Ira Allen

Ira Allen, his personal and family background, and his involvement in the Mountain Meadows Massacre

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Ira Allen

1814-1900

Biographical Sketch

Early life in Indiana

Ira Allen was born April 27, 1814 in Thompson, Windham County, Connecticut to Simeon Allen and Elizabeth Leavens. His forebears were New Englanders. Allens' father was born in Massachusetts but settled in Connecticut before moving west to Indiana.

Allen was born in Eel River Township in the recently formed and sparsely settled Hendricks County in west-central Indiana. His family was among the early pioneers in Indiana.

In 1834, Allen married Calista Bass (1812-1863). In 1835, their first child died in childbirth. Their second child, Andrew Augustus Allen, was born in 1836. Calista bore him six more children between 1839 and 1846. During that time, the Allen family relocated to Michigan where, evidently, they heard the Mormon message.

Journey to Utah

In 1845, the Allen family joined the Mormon settlers in western Illinois and, following the difficulties there, they later immigrated to Utah Territory.

In is not certain which company the Allens joined to travel the overland trail to the Great Basin. Late in life Andrew Allen recalled that they crossed the plains in 1850. They must have remained around Kanesville, Iowa (later Council Bluffs) while they gathered the means to immigrate to Utah Territory.

The Mormon Trail

It is known that 1850 was a very heavy season on the overland trail, with more than 50,000 bound for the California Gold Rush or Oregon. The trails were heavily overgrazed that year. Cholera was epidemic that season and well over a thousand graves were counted on the trail. The Allen family would have passed the usual milestones on the trail: Fort Kearney, the South Fork of the Platte River, Chimney Rock, Fort Laramie, the Sweetwater River, Independence Rock, Devil's Gate, Green River, Fort Bridger, Bear River, and Weber River. After suffering the usual hardships of overland trail they arrived in the valley of the Great Salt Lake in late summer or early fall.

Move to Utah Valley

Almost immediately, Allen and his family headed south to settle an area later known as Springville, east of Utah Lake. In 1852, Allen entered into polygamy by taking a second wife, Keziah Benson (1825-1901), the daughter of Alva Benson and Cynthia Vail. She would later bear him eight children, only three of whom lived to adulthood. While at Springville, Allen was appointed road supervisor. In 1853 during the first city election, Allen was among several others elected as aldermen in the new community.

To Cedar City and the Ironworks

The Early Ironworks in Cedar City

In 1853, Allen and his two wives and children moved south to the Little Salt Lake Valley (now the Parowan Valley) in southern Utah. There they aided in founding the Iron Mission headquartered in Cedar City. Most of the younger men involved in the later massacre were either unmarried or in monogamous marriages. Many of the older, more senior men were polygamously married such as William Dame, Isaac Haight, John Higbee, Philip Klingensmith and -- the most married of them all -- John D. Lee. Ira Allen was among those involved in polygamy.

The Deseret Iron Company

When they moved from the Old Fort to Plat A, a larger but temporary square fortification, Allen had a lot and crude home on the same row of homes as Laban Morrill, Samuel Pollock, Jabez Durfee, Anthony Stratton, John M. Higbee and others. Later in 1854, Allen acquired a second lot for $200. Late that year, Allen and Samuel White, brother of Joel White, made a trip to the Muddy River to retrieve iron for forging. In 1855, Allen was listed as a shareholder in the Deseret Iron Works with a one-quarter share interest.

In moving to Cedar City, Ira Allen was settling in an area dominated by the Deseret Iron Company, known more familiarly as the Ironworks. See Summary of Deseret Iron Company for a brief summary of its early development.

The Ironworks in 1857

In April 1857, the delivery of a new steam engine from Great Salt Lake City seemed to breathe new life for the Ironworks. After its arrival, they built a new room to house the engine, connected its boiler to a steady water supply and modified the furnace to accommodate the engine.

In early June they started an iron run using the steam engine. However, the new machinery created its own set of problems. Through the end of July, they experimented with different configurations of furnace, engine and piping, attempting to optimize the blast furnace.

