Wiley Payne Allred (1818-1912)

Biography
BIOGRAPHY OF WILEY PAYNE ALLRED Material for this biography was taken from a short history written by his grand-daughter, Grace H. Sainsbury. Stories by his son Isaac Allred, and by his daughter, Hulda Allred Nielson have been added. Also included is his person testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith, which he dictated to his Granddaughter Mary Johannah Allred, (Peacock) Christiansen. Prepared and written by Inez Peacock Forbes, Great-Granddaughter. Willey Payne Allred was born 31 May, 1818 in Farmington, Bedford County, Tennessee. He was the son of James and Elizabeth Warren Allred. On Sept. 10, 1832 he was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day- Saints. From Tennessee he moved with his parents to Missouri where he passed through the persecutions of the Saints in that state and was driven into Illinois. At Nauvoo he was the Prophet Joseph Smith’s body guard. He always enjoyed sharing his experiences as the Prophet’s hired man and living at the Prophet’s home. He helped build a barn for the Prophet. He said that many times while he was working around the place the Prophet would come bounding out of his office and demand that he stop his work and engage in jumping or wrestling with him or some other athletic sport. He was with the Prophet on some of his most trying and dangerous times, disguising himself, going with the mob to find out their plans so that he might protect him. He was working in the mob as a spy the night the Prophet was kill and he saw him fall from the window of the Carthage jail. After the assignation at Carthage jail, John Taylor was rescued by Wiley’s father, James Allred, and taken to Wiley Payne’s home in Nauvoo where he and his father doctored him and took care of his wounds. When Wiley Payne was only seven years old he knew the names of the different herbs that grew about the family home. At one time when the Prophet’s leg was injured and gangrene had set in, Wiley Payne and James Allred doctored him. The Prophet told Wiley Payne that he was a natural born doctor and that he should follow that profession. The Prophet gave Wiley Payne a Doctor’s book on herbs and their uses. Then he gave him a special blessing and told him that if he would make a study of this book and of herbs that he would be able to put his finger on the spot where the trouble was in his patient, and he was really able to do that. He studied and used the book carefully and treasured it throughout his life. He and his family have thought of it as something sacred. It is still in the family. In the last years of Wiley Payne’s life he made the claim that no living person knew the Prophet more than he. Wiley Payne Allred was with the Allred branch which was on of the forty L.D.S. branches of the church organized in Pottawattamie County, Iowa during 1846 and continuing on through 1852. The center of the branch was about five miles east of Council Bluffs. In 1848 the saints of the Allred Branch raised crops of wheat for spring harvest. One year they planted 294 acres of wheat. They also raised corn, buckwheat, turnips, etc. The Allred Branch, or as it was sometimes called “Allred’s Camp” was requently mentioned in the “Frontier Guardian”. The settlement was broken up in 1852 when all the saints who had located temporarily in Pottawattamie County migrated to Utah. In June 1836 Wiley Payne married Elizabeth Zabriskie of Eugene County, Indiana. They had five children, James Hon., Parley Pratt, Elizabeth Hannah, Wiley Payne II and Sarah Eleanor. On May 22, 1851 Wiley Payne with his family started to Utah in Captain Kelsey’s Company. His wife was ill at the time but she was very anxious to go to Utah and thought she could make the trip. However, it was too much for her and she passed away the first night they camped. They had stopped by the ranch of a man, Mr. Dapree. He walked up to the fence cursing the Mormons and telling them to drive on, but when he saw what had happened he was so touched by the family’s grief that he told them to stay. Wiley Payne was so overcome with grief that he almost persuaded himself to return to Council Bluffs with the rest of the family. Finally he decided to return to Council Bluffs and bury his wife and then continue the journey. Before they reached Utah, the leaders of the Church advised him to marry Elizabeth Ann Davis, a widow with only one child. They were married 2 July 1851. A year later in Utah their only child, Eliza was born 31, July 1852. When they arrived in Utah, they settled in Sessions for a short time. Then they moved to Provo and from there they w ere called to go to Spring City, Sanpete County, in 1853. Because of Indian troubles the settlers were forced to move from place to place. Wiley Payne moved to Manti, to Fountain Green and back to Spring City. He went through all the hardships of both the Walker and Blackhawk wars. Much of his property was destroyed by the Indians. In 1863 he married Johannah Olsen, an emigrant girl from Sweden. The Church authorities advised some of the men in the church to take these young emigrant girls as their wives so they would have security as they came to Utah. They had seven children, William Alma, Hulda Deseret, Martin, Isaac, Rueben, Lena and John Taylor. Wiley Payne believed his children should have some education and be taught to care for themselves. He was a brilliant man himself and took care of all his family business affairs. He was very strict and stern with his children. In Spring City he had a big black-board hanging on the wall and the alphabet written on it. The children had to study from that. Every night that he was home they held a class period which he instructed. Some of his children had very little schooling except that which he gave them. On July 31 1871, he married Caroline Andrea Frederickson. She was a very refined and lovable woman but only lived a short time, passing away the 8th of November 1871. In 1884 Wiley Payne and his family moved to the Muddy. (Emery in Emery County), He spent the last eighteen years of his life there and did much to help settle the town of Emery. During all of his years he was the doctor in each community where he lived, using herbs as his medicine to fight contagious diseases and crude instruments to perform many surgical operations; having faith in the Supreme Being and the blessing he had received from the Prophet. At one time a man living in Idaho sent for him to come and doctor his wife who had dropsy. He made the trip on a horse, cured the woman and for his pay received a cow, which he drove back to Fountain Green. People had a great deal of confidence in him as a pioneer doctor. He deserves a prominent place in history. He was a builder and a very skillful stone cutter. He made many tombstones from native rock and cut stones with names and dates for buildings around Spring City. He was of medium height and weight, had blue eyes and black hair, which turned a snowy white as he grew older. He had a very erect posture, and an athlete when young and was very active in his old age. He was very stern, yet kind and tenderhearted. He had a very strong testimony of the gospel and proclaimed right up to his dying day that Joseph Smith was a true Prophet of God. A while before he death he dictated his testimony to his granddaughter, Mary Johannah Allred. She wrote it in her autograph book and he signed his name. He hand was very shaky and trembling, but the words he dictated rang strong and true. They are as follow: “Joseph Smith was the greatest man I have ever known, and a true Prophet of God”. . Signed, Wiley Payne Allred. Mary Johannah was almost eighteen when her grandfather died. She remembers him as a kind, considerate and always loving grandfather. He passed away 28 March, 1912, at Emery, Utah at the age of 94. A true and faithful Latter-Day-Saint. He is buried in the Emery Utah cemetery.

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