Ednar Jay Allred and Lucy Wood Family
Ednar Jay Allred
A Personal History
Written by his daughter, Sylvia Allred, to her half siblings
A Personal History
Written by his daughter, Sylvia Allred, to her half siblings
"Ednar Jay Allred was born to Byron Harvey Allred, Sr. and Alta Matilda Rolph on March 5, 1884 at Garden City, Utah.
His father Byron Harvey Sr. was born May 29, 1847 at Kanesville, Potta, Iowa to William Moore Allred and Orissa Angelia Bates. He died August 6, 1912.
His mother was born August 5, 1855 to John Social Rolph and Diantha Sophia Whitney at Tama Tama, Iowa. She died June 25, 1948.
When he was seven they moved to Old Mexico. Papa started work young, helping the men on the railroad tracks.
He spent one year carrying the mail from Dublan to the mountains by horseback when he was about 16 years old.
Grandpa worked for 50 cents a day when they moved there. They had a real hard time. Grandma took in washings.
They would lots of times have one small piece of corn bread for a meal. They would stand over the table and eat it so they could pick up every crumb with a wet finger.
Grandpa got some range cows from a man to care for and milk. They were so wild, they had to lasso them from the corral wall and tie them to milk. The first milking was one small bowl. It was placed at Grandpa’s place. After thanking our Heavenly Father for it he took a sp0on and went around the table giving it to his children.
When papa was carrying the mail he found what he thought was a piece of cheese in his lunch. He was thrilled and saved it for last, eating his corn bread and molasses first. Then he bit into his cheese to find it was a piece of homemade soap; a mouth full of soap, and no water, and a long hot ride still ahead. What a ride!
At 17 he was foreman over a crew on the railroad track. One day the made that loads the holes with dynamite was drunk. After the blasts went off Papa would always look in the hole to see if more was needed. On this day as he leaned over the hole another one went off. It got him under the chin, and threw him about 40 feet in the air, where he fell back among the rocks. It caused his jaw to break, made a hole in his forehead, and his eye lids and nose were partly cut off. They took him home where he remained in critical condition for some time.
The doctor told them one night as he left that Papa would not live until morning. They administered to him after the doctor left and when the doctor stopped by the next morning he could not believe it when Papa called for him to come in. His life was spared.
Papa married my mother Lucy Wood on May 30, 1911. They were sealed June 19, 1914 in Salt Lake City. She was born December 17, 1890 to Peter Cotton Wood and Lucy Jane Flake. She died January 1, 1918.
Her father Peter Cotton Wood was born July 4, 1852 to Daniel Wood and Peninah Shropshire Cotton. He died November 9, 1929.
Her mother Lucy Jane Flake was born March 13, 1870 to William Jordan Flake and Lucy Hannah White. She died January 26, 1952.
They had four daughters:
Sylvia-born April 23, 1912
Lillian-born February 26, 1914 died June 25, 1915
Josephine-born January 1, 1916
Alta Matilda-born December 28, 1917 died December 28, 1917
After Mama died we lived with Grandma Wood until about May, as Papa was very sick. Then we moved to Ogden, Utah with Grandma Allred where we lived a few months, then moved to Blackfoot, Idaho. We lived there 2 years and he met your mother.
Our father met your mother, Minnie Metcalf in Blackfoot, Idaho. He was a lonely man with two motherless girls ages 4 and 8 (myself and Josephine). She had one girl, Juanita about 2 years old.
They were married in the early part of September 1920 by a L.D.S. Bishop. Papa was getting ready to move back to Mexico.
I remember we went through the fields at night, and took the train to Pocatello where we stayed in a hotel while Papa went back for Josephine, the wagons, and etc. Minnie told me later this was done because she was living with a man that said he would kill Papa if he took her away from him. So the marriage was done in secret.
We left Pocatello by team and wagon the 16th of September and went to Ogden, Utah where we stayed a month while Papa worked in the sugar factory. Snow caught us before we left.
We started our trip with a hay rack wagon with bows and canvas top. There was a double bed, table, cupboard, stove, and chairs; also a trunk and wagon seat to sit on while traveling.
Papa had built a box under the rack where he had taken apart and packed a new mowing machine and rake.
There was a smaller wagon he trailed behind with bottled fruit, hay and grain for the horses.
We had four horses on the large wagon and led one behind the small one. Every day there was snow on the ground in some form—sometimes a skiff, sometimes a foot or more. It made traveling very slow.
I remember him saying there were times he could look back and see where we had camped the night before. We made from 5 to 15 miles a day. We went through Dove Creek, Colorado. The teams were in such bad shape there. He got pasture for all but one team. We left the large wagon and went on in the small one.
