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History and
Genealogy |
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BIOGRAPHIES
A. A. ALLEN
A. A. Allen, one of the managers of the Allen Brothers store at Hyrum
and thus closely connected with the mercantile interests of the city,
while at the same time as bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints he is proving most active and helpful in church work,
was born at Cedar City, Utah, August 25, 1858, his parents being A. A.
and Sarah Ann (Cartright) Allen, the former a native of Woodstock,
Connecticut, while the latter was born in England. The grandfather in
the paternal line was Ira Allen, of whom one of the local papers wrote:
"He was one of the builders of Hyrum, and his sons and daughters and
their children and children's children have always been and still are
among the foremost in ecclesiastical and civil activities in this and
other communities, a credit to their country and their church wherever
their labours are required. Ira Allen was the son of Simeon Allen and
Elizabeth Leavens and was born in Thompson, Windham County,
Connecticut, April 27, 1814. He was of the seventh generation from his
fourth great-grandfather, James Allen, who settled in Medfield,
Massachusetts, in 1637. He lived at home with his parents until he was
twenty one years of age, working at farming and brick making. He was
married to Calista Bass, daughter of Luther Bass of Ashford,
Connecticut, November 23, 1834. He lived in Connecticut until the
spring of 1837, when he and his family removed to Hillsdale count}',
Michigan. It was here he heard Mormonism and embraced it. February 9,
1845. In June of the same year he moved with his family to Nauvoo,
Hancock county, Illinois. He left Nauvoo, June 15, 1846, and went to
Winter Quarters, arriving there November 5th of the same year. He lived
there until May, 1848, when he moved to Harris Grove. By this time his
family consisted of himself, his wife and five children. Through the
persecution and driving of the Mormons he had become very poor. All
they had to eat that winter was bread and one-quarter of a deer. Both
he and his children were without shoes all that winter. In the spring
he picked up two odd shoes that someone had thrown away, and with these
to wear he walked fifty miles to St. Joseph, Missouri. Here he got work
baling hemp. He worked twenty days, receiving twenty-one dollars after
paying for his board. Knowing his family would be out of provisions, he
went back home. When he arrived there he learned that the only food his
family had had to eat for four days was roots that the two older boys.
Andrew and Frank, had dug. While living at Harris Grove he made a wagon
in which to cross the plains. Iron being scarce, he was unable to get
any tires for the wheels. With this wagon, a yoke of oxen and a cow, he
started for Utah, June 6, 1850, arriving in Salt Lake City, October 3d.
This wagon carried seventeen hundred pounds across the plains, and when
it arrived in Utah the fellies were half worn out. He had been in Salt
Lake City but three weeks when he was called by President Brigham Young
to go south and help build what is now known as Springville. On
December 1, 1852, he married Keziah (Benson) Judy, daughter of Alva
Benson and Cynthia Vail. In 1853 he was again called to go south to
help build another settlement in Iron county. This town is now Cedar
City. He here married Cynthia Benson, another daughter of Alva Benson,
August 25, 1858. He remained in Cedar City until 1860, when he took
part of his family and came to Cache Valley, where he and others
founded the city of Hyrum. After ploughing, sowing and harvesting a few
acres of land he went back to Cedar City. The next spring he moved the
rest of his family to Hyrum, where the majority of them still reside.
His first wife died here in 1863. He was the father of twenty-five
children, of whom twelve are still living. He now has one hundred and
twenty-four grandchildren, one hundred and forty-four
great-grandchildren and twelve great-great-grandchildren. He was a
staunch Latter day Saint, always setting a good example before his
children. He and his posterity have done a great work in the Temple for
some eight hundred of his dead relatives. He died in full faith of the
gospel on December 21, 1900, being in his eighty seventh year.
A. A. Allen, Sr., came to Utah in 1850 in company with his father, Ira
Allen, the family home being established at Cedar City. A removal was
made to Hyrum in 1860 and there they took up the occupation of farming
and were promoters of many projects which contributed to the
development and up building of the district, including the work on
canals, roads and other public enterprises. Ira Allen served as
postmaster of Hyrum for several years and was accounted one of the
leading and progressive residents of his section. A. A. Allen, Sr.,
served as ward clerk before the division into three wards for several
years, and for seventeen years acted as Sunday school superintendent,
while for several years he was high counsellor in the Hyrum stake, the
work of the church being greatly advanced through his activity and
zeal.
A. A. Allen, whose name introduces this review, received his education
in the public schools of Hyrum and in the Brigham Young College at
Logan. He then took up farming and railroad work and in 1901 he became
one of the managers of a mercantile store. Through the intervening
years he has been identified with commercial interests and from the
beginning he has ever recognized the fact that satisfied patrons are
the best advertisement. He has therefore put forth every effort to
please his customers and his fair prices and honorable dealings have
also been potent factors in the attainment of his success. In 1889 Mr.
