Born 22 January 1784 in North Carolina to Elizabeth Thrasher and William Allred
Married Elizabeth Warren 14 November 1803
James-Wiley Payne-Mary Eliza-Mary Eliza-Eudean-Earl
Died 10 January 1876 in Spring City
Buried in the Spring City Cemetery
1850 Census
1860 Census
My notes say this history is from Archibald F. Bennett. There is a second history posted below.
James Allred, son of William and Elizabeth Thrasher Allred was born in North Carolina, Jan. 22, 1784. My grandmother Elizabeth Warren was born in South Carolina on May 6, 1787. They were married November 14, 1803 and moved to the Ohio River near Yellow Banks. In 1811 they moved to Bedford County, Tennessee.
In 1830, they moved to Missouri, Monroe County, a distance of 500 miles. Here they settled down and on the 10th of September 1832 they were baptized into the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints by Elder George M. Hinkle at which place a large branch of the church was built up and called “Salt River Branch”.
In the fall of 1833 James Allred, two sons and two sons-in-law joined the company of the Prophet Joseph. In June, 1834, they, with the Prophet’s company of two hundred brethren journeyed to the upper part of Missouri in order to redeem Zion as they thought, and to reinstate a portion of the Saints who had been driven from their homes in Jackson County, Missouri.
In the year 1835, they moved to Clay County, Missouri and in the Spring
of 1837 to Caldwell County where the saints commenced to gather to build
up a stake of Zion. My Grandfather James was elected Judge and also
President of the Southern Firm. When the Church left Missouri in the
spring of 1839, he moved to Pittsfield, Pike County, Illinois. In the
fall of the same year he moved to Commerce, afterwards called Nauvoo,
where he was ordained a High Priest and a member of the High Council. He
was one of the Prophet’s body guards in the Nauvoo Legion and held
several other responsible positions. He helped to build the Nauvoo
Temple and assisted in giving endowments therein.It was while they were living in Nauvoo that the Prophet came to my grandmother Elizabeth Warren, who was a seamstress by trade, and told her that he had seen the angel Moroni with the garments on, and asked her to assist him in cutting out the garments. They spread unbleached muslin out on the table and he told her how to cut it out. She had to cut the third pair, however, before he said it was satisfactory. She told the Prophet that there would be sufficient cloth from the knee to the ankle to make a pair of sleeves without piecing. The first garments were made of unbleached muslin and bound with turkey red and were without collars.
Later on, the Prophet decided he would rather have them bound with white. Sister Emma Smith, the Prophet’s wife, proposed that they have a collar on as she thought they would look more finished, but at first the prophet did not have the collars on them. After Emma Smith had made the little collars, which were not visible from the outside, then Sister Eliza R. Snow introduced a wider collar of finer material to be worn on the outside of the dress. The garment was to reach to the ankle and the sleeves to the wrist. The marks were always the same.
In the year 1842, James Allred was ordained a seventy and a member of the 4th quorum of seventies.
About this time the saints began to be persecuted very hard and more especially the heads of the Church. The Prophet and his brother Hyrum were continuously being hunted and persecuted by the mobs. Grandmother Elizabeth Warren often used to put potatoes in the coals in the fireplace at night and leave bread and butter and fresh buttermilk (of which the Prophet was very fond) out on the table so that they could come in during the night and eat.
In the year 1844 in June the Prophet Joseph Smith, his brother Hyrum, President John Taylor and Willard Richards were taken to the Carthage Jail, Hancock County, Ill. At the jail the Prophet Joseph handed his sword to my grandfather James and said, “Take this, you may need it to defend yourself.” (Grandfather carried this sword with him to Utah and it is now on display at the Utah State Capitol.)
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| Here's the sword |
Grandfather James took President Taylor from the prison to take him to his home. He only had his wagon to carry him and the trip was long by road, so they decided that a sleigh could be pulled behind the wagon by going through the fields which were mostly swamps. And this would be only eighteen miles distance from Nauvoo by cutting through the fields. Accordingly they secured a sleigh, fastened it behind the wagon and placed President John Taylor in it. He was bleeding badly, and so weak from the loss of blood that he could scarcely speak. His wife sat beside him, bathing the blood from his wounds and trying to make the journey as easy as possible. The sleigh was much easier riding than the wagon, and by the time they reached home, President Taylor was able to talk enough that my grandfather could hear him from where he sat in the wagon.
After the murder of the Prophet, President Brigham Young, with the help of the apostles then took up the work for which the Prophet had laid down the foundation. Persecution began to rage again with awful fury and in the fall of 1845 the mob commenced burning houses.
On the 9th of February 1846, James Allred crossed the Mississippi river to go west with the heads of the church. He arrived at the Missouri River to go West July 15, of the same year. Here he was made President of the High Council and acting Bishop of Council Bluffs.
In the Spring of 1851 he started west to the Rocky Mountains. He arrived at Salt Lake in October of the same year. He went to Manti, Sanpete County in March 1852, and was called to Preside over this branch of the church. At the Spring conference of 1853 he was ordained a Patriarch in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. In July of the same year the Indians drove most of the cattle, horses of the settlement off and on the last day of the month they moved back to Manti.