When it snowed we covered with blankets and such the best we could. We had a black umbrella that was held over your mother and Juanita. Papa would walk at times, hunting rabbits for food while I drove the team.
On Christmas Eve we stopped at a home and asked for shelter, as it had snowed on us most of the day. The people let us make our beds on the front room floor and told Papa to cook breakfast and get a sack of potatoes from the cellar before we left the next morning.
As they were leaving real early to spend Christmas with one of their parents, they left a pair of new gloves on the organ for Papa, filled with candy and nuts for us children. It seems like there was a sack of popcorn too.
The next morning after a warm breakfast Papa got part of a sack of potatoes and we moved on. We traveled, it seems, about 3 weeks like this.
We went on to Lewiston, Colorado where we lived in a small room by a pond while Papa worked 2 or 3 weeks. He left us there while he rode one of the horses back after the other wagon and teams.
The only water we had was snow and ice broke from the pond. That was my job while he was gone.
When he got back he sold the mowing machine and rake to help get food for the family and horses, then we went on.
The back wagon would often slip off the road as the snow was too deep to see where the sides were. That meant unhooking the wagon and pulling it back on with some of the horses. On one of these occasions he caught 2 fingers of his right hand between the cleves and the reach of the front wagon as it slipped over the reach. He cut his fingers so bad he could not use his right hand the rest of the way. So I really was his boy then to help drive, hook up the teams, and hunt wood for our stove.
He finally had to sell the large wagon horses and etc. for a team of mules and we moved on with them in the small wagon until we reached Albuquerque, New Mexico. There he sold everything and we went on by train with our bedding and clothes.
We reached Dublan, Chihuahua, Mexico about the 3rd or 5th of April with only 6 cents, a family to feed, and nowhere to go. As Grandpa’s farm was rented, we spent part of the summer on Uncle Nephi Thayne’s farm across the river. Then we moved into Dublan where we stayed and I went to school awhile until time to gather crops.
We then moved to Guadalupe where we lived in a church house until spring when your house was vacant. Papa found work in the fields.
Josephine and I took a No. 3 tub and gleaned a 20 acre field of beans. We would pick the scattered vines up, stomp them out, throw away the trash, and go on. Then to the corn fields for corn. The natives would throw a few ears in the weeds or leave a few scattered where the pile was. We had corn to fatten 2 or 3 pigs and care for the others until spring and 2 or 3 hundred pounds of beans.
The next year we spent on the farm, I dropped the seed as Papa plowed. I herded the small pigs at times. I gathered armfuls of morning glory vines to feed the pigs in the pens.
The next year we moved to Mesa, Arizona. We rented three different houses; the last one on South Stewart Ave. Papa started to buy while he worked in the cotton gin hauling bales and stacking. He bought a cow that we had for a short time, then she died.
In the early spring we moved to a farm 9 miles south of Phoenix that he ran that summer. While there, your mother went to California to spend a month or two visiting her brother.
After the crops were in we moved back to the house in Mesa.
Our brother Elmer Dean was born there May 2, 1925.
We moved to a piece of land Papa traded the house on that summer, that was south of Tempe. They were just starting to build the temple.
We lived in a one room school house there, until fall, when Papa bought a 2 seated Ford and we moved to Ajo, Arizona. We had car trouble on the road, landed there with a rope wound around one back rim on the car, as the tube and tire were ruined.
Papa let a fellow have his watch for a down payment for rent on a house. The next morning early the man brought it back so he could have a time piece for work.
I worked a few weeks on housework for two different families while there. The last family was going to put me in school and let me stay on with them and help before and after school. This never happened as your mother saw to it I was fired.
We stayed 3 months here then back to Mesa where Papa worked for awhile.
Then we headed for Mexico again with an open wagon and balky team. He traded the farm he was buying. We caught up with Uncle Orville (Papa’s brother) at Pason, Arizona and we went on together. We spent 3 weeks sitting at the line while Uncle Orville made trip after trip to El Paso arranging to take his horses, cows and two wagons of furniture across.
After crossing the line our first night near Palomas, one of our horses died so we had to borrow one to go on in. We went to Colonia Juarez where Papa worked for Ed Turley. He rode his horse to work. One morning another horse kicked it and broke its leg pretty bad so Papa had to kill him and was left afoot.
In the fall he started hauling lumber for Glen Whetten which kept him away from home most of the time.
Your mother had been baptized during the summer by Papa in the Juarez River.
