Ira ALLEN

                   Historical information included in notes.



Ira settled at Hyrum, Cach, Utah in April 1860. He was Ward clerk, Postmaster, Canal builder, and farmer.BIOGRAPHY: 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 labors 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 brickmaking. 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 county, 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 some one 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 plowing, 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 stanch 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."All of Ira's forfathers, back to 1637, had been farmers in Massachusetts and Connecticut, tillers of he soil and reverent tword God. "Tis true that the "Blue-Laws" of Connecticut had great religious influence on the children. They were tau
ght to respect the church and the Sabbath. Families would go in a group to church, and would refrain from boistrous conduct the reat of the day. Many spent part of the day reading the Bible.Ira married at the age of 20. He and Calista were devoted to eachother durring variewd scenes from Connecticut to Utah. They left their orriganal home in Connecticut after two children were born and lived in Michigan where three children were added to the family. After joining the church and gathering at Nauvoo in 1845, they were forced by a mob to leave a year later. They crossed Iowa, a distance of 225 miles, and joined the pioneers at Winter Quarters where tehy remained three and a half years, and then endured the hardships of he 1100 mile journey to Utah.after neighteen happy years of married life Ira and his wire and children were put to a test by the Plural marriage of Ira to Keziah Benson Judy at Slpringville, Utah. Harmony and good will continued to existand Keziah's son, Bill Judy, was treated the same as the other five children of Ira and Calista. Frank and Andrew used to say, "We had two mothers at Cedar City." The other children always spole of their home life and how the women and children worked together in such harmony. Ira, his two wives and six children lived happily at Cedar City under one roof eating at the same table.Six years after marrying Keziah, her younger sister, Cynthia, becake Ira's third wife. By the spring of 1860 four children had been born to Keziah and one to Cynthia, affing five more to the family which now totaled thirteen at home.\At Hyrum in 1861 where the husband, the three wives and ten children living in two rooms of the log house all eating at the same table. Some slept in the house, others in a tent and in covered wagons. Andrew and his wife Sarah Ann and son, Andrew Jr., living in the other room.The first wife Calista, died in January 1863. Frank married in December 1863 and he and his wife ate with the family and slept in a covered wagon untill the next summer when Andrew and Frank moved into log houses they had built on block south. In 1876,there were twelve children living at home with the father and the two mothers.Nearly ten ye4ras after locazting at Hyrum, Ira left for a mission, November 12, 1869, and stayed six months in his native state, Connecticut. (he would have traveled by rail) Only one of his relatives would hear the gospel. This was Exra Carpenter, a relative of Ira's by marriage. The Carpenters had kept records and gathered genealogy of their progenitors. Ezra Carpenter and his wife and daughter came to Hyrum 1872, remeining a short time and then settled in Logan. Here Orson Smith became acquointed with Ezra's daughter, Carrie and they were married.One very unpleasant thing came into Ira's life in 1888 owing to the Edmunds Tucker law. This notorious anti-polygamy law, passed by Congress, disfranchised over 3,000 leading members of the Mormon Chruch. Apostates and some others not of the church became active in reporting their neighbors to the government officials, receiving a speclia price for this service, so that many who had more than one wife fell prey to these government marshals.Ira was arrested in February 1888 and served six months in the Utah Penitentiary and paid a fine of $300.oo for "unlawful co-habitation". Those who had more than one wife could live with either that he chose but munt not co-habit with the others. The other families could be supported by the husband, however.Ira's tow families were living in the same house and when he returned from the "pen" he must not live in the house untill one of the women moved out. The question naturally arise in the minds of some, "Which was Ira's favorite - Keziah or Cynthia?" Tru devotion and love was manifest when Ira said, "Two women who have lived together for 30 years in such peace and harmony and reared their children under one roof and eaten at one table, shall never be separated by me." So Ira went one block south and lived in his son's vacant house alone. Meals were brought to him by the children.In January 1891
Ira recieved another sentence fo ten days. He had been seen eating a meal with the family and the court said this was unlawful even if he didn't sleep in the house.Ira proved to be one of the most sturdy and progressive pioneers and aided in the construction of homes and public buildings. He was recognized for his dependablility, fidelity to a trust, and his unswerving testimony of the Gospel of the Lord Jusus Christ, and the divinity of the great mission fo the Prophet Joseph Smith. Ira was an Ardent Latter-day Saint and a loving devoted husband and father. Many of his descendants have filled missions afor the Chruch and served as Stake and ward officers. May wem his descendents to the last generation emulate his power of faith and strength fo character. Ira died at Hyrum Dec 21 1900 in his 87th year. He was the father of 25 children, the grandfather of 135 children and the greatgrandfather of 398 children, The great great grandfather of 425 children and ggg-grandfather of 103 chldren. Unknown dateKeziah died three months after Ira's death. Cynthia lived alone a few years then she sold her home and farm and lived with her chldren. At the age of 67 she was stricken with paralysis and became almost helpless. Four years later, October 13, 1913, she died at the home of her daughter, Laura Savage.


Source: 
1.	Title: Pioneers and Prominent Men of UtahAuthor: Frank EsshomPublication: Salt Lake City, Utah; Western Epics, Inc.; 1966Repository: Note: Family History Center at Salt Lake CityMedia: Book