In October he moved back to Canal again with a company of 40 Danish families and 10 families of his own relatives. On the 17th of December of the same year he was called to vacate and again moved back to Manti. In February 1854 in company with 50 families he commenced to build a fort at Cottonwood (now called Ephraim). It was built of stone, the walls being 10 feet high. This was finished and Grandfather James presided over it until 1860. Then he moved back to Canal, where he presided until his death.
He was a faithful member of the church and strict in relations to the word of wisdom. He fully endorsed all of the principles of the Gospel as far as he knew them. An early riser, always on hand to obey the counsels of the servants of the Lord.
For many years he was a regular attendant of the Quorum and Public meetings and always ready to donate to the poor. A friend of the widow and orphans. Exemplary to his family, he taught them to be honest and industrious, trustworthy and confidential. He told the Bishop of the ward he was ready to join the United Order and all that he had was for the building up of the Kingdom of God.
He reared 12 children of his own and 8 orphan grandchildren (all lived to have children of their own). He left the wife of his youth after living together for nearly 73 years and a posterity of 447 souls, vis; 12 children, 104 grandchildren, 302 great-grandchildren and 29 great great grand-children. Five of his sons were present at his funeral, the rest were dead.
He laid his hands on his oldest son William Hackley's head the day before he died and blessed him. All of his children lived to embrace the new and everlasting covenant and those that are dead, died strong in the faith. Most of his posterity live in Utah and are members of the church.
He lacked 12 days of being 92 years old. His wife was 90 years old, but had been blind six years.
His funeral took place on the 11th and was the largest that had been held in this place. Thirty-nine wagons and sleighs loaded with people followed him to his last resting place.
President Orson Hyde preached his funeral sermon and made some sincere remarks concerning his life labors and faithfulness as a patriarch which was satisfactory to the family and friends.
He died at Spring City, Utah, January 10, 1876, 92 years of age. The location of his home in Spring City was where Edward F. Allred lived (later Bert Christensen). He lived on Main Street in the center of town in Ephraim now occupied by a service station near the mill in Ephraim.
Grandmother Elizabeth Warren died April 23, 1879 at Rabbit Valley, Utah. Her body was later brought to Spring City and she was placed by her husband and near her grandsons Samuel Allred and Reuben Warren Allred, Jr. Her parents were Thomas Warren and Hannah Cothen Warren.
The children of James Allred and Elizabeth Warren Allred are - William Hackley, Martin Carrel, Hannah, Sally, Isaac, Reuben Warren, Wily Payne, Nancy Chummy, Eliza Maria, James Tillman Sanford, John Franklin Lafayette, Andrew Jackson.
This history was written by Terry Allred in 1974:
The life of James Allred covers almost a full century and spans the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from its earliest years to near the end of Brigham Young’s tenure as Church President. James Allred held many leadership positions in the communities in which he lived as well as in the Church and was one of the founders of several of the earliest communities in the Sanpete Valley. He lived to a ripe old age and much deserved the title of “Father Allred,” which he was very often called.
He was born on January 22, 1784 in Randolph County, North Carolina to William and Elizabeth Thrasher Allred.1 On November 14, 1803, he married Elizabeth Warren (born on May 6, 1789 to Thomas Warren and Hannah Cothen in South Carolina) in Randolph County and shortly thereafter moved to Franklin county, Georgia where their first son, William Hackley Allred was born in 1804. Sometime before 1806, the family moved to Warren County, Kentucky where a second son, Martin Carrell Allred was born in 1806. Then they moved to Yellow Banks on the Ohio River, and a third child, a daughter, Hanna Caroline Allred was born in 1808. Early in 1811, the family moved once more and settled in Bedford County, Tennessee where they remained for nineteen years and where eight more children were born. The names and birth dates of these children are as follows: Sally, April 13, 1811; Isaac, June 28, 1813; Ruben Warren, November, 1815; Nancy Chummy, September 10, 1820; Eliza Maria, October, 1822; James Tillman Sanford, March 28, 1825; and John Franklin Lafayette, June 26, 1827. In 1830, the family moved to the *Salt River in Ralls County, Missouri. The county was divided shortly thereafter, and the Allred’s were in Monroe County. This settlement on the Salt River became known as the “Allred Settlement” because of the large number of Allred kindred living there, and it was here that the twelfth child, a boy, Andrew Jackson Allred was born to James and Elizabeth.2
It was at Salt River, Monroe county in 1831 that the Allred’s; James and his family, some of his older sons and their families and Isaac (brother of James) and his family came in contact with L.D.S. missionaries, Hyrum Smith and John Murdock.3 On September 10, 1832, James and many of his relatives were baptized in the Church by George M. Hinkle, and the Salt River Branch was organized.4 In 1834, the Zion’s Camp march to western Missouri under the direction of Hyrum and Joseph Smith stopped at the Allred Settlement for several days. James, two of his sons, two sons-in-law, and five others joined the Camp in the march westward.5
