they located near the mouthof Big Cottonwood canyon. The next year Isaac had the sorrow of Mary¶sdeath - on 16 Sep 1851, at age 58. The cause of her death was apparently notrecorded. Isaac married Matilda Park, a widow with three children, on 1 Mar 1852.Thus, at age 64, after having raised a family of 12 (two of whom were still



teenagers), he began raising a second family. A daughter was alsosubsequently born to this marriage. They apparently then moved toKaysville, as that is where Reddick noted finding his father when he returnedfrom his mission in 1855. Reddick¶s words ³...they were quite destitutehaving lost their crop the two successive seasons as also many others

throughout the territory, especially the last season.´ In the spring of 1858 most of the Salt Lake valley settlers moved south to theUtah valley and beyond at the approach of Johnston¶s army to Salt Lake.Reddick tells us that he remained with the rear guard and sent his family onahead. It may be that he sent them with Isaac. Then he states, ³I came to myfamily in Nephi and instead of going back I sold my home worth $500 for one yoke of oxen worth $100. Whether Isaac had already sold out atKaysville or whether he also made a sacrifice trade rather than return wehave not been informed. All we know for certain is that he must haveproceeded on to Sanpete valley immediately, because later that year he was

selected as a committee member for a study of the feasibility of making asettlement at Pleasant Creek, near the north end of the valley. (Isaac¶sbrother, James, and others had been called by Brigham Young in 1851 tosettle the Sanpete valley, but had serious Indian problems the entire time.They had a stronghold at Manti). The committee made the survey andreported favorably. Then Isaac was chosen as one of the committee to presentthe proposal to Brigham Young. Whether he met with President Young is insome doubt, as there is some indication that he was replaced by someoneelse. It may be that the Allreds had decided against settling there. Whatever the circumstances, Isaac and Reddick did not settle at Pleasant Creek (Mt.Pleasant), but at Spring City, a few miles to the south. Reddick claimed to

have built one of the first cabins there in the fall of 1859 (though this waswhere his Uncle James had settled earlier only to be driven out by Indians.The settlers¶ houses were burned). He states that his father, Isaac, and anumber of other Allred families, as well as others soon settled there. Thus, Isaac, at age 72, was still extending the western frontier, building uponthe ashes of home sites burned out by the Indians. Nor were the Indianproblems over. One night they killed every pig and chicken in the settlement.But Indians were not the only predators. The wolves killed so many cattlethat the settlers sharpened their horns that they might better protect them-selves. There is indication that this measure lessened the losses, but did not

stop them entirely. In spite of Indians and wolves, Isaac remained at Spring City until his deathon 13 Nov. 1870. He was 82.Compiled by E. Morrell Allred, 2 ggson Sources:Allred, Reddick N. Autobiography, in Treasure of Pioneer Hist. - K. Carter,



ed. 5:297-372 DUP, SLC - Allred,Wm. M., autobiography, unpub. ms.- Biography of Wiley Payne Allred,unpub. ms., author unknown.- Munson,Eliza M. A., Early Pioneer History, - 3 page unpub ms.

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A short history of the mormon pioneer, Isaac allred