In the spring we moved back to the farm in Guadalupe, where he again farmed. The next spring, April 17, 1928, Lena was born. I left home about the last of April to work for Carling and Lydia in their hotel in Dublan. In June, Carling, Papa, your mother, I, Juanita, Lena, and Elmer when to Salt Lake where I was married. Also, you children and your mother were sealed to Papa.
Soon after we got back your mother started going bad faster. Soon she took off her garments and the gospel meant nothing to her. She had been untrue to Papa from the first year, but he was such a good man that he could not believe it was true. Even when I heard her with my own ears tell him so. His final answer was, ‘If it’s true, you should be ashamed of yourself.’
I left Mexico in November of 1928. Papa and the family moved out a year later, moving to Mesa again. There your mother took Josephine and all of you children and went to live with a Dago.
After searching for three weeks, Papa found Josephine on the street one day and took her home and then found where you were. He took your mother to court to get you children but the judge would not give you to him. Your mother had left all of you at a neighbor’s. As Papa left the courthouse an officer told him if he knew where you were to go and pick up you two that were his and the court could do nothing. This he gladly did. And a few days later she sent Juanita back to him and said she would be back soon, which she never did. She never showed up to see how you were or anything.
In the spring of 1931 Papa brought you children and moved to Lee’s Ferry with us. He spent the summer there, then moved to Short Creek, Arizona.
There a family butted in and found where your mother was and sent Juanita to her. Josephine had gone to Mesa while at the Ferry.
In about 1933 we moved to Short Creek, Arizona. Papa lived there until 1936 when he moved to Salt Lake with you children. He stayed awhile with Aunt Rhea then moved to mother Elizabeth’s. There he married mother Ann, then mother Elizabeth. Mother Ann died a few months later. Then he moved mother Elizabeth and you children to Mesa, where he lived a few months and passed on November 25, 1938. He was buried in Mesa. His funeral was held in the Spanish Ward where he had taught the adults.
I left after the funeral, and you children chose to stay with Josephine and family.
I then lost track of all of you for years. It would be nice if I had your history from then on."
Great Grandpa Ednar's story has been the one that's topped my list, in my desire to learn more about my ancestors. Unfortunately, his story has been the hardest one to piece together. He was so poor, and moved around so much, that it appears he had little to his name. The only piece of history that I have, in his writing, is this letter that I found in Grandpa Isaac Carling's box. Ednar was currently in Emmett, Idaho and Sylvia was still down south. I believe Grandpa Isaac was in prison around this time, as Ednar mentions Isaac not being around, in the letter.
It appears that something happened in Mexico to cause enough contention for Ednar to leave and return to the states. While his daughter doesn't mention his travels, to Idaho, this letter, and a book by Rhea Kunz appear to confirm that Ednar did indeed travel to Idaho and was there from at least 1936-Nov. 1937.
For several months, I have been trying to piece together Ednar's family. While I do not have documentation to back it up, I believe that I have it correct. When Ednar and Minnie separated, it is believed that they did divorce, though divorce papers have not been located. Then something takes Ednar to Emmett, which very likely could have been the mere fact that some of his family was there, namely his older half brother, Byron Harvey Jr.
Byron Harvey Allred Jr.'s third wife was Dorothea Elizabeth Frieda Von Qualen. They were married on Aug. 14, 1935. Byron Harvey passed away in Emmett, Idaho on January 18, 1937.
It is believed that Ednar then decided to live the principle of polygamy and took his sister-in-law, Dorothea ("mother" Elizabeth), as his wife, in 1937. Both Grandma Sylvia's record and Rhea's record appear to back this up. Both records also state that Ednar married "mother" Ann. According to Rhea's account, this marriage took place within a matter of weeks after mother Elizabeth's. Accordingly, Rhea states that Elizabeth and Ann were dear old friends. Ann died just a few short months later.
Around November 20th, 1937, Ednar and Elizabeth start their move to Mesa, Arizona, which they arrived around the 23rd. They were very poor and she cared for his two children (from his previous marriage to Minnie). After Ednar's passing on November 25, 1938, in Mesa, Elizabeth returned to Salt Lake to live with Hedy and Arthur. It is said that Josephine, Ednar's daughter from his first marriage, took the two children to live with her.
For several months, I have been trying to piece together Ednar's family. While I do not have documentation to back it up, I believe that I have it correct. When Ednar and Minnie separated, it is believed that they did divorce, though divorce papers have not been located. Then something takes Ednar to Emmett, which very likely could have been the mere fact that some of his family was there, namely his older half brother, Byron Harvey Jr.