After living five years in Monroe county, the families of James, Isaac, and William (another brother) moved to Clay County.6 James moved again in 1837 to Caldwell County where he was elected county judge and President of the Southern firm.7 Because of the continuous persecution of the Saints, the families of James, one son, and one son-in-law moved to Pittsfield, Pike County, Illinois in 1839.8 James was still in Pittsfield on September 27 when Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball stayed overnight at his house while they were en route to missions in England.9
Sometime thereafter, James moved his family to Nauvoo where he purchased Lot I of Block 148.10
(Note in Joseph Smith’s Day Book, James Allred purchased Lot 1 of Block 147 for $250 but the Hancock County Tax Records show him paying taxes on Block 148.) Block 148 in Nauvoo is just one block north of where Joseph Smith lived in the Homestead. This close proximity to the Prophet probably developed into a close relationship between the two men and is shown by the civic and church associations that James Allred had with Joseph Smith. Also, late in 1839, James Allred’s name appears on a petition (along with most other Church members) to the state of Missouri for $2000 for the recovery of lost property.11
In Nauvoo, James Allred did business with Peter Haws and Oliver Granger and on January 9, 1840 purchased eighteen pounds of meat and some other items.12 Throughout the Nauvoo period, James also made many purchases from Joseph Smith’s Store.13
A major acquisition for the Allreds took place in 1840 when Martin Carrell Allred and his wife died and left eight children. James and Elizabeth then took the children into their home and raised them.14
Another event in 1840 James Allred was involved in was the “Tully Affair.” The following account is a summary of the information found in the “Journal History” on July 13, and August 21, 1840 on this event. It appears that a group of from eight to twelve Missourians crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois in search of stolen goods and Mormons who were the suspected culprits. On July 7 near Lima, Hancock County, they captured and bound James Allred, Alanson Brown, Benjamin Boyce, and Noah Roers. They took them back to Tully, Lewis County, Missouri, put them in a room overnight, and finally took them out the next night. They then put a rope around Brown’s neck, hung him until he was almost dead, then whipped him. Allred was stripped of his clothing, tied to a tree, and threatened with whipping but released because of his age (he was fifty-six). Rogers and Boyce were individually tied to trees with ropes around their necks and were severely whipped and beaten. Brown escaped back to Illinois on Friday the 10th, and Allred was released with a passport which gave him permission to leave Missouri on the 12th. On the 13th, Allred and Brown appeared in the court in Nauvoo before Justice of the Peace Daniel H. Wells and told their versions of the episode. As a result of the actions of these Missourians, a town meeting was held in Nauvoo, and a committee was chosen to write Governor Carlin of Illinois to seek justice and freedom for the Saints. The names of the Missourians involved in this affair were: William Allensworth, H.M. Woodyard, William Martin, John H. Owsley, John Bain, Light T. Tait, Halsey White and three others known only by the names of Monday, Huner, and Una.
Another version of this episode and the ensuing events comes from the Masters thesis15 of Cecil A. Snider entitled Development of Attitudes in Sectarian Conflict: A Study of Mormonism in Illinois in Contemporary Newspaper Sources and which for these events simply presents them as they were written in the “Quincy Whig” by S.M. Barrlett during June, July, and September of 1840. According to Bartlett, Brown was seen in Tully, Missouri the night before the goods were stolen and was found with Boyce hunting horses in Illinois near where the stolen goods and the boat used to transport them were recovered (pp. 44 and 51). Then Allred and Rogers were taken from a wagon and accused of attempting to pick up the goods which Allred knew nothing of according to Rogers (pp. 51-52). Bartlett describes James Allred as “a very respectable old gentleman, whose gray hairs should have protected him from insult” (p. 51). When the four men were taken to Missouri, confined, and tortured, James apparently spoke his mind (p. 42) and “behaved with such resolution and pointed out to them (the Missourians) so clearly their injustice and inhumanity, that after stripping and fastening him to a tree, and taunting him with epithets of the foulest character, they took him down and finally set him at liberty.” Brown was apparently not beaten either, confessed to stealing the goods, and finally told the Missourians where the rest of the loot was (p. 52).
At this time, the “Quincy Whig” was quite pro-Mormon, and Sam Bartlett vigorously defended the Saints. After Governor Carlin’s man investigated the affair and reported to the Governor, Carlin agreed with Governor Boggs of Missouri to exchange Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon for several of the guilty Missourians. This really upset Bartlett, and he wrote several editorials in September condemning the action of the two governors and the possible extradition of Smith and Rigdon to Missouri because he did not expect the Mormons to get a fair trial due to the persecutions they had suffered there before (pp. 53-59).
