Thoughts and stories, by Pal

My mother Ruth Allen (Miles)'s direct Allen ancestor was in New England in   New Haven in 1640, when he was 28 years old. There were several with the  surname of Allen there already, so he took  the surname of Alling. They were Allings until about 1800, when they reverted back to the original name of  Allen. This is the history of Roger Alling, our Allen immigrant ancestor, down to Philo Allen who joined the Church in 1835 .        The origin of the Allens is lost in the unrecorded ages.  The name is very ancient, and supposed to be of Saxon origin, and to have been originally written Alwyne -- signifying "beloved of all."  It is a very common name in England, appearing often in history.  The origin of the name Alling, more ancient than Allen, is probably from the Athelings --, a dark brunette race of the Angles, who came with the Saxons from Germany to Britain in the 500's.  They drove out the Scots and took pos...

HOW MANY OF YOU KNOW, OR HAVE KNOWN YOUR GRANDPAS?  I NEVER KNEW MY OWN GRANDFATHER – MY MOTHER’S FATHER (OR MY FATHER’S FATHER AND MOTHER).  WHAT A BLESSING IF YOU KNOW THEM PERSONALLY.  I HAVE ENJOYED GETTING TO KNOW MY MOTHER’S FATHER BETTER THROUGH THE HISTORIES WRITTEN BY MY MOTHER, AND HER SISTER LA VERN – AND WHAT THEY WROTE .   Some following is what they wrote:  My mother Ruth’s father, John Butler Allen was born October 8, 1856, in Spanish Fork, Utah.  His parents were Philo Allen and Sarah Adeline Butler, who was his second wife.  Philo Allen and his first wife, Lucy, were some of the first settlers called to settle Spanish Fork, and while they were establishing dwelling places or homes, they lived in a dug out in the side of the mountain.  In this they were warm and comfortable while their cabin was being built.  Sarah Adeline was the daughter of John Lowe Butler, who was the first bishop in Spanish Fork, and when they were...

 My great grandmother Sarah Adeline Butler was born February 15, 1841, in Nauvoo, Illinois, and was blessed by the Prophet Joseph Smith.  Her parents John Lowe and Caroline Farozine Skeen Butler lived neighbors to the Prophet , and at the time of the martyrdom, her father was a  body-guard to the Prophet (told in blog # 66).   Blogs # 71 and 72 tell stories about his wife, Caroline.      After the martyrdom of the Prophet, John and his family, along with other saints were driven from Nauvoo.   She remembered her father with other men tying their shoes on their feet with heels to toes and walking that way in the snow so the enemy could not track them.      They settled on little Pigeon Creek, where she was baptized by her father when she turned 8 years old.  From there they moved to Council Bluffs.  Here she was cherished by a Sioux squaw who had lost her own little girl .   This story is told in  #71, in the ...

In blog # 96 I told about the grandmothers of my mother, and her mother  Levinah Emeline Wilson -- who married  John Butler Allen.  Today I'll mention John Butler Allen's faithful parents and grandparents, to give important history leading up to their lives.   The first Allen ancestor to join the Church in 1835 was Gideon Allen, my gg grandfather, and his wife Rachel Hand.  We don't know much of their history, but they lived in Litchfield, Litchfield County, Connecticut, where they heard the Gospel, and several of their living children were baptized with them in 1836 . They gathered with the Saints first in Kirtland, then Nauvoo, and then stayed with the body of the Saints, coming to Utah in 1849 with the George A. Smith/Dan Jones Company.  They experienced all the challenges and persecution which occurred during those momentous times.   Their youngest child, Philo, my great grandfather. married Lucy Alford Hawks as his first wife in t...