Byron Harvey Allred Jr.'s third wife was Dorothea Elizabeth Frieda Von Qualen. They were married on Aug. 14, 1935. Byron Harvey passed away in Emmett, Idaho on January 18, 1937.
It is believed that Ednar then decided to live the principle of polygamy and took his sister-in-law, Dorothea ("mother" Elizabeth), as his wife, in 1937. Both Grandma Sylvia's record and Rhea's record appear to back this up. Both records also state that Ednar married "mother" Ann. According to Rhea's account, this marriage took place within a matter of weeks after mother Elizabeth's. Accordingly, Rhea states that Elizabeth and Ann were dear old friends. Ann died just a few short months later.
Around November 20th, 1937, Ednar and Elizabeth start their move to Mesa, Arizona, which they arrived around the 23rd. They were very poor and she cared for his two children (from his previous marriage to Minnie). After Ednar's passing on November 25, 1938, in Mesa, Elizabeth returned to Salt Lake to live with Hedy and Arthur. It is said that Josephine, Ednar's daughter from his first marriage, took the two children to live with her.
Lucy Flake Wood
Born: December 17th, 1890, Colonia Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico
Parents: Peter Cotton Wood and Lucy Jane Flake
Marriage: May 30, 1911 in Colonia Juarez, Mexico, to Ednar Jay Allred
Sealing: June 19, 1914 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Died: January 1, 1918 in Mexico
Children: Sylvia, Lillian, Josephine, Alta Matilda
Born: December 17th, 1890, Colonia Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico
Parents: Peter Cotton Wood and Lucy Jane Flake
Marriage: May 30, 1911 in Colonia Juarez, Mexico, to Ednar Jay Allred
Sealing: June 19, 1914 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Died: January 1, 1918 in Mexico
Children: Sylvia, Lillian, Josephine, Alta Matilda
I have found very little information on Lucy Flake Wood, other than what her daughter briefly mentions about her. Grandma says that her mother probably died from Epsom salts. She writes that the salts ate her mother's stomach. She was told that when the salts go to powder, they become poisonous.
Minnie Pearl Midkiff (Metcalf)
Born: October 14, 1897 in Lexington, Cleveland, Oklahoma
Parents: Charles Anderson Midkiff and Sarah Annis Christian
Marriages: 1. Walter Samuel Newmorah, Dec. 18th, 1914
2. Jim Averill, 1920
Possible Children: Juanita (abt. 1918)
3. Ednar Jay Allred, Sept. 1920 (later divorced)
Children: Buster (1922-1922)
Elmer Dean (May 2, 1925)
Lenna (April 17, 1928)
4. Dewey Easley, 1925
5. Travis Lee Manley (divorced)
Born: October 14, 1897 in Lexington, Cleveland, Oklahoma
Parents: Charles Anderson Midkiff and Sarah Annis Christian
Marriages: 1. Walter Samuel Newmorah, Dec. 18th, 1914
2. Jim Averill, 1920
Possible Children: Juanita (abt. 1918)
3. Ednar Jay Allred, Sept. 1920 (later divorced)
Children: Buster (1922-1922)
Elmer Dean (May 2, 1925)
Lenna (April 17, 1928)
4. Dewey Easley, 1925
5. Travis Lee Manley (divorced)
As stated earlier, Ednar's marriage to Minnie was not a happy one. She was unfaithful to him, and ultimately, abandoned her marriage and children. She did not get along with her step daughter, Grandma Sylvia.
According to a family tree of hers online, she was the only girl, and had 6 brothers.
According to a family tree of hers online, she was the only girl, and had 6 brothers.
Dorothea Elizabeth Frieda Von Qualen ("Mother Elizabeth")
Born: November 13, 1872 at Transmuenda, Luebeck, Germany
Parents: Hermann Ulrich Christoph Von Qualen and Bertha Ida Emili Kalinowsky
Baptized: September 18, 1909
Marriages: 1. Julius Heinrich August Bauer, 1896
2. Byron Harvey Allred Jr., August 14, 1935
3. Ednar Jay Allred, 1937
Died: January 9, 1953 in Sandy, Utah.
Born: November 13, 1872 at Transmuenda, Luebeck, Germany
Parents: Hermann Ulrich Christoph Von Qualen and Bertha Ida Emili Kalinowsky
Baptized: September 18, 1909
Marriages: 1. Julius Heinrich August Bauer, 1896
2. Byron Harvey Allred Jr., August 14, 1935
3. Ednar Jay Allred, 1937
Died: January 9, 1953 in Sandy, Utah.