In 1841 when the Nauvoo Legion was organized, James Allred was chosen as a member of Lieutenant General Joseph Smith’s staff as an Aid-de-Camp and a guard to the Prophet. His rank at this time was Captain of Infantry.16
In February of the same year, the Nauvoo Agricultural and Manufacture Association was formed, and James Allred was a stockholder and Trustee. The purpose of the association was to promote agriculture and husbandry and to manufacture flour, lumber, and other useful articles that were needed by the people. The capital stock was $100,000, and the individual shares were $50. Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and William Law were the Commissioners to distribute the stock which was sold at 10% down and the rest in later payments. There was to be twenty Trustees, a President, a Secretary, and a Treasurer who were elected the first Monday of September for one year terms.17
At April conference in 1841, James Allred was appointed to the Nauvoo High Council to replace Charles Rich who had been chosen as a counselor in the Stake Presidency. James remained on the High Council for the next five years until the Saints left for the West.18
Late in 1841, James joined the Nauvoo Masonic Order but it is uncertain how long he remained a member because his attendance at meetings was not very good.19
Elizabeth Allred, the wife of James, was also busy in the Church. When the Relief Society was organized in 1842, she was one of the first members and joined the Relief Society at its second meeting on the 24th of March 1842.20
As a member of the High Council in 1842, James was chosen as an arbitrator in a land dispute along with William Marks, Alpheus Cutler, George W. Harris, and a Brother Johnston. The committee was to listen to the claims of Alexander Stanley and others and Brother Pierce and then make their decision. At the same meeting, the High Council charged a man with “illicit intercourse” with a girl who was pregnant, for the teaching her that the heads of the Church practiced such conduct, and that the time would come when men would have more than one wife.21 Apparently the doctrine of plural marriage was leaking somewhere, and at least one person had attempted to practice it without proper authority.
In 1843 (no date is given), James Allred, his wife Elizabeth, and four of their sons (James T.S., John Franklin Lafayette, Ruben Warren, and Andrew Jackson) lived in the Nauvoo Fourth Ward. Four other Allred’s are listed with James’ family (Sally, Elizabeth, James R., and George M.), and they were probably James’ grandchildren from his son Martin who had died in 1840. Also in the same Fourth Ward were many Church leaders such as Brigham Young, John Taylor, Heber C. Kimball, George Miller, Edward Partridge, Joseph B. Noble, and Hyrum Smith.22
For the next three years, the available information on James Allred is pretty scanty. He is mentioned in the Nauvoo City Council Proceedings though, and on February 11, 1843, he was elected Supervisor of Streets by the City Council for a two year term.23 He was re-elected to the same position two years later on February 8, 1845, and at the same time, he petitioned the Council for $35 in back pay which he received as well as an extra $75 for extra services rendered.24 In the position of the Supervisor of Streets, he must have been fairly busy because many proposals were brought before the City Council to widen, extend, or construct new streets, but James’ name is not mentioned personally in those proposals.
James Allred is next mentioned at the time of the murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. According to two of the histories of James Allred (Munson and Osborne) when the Prophet was put in the Carthage jail, he gave his sword to James and said, “Take this you may need it to defend yourself.”25 I have been unable to verify this story through other sources and question its veracity because James T.S. Allred does not mention it in his diary. There is the possibility of its truthfulness though because James and Joseph were neighbors and because they had several community jobs and interests together. The day after the murder, James is still listed as one of the Prophet’s bodyguards in the Nauvoo Legion.26
Five days later on July 2, 1844, James helped bring John Taylor back from Carthage. In Carthage it was decided that John Taylor was in too poor of condition to bring back in a wagon because he had lost much blood from his wounds. They then attached a sleigh to the back of James’ wagon and pulled John Taylor back to Nauvoo. 27
At the General Conferences of the Church in Nauvoo held in 1844, 1845, and 1846, James Allred was sustained as a member of the Nauvoo Stake High Council.28
On January 21, 1845, James Allred and Peter Haws as secretaries and Henry G. Sherwood were held and bound to Newell K. Whitney and George Miller as Trustees in Trust for the Church for $2000. Sherwood had been appointed an agent for the Church to collect funds for the building of the temple and for other donations and tithes in all places he went, especially Louisiana and Mississippi. Apparently Allred, Haws, and Sherwood made a trip to the southeast of the U.S. to collect money from the Church members in the first three months of the year because the bond had a three month limitation on it. The bond was signed by Sherwood and Allred.29
The capstone of the Nauvoo Temple was laid on May 25, 1845, and James was in attendance at the ceremony as a member of the High Council.30
Also in connection with the temple, the Munson and Osborne histories31 tell an interesting story which I have as yet been unable to find anything more on in order to substantiate it. Sometime during the Nauvoo period, Joseph Smith went to Elizabeth Allred because she was a seamstress and wanted her to make some garments like he had seen on the Angel Moroni. They used unbleached muslin, and after the third try, the Prophet was satisfied with the garments, which were bound with turkey red and were collarless. Emma Smith preferred a collar worn on the inside, and Eliza R,. Snow introduced a wider collar of finer material, which was to be worn on the outside. The garment reached to the ankles and the wrists.
In the Allred household at this time was a young English girl by the name of Eliza Bridget Manwaring. She had worked as a cook in the Mansion House for three years prior to the Prophet’s death. In the Allred family, she met James T.S. and married him on November 23, 1845.32 James and Eliza are mentioned because there seems to be a very close bond between James and his son James T.S., and when they went to Utah, they had many experiences together.
