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Isaac Thomas Allen
Martha Turner Heaps
Isaac Thomas Allen
Born: 4 August 1855 at Manti, Sanpete, Utah Territory, USALIFE SKETCH ISAAC THOMAS ALLEN
Isaac’s father, Daniel Allen, was a tanner. He made shoes, boots and harnesses. He joined the LDS Church in his home state of New York, and moved with the LDS to Ohio, Missouri, Nauvoo, and finally to Winter Quarters, Nebraska. Here, his first wife died in 1846, leaving four young children. Daniel then married, Louisa Jane Berry, who helped his raise the children and bore him eleven more children between 1848 and 1870. In 1854, Daniel took a polygamous wife, Sarah Jane Whiteley, to whom was born Isaac Thomas Allen and nine other children.
Daniel established two homes, one in Provo, and the second in Manti, where Isaac was born. He sold his tannery in Manti, and consolidated his interests in Provo, where the families lived until 1862. He accepted a 'call' to Dixie in 1862 and moved Sarah's family of four to St. George. After establishing her home there, he returned to Provo for Louisa and her family in 1863. On the return trip he reached Parowan, where Elder George A. Smith counseled him to remain and establish a tanning business. This he did, moving Sarah's family from St. George to Parowan.
During these years, Isaac learned both the tanning trade and to be a blacksmith. When the calls were given to the San Juan Mission, Isaac was among the young unmarried men asked to explore a route into San Juan country through northern Arizona. His skills in blacksmithing and leather work would be invaluable. Many of the other young men in the company were his friends from Parowan. He is specifically mentioned one time in David E. Miller's book, Hole-in-the-Rock, when he was sent in search of the company leader, Silas Smith's horses which had wandered away from their camp three days after leaving Moenkopi.
After the exploring company reached the San Juan River, Isaac returned to Parowan through Moab and rejoined his father's family who moved the next year to Escalante. He attended school at night and fell in love with the teacher's daughter, Martha Turner Heaps. They made Escalante their home for sixteen years before moving to Victor, Idaho, driving a loaded 4 horse freight wagon outfit. His wife also drove a team pulling a wagon with the family, and Tom, the eldest son, rode horseback & drove their live stock. Their intention was to go to Jackson, Wyoming, but instead, settled in Victor.
He homesteaded up the canyon east of Victor and had a blacksmith shop in town. Isaac owned property in Jackson and had a cabin on it where he lived in the summer and in Victor in the winter. The purpose was to establish residency so he could hunt elk in Wyoming. He loved to hunt and that was a source of their food.
He was a very athletic person and a very good ice skater. He knew the scriptures very well and while there were still several family members living at home, he was called on a mission to the Central States.
Sons Tom and Henry Earl took care of the Blacksmith shop and provided for the family while he was on his missions.
In later years he suffered a stroke and was unable to care for himself, so two of his bachelor
sons, twins Lew and Ern, cared for him until his death in 1940.
Sources:
1 Miller, David E., Hole-in-the-Rock, University of Utah Press, 1959, p. 23.
2
Sketch created from memories found on Family Search
Right-click [Mac Control-click] to open full-size image:
Isaac Thomas Allen
Martha Turner Heaps