From late April through July, those working up the canyon in mining or hauling wood, coal, limestone, rock, sand or “adobies” to the ironworks were Isaac C. Haight, James Williamson, George Hunter, Joseph H. Smith, Ira Allen, Ellott Wilden, Swen Jacobs, Alex Loveridge, Joel White, Ezra Curtis, Samuel McMurdie, Samuel Pollock, John Jacobs, John M. Higbee, John M. Macfarlane, Samuel Jewkes, Nephi Johnson, Thomas Cartwright, William Bateman, Elias Morris, Benjamin Arthur, Joseph H. Smith, Robert Wiley, and Philip Klingensmith. Those working at the ironworks on the furnace, engine, coke ovens or blacksmith shop included Elias Morris, John Humphries, Ira Allen, John Urie, Benjamin Arthur, James Williamson, Joseph H. Smith, Samuel Jewkes, Joseph Clews, Richard Harrison, William C. Stewart, William Bateman, John M Macfarlane, John M. Higbee, John Jacobs, George Hunter, Samuel Pollock, William S. Riggs, Alex Loveridge, Ellott Wilden, Ezra Curtis, Eliezar Edwards, Swen Jacobs, Joel White, and Thomas Cartwright. (The two lists overlap because some worked both in the canyon and at the Ironworks.) Other prominent figures at the ironworks who were not later involved at Mountain Meadows were Samuel Leigh, George Horton, James H. Haslem, Laban Morrell, John Chatterley, Thomas Gower, Thomas Crowther and others.

By the time reports reached them in early August of a threatened “invasion” of U.S. troops into Utah, they had decided on further changes to the ironworks. They determined that a reservoir was necessary so as to provide a steady supply of filtered water to the steam engine. Immediately, they set to work, digging, lining and filling the reservoir. From late August to early September, shortly before the crisis involving the passing Arkansas emigrant company, they began a new furnace run. But it, too, ended in failure, probably around the time that a dispute arose between some community members and several of those in the passing Arkansas wagon train.

Ira Allen's Role at the Ironworks in 1857

During this period in 1857, Ira Allen was involved in a variety of tasks. In April, he hauled some the parts of the steam engine from Great Salt Lake City to southern Utah. When they were building a new room to house the steam engine, Allen tended the masons. Later, he worked on the canyon road up to the coal mines and hauled "adobies" to the Ironworks. He helped level the floor in the new engine room. In August, he helped create the reservoir to supply clean water to the steam engine. When they made the iron run that month, Allen was among the teamsters who hauled coal to sustain the run.

The majority of the southern Utah militiamen at Mountain Meadows were from Cedar City. Of these, nearly all of them had worked at the Ironworks or supplied raw materials to it. Indeed, in the weeks before the Mountain Meadows Massacre, they had worked intensely together, hauling materials, building a new water reservoir, and making the latest run of the blast furnace. One perennial mystery of the massacre has been why the militiamen mustered to Mountain Meadows in “broken” militia units; that is, from different platoons and companies, none of which had a full compliment of its members. Perhaps the reason lies with the Ironworks. Those in the Ironworks knew each other and had worked alongside one another. Not only was Ira Allen acquainted with those who mustered from Cedar City to Mountain Meadows, he had worked with them at the Ironworks as recently as the week before. Perhaps the answer is that the men of the Ironworks were on hand and available and Isaac Haight, who himself had worked closely with them, assigned them to muster to Mountain Meadows.

In late 1857, after the massacre but before the perceived threat of invasion had passed, Allen was nominated to a committee tasked with drafting a resolution of Mormon grievances to the United States government.

In the Iron Military District: 2nd Lieutenant Ira Allen, Company E, Isaac Haight's 2nd Battalion

In 1857, the Iron Military District consisted of four battalions led by regimental commander Col. William H. Dame. The platoons and companies in the first battalion drew on men in and around Parowan. (It had no involvement at Mountain Meadows.) Major Isaac Haight commanded the 2nd Battalion whose personnel in its many platoons and two companies came from Cedar City and outer-lying communities to the north such as Fort Johnson. Major John Higbee headed the 3rd Battalion whose many platoons and two companies were drawn from Cedar City and outer-lying communities to the southwest such as Fort Hamilton. Major John D. Lee of Fort Harmony headed the 4th Battalion whose platoons and companies drew on its militia personnel from Fort Harmony, the Southerners at the newly-founded settlement in Washington, the Indian interpreters at Fort Clara, and the new settlers at Pinto.