Again in 1846, James Allred’s name is found with the activities of the High Council. This time his name appears on the circular that was issued by the High Council that gave the order for the Saints to prepare to leave Nauvoo for the West.33
The Allreds are among the first people to leave Nauvoo when they crossed the Mississippi River on February 9, 1846, and in James’ group were two of his sons and their families. On May 20, 1846, James T.S. Allred and his wife, three of his brothers and their families, and one brother-in-law (probably George T. Edwards who had married Eliza M. Allred who had died in 1842 in Nauvoo34 left Nauvoo and caught up with Father Allred at Mt. Pisgah.35
In the exodus from Nauvoo to Council Bluffs, James Allred was in John Taylor’s group. Specifically, he was in George Miller’s company of 100, John Taylor’s 50, and with Captain Charles C. Rich.36 For this group of fifty, he was the “distributing commissary” whose duty it was to “make a righteous distribution of grain, provisions, and such articles as should be furnished for the use of the camp.”37
When the Camp of Israel reached Garden Grove on the Grand River on April 26, 1846, a settlement was to be established. The various men were assigned different jobs to do, and James Allred was put in charge of ten others in building fences for the new settlement.38
Several days later on May 2nd, James went with Mrs. Benjamin Jones and Green Taylor to Pleasant Point, Iowa to get Benjamin’s belongings and take them to Council Bluffs.39 The camp of Israel reached Council Bluffs in mid-July. A day or two after the Allreds arrived, James T.S., Redick Newton Allred and James Riley Allred (sons of James’ brother Isaac, and Reuben Warren Allred (son of Martin C. Allred and a grandson of James) enlisted in the Mormon Battalion.40 James T. S. took his wife, but they went only as far as Santa Fe with the rest of the Battalion. Then they went to Pueblo and on to Salt Lake where they arrived on July 29, 1847, only five days after the main group of Saints had entered the valley.41
Back at Council Bluffs, James Sr. held several important Church positions. First of all, on July 17, 1846, he was chosen as a Bishop to help take care of the families of those who had left with the Mormon Battalion and of those who had gone back to Nauvoo to help the Saints there. These Bishops were in charge of getting people settled in Council Bluffs and handling all property transactions.42
Next, he was chosen by Brigham Young as a member of the High Council on July 21 with Isaac Morley as President. The High Council was to “preside in all matters spiritual and temporal” and take over some of the responsibility the Bishops previously had. The Council was to see that all the Saints were located before winter, including those who would be coming from Nauvoo, that schools were established for the children, and that everyone took care of their own stock first.43
Finally, Father Allred became President of the Pottawatamie Lands High Council on September 26 with the departure of Isaac Morley.44 He was sustained by the Saints living in Council Bluffs at Conference on December 25, 1847. The Conference was held in the Log Tabernacle at Miller’s Hollow (later called Kanesville) with President Brigham Young in attendance. The Log Tabernacle had been built in less than three weeks, measured forty feet by sixty feet, and would hold one thousand people. At this Conference, the Saints voted to give the High Council full municipal authority and power until the laws of Iowa were extended to that part of the state.45
The Saints were apparently very eager to have all the municipal conveniences they had previously enjoyed in Nauvoo because in January of 1847, they sent a petition to the Postmaster General of the United States requesting a post office “in the vicinity of the Log Tabernacle, “ and James Allred signed it. James did not become the Postmaster though.
The Saints were also interested in politics because James Allred and many others attended a meeting in the Log Tabernacle which was a political caucus. They listened to the Reverend Sidney Roberts, a delegate from the central Whig committee of Iowa, campaign for his party and especially for Zachary Taylor.47
At Conference in April and in which the First Presidency consisting of Brigham Young, Heber Kimball, and Willard Richards was in attendance, James Allred was sustained again as President of the High Council.48
The expected absence of James was possibly due to employment with the government to drive teams, and James was one of them. He had some trouble with some boys who refused to work for him as wagon master. He was about to quit when the post commander from Ft. Kearney happened by and told him that if he quit, he would be arrested and put in jail. The commander also said that if James’ men would not serve, he was to “put them over the river.” The account in the “Journal History” then concludes with “It is probable the old man has been rather severe; but we heard no complaint since the above.”49
In 1849, James continued to preside over the Conferences of the Church at Kanesville and addressed the people on their conduct at one of these conferences.50
From a letter written in 1850 by Franklin Richards to Orson Pratt in England,51 one gets an idea of either the esteem of James Allred or possibly who some of his good friends were. Franklin Richards mentions in the letter that he had seen “Brother Allred.” Either James was held in high esteem by the leaders of the Church or possibly Franklin, James, and Orson were good friends, and Franklin was telling Orson that James was still around and doing fine. Whatever reason he had, it is interesting that he does mention James in the letter.
