Isaac ALLRED

Allred Linage:   Isaac, William, Thomas, Solomon born 1680 England

Born: 01/27/1788 Pendleton Co., SC
Died: 11/13/1870 Spring City, Sanpete Co., UT

Submitted by: Sharon Allred Jessop 03/29/1999

A Short History of Isaac Allred
by Rulon C. Allred

William Allred, the father of Isaac, was born on land that later became Randolph County, North Carolina.  Thomas was the father of William, the father of Isaac.  It is likely that Isaac’s father, William, was married in Randolph county to Elizabeth Thresher; their two oldest children, James and Mary Allred, were born in Hillsborough District.

Sometime before the year 1788, William Allred moved with his family to Pendleton Country, Georgia. It was here that Isaac, the subject of our sketch, was born on the 27th day of January 1788. Before Isaac was two years old the family again moved. This time into Franklin County, Georgia. And it was here that William, Martha, John and Sarah were born.

When Isaac Allred was twenty-two years of age he married Mary Calvert, the daughter of John Calvert and Mary McCurdy. From the records we find that Isaac Allred and Mary C. Calvert were married on the 14th of February 1811. They settled near Farmington, Bedford County, Tennessee. It was here that Mary gave birth to their children; ie: Elizabeth, Martin, John Calvert, Nancy Weekly and Sarah Lovisa Allred, William Moore, was born on the 24th of December, 1819, the twins, Reddick Newton and Reddin Alexander were born on the 21st of December 1822. Mary Caroline was born on the 9th of December 1824 and James Riley was born on the 28th of January 1827, Paulinus Harvey Allred,  was born near Farmington, in Bedford County on 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 was here that Isaac Allred and his family and some of the older married sons of James Allred settled and formed what was known and referred to in history as “Allred Settlement”. It was likely here, too, that these families were first visited by the Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We find this place and these people lovingly referred to in President Heber C. Kimball’s life history and by other early Elders of the LDS Church. Though James was the oldest member of the Allred family to join the Church in these last days, and was baptized into the Church the 10th 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 and with other Elders was instrumental in organizing the “Salt River Branch of the Church.” Most of the members of these families accepted the gospel and were baptized in 1832 and 1833.

Isaac Allred and Mary Calvert had their next born son, Joseph Allred born at Allred 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, Isaac Allred sought refuge for his family in Caldwell County where they lived until 1838. It was at this place that Mary Calvert Allred gave birth to her last born son, Sidney Rigdon Allred, on the 22nd of October 1837. We find in 1838 that the family had moved to join the body of the Saints who had been driven from their homes in Missouri and with them they settled at Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois.

When on the 12th of July, 1843, the revelation on “The Plurality of Wives and the Eternity of the Marriage Covenant” was first written and was read by President 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 members who accepted the revelation as the word of the Lord to the Saints in these last days. The other three members of the High Council rejected the revelation and in fulfillment of the prophecy made at that time by Hyrum, brother of the Prophet, 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 the Missouri River on the ice and escaped into the bleak surroundings of that uninviting 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 and lands, later ordered that the fleeing body be overtaken and that 500 of their young men be drafted into the Army to join in the war against Mexico. The Saints were overtaken in Indian Territory and it was here that the Army Officer had been directed to get 500 men or upon failure of the “Mormons” to supply them to count them as traitors, fleeing under false pretenses, and therefore worth of extermination. This is according to the statement of President 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 the Army. 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 the young Allred boys joined the “Mormon Battalion: and performed with that Battalion in the longest march of foot soldiers in length of miles ever traversed by any army in the history of time.

When President Young and his advance company proceeded on to the west, he advised the remaining body of Saints to stay where they were in Indian Territory and raise crops and provide for themselves and lay up store for the others in the long march which must eventually follow. Besides, he said, at that time many of their young men now in the army could join them and assist 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 them Allred’s, on their march to Salt Lake City, Utah. However, Isaac Allred was selected with other brethren to go on ahead with President Brigham Young as an advance company. He was with them when on the 24th of July, 1847, when they entered the Salt Lake Valley.

Mary Calvert, mother of 13 fine children and one of those known and mentioned as one of the noble “Women of Mormondom” having a name worthy to be perpetuated through all time and eternity, died in Sanpete County on the 16th of September 1851. (According to one record, she died in Holladay, 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 in Sanpete County referred to by her son, William Moore Allred in his diary, while he was still on his way to Salt Lake City with his delayed brethren and their families and while they were camped at “Loon Fork” on the Platt River.

On the 5th of November 1852, Isaac Allred married Matilda Stewart, the widow of John Miller, she being sealed to him for time and to her deceased husband for eternity. By this marriage, Isaac fathered one daughter Matilda Stewart Allred, who was born 12 May, 1853 at Big Cottonwood, Salt Lake County, Utah.

Isaac joined members of the Allred family about 1853 aiding in the settlement of the Allred family about 1853 aiding in the settlement of the Sanpete Valley and in the formation of “Allred Town” later known as “Little 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, Utah after fulfilling a noble life and leaving a name for good among all Saints.