Suttle Allred and Hiram Vestal Allred
of Mt. Airy, North Carolina

by Michael Marshall
Lineage:  Michael, Lee J. Nettie, Thomas C., Suttle T., Jesse, John, John, unknown Allred woman and Samuel Finley, Solomon Allred born 1680 Lancashire, England

I am passing along some Allred information with the thought that some of this might be useful.   Settle (also spelled Suttle in some records) Allred is my ancestor. Murphy is his brother and both are sons of Jesse Allred (02/08/1783 - 11/11/1844) and his wife, Alsey York.

Hiram Vestal Allred Sr. (04/08/1821 - 05/02/1914). In any event, I was looking through some old notes of mine and found a letter dated February 21, 1991, from a lady named Agnes Wells of Mount Airy, North Carolina, whom I hired to do some Allred research for me way back then. Among other things, it contained a typed transcription of an article that appeared in the June 1, 1916, issue of the Mount Airy News and titled, “The Early History of Mount Airy,” by Hon. S.P. Graves. The article contains this information:

“S.T. Allred, better known among the old residents as “Sut” Allred, conducted a grocery and “soft drinks” establishment where the Gwyn Drug Store now stands and had his residence just to the southeast of the store, about the location of the Post Office. Murphy Allred lived where the Central Hotel stands and conducted a store in the corner of his yard to the east of his house.” 

Now, in the letter from Agnes, she writes the following: “Settle Allred, in a county that was largely farmers, was a businessman who ran a grocery and soft drinks store on Main St. That takes a lot of reading, writing and arithmetic. We find Murphy and Hiram [Allred] also living in town, ‘tho Hiram’s granddaughter said his family were farmers and he did buy a farm and move out of town later. So the three Allreds who were here seemed to have common interests . . . Settle married a Belton and if she turns out to be Ewell Belton’s daughter, Ewell was also a businessman . . .”

“Last night I was thinking about all this and re-reading the news article and I think I remember you saying that Settle lived on the post office site. I knew that couldn’t be the site today. Then the article of 1916 says he had his store “where Gwny Drug store now stands and his residence just to the southeast of the store, about the location of the Post Office.” I consulted a map of 1916 . . . and I knew where the Hotel Central had been and was later the site of a service station called Central Service. Across the street on the map is an unnamed drug store and a few doors down is the post office.”

“I talked with Marie Shelton again and have some copies on her telephone conversation [which took place February 9, 1991]. Marie read part of a letter dated 1856 to Hiram Vestal Allred of Mt. Airy from his sister Damaris and her husband Samuel Nelson. The letter was from Fort Mills, NC [note—there is a Fort Mills, SC, very near Charlotte, NC, but none in NC] and mentions that Hiram had written to Seymore (no relationship given) and someone? She did not give him the letters. She also said the letter mentions “Pa” and
says “your mother has been sick, but is better” . . . .Marie said her mother told her Hiram had a brother who went to Salt Lake City, Utah, and had more than one wife. He wrote Hiram telling him he did not want to have to give up one of his wives, he loved them both. Hiram threw the letter in the fire.” The date of this letter is unknown.