In December of 1850, James Allred was busy in the Church and met with High Council twice that month. On December 7, he addressed the brethren on tithing and told them that “if there is iniquity among the branches it is best to nip it in the bud.”52
Father Allred’s time in the Midwest was spent by the summer of 1851. He left Council Bluffs in the spring and was in Salt Lake City by October Conference. 53 In Salt Lake, he spoke at the Bowery on the program with Brigham Young on Sunday the 5th.54 For sure he was gone from the Pottawatamie Stake by then because at October Conference there, he is no longer on the High Council.55 At Conference in Salt Lake, Brigham Young established the setting for the rest of James’ life when he told James that he wanted him “to select a place for settlement where he could locate with his numerous posterity and kindred and preside over them.”56
It is probable that Father Allred had been in contact with his son James T.S. and other relatives and intended to settle with them. James T.S. had come to Utah in 1847 and along with several other Allred’s had gone to Sanpete Valley (Manti) in 1849 with the first group of settlers there. With the counsel of President Young in mind, Father Allred joined his kindred there in the fall of 1851.57
In March of 1852 and in accordance with the advice and counsel of Brigham Young, Father Allred, James T.S. Allred, Andres J. Allred, Charles Whitlock, George M. Allred, and James F. Allred and their families along with several other families moved sixteen miles north of Manti and founded what is today Spring City. James T.S. brought his house with him in his wagon in the form of planks and logs and assembled it when they arrived. The first house in Springtown was thus built by James T.S. Allred. Brigham Young visited the new colony in April, only one month after it had been founded.58
The Allreds lived at Springtown (Spring City) until the Walker War broke out in July of 1853. The settlement of Pleasant Creek (now Mt. Pleasant) just to the north of Springtown was attacked by the Indians in early or mid-July. The settlers fled to Springtown for protection, and the combined groups of settlers commenced to build a sort of stockade for protection from the Indians by bolstering the space between the houses. This protected them no doubt, but on July 29, a group of Indians attacked the settlement and drove off almost all of their stock. The one hundred and eighteen settlers, including the Allreds, moved back to Manti.59
Father Allred attended April Conference in Salt Lake City in 1853 and was there ordained as the first Patriarch of the “Sanpete” Stake.60 It was practice of the time to ordain as patriarch the oldest man in the area, and James Allred was no doubt (he was sixty nine), but also, he had distinguished himself through many years of service as a Church leader to merit the call.
At the same April Conference, James learned that a large group of Danish immigrants had arrived in Salt Lake recently. He talked with President Brigham Young about them and persuaded him to send them to the Sanpete Valley to strengthen the Allred Settlement. Then in October, just three months after the first Indian troubles, Father Allred and his posterity and many Danish families again attempted to settle on Canal Creek at Spring Town. The attempt failed again, and in December, everyone moved back to Manti.61 In this last attempt, the Allreds included James and his family, three of his sons and their families, James T.S. Allred’s brother-in-law (Richard Manwaring) and his wife, and Margaret Manwaring (Eliza Allred’s sister) and her husband Richard Roberts. Three years later in 1856 and after Roberts had died, Margaret became the second wife of James T.S. Allred.62
Brigham Young was not content to leave Father Allred without a settlement where he could be with his posterity because he again counseled James to move, and in February of 1854, the Allreds moved again. This time the move was seven miles north of Manti to Cottonwood (or Pine) Creek. This effort involved about fifty men, and they built Ft. Ephraim which became the present town of Ephraim. Pine Creek had been previously settled a few years before but only by several individuals and not a large group. These new settlers of the area no doubt had learned their lesson with the Indians and built a substantial fort to protect themselves. The fort was built of stone and mud and had ten-foot high walls.63
Sometime in 1854, James Allred was in a meeting somewhere where the following was recorded:
“At a meeting of the High Council in Nauvoo Sept. 23, 1943 Br. Hyrum Smith read the revelation relating to plurality of wives, he said he did not believe it at first it was so contrary to his feelings, but he said he knew Joseph was a prophet of God, so he made a covenant that he would not eat, drink, or sleep until he knew for himself, that he had got a testimony that it was true, that he had even heard the voice of God concerning it. This is what James Allred related on the night of the 15th of October 1854.”64
Apparently James was recounting some of his experiences in Nauvoo at this time. Nothing more is known about this document, so what the actual circumstances behind it are, remain shrouded.
The rest of James Allred’s life is not well known, but he appears here and there in various records mainly because someone saw him somewhere or he attended a gathering somewhere.
The next few accounts of him come from the diary of James T.S. Allred. He records that on Tuesday January 22, 1856, a birthday party was held for his father. It included a dinner with a dance in the evening. All the relatives (or “connections” as he calls them) were invited from Ft. Ephraim where it was held.65
One week later on the 29, 30, and 31, James T.S. mentions that he hauled hay for himself and his father.66 The third mention of Father Allred at this time was on Sunday March 9 when he helped James T.S. confirm his oldest daughter Eliza Maria a member of the Church.67
In 1857, James attended a large dinner on December the first in Nephi. The “Sanpete Company” had just returned from the Utah War and so the atmosphere was quite festive.68
Back at Ft. Ephraim in 1858, James was relieved as Postmaster by Hans F. Peterson.69
On the 5th of October, “Patriarch James Allred” blessed his newest grandson, John Richard Allred. He was the son of James T.S. and his second wife, Margaret.70
On November 14th, James blessed their grandson, William Hackley Allred, who was the son of James T.S. and his first wife, Eliza.71 This date also happened to be the fifty-fifth wedding anniversary of James and his wife.
