Lewis Allen biography

[With many thanks to Josephine Brinkerhoff Johnson and JoAnn Johnson Hadden, authors of Roots That Nourish Us: Ancestors of Joseph Brinkerhoff and Phoebe Allen, which this biography is based upon]

LEWIS ALLEN, son of Rial Allen and Margaret (Peggy) Evans, was born 11 June 1813 in Somerset, Pulasky County, Kentucky. His family moved to Calloway County, Kentucky about 1828, when Lewis was about 15. When he was 23, Lewis Allen married Elizabeth Alexander (1 March 1819 Union County, South Carolina - 23 March 1869 West Point, Lincoln County, Nevada), daughter of Jonathan Alexander and Tabitha Nix, in Far West, Caldwell County, Missouri.

Their first child, Tabitha Jane Allen, was born in Far West in 1838, after which they moved back to Calloway County, Kentucky, where their second child, Beulah Ann Allen, was born on 24 May 1840. The family continued to live In Calloway County through 1846, except for a brief period in 1844-45 when they lived in Henry County, Tennessee.

Their first son was born in 1842 in Calloway County, but died in infancy; a second son Rial Allen, was born in Tennessee in 1844. Their next child, Jonathan Alexander Allen, was born after their return to Calloway County, Kentucky.

Lewis and his father, Rial, moved their families to Platte Township, Andrew County, Missouri, where Lewis and Elizabeth had another son, Samuel Allen, in 1848. Samuel died five days later. While living in Missouri six more children were born: James Byrd Allen born 1849, Margaret Elizabeth Allen born 1852, Sarah Melissa Allen born 1854, Andrew Jackson Allen born 1846, Martha Permilla Allen born 1859 and Nancy Esther Allen born 1861.

In 1836, Lewis and Elizabeth left the Baptist church when converted by Wilford Woodruff to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Lewis’ brother, James, and their sister, Martha, also joined the LDS church. Their younger brother, Andrew Jackson Allen, wrote,

“My brothers emmegrated to Missoury to fare west in 1835 or 36….I went to Nauvo in /44 having dezier to se the proffeit Joseph Smith and the temple etc. and was accompanyed by James Allen. When we reached Nauvoo Bro Joseph had been murderd just a fiew days previous and the Saints all in moarning and a glume seemed to be all over the citty.”

“We stopt a short time and visited some old aquainteses (Bro Bengamen Clap & Daniel Tommes) that had formerly lived in Kentucky and then returned to our homes in Kentucky. I had expected to be baptised when I got to Nauvoo but the poffit being killd and the people felling so bad I returnd home and did not. In 1845 there was Elders sent thro the country notifying the saints that the church had aggreed to leave the citty of Nauvoo and emmegrate west in to the wilderness etc. and when I hird that newse the spirit that had prompted me on former accasions still prompd me to gether with the saints, and I soald my pssesions for what I could get and Emmegrated to Nauvoo in Frebuary, and was baptized my self and wife in the Missoury rivver in Aprel and started to the west with the saints not knowing where they would settle down.”

The new converts wanted to migrate to Utah but their father, Rial Allen, asked them to stay and help him farm. He had sold his land in Calloway County, Kentucky and was now a large landowner in Andrew County, Missouri. He offered them $600 to $800 each if they would just stay and help him. Traveling with the Abraham O. Smoot - George B. Wallace Company of Mormon pioneers, Andrew Jackson Allen and his sister, Martha left on 13 June1847 and arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah on 25 September 1847. James and

Lewis Allen and their families didn't leave for Utah until 15 years later. On 30 May 1862 they left with an independent ox team company, arriving in Draper, Utah at the home of their brother, Andrew Jackson Allen, on 30 August 1862. Now 18, Lewis Allen’s oldest surviving son, Rial, and the older children, were a great help in making this long trip. Some of the equipment used on this trek westward, a copper bucket and a large cooking pot that hangs on a tripod, is still in the possession of Rial Allen's descendants. Lewis Allen settled his family in Washington, Washington County, Utah, where they lived for a few years.

Their final child, Mary Ellen Allen, was born in 1866 in Washington, Utah. After the birth of Mary Ellen, Elizabeth was in poor health and was never well again. The family celebrated three weddings in 1868: Tabitha Jane married John Woodruff Freeman and moved to Snowflake, Navajo County, Arizona; Beulah Ann married Willis Webb and moved to Glendale, Kane, Utah; Rial Allen married Susan Elizabeth Collins and moved to Pine, Gila County, Arizona. Following the weddings, Lewis responded to President Young's call and moved his remaining family to the Muddy Mission in Nevada. During their first winter there, on 23 March 1869, Elizabeth died and was buried at West Point, Lincoln County, Nevada.

