Allred Lineage: married to Louis Ephraim, Ephraim Lafayette, Reuben Warren, James, William, Thomas, Solomon born 1680 Lancashire, England
Submitted by: her Grandson Gary D. Allred
The following was taken from a journal entry made by Lydia Belle Henrie Allred written in her own hand dated August 9, 1934, with the ending dated December 18, 1957.
Just arrived from an Allred reunion and was given the determination to write the history of my life, Lydia Belle Henrie Allred.
I was born at Manti the 6th of January 1881 - was the first girl but the second baby, there were eight others after that in my Mother’s family. At this time my father was in the mountains getting out timber and my young mother was left alone to bear the pain and sorrow but after the arrival of baby and being a girl, all was happy. I had hair, lots of it, more than few babies ever have. Of course, my hair was the cause of lots of excitement in the small village. My father’s brother, a young man at that time did not take much notice of babies but to their surprise he made up for lost time. Of course, the folks told him that it was my hair that was the cause of it.
A year after I was born my parents and a number of others, all young married folks starting out in life was called to Emery county to settle that part of the woods. They lived in the little town of Ferron. There I grew up to womanhood and spent my young life. There they settled down the river, first the little place was called Molen. As more moved in and the land became wet and soggy, they went up the river about three miles and started the town of Ferron. Father sure done his share of building up the town. Since I can remember, it seems like father was a rustler, getting a home under construction ready for mother to enjoy her home and then would trade it off for a small one. About the first one I can remember was a four room house frame and oh! Mother was so happy. About the only big house in town at that time and I remember a man coming and asking for Father. He was not at home and he talked to Mother about selling the place. Mother said, Oh no she could not part with it for she had lived in dugouts long enough. Well, he left and before Mother saw him, this man, George Petty was his name, he saw Father first and traded and had closed the deal before Mother saw Father. Oh, how my Mother did cry, and she cried for days. Well they moved to a house with one big room and a lean at the back. I don’t remember just how long we lived in it.
From there to a log house with a dirt roof, two rooms, from then on, I remember most everything while we were living in this dirt roof house. We had a granary framed and shingled.
The Manti sheep men in the winter would cross the mountains and down in the Henrie mountains with their sheep and every time they would come to town for food, they would make their home at our house. Mother would furnish them a bed and a meal for 25 cents. We kept that up for years it seems like we never was alone in our home, always someone to do for. Most of it was free board. Every one that come into town and went out stopped.
I remember Dad saying, Hannah, I am going to build a brick house. Well, how on earth can you afford to do it, we have not got enough to even buy brick with. Well, Dad said, we have a few head of heifers here that we can get $10.00 a head for now, so he started to putting stuff on the place to build. Yes, Mother said, just get it ready to get into and you will sell it again. So, Dad made her a promise that he would not sell this one, so construction started for a none room house in this shape . It was built in with a porch to go all around it. We did not get it all finished up, we lived there till after I was a married woman.
My Mother was a rustler, a good manager and saver, never did spend a nickel foolish, always at home, tending her babies. Never remember a time her leaving us with someone else or a girl to tend to us. After we were large enough to take care of ourselves, I remember of them going away to a big Christmas dinner with some of their chums. When they were young, at this one instance, Father owned a store and, in those days, out in the small towns they would have whisky along with their other freight and my Father was a good hand with whiskey, came home drunk so much, well Mother left it to him to see we got our Christmas. The store was on the same lot as the house but I never knew her a going in to the store nor would Dad allow one of us children therefor it seems there were always a big crowd of men there.
So, as I said before, Dad was to look after our Christmas. During the night Dad come in and put a box of Christmas on the table with my Mother a long coat for her Christmas. It was on top and Mother thought it belonged to some of the sheep herders and never looked into it for I never remember of her doing that to other people’s things so she just set it to one side and children go up to our empty socks. Oh, how we cried, well, she says, I have a pound of butter you can take and go buy you some candy, but Oh, it would not be what Santy would bring us. Dad never came in to breakfast. When it came time to go to their Christmas dinner Dad in company with others drove up to the gate and then had to wait for her to get ready for him. Not coming home for breakfast and telling her to be ready, she did not expect him to go, so ready she got, and put the little old short coat she had on and went out to the wagon. There were about four spring seats in the wagon to take a load of people with them. Dad could see straight enough to see that she did not have her new coat on and asked why she was not wearing it. She said she did not know she had one, so back in the house she went and into the box. Oh! Talk about Santa, we sure did have a big one too, more than our share, but no one will ever know how sad we were up until about 11 o:clock. It made up for it the rest of the day while Mother and Dad was off enjoying their Christmas. They never came home until morning, so we all enjoyed our Christmas.