Approximately six weeks later, 200 soldiers camped at Ft. Ephraim through the influence of Benjamin L. Clapp. James Allred, James T.S. Allred and several others protested against quartering the troops, and Clapp then told them it would be treason to not do so and suggested that they flee to the mountains to escape arrest for treason. Captain Turley (who did not like Brigham Young and Mormons and who had been using “very abusive language” towards them while en route to Sanpete) took the names of those who opposed the admittance of the troops to the fort and threatened to take them to a judge. This issue apparently was dropped, but Clapp caused more trouble when he protested to Bishop Snow who said that the brethren should be selling hay at $25 - $30 a ton instead of $15 and wheat at $3 a bushel instead of $1.30. Clapp called Bishop Snow an “oppressor,” cut a Seventy off from the Church for opposing the entry of the soldiers into the fort, and was subsequently cut off from the Church (both in Salt Lake and Manti) himself for his actions.72
James T.S. Allred held a dinner for his father’s seventy-fifth birthday on January 22, 1859.73
The next record of James comes when he went to Salt Lake City on October 10, 1864. He attended a Zion’s Camp reunion there which was held in social Hall. It was the first time in thirty years that the Camp had been together. Brigham Young was the main speaker and was followed by Joseph Young and Orson Hyde. The group sang “Hark! Listen to the Trumpets” and the “Marsellaise.” The party lasted from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m.74
On the roll of those who attended the Zion’s Camp reunion, James Allred’s address is listed as Springtown. Sometime after January 1859 and October 1864, he moved back to Springtown. Hunter says that it could not have been before 1859 because that is the date he gives for the resettlement there,75 and Osborne says it was in 1860.76
Jumping to 1868, we find James Allred making a few remarks at a Memorial Service for Heber C. Kimball in Springtown. Orson Hyde made the key address, and James no doubt related some of the personal experiences he had with Heber in Nauvoo and elsewhere.77
In September of the same year, James attended a meeting in Fountain Green which Brigham Young and Wilford Woodruff attended also. The “Journal History” account of the day makes special note of the attendance of many prominent men including:
“Father James Allred, a very Patriarch, whose erect form gave no indication of his age.
He was born January 11, 1784, in Randolph County, North Carolina. His wife Elizabeth Warren was born May 6th,. 1786, in South Carolina. They emigrated from Tennessee to Missouri in 1830, and joined the Church Sept. 10, 1832. They were driven from Missouri with the Saints and fled into Illinois, and moved west with their co-religionists when they left the State. This aged couple, one 82, the other 84 years of age, have shared in the persecutions of the people of God; but they are here today in the midst of their numerous descendants remarkably hale and active for persons of their age. To look at them one would suspect that they were so advanced in years.78
This account gives James and his wife a great deal of respect by the recorder for the Church. It also gives an indication of the reverence that James must have had in the eyes of his contemporaries.
James returned again to Salt Lake in October of 1870 for another Zion’s Camp reunion which was held in conjunction with a Mormon Battalion reunion, and James T.S. accompanied his father on this trip.79
The final account of James Allred covered in this paper comes from Springtown in 1874. On July, James Allred and his wife, along with many others, were baptized into the United Order.80 James and his wife were the first ones baptized in Spring City, and this event and their place on the list of members who joined the Order I think shows their continued devotion to the Church as well as a great deal of prestige.
James Allred died just twelve days short of his ninety-second birthday on January 10, 1876. He had been married to his wife Elizabeth (who died three years later) for more than seventy-two years and strangely enough had not taken a plural wife. They had reared twelve children of their own and eight orphaned children of their second son. They had a posterity of four hundred and forty seven, which included twelve children, and one hundred and four grandchildren, three hundred and two great grandchildren, and twenty nine great-great grandchildren.81
James Allred had been a close associate of the Prophet Joseph and the other early leaders of the Church, he had served valiantly in several Church positions, including two High Councils, and had become a revered and esteemed Patriarch by his contemporaries and his family for his service and longevity.
REFERENCES by number
1. Eliza Maria Allred Munson, “Early Pioneer History.” This history comes from the diary of
James T.S. Allred. The author has a typed copy of it in his possession.
2. Ruth Osborne, “History of James Allred.” This history was typed by Mrs. Osborne before her death, and the author has a copy in his possession which was obtained from Mr. Osborne’s grandson V.C. Osborne. The source, of the material is unknown, but the text is almost exactly the same as the “Early Pioneer History” of Mrs. Munson, hereafter, Osborne, “James.”
3. Ruth Osborne, “LIFE SKETCH OF JAMES TILLMAN SANFORD ALLRED.” The original was typed by Mrs. Osborne, and the source is known. The author has a typed copy obtained from V.C. Osborne. Hereafter, Osborne, “Sketch of JTSA.”