In 1857, Ira Allen, 43, was the 2nd Lieutenant in a platoon in Captain Elias Morris's Company E. The company was attached to Major Isaac Haight's 2nd Battalion of the Iron County militia. See A Basic Account for a full description of the massacre.

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Around Friday, September 4, Joel White and Philip Klingensmith left Cedar City for Pinto with an express, which, they claim, directed those at Pinto to pacify the Indians. They met John D. Lee who was bound for Cedar City. According to them, Lee reacted angrily when he heard of the message they carried. After delivering their express in Pinto, their returned toward Cedar City. They met Ira Allen carrying a new express. According to them, Allen said that the emigrants' "doom was sealed." During that time, Majors Haight and Lee had met secretly in Cedar City. This new express reflected the plans Haight and Lee had in store for the Arkansas company.

On Monday, September 7, after word of the initial attack on the emigrants had reached Cedar City, Majors Haight and Higbee assembled several ad hoc militia detachments in Cedar City that rode to Mountain Meadows over the course of the week. Ira Allen was in one of these detachments.

On Thursday evening, September 10, Allen was present during the militia council that sealed the fate of the emigrants.

On Friday, September 11, Allen was at the Meadows and it seems likely that he was among the Cedar City guard unit who marched alongside the emigrant men when they left the protection of the wagon circle. As the massacre commenced, the duty of the guards was to wheel and fire on the emigrant men, quickly dispatching them. Yet during the actual massacre, reactions varied among the guards. Some shrank from their duty, others fired over the heads of their victims, while others still undertook their bloody duty with zeal. Within minutes, members of the Cedar City unit had killed all but three of the emigrant men. However, whether Ira Allen was in this guard unit and if so, how he acted during the massacre will probably never be known with any certainty.

The 1859 arrest warranty named, among others, Ira Allen "and son." It is clear that Ira Allen played a role in important events surrounding the massacre. But there is considerable doubt about his son Andrew's involvement. In Massacre at Mountain Meadows, Walker, Turley and Leonard opine that Andrew Allen may not have been present for the massacre.

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Map of Cache Valley in northeastern Utah.

Later Life in Hyrum, Cache Valley, Utah

In 1858, Allen took a third wife, Keziah's younger sister Cynthia Elizabeth Benson (1841-1913). The following summer, their first child was born before they left Cedar City. However, the dual disasters of the massacre and the failure of the iron works caused many to abandon Cedar City in 1858-59 for other parts. Among them was the Allen family.

In spring 1860, they moved to Cache County in northern Utah, joining the rush of new settlers to that newly-opened region. Cache Valley is an alpine-like valley, 50 miles long and 12 miles wide surrounded by mountains. The Allens and other Americans joined immigrants from England, Scotland and Scandanavia in founding Hyrum in the southern portion of Cache Valley, seven miles south of Logan, the county seat, and 80 miles north of Salt Lake City.

Initially, they lived in wagon boxes and sod houses. In the spring they planted crops. Then Allen led a gang of men in digging a 9-mile extension of the irrigation ditch from the Little Bear River near Old Paradise to their new settlement. They succeeded in delivering water to their new crops before they died but, Allen said, the men were "the sickest set of men he ever saw." The new ditch supplied culinary and irrigation water to the settlement. Meanwhile, they built log cabins in fort style to afford some protection from the Shoshones in the region.

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In 1863, Allen's first wife, Calista, died. His two remaining wives were the Benson sisters, Keziah and younger sister, Cynthia. Between 1862 and 1883, Cynthia bore Allen nine more children. Shoes were in scarce supply so Allen made his children shoes from rawhide. In the early years in Cache Valley there were bears, including grizzlies. Allen is credited with peppering a charging grizzly with buckshot before one of his companions felled it with a final shot.