My brothers and sisters’ names are: James, Belle, (my name) Mary Etta, Margaret, Owen, Elmer, Wriler Kenneth, Glen, Roosevelt. My sister Mary Etta and I were always companions, where ever I went she went. I could not enjoy myself without her. We were quite small girls when our Daddy would always dance with us so I cannot remember of learning to dance. I was a good dancer when I became a young lady. I remember one Easter the crowd got together and went up west of Ferron to a grove we Call Ferron’s. They lived there too. We went in wagons and went in the morning and stayed until late at night. It seems like that was my first real romp and good time. I then got the boy I had watched in girl hood days. He took me home. Maybe that was the reason I had such a good time, but now when we meet some of the old crowd that time is spoken of as a real time.
One other instance we thought we were big girls but I guess we were not so big as we thought. The Ward was having a dance and all at fourteen, I believe, could not go. We were large enough but not old enough, probably one or two of the crowd could of gone but stayed because the rest could not be there, so we got lunch, went or came down to our house. Jim Henrie was my Father’s name and was having a real time without the boys for they were old enough to go, we had a hay derrick and hay so we was making our beds out there, and was just having the time of our lives. We didn’t think a boy knew anything about it as we tried so hard to not let anyone know where we were but all of a sudden, we had a move a coming and the boys took charge of our quilts. Without the bunch, the dance was a failure, no one to keep up the dance.
Winter was such long nights; we could spend lots of time sleigh riding - no picture shows at that time. We could only have a dance about every two weeks so we done lots of sleigh riding, ride a while and then to our house and have lunch. The boys would go get some oysters or coffee and my Mother it seems like, was always up with a warm fire waiting for us. She fixed us something to eat and would wash the dishes, never complaining about the young folks coming there. They all felt at home. My Father was always gone and neglected her. She would make the living for us children. My small brother, Kenneth was about two years old and mother was just sitting in her chair. The baby Glen was about ten days old; it was in July on a Sunday. We had ripe apricots as they would fall from the tree. He would pick them up as we had a tree in to the door, it was our shade. Large stones were in the apricots. He sucked one in his throat, he came through the kitchen into the room pulling at his mouth, his face just as blue, Mother worked with him until her strength was gone. I being the only one home with her as it was Sunday and Dad off sporting another woman, that was in the year 1891. The child was a big fat child, so hard to lift, Mother handed him to me and told me to run to Bill Tailors as he would die. The house set back a ways in the lot. As I went out the gate with him, I had him on his back, Mother was following me telling me to turn him over. The store was just half way in the block, so I had to run right by it. As I got in front of the store, Taylor opened the doors. Kenneth by that time lay so limp that I could hardly make a go of it. He takes the child by the heels and gave him tow or three hard jerks head down and the blood and the stone flew. He said if I had of had tow more roads to go, he would of been too far gone to of saved him. His throat was just cut with that sharp stone, he never ate nor slept for three days. In two years after that the diphtheria started to rage, it sure did wipe out the small children. At his time there came a woman to Mother by the name of Clare Stevens, her husband, Joseph Stevens, went freighting to the mining camps, Castle Gate and Helper. He come home one time with an awful sore throat and they kept it a secret. He laid a couple of nights and never knew a thing. She told us afterwards, well she wanted Mother to let me come and stay with her while he went back to the camps, so I went and in nine days I took a sore throat. I told her that my throat was sore, but she needed some things from the store and wanted me to walk up three quarters of a mile in snow about three inches deep. My shoes was not very good, no overshoes, so I went and as I got to Mothers, I told her my throat was sore. She put some sulphur in my throat and told me to go back and tell Clair to let me stay there and would come and stay and would do all her work if she would not let me go out to do anything, only not let me come home to her little children. The old folks Stevens took me back in the sleigh and the old Lady Stevens looked in my throat and said she was sure I had the diphtheria. I told Clair; Mother did not want me to come home to give it to the little children. She said, why they would quarantine me and Mother could not come and see me, I cannot do that. She sent me right back. Mother put me away from the other children. It was not long until we knew I had the dreadful disease. After I got apparently well, mother let me come in with the rest of the children, not knowing that I could still give it for fourteen days after my throat was clean, so in just nine days, two of my little brothers took it. Kenneth, the fat little boy that came so near choking to death with the apricot stone, did not last long with the diphtheria. He had to choke to death any way. The other little boy was awful bad. It just looked like he could not live. It afflicted him so he could not talk. The skin was just dried on his bones, we waited about a month and we started to clean the house, a brother by the name of Owen would not keep coming up to the washer, he said he wanted to get it, he was twelve years old. Well he did take it and he died too. Oh, how much trouble could of been saved, if that woman would of let me stayed at her home. She did not have any children, only an infant. This woman told me afterwards that she had lost all the friends she ever did have by not letting me stay with her as I should of done.
