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- Born: 7 Feb 1826, Burton, Cattaraugus, New York
- Died: 12 Apr 1866, Salt Lake City, Utah
- Came to Utah: 23 May 1848, from California. Went to Iowa and came to Utah with his family 13 Aug 1852, wagon company, John Higby, Capt.
- Parents: ANDREW LEE ALLEN, father, CLARINDA KNAPP, mother
- Spouse: ELIZA ANN BICKMORE, born 29 Jan 1830, Madisonville, IL, md 3 May 1852, Pott. county, Iowa. She died 26 Mar 1901, Cove, Cache, Utah
His father was a prosperous farmer in New York State. After the family joined the L.D.S. Church, they moved to Kirtland, Ohio and towns in Illinois with other members of the Church, suffering many hardships.
When still in his teens, Elijah left the family and tried to find work. He asked for counsel from Brigham young, who hired him to work as a teamster. He did this until the body of the Church was forced to move west. At Winter Quarters, Elijah answered the call to join the Mormon Battalion. Brigham Young gave him a blessing and told him that he would make the journey safely and return to his family
He marched as a private in Company B. He became seriously ill and the company was compelled to wait for him to recover. He heard the captain remark that his illness was holding the company from making their march and they decided to put him in a wagon and go on. He crawled off into the brush, thinking they would go on without him. When it was discovered that he was missing, some men went back and found him. He was reprimanded and placed in the wagon, where the jolts were almost more than he could bear, but he gradually got better and was able to finish the journey.
After he was discharged from the Battalion, he worked at the San Gabriel Mission in California. He went gold hunting on the way to Utah with other battalion members. When he reached the Salt Lake Valley, he traded a sack of gold dust for 20 acres of land. He commenced farming, but crickets destroyed his crop. In 1849, he sold his property for five dollars and a suit of ill-fitting jeans and went with Miles Goodyear, driving a team of horses, back to Iowa.
He found his family near Kanesville, Iowa, where he and his brothers improved two farms. He met a sister of his fellow Battalion friend, Gilbert Bickmore, and married her. He and his brothers put up a saw mill, ran it for a season, and sold it for $1000 to finance the family’s journey to Utah.
When they arrived in Utah, they settled first in Provo, then Elijah and his wife, Eliza, moved north to Fort Herriman in the Salt Lake valley. In Provo, he had helped build the wall around the Old Fort, and was an active member of the twenty-first Quorum of Seventies. He stayed active in the Church in Fort Herriman and made a living for the family as a farmer.
His health was never good after the sickness he endured while in the Battalion and he died of a liver complaint at Fort Herriman at the age of forty, leaving his widow with seven children to raise. She and the children moved to Richmond, Utah, where her husband’s brothers helped her and her children become self-sufficient. They were among the first settlers of Cove, Utah.
Children:
- Elijah Allen, born 24 Feb 1853, Provo, Utah, died 2 Nov 1876, Cove, Cache, Utah. unmd
- William Allen, born 17 Apr 1854, Provo, Utah, died 21 Jan 1895, unmd
- Eliza Ann Allen, born 1 Jun 1856, Fort Herriman, SL, Utah md 1 Oct 1877, Manassah Barnes, born 13 Dec 1852, Grantsville, Utah. She died 8 Jul 1912, Cove, cache, Utah
- James Carson Allen, born 21 Mar 1858, Ft Herriman, Utah, died 10 Feb 1935, cove, cache, Utah. Md 1 Mar 1883, Betsy Lowe, born 3 Mar 1860, St. John, Perry, IL, in salt Lake City, Utah. She died 10 Feb 1935, cove, Utah. Md Helen (Ellen) Lowe, born 12 Jun 1865, Franklin, Oneida, Idaho, 11 Sep 1884 in Logan, Utah. She died 28 Oct 1917, Cove, Utah.
- Andrew Bickmore Allen, born 23 Dec 1859, Ft Herriman, Ute died 14 Apr 1941, Cove, Cache, Utah. Md 6 Jan 1881 in Salt Lake City, Utah, Susanna Elizabeth Preece, born 19 Oct 1863, Franklin, Idaho
- Henry Heber Allen, born 11 Mar 1862, Ft Herriman, Utah, md 10 Apr 1882 in Salt Lake City, Utah, Elgena Poulson, born 22 Sep 1860, Richmond, Cache, Utah. He died 26 Mar 1941, Logan, Utah.
- Joseph Smith Allen, born 20 Oct 1863, Ft Herriman, Utah, died 9 May 1933, Santa Ana, CA. Md 9 Dec 1885, Phoebe Anderson in Logan, Utah. She was born 5 Mar 1868, Richmond, Cache, Utah, and died 21 Jan 1941, Santa Ana, CA.
Brother Joseph
