ALLAN, Annie Jane^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]}

1875 - 1957  (82 years)  Submit Photo / Document

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• Name	ALLAN, Annie Jane
  Birth	27 Aug 1875	Richfield, Sevier, Utah, United States   [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10]
  Gender	Female
  WAC	10 Apr 1901	SLAKE
  _TAG	Reviewed on FS
  Death	5 Oct 1957	Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States   [10]
  Burial	7 Oct 1957	Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States
  Headstones	Submit Headstone Photo
  Person ID	I43595	Joseph Smith Sr and Lucy Mack Smith
  Last Modified	19 Aug 2021

  
  

  Family ID

  F23251

  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	THOMPSON, Edward Fleming ,   b. 15 Apr 1870, Plains, Lanarkshire, Scotland Plains, Lanarkshire, Scotlandd. 20 Oct 1931, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States (Age 61 years)
  Marriage	11 Jan 1901	Bluff, San Juan, Utah, United States   [11]
  Children	+ 1. THOMPSON, Max Allan ,   b. 28 Jan 1912, Grayson, San Juan, Utah, United States Grayson, San Juan, Utah, United Statesd. 3 Mar 1995, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States (Age 83 years)
  Family ID	F13695	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	24 Jan 2022

  
  

• Photos		At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.
  		At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.

  
  