For three winters that dreaded disease would break out and for three years there was no schools.
Schools, it just seemed as though I never have went to school, only to a school of knocks. My mother had so much work all the time, she would have to keep me out from one to two days every week. Where they did hold school, we had one teacher all through my time of going to school. One teacher, his name was Fred Killpack, he knew his job was safe because the town of Ferron never did change teachers.
The girls that I went with were always to Church on Sunday, we all enjoyed it, seemed to go because we love church, we always had our M.I.A. on Tuesday night. Without fail the crowd was always there. There was not a tough girl in the bunch. We never had amusements of other kinds to lure us away but we did look fourth for Tuesday night for the boys would be to the Young Men’s meeting and of course would walk with the girls home in the summer. We would look fourth to go to Lemons, they were the only people at that time with much fruits, currants, grapes and fruit of all kinds. I used to spend my time there picking fruit on shares. They lived above town a mile on the river and oh, we could swim and have the real sports of nature. Their girl was named Dalis Lemon, red headed and so good natured so not all red headed people have fiery tempers for she sure didn’t. His Father didn’t belong to the Church, but she never missed a Sunday and to this day is a true Latter-Day-Saint in Emery County. We sure would have some wicked wind storms and on a Tuesday night at one time, it just seemed like the houses would not stand up under the wind, well most of the girls were to meeting. A Bishop Counselor by the name of Uncle John Allred, he had the three girls, Lylian, Sady and Lucy, they started to getting ready for meeting, when the Father looked up from the paper, he said, “You girls are not going out on a night like this.” Lylian and Lucy stopped getting ready, but Sady kept on preparing to go when the Father saw she did not intend to obey he reproached her again. She said “Obey the Lord first and then your parents” so they went to the meeting.
The first time I ever left my home town to go to a dance the Emery young folk came to Ferron to a dance and made some of us promise the next dance we would come to Emery so the boys rustled two teams and wagons with four spring seats in each wagon and they were full with three in a seat. Oh, boy we thought we had just turned the world upside down, we had one time but that was the first and the last time for that kind of trips. Never did have the privilege of going camping or fishing. One summer my Grandmother came from Richfield to visit us and took me home with her to go to school, so I went back with her and went to school until February. That was the only graded school I ever went to. My boyfriend came out for Holidays, rode a horse through the mountains. Now a boy has to have a car if he goes two miles to see a girl friend or he doesn’t go to see her. On Christmas day we went from Richfield to Spring City to spend a day or so with the Allred folks. I wasn’t contented any more after he left so I went home in February. We were married in the spring of 1898. My Daddy-In-Law, Ephraim L. Allred gave him two acres of land. We build a one room house on it, a frame house, shingled it, plastered on the inside and was warm. In December, our first baby came, a boy. Well we just knew he was the only baby that lived. He was a beauty. Well in just a year and four months our girl came and we were prouder than ever. She sure had a head of long dark hair. People just nearly went up over her. When she was two weeks old, I sure thought I sure would die. It just seemed like I could not endure such pain every night of my life. It seems I would have those awful pains; inflammation would set in more than once. There was an old lady, a Welch woman, an herb doctor which I will have to give her lots of credit of building my health up. Oh, I did have poor health, by the power of God or I would not of lived to raise my babies. I gave birth to fourteen babies and have raised them all. They are all grown now but three and I have two Grandchildren to raise. I have had them for two years and a half. My children’s names are: Louis Ray Allred, Ora Bell, Zella M., James E., Kenneth R., Verda, Melvin, Cleon, Don, Clyde, Lee, Glen Henrie, Lyle, Miles, two grandchildren - Bonnie Bell and Melvin Allred.
We were poor during the first part of our married life but we were happy. We worked and planned together. Whatever he suggested I would always join in with him. We kept increasing in property. We sold our two acres in town for forty acres about five miles from town. We went out there without even a house. We put up a little log house and live there a year and a half, sold and got 160 acres up close to town. We sure was proud of it. We put us up two rooms there and 25 acres of fruit, apples, about 5 acres of all kinds of fruit we had to fence it with chicken wire to keep the rabbits from eating our trees up while we live there.
The little town of Clawson was started. They built a school house and there is where my first two children started to school, but still had to move again. We went into Ferron. I bought the old ranch of Mike Molen on the river bottom, gave $5,000.00 for that. Oh my, didn’t we think we had done wonders and it was the best farm in that part of the country. People sure did wonder and envy us over it, so many wanted it.