As time went by, Allen built and operated a molasses mill to process sugar beets into molasses. After he closed the mill, he started in apiary, tending the beehives himself and selling the honey. Allen also had a granary, attached to which was a carpenter shop. There workers built furniture and other necessary implements for the community. There were no doctors in Hyrum so his neighbors came to Allen to set fractures and treat medical emergencies. Allen had learned how to set bones during his earlier life in the East. He carried a book containing home remedies and formulas for salves which he dispensed as necessary.

Eventually, a Mormon ward was formed in Hyrum and Ira Allen was appointed as the ward clerk. In 1873, Allen was selected to serve on the board of directions of the Wasatch steam mill company. The townspeople in Hyrum operated a variety of cooperatives for stores, roads, livestock, and mills. In 1875, these coops were combined into the United Order of Hyrum. Allen and his son Andrew served on its board of directors. During his four decades in Cache Valley, Allen also served as postmaster, road builder, and held other civic and church positions as well.

Prosecution for Unlawful Cohabitation

During the period of the anti-polygamy "raid" in the 1880s, Allen was prosecuted for Unlawful Cohabitation ("U.C."). In 1888, following his conviction he paid a $300 fine and served a six month term in the Utah penitentiary. Following his release, he faced a dilemma: Should he have one of his wives (they were sisters) leave the family home in order to avoid further prosecutions for U.C. In the end, he determined to leave the family home and move to a vacant home a block away. There he lived by himself for several years. In the 1890s as his health declined, his wives, Keziah and Cynthia, determined the one of them should marry Allen so he could legally return to the home where he could receive better care. Keziah moved from the family home, Cynthia married Allen and he moved in where Cynthia cared for him.

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Conviction for Unlawful Cohabitation, late 1880s. Englishman and Mormon leader George Q. Cannon is seated, center; Ira Allen is standing, far right.

Final Illness

In 1900, after a three-week illness with typhoid fever, Ira Allen died at the age of 86, survived by his second and third wives, Keziah and Cynthia, and his many children. Keziah moved back into the family home and lived with Cynthia until Keziah's death in 1901. Cynthia remained in the family home until her death in 1913.

References

Allen, et al, Home in the Hills of Bridger Land [Hyrum, Utah], 9-14, 23, 30, 47-48, 50-51, 56-61, 69. 73, 88; Bagley, Blood of the Prophet, 171, 172, 275; Bigler and Bagley, Innocent Blood: Essential Narratives, 70 fn. 14, 122, 235, 345; Brooks, ed., Journal of the Southern Indian Mission, 106; Esshom, Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah, 714; Fielding, ed., The Tribune Reports of the Trials of John D. Lee, 112; Fish, Mormon Migrations, 307-8; Huff, Utah County Centennial History, 317, 318; Jenson, Encyclopedic History of the Church, 349, 350; Lee, Mormonism Unveiled, 232, 250, 379; Lee Trial transcripts; New.FamilySearch.org; Ricks, The History of a Valley: Cache Valley, Utah-Idaho, 44-45; Shirts and Shirts, A Trial Furnace, 272, 331, 406 fn. 84, 461, 475-76, 495; Turley and Walker, Mountain Meadows Massacre: Jenson and Morris Collections, 107, 119, 223; Walker, et al, Massacre at Mountain Meadows, 142, 187, 193, 201, 254, Appendix C, 256; Woolley, "I Would to God," 71.

For full bibliographic information see Bibliography.

External Links

For more on Ira Allen, see:

• http://mountainmeadowsmassacre.org/appendices/appendix-c-the-militiamen
• http://www.mendonutah.net/history/cache_county/39.htm
• Deseret Iron Company Account Book, 1854-1867: http://www.footnote.com/document/241905844/
• See also Alvin Allen, Ira Allen: Founder of Hyrum (1947)

Further information and confirmation needed. Please contact editor@1857ironcountymilitia.com.