isaac allred 1788-1870

8/7/2019 Isaac Allred 1788-1870

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

ISAAC ALLRED (1788-1870) Isaac Allred was the second son and fifth child in the family of eight childrenborn 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 distance

between these locations is 30 to 50 miles). Isaac¶s older brother, James, had married previously and gone northwestward to the Ohio River. Then, following Isaac¶s marriage, the twobrothers settled together in Tennessee, near Nashville. The newlyweds, 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 about

500 miles north westward to Monroe County, Missouri. Isaac¶s son, William,described the location as, ³....on the State Road (with?) in three miles of oneof the three 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 CannonReservoir and there does not appear to be any great highway in the area.(This is also very near the birthplace of Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain, bornin 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 sufficient

clothing -- for his large family, which by May, 1831, numbered elevenchildren. He enjoyed one advantage, however. It was the abundance of gameanimals. William tells of his father going out and bagging two deer beforebreakfast, 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 Allred

8/7/2019 Isaac Allred 1788-1870


Settlement): 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 Murdock.Other Elders were passing every few months from Kirtland to JacksonCounty -- the gathering place for the Saints, and father opened his house for meetings....´ The Salt River Branch of the Church was organized that sameday. 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 rented

his 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 evictedfrom 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, ³...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 the

mob spirit began to raise, which was checked only by a compromise bywhich the old settlers were to buy out the Saints, and we to move into a newcounty adjoining called Caldwell County. ³1837 Father preempted land on Long Creek where he hoped to be able tobuild 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 had to 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. Brokeground 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...´

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Isaac and Mary¶s oldest son, John, married in 1833. This left William (age 19in 1838) as the oldest unmarried son. But William fled the area after it waslearned that the Missourians were seeking him because he had been involvedin the battle of Crooked River and in the defense of Far West. This left Isaacand his daughters and youngest sons -- with only one or two ox teams which

had not been either stolen or destroyed -- to transport family and good in thewintertime exodus from Missouri. At length the family reached Illinois and were reunited. Isaac rented a farm afew miles down the Mississippi River from the town of Quincey. The familyresided there until the Prophet, Joseph, made his escape from Missouri andfounded Nauvoo, on a bend in the Mississippi on the Illinois side. Isaacmoved his family there in 1840. We have little information about him fromthen until the exodus from Nauvoo. Isaac¶s family were not among thoseleaving there early. William noted that it was in the spring of 1846.Reddick¶s record is that as he returned to Nauvoo after assisting some of the

early movers to camps in Iowa, he found his family (Isaac, Mary andchildren, and his wife, Lucy) on the Iowa side of the Mississippi awaiting hisreturn so they could resume the journey. He noted that weather conditionshad improved so much that they actually had a pleasant trip across Iowa toCouncil Bluffs (a great contrast to the experiences of those who left Nauvooearly). It appears that most of the quite numerous Allred clan -- Isaac and Jamesnow being the patriarchs of large posterities of children and grandchildren --settled about five miles east of Council Bluffs at what became known asAllred settlement. According to Reddick, 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, enlisted in the Mormon Battallion. 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 overwinter there. After Reddick¶s return in December of 1847 (James Riley remained inCalifornia), preparations to move west were hastened. The journey was

commenced in the spring of 1849. Reddick was a captain of 50. Isaac andfamily 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.

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Thus, at age 64, after having raised a family of 12 (two of whom were stillteenagers), 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 destitute

having lost their crop the two successive seasons as also many othersthroughout 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 have

proceeded on to Sanpete valley immediately, because later that year he wasselected 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 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 tohave 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

themselves. There is indication that this measure lessened the losses, but didnot 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, 1 ggson

8/7/2019 Isaac Allred 1788-1870


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.

isaac allred 1788-1870

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