Allen was married to Miss Lovisa Hammond, a daughter of Milton and
Lovisa (Miller) Hammond. They have become parents of six children:
Hazel L., Mabel, Milton A., Norene, Helen Lenore, who is deceased, and
Lucile. Throughout his life A. A. Allen has remained a consistent
member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, in the faith
of which he was reared. He has been ward teacher and home missionary
and in 1899 he filled a mission to the northern states, returning in
1901. He was ordained bishop in August, 1901, and has since served in
that office, covering a period of more than eighteen years. He has also
been active in connection with secular affairs, serving as school
trustee, as member of the city council and for three terms as mayor of
Hyrum, his last term covering the year 1913. His devotion to duty is
one of his marked characteristics. Everything which he undertakes he
does with a sense of conscientious obligation that has produced
excellent results for the benefit of the district in which he lives.
(Source: Utah since Statehood Historical and Biographical, by Noble Warrum, editor, Vol 1, Publ 1919. Transcribed by Wayne Cheeseman)
JOSEPH F. BARTON
Among those who have been actively identified with the development of
San Juan county along many lines is Joseph F. Barton, the president of
the First National Bank of Monticello, former judge of San Juan county
and a prosperous farmer and stock raiser. His activities have
ever been of a character that have contributed largely to the up
building of the districts in which he has lived and his labors have
been crowned with a substantial measure of success. Judge Barton
was born at Parowan, Utah, March 31, 1855, a son of Joseph P. and Eliza
(Anderson) Barton. The mother came to Utah in 1851, and the
father in 1852. He crossed the plains with cattle, settling at
Parowan, and was there married. He afterward removed to
Paragonah from the time when it was necessary to secure safety by
residing in a fort until he was called to his final rest on the 15th of
September, 1912. His wife passed away January 15, of the
same year.
Joseph F. Barton acquired a common school
education at Parowan and Paragonah, spending his early life in the
latter place, where his attention was largely given to farming.
He was one of Silas S. Smith’s company that pioneered the way to the
San Juan river, where the town of Bluff now stands, making the trip in
the winter of 1879-80 by way of Panguitch and Escalante. To cover
the distance of three hundred miles required five months and two days
owing to the fact that they had to blast their way through the bluff on
the Elk Mountain road that they might take their wagons through, and
the place is well known today as the Hole in the Rock. They
settled at Bluff, where they entered upon a strenuous life in the
effort to reclaim the wild region and make it habitable and useful for
the purposes of civilization. The floods in the river, added to
the sandy nature of the soil, caused the dams to be washed out a number
of times and it was with the greatest difficulty that h the people
triumphed over the natural disadvantages of the region. After
four years the colonizers were pretty well discouraged and in 1884,
therefore, the people began moving away. All would have gone if
it had not been for President Joseph F. Smith, who came down and,
addressing the people, said: “All who have gone because of their
privations will be blessed, but those who stay will be doubly
blessed.” The people today will tell you that his statement has
been verified. Mr. Barton remained at Bluff for twenty-six years
and then removed north to Verdure (green place) in order to obtain more
land for himself and his sons upon which they might pasture their
stock. He has been prospered as the years have gone by and is
today the owner of a splendid farm, well stocked, also supplied with an
elevator and all modern improvements. He has continued at
Verdure to the present time, maintaining his activities there as a
farmer and stock raiser. This indicated but one phase of his
business, however, for he is now well known as the president of the
First National Bank of Monticello.
In Salt Lake City, on the 15th of May,
1876, Mr. Barton was married to Miss Harriet Ann Richards, a daughter
of Morgan and Harriet (Evans) Richards, who came to Utah from Wales in
1852, settling at Parowan. Her father did missionary work
in Wales before emigrating to the new world. In Utah he followed
the stone mason’s trade and both he and the mother are now
deceased. To Joseph F. and Harriet Ann Barton were born eight
children. Harriet E., whose birth occurred at Paragonah, February
21, 1877, is now the wife of F. B. Hammond, Jr., by whom she has eight
children. Mary V., who was born at Paragonah, October 23, 1878,
gave her hand in marriage to J. P. Larson, by whom she has five
children. Morgan A., born at Bluff, August 28, 1883, married Miss
Sarah Rhae Meachum and has one child. Josephine, whose birth
occurred at Bluff on the 3d of December, 1886, is the wife of Harold E.
Young and the mother of two children. Isabel, born at Bluff,
September 11, 1888, is the wife of Leroy Wood and has three
children. Karl S., born at Bluff, November 17, 1890, wedded Miss
Ella ones, by whom he has one child. Ray Wesley, born May 12,
1896, and died June 7, 1896. The wife and mother passed away May
29, 1896. On the 7th of April, 1907, Mr. Barton married Jennie
Johnson, a native of Sweden, in which her father remains, but her
mother is now deceased.
Mr. Barton is a member of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and filled a mission of two years to
the southwestern states, laboring in Texas and returning in
1900. He is now a member of the High Priests’ Quorum
His political allegiance is given to the republican party and at a
county election in 1884 he was elected probate judge for San Juan
county, which office he filled until1893, at which time he was
appointed probate judge for San Juan county by President Benjamin
Harrison and held the office until Utah became a state. He is an
exceptionally fine man. Of high character and lofty principles, for
whom everyone entertains the warmest regard.
[Source: Utah since Statehood: Historical and Biographical Volume 2; By Noble Warrum; Publ. 1919; Transcribed by Richard Ramos]
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