The conditions at Muddy Mission were unfavorable for agriculture or homemaking. The excessive heat caused many to abandon the mission. President Brigham Young advised the Muddy settlers to return to Utah, and if they had homes to which they wished to return they might do so. But if not, he advised them to settle in Utah's Long Valley. On 10 December 1870, the people of the Muddy Mission resolved to abandon the location and look for new home. Lewis bought the section known as Moccasin Springs in Long Valley, where he started a very successful farm and orchard. Margaret Elizabeth Allen married Brigham Young Baird in 1870; a year later Sarah Melissa Allen married Daniel Vester Leroy. . In 1874 President Brigham Young counseled the LDS people to enter the United Order of Enoch, a form of communal living. In February 1875 the valley was surveyed and the of Orderville, Utah was laid out and building commenced. Ever obedient to the Church leadership, Lewis turned his profitable Moccasin Springs Ranch to the Order and moved his family to Orderville.He was then called Lewis “Moccasin” Allen.

Orderville's streets ran in all four directions. A large square 30 x 30 rods was laid out in the center of which was a community-dining hall. This was also used for meetings and dancing. The dwelling houses were built and joined together to form an enclosure of the square on the order of a fort. Each family had to reside in one room. The dining hall was made of rough lumber and put together with wooden pegs. It was lined with adobe and later plastered. The kitchen and bakery were built on. They all had assigned jobs. William H. Black was in charge of the dining hall and seven women were assigned to help him. Those eight people cooked and served three meals a day for 80 families. The men were served first, at 7 a.m., 12 noon and 6 p.m. The women and children were served later.

The storehouse was built on the southeast corner of the property. There was also a shoe shop, where Lewis Allen made and mended shoes. At first his shoes were very simple, with no difference between shoes for the right or left feet. J. S. Allen and Lewis Allen were in charge of a bucket factory where wooden buckets, tubs, kegs, barrels and churns were made from the local red cedar. Lewis Allen and his son-in-law Willis Webb ran the first molasses mill in the Order. Molasses was the only sweetening available in Orderville for some time.

Jonathan Alexander Allen married Jane Nelson in 1881. Mary Ellen married Charles Albert Black in 1883. Lewis lived the remainder of his life in the Order of Enoch, serving as a Home Teacher and High Priest. Lewis Allen died 24 Jan 1883 at the age of 70. He is buried in Orderville, Kane County, Utah.

Sources

• Allen, Andrew Jackson, Delilah Dudley. Keller, and Paul Dudley. Keller. Diary of Andrew Jackson Allen, a Pioneer of 1847. Salt Lake City, UT: Delilah Dudley Keller and Paul Dudley Keller, 1983. Print.
• Esshom, Frank. Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah: Comprising Photographs, Genealogies, Biographies; Pioneers Are Those Men and Women Who Came to Utah by Wagon, Hand Cart or Afoot, between July 24, 1847, and December 30, 1868, before the Railroad; the Early History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Salt Lake City, UT: Utah Pioneers Book Pub., 1913. Print.
• Johnson, Josephine Brinkerhoff., and JoAnn Johnson. Hadden. Roots That Nourish Us: Ancestors of Joseph Brinkerhoff and Phoebe Allen. 2000. Print.
• Larson, Andrew Karl. I Was Called to Dixie, the Virgin River Basin: Unique Experiences in Mormon Pioneering. St. George, Utah: Deseret News, 1961. Print.
• Find A Grave Memorial # 70360
• Utah State Historical Society, comp. Utah Cemetery Inventory [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000. Original data: Utah State Historical Society. Utah Cemetery Inventory. Salt Lake City, UT, USA: 2000. Name: Lewis Allen, Gender: M (Male), Cemetery: Orderville Cemetery
• Edmund West, comp.. Family Data Collection - Births [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2001. Name: Lewis Allen, Father: Rial Easter Allen, Mother: Margaret Evans Evins, Birth Date: 11 Jun 1813, City: Somerset, State: KY, Country: USA.
• Edmund West, comp. Family Data Collection - Individual Records [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000. Birth year: 1813; Birth city: Somerset; Birth state: KY.
• Heritage Consulting. Millennium File [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2003. Original data: Heritage Consulting. The Millennium File. Salt Lake City, UT, USA: Heritage Consulting. Name: Lewis Allen, Spouse: Elizabeth Alexander, Birth Date: 11 Jun 1813, Birth City: Somerset, Birth County: Pulaski, Birth State: Kentucky, Birth Country: USA, Death Date: 24 Jan 1883, Death City: Orderville, Death County: Kane, Death State: Utah, Death Country: USA, Parents: Rial Easter Allen, Children: Rial Allen.
• Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Original data: Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. (NARA microfilm publication T9, 1,454 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. Year: 1880; Census Place: Orderville, Kane, Utah; Roll: 1336; Family History Film: 1255336; Page: 447B; Enumeration District: 29.
• Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1870 U.S. census, population schedules. NARA microfilm publication M593, 1,761 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Year: 1870; Census Place: West Point, Rio Virgin, Utah Territory; Roll: M593_1611; Page: 446A; Image: 239; Family History Library Film: 553110.
• Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1860 U.S. census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Year: 1860; Census Place: Platte, Andrew, Missouri; Roll: M653_605; Page: 334; Image: 338; Family History Library Film: 803605.
• Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C. Year: 1850; Census Place: Platte, Andrew, Missouri; Roll: M432_391; Page: 81A; Image: 168.