Little is know about Elizabeth's early years. She was born of good and respected Protestant (Lutheran) parents and must have had above average opportunities for a formal education, for her father was the mayor (burgermeister) of a city of many thousands. Elizabeth was the seventh child and the third daughter. It appears that her father died in 1891 and two of her older brothers inherited his entire estate.
In 1896 she married Julius Heinrich August Bauer. Seven children were born to them. Three of their children died when they were very small, and her daughter Erna died of an accident when she was 3 1/2 years old. According to the story, Elizabeth had been working at the factory all day. The children shouted the news to one another when they saw her returning to the apartment house where they lived. Little Erna excitedly ran to an open window on the second floor. With no one immediately near her to stop her, she leaned too far out and lost her balance, falling to the street below. She was so severely injured that she lived only a few more hours.
Richard, her oldest son, had to enter compulsory military training when he was 18 or 19 years old. The World War broke out in 1914 and he was forced into the conflict. The saints in Hamburg Branch fasted and prayed that none of the brethren in the German army would be killed, and their prayers were answered. Richard was wounded and taken prisoner to England. As a hospital patient, and prisoner, Richard learned to speak English. With the Armistice, Richard was returned to his country and missionary activities continued. Within a year, Richard married.
Elizabeth's husband was an alcoholic and did not support his family. She had to work in a factory while bearing children, to support the family. Elizabeth told Rhea that her husband came from the upper class and was spoiled with idleness, that he was not taught to be industrious, and that he meant well and felt sad when he hurt her feelings. He was also an atheist and took no interest when the gospel message came through missionaries; however, he gave consent for his wife and children to hear and accept it. Eight months after his death, Elizabeth and two of her children that were of age, were baptized. That was around September 1909.
Immigrating to Utah in the latter part of 1929, Elizabeth came with the help of her daughter, Hedy, who had preceded her in 1928. Hedy offered to come first and earn money for her mother to immigrate. Soon after Hedy's departure, Arthur Gabler, her fiance, was called on a full time mission to Wasdenburg, Germany, which lasted 2 1/4 years. With mingled feelings of sweet sadness at parting from dear saints in Germany, and with joyful anticipation of gathering in Utah, and being with her daughter once more, Elizabeth left her native land. Richard ended is mission and married Hedy in the Salt Lake Temple on August 14, 1934, just one day after returning home.
(information on Elizabeth is found in Rhea Kunz' book, "Voices of Women")
In 1896 she married Julius Heinrich August Bauer. Seven children were born to them. Three of their children died when they were very small, and her daughter Erna died of an accident when she was 3 1/2 years old. According to the story, Elizabeth had been working at the factory all day. The children shouted the news to one another when they saw her returning to the apartment house where they lived. Little Erna excitedly ran to an open window on the second floor. With no one immediately near her to stop her, she leaned too far out and lost her balance, falling to the street below. She was so severely injured that she lived only a few more hours.
Richard, her oldest son, had to enter compulsory military training when he was 18 or 19 years old. The World War broke out in 1914 and he was forced into the conflict. The saints in Hamburg Branch fasted and prayed that none of the brethren in the German army would be killed, and their prayers were answered. Richard was wounded and taken prisoner to England. As a hospital patient, and prisoner, Richard learned to speak English. With the Armistice, Richard was returned to his country and missionary activities continued. Within a year, Richard married.
Elizabeth's husband was an alcoholic and did not support his family. She had to work in a factory while bearing children, to support the family. Elizabeth told Rhea that her husband came from the upper class and was spoiled with idleness, that he was not taught to be industrious, and that he meant well and felt sad when he hurt her feelings. He was also an atheist and took no interest when the gospel message came through missionaries; however, he gave consent for his wife and children to hear and accept it. Eight months after his death, Elizabeth and two of her children that were of age, were baptized. That was around September 1909.
Immigrating to Utah in the latter part of 1929, Elizabeth came with the help of her daughter, Hedy, who had preceded her in 1928. Hedy offered to come first and earn money for her mother to immigrate. Soon after Hedy's departure, Arthur Gabler, her fiance, was called on a full time mission to Wasdenburg, Germany, which lasted 2 1/4 years. With mingled feelings of sweet sadness at parting from dear saints in Germany, and with joyful anticipation of gathering in Utah, and being with her daughter once more, Elizabeth left her native land. Richard ended is mission and married Hedy in the Salt Lake Temple on August 14, 1934, just one day after returning home.
(information on Elizabeth is found in Rhea Kunz' book, "Voices of Women")
Ann Doering (Doerling)
Ann married Ednar around 1936. Little more is known about her. According to Rhea, Ann had a son, and he "could not know that she was a plural wife". Ednar was not present at her funeral, because of this.