Wasn’t very long, five or six years that Louis went on a mission to the North Western States under apostle Ballard. While he was away, we had a little baby boy. We named him Melvin Ballard for Lou did love that man. That was our seventh baby. After Louis came home, he and Lewis Edwards went to the Uintah Basin to look around and buy land there. So, in the year of 1911 we moved to the basin and started pioneering all over again. We landed in Talmage. Our first baby born in the Uintah Basin was Don. We burned brush and broke up land, about two years and then moved to Roosevelt, east of Talmage. Clyde was born there but not long before we went north to Neola where all the rest of my babies were born which made 14. Raised them all. Melvin got killed on the railroad when he was 32 years. While in Hayden Louis was Bishop and at Neola. In Hayden we had a big dairy and cattle ranch, also had sheep along with the cattle. Our oldest boy Ray had signed up, on his 18th birthday to go to World War I. As armistice day was signed, the war was over but when the II World War was on, I had 17 boys and grandboys in the army. One of my boys go his legs, the flesh, blowed off, full of shrapnel. He was in the hospital in Africa and went from there up through Italy fighting but came back and had him three fine children but has broken health. He is living here in Salt Lake City now.
James E., Kenneth R. also Ora, my Second child but my first daughter, Zella, Cleon, and Don and Lee lives in Roosevelt. Two lives in California and one in Wyoming. Their Father, now 70 years old is in North Carolina on a six-month mission. I am living here in Salt Lake City doing research work trying to get my gr. Gr. Gr. Grand dads’ line to get their work all done. This is the 10th day of Sept. 1949.
DECEMBER 18, 1957
it has been a long time since I laid this book up, so I have one or two crowding me for a little history. Now my children is all married off and I have 76 grandchildren and 89 great Grandchildren. My children names is : Ray, Ora Campbell, Zella Gardner, James, Kenneth, Verda Fuell, Melvin is the boy that got killed in Calif. Cleon, Don, Cylde, Lee, Glen H., Lyle, Miles. Lee married Leah Sprouse, Glen married Therese Covel, Lyle married Madge Parker, had two children and separated in California and then married Fannie and have two children. Miles married Wanda Peterson and have three children. All are living but the one, Melvin, he was born while his daddy was on a mission in Washington. I got blood poisoning and was in my bed for three months. A girl came from Wisconsin. She joined the church and came west. She stayed with me and never left me and a nurse from the old country, a natural born Doctor, she stayed with me. If they hadn’t of been so good to me, hy husband could not of stayed on his mission. He did not know I was so bad or he wouldn’t of stayed, his term was up and we were living in Ferron, Every, Co. at that time. After he came home, he got the fever to move to the Indian reservation. Cleon was four months old. Dad and Ray, James went out to the Basin in February to fix a place for us to move to. He made one log room for ten to live in, in Talmage. We stayed two years there, but we built a frame house, two rooms down stairs, two rooms upstairs. By then we moved to Roosevelt, Don was born up to Talmage. At Roosevelt Clyde came along and was still trying to build a house. We were living in anything that they called house. Got a four-room house built at Hayden and thought that would settle us down, but no, we moved to Neola on a farm and milked cows, herded sheep. We finally landed back to Roosevelt on a farm and still lived in an old log house. We finally got another house built and war broke out, took the boys and Dad had diabetes and had to go to Salt Lake City to the Dr. so I turned the farm over to Don and went to Salt Lake too, and we started to work on our ancestors and getting the Temple work for those that had gone years ago which we are still working on our peoples lines. Kenneth is paying out money every month to see that our people can have the same chance that we have had while living here in this day of plenty and Temples to do this work, but now it looks like our work is about done here. I am 77, 6 day of Jan. And have been very sick which has shortened my days here. Your Mother, and grandmother Lydia Bell Allred, Dec 18, 1957 at Kaysville 6 Ward.
In talking to Grandma Allred about her life, the following are a couple of little things that I thought would be interesting to add here a footnote.
She related that at the time she was 15 and mother let her go to Richfield to stay with her Grandparents, he Grandfather Horne gave her a book by a Dr. Durrant, Salt Lake City, and it thrilled her so much and through this and prayer, gained her testimony.
At the time that she was baptized, she lived in Ferron, Emery Co. For some reason, she had to go alone to be baptized. It was on her eighth birthday, the 6th of January. She remembered how cold she was and they gave her two coats to wear home to keep from freezing. She was baptized in the Ferron River.
Grandma never did mention the reason for her Mother being sealed to the Horne line instead of the Snow line. Records show that Hannah Maria Snow was 19 years old when her mother married Joseph Horne and was sealed to him at that time and also had her two children sealed to him, Joseph Smith Horne. They were: John Chancy Snow and Hannah Maria Snow.
Lydia Belle Henrie Allred