4. “BRIEF HISTORY OF JAMES T.S. ALLRED.” This is a typed copy of part of James
T.S. Allred’s diary. The same history can be found in the BYU Library, Special Collections. The author has a typed copy in his
possession. Hereafter, “JTS.”
5. Munson, a; “Journal History,” June 8, 1834, church archives, Historical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah. Hereafter, JH and the date.
6. “JTS,: 1.
7. Munson, 1.
8. “JTS,” 1.
9. JH, September 28, 1839.
10. “Property Purchased by Church Members Inc. Joseph Smith’s” from “Joseph Smith’s Day Book,” Church Archives.
11. JH, November 29, 1839.
12. “Daybook of Peter Haws and Oliver Granger - produce and meat.” Church Archives.
13. “Joseph Smith’s Day Book,” Church Archives.
14. “JTS,” 1.
15. Cecil A. Snider, Development of Attitudes in Sectarian Conflict: A Study of Mormonism in Illinois in Contemporary Newspaper Sources, (State University)
16. JH, February 4, 1841.
17. JH, February 27, 1841.
18. JH, April 8, 1841.
19. “Nauvoo Masonic Records.” Church Archives.
20. “Nauvoo Relief Society Minutes, March 17, 1842 to March 16, 1844.” Church Archives.
21. JH, March 23, 1842.
22. “Records of Members, 1841-1845, Nauvoo, Illinois,” Church Archives.
23. JH, February ll, 1843.
24. “Nauvoo City Council Minutes,” Church Archives.
25. Munson, 2; Osborne, “James,” 1.
26. JH, June 28, 1844.
27. Munson, 2; Osborne, “James,” 1.
28. JH, October 7, 1844; JH, April 7, 1846.
29. Bond signed by Henry G. Sherwood and James Allred, BYU Library, Special Collections,
Provo, Utah.
30. Andrew Jenson, Historical Record (Salt Lake City, 1889), VIII. 870.
31. Munson, 1; Osborne, “James,” 1.
32. “JTS,” 1.
33. “JH” January 20, 1846.
34. “JTS,” 1.
35. “JTS,” 2.
36. On the Mormon Frontier The Diary of Rosea Stout 1844-1861, ed. Juanita Brooks
Salt Lake City, 1964, 144.
37. JH, March 27, 1846, p. 3.
38. JH, April 26, 1846, p. 3.
39. Diary of Hosea Stout, 158.
40. Osborne, “Redick,” 1; Osborne, “Sketch of JTSA,” 1.
41. “JTS,” 2.
42. JH, July 17, 1846, pp 1-2.
43. JH, July 21, 1846, p. 1.
44. JH, September 26, 1846.
45. JH, December 24, 1847; JH, December 25, 1847.
46. JH, January 20, 1848, p. 10.
47. JH, March 27, 1848.
48. JH, April 6, 1848.
49. JH, October 2, 1848.
50. JH, April 8, 1849.
51. JH, January 8, 1850, p. 2.
52. “Pottawattamie High Council Record Minutes July 21, 1846; January 18, 1851, Church Archives.
53. Osborne, “James,” 2.
54. JH, October 5, 1851.
55. JH, October 6, 1851, p.3.
56. Milton R. Hunter, Brigham Young the Colonizer (Salt Lake City, 1940), 251.
57. Munson, 3.
58. Hunter, 251; W.H. Lever, History of Sanpete and Emery Counties Utah (Ogden, 1889, 472.)
59. Hunter, 252.
60. JH, April 7, 1853.
61. Hunter, 252; Osborne, “James,” 2.
62. “JTS,” 2; Osborne, “James,” 3.
63. Osborne, “James,” 2; Hunter, 253.
64. Manuscript, Church Archives.
65. Manuscript, Church Archives.
65. “Diary of James T.S. Allred,” Tuesday January 22, 1856. BYU Library, Special Collections.
66. “Diary of James T.S. Allred,” Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, January 29, 30, and 31, 1856.
67. “Diary of James T.S. Allred,” Sunday March 9, 1856.
68. “Diary of Samuel Pitchforth 1857-1868,” p. 70. BYU Library Special Collections.
69. Ephraim’s First One Hundred Years, p. 118.
70. “Diary of James T.S. Allred,” Tuesday October 5, 1858.
71. “Diary of James T.S. Allred,” Sunday November 14, 1858.
72. JH, December 25, 1858, pp 2-3, 7; “Diary of James T.S. Allred” December 27-31, 1858, Jan. 1-2, 1859.
73. “Diary of James T.S. Allred,” Saturday January 22, 1859.
74. JH, October 10, 1864.
75. Hunter, 252.
76. Osborne, “James,” 2.
77. JH, June 24, 1868, p. 6.
78. Jh, September 21, 1868
79. Jh, October 10, 1870.
80. “Spring City Ward Record of Members 1860-1884,” Church Archives.
81. Osborne, “James,” 2.
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