• Notes

  Annie Jane was born 27 August 1875, at Richfield, Sevier County, Utah. Her parents, John Allan and Jane Fleming Ferguson Shaw, were natives of Scotland and had come to Utah because they had received the message of the Divine Truth. Annie's childhood and youth were spent in pioneering several placed that the authorities of the church directed her parents to. They lived in the United Order in Richfield which order broke up in 1877. Her mother was a plural wife and Annie was her third child. The church called the family to Manassa, Colorado, where her father was in the bishopric. the first year the families stayed at a Mexican village where Annie's brother, Peter, taught school. She remembers how she went to the door of the school house and called to him repeatedly until he had to leave his scholars and come out and firmly but kindly take her home. She had a beautiful little silk dress that had been one of the things which the family had been given when the United Order had come to a sudden stop in Richfield. The dress stood in her mind as a symbol of great beauty and she prized it very highly. It seems she was not the only one who like it very much. When one of the Mexican women admired it, Annie gave it to her with great enthusiasm. For this extravagant generosity, Annie had to stay home from all Sabbath meetings that season--not for punishment, but because having a dress was a real event and one of sufficient importance that when one did not have a dress, one went without. Jane and her family were on a ranch eight miles away on a hillside above the river. There were green meadows below and there were rattlesnakes in abundance. Jane was kept busy doctoring the dog whose head would swell up as big as a bucket because of snake bites. Wild animals, wild ducks and geese were everywhere. Annie's brother, Robert, found eggs belonging to the wild creatures and Jane put them under her hens; thus, Jane increased her flock of poultry. Here on the ranch, Jane, with the help of Bob, ran a small dairy. She sold butter at Alamosa, Colorado. The cattle had wicked horns and were wild. Jane had to do the milking. She earned all she made. travelers, both white and Mexican, stopped at the ranch for something to eat or to stay over night. One night at sundown, a Mexican came in sight, but the dog refused to let him come near the house. All the scolding Annie's mother could do did no good. He was not allowed to enter. Later that same night, a posse of men awakened the Allan household to ask if a Mexican had been around. A little white girl had been killed and her body had bee found on the hillside not many miles away from the place. They never doubted the wisdom of the dog after that. The Sabbath was strictly observed even if more butter could be made when they stayed home. The sixteen-mile trip to Manassa and back was hard. The rocky roads, the wind, dust and gravel blew in their faces and made it necessary to cover them most of the way. These were of small importance. Annie, to this day, never lets a matter of personal convenience keep her away from going to the house of worship. If Bob were along, he drove. If not, Jane did. The little girls lay in the bottom of the buggy covered up from any danger of cold or flying stones. When Annie speaks of her mother, she says how her mother never considered any little task too trivial when the good of her loved ones were in question. She would milk the cows before and after the long trip and drive all the way while her flock cuddled under shelter. She said that they would have enough to meet in life if she shielded them as long as she could. These were her golden hours of showering her loving devotion on her precious daughters who lay covered with a quilt in the bottom of the moving wagon. The near neighbors were the McIntire family who lived below them on the river. They were not Mormon but took a kindly interest in the Allan Family. Mr. McIntire later became governor of Colorado. Annie's father was a taxidermist. All of her life she remembers seeing her father mount in life-like precision birds of all description. He loved them and never killed them except for a good and sufficient cause. The harmony of color with which his skilled eye and hand perfected his work was always a source of great pride to Annie. She has a collection in her home now of which she is justly proud. His work was admired by all who knew him. He knew the habitat of every feathered creature. His library was very extensive and was left as a treasured heirloom to his family. During the winter of 1880-1881, Apostle Erastus Snow made his home with the Allan family. He needed, at the time, to keep well out of the public sight because of his views on plural marriage. He released John Allan from the Conejos Mission and called him into the San Juan Mission. John exchanged claims with Silas S. Smith and settled about eighteen miles above the town of bluff on the San Juan River. Their claim was a mile east of the fort in Montezuma. That winter they were settled comfortably in nice log cabins built of cottonwood logs. Annie's sister, Florence, was born in a tent on the Montezuma before the folks were settled in their new quarters. Her vbirthday was 11 August 1881. About a year and a half after that, Jane's only son, John A was born. On the Montezuma Creek, which emptied into the San Juan River, Annie's father constructed a huge water wheel that turned out an abundance of water for their fields of cane and corn and other stable products. They planted and matured a beautiful big orchard and raised all kinds of fruits and vegetables. John Allan was a rare molasses maker. He knew every angle of the process necessary to perfect a molasses that was a real delicacy. He saved not himself nor his helpers and skimmed every offending element from the boiling juice until the finished product was well sought after and brought a good price in all the country around. Annie, five, with her sisters Agnes and Elizabeth, helped with the work. There was plenty that could be shunted onto the shoulders of the little girls. They were to top feed the machine and carry away the pommel (pummy they called it) and between the three of them, they produced three tubs of juice a day. The Allan family lived on the Montezuma for about four years. they were prospering but in the early summer of 1884, rain came down in torrents. The head of the San Juan River was a seething mass of angry water. the river banks were swollen to overflowing and all the bottom lands were flooded. John and his two older boys were away in New Mexico. They had all the teams with them. All that were home were Agnes, Bob, Jane and her four young children. Jane had moved into John Allan Jr.'s place because the river was washing so hear to her home. His home was on high ground nearer and bluff and was vacant because John and his family had moved to Fruitland, New Mexico. The Indians brought word that a big flood was coming from up in Colorado. Jane and the girls were looking at what could easily turn into disaster. She looked up and saw a great mountain of water rushing toward them. There was panic immediately. One lone mule was on the farm. Bob straddled it and raced for help to the neighbors a mile and a half below them. The neighbor came to the rescue with a team and wagon. As many of the household goods as could be were moved up against the bluffs. "Aunty" (as they all called Agnes) was doing her best with a fire shovel to make a dam by the side of her house to protect against the angry flood. John A was right above them and with one swift sweep he was gathered in loving arms and before they got to their door the water was almost to their necks. Elizabeth and Annie saw some precious wash tubs swept from their outside hanging and with desperate pluck saved them and some chickens also. In the cabin there was water all over the floor. Jane put little Florence and John A on the beds and piled chairs up with bedclothes on them. The older sister, Agnes, had gone with the folks to New Mexico but the father and Peter came home during the excitement. The light wagon was used as long as possible and then John thought of the molasses boiler and they attached a team to it and by swimming the horses, they finally got across to the bluffs. there they pitched a tent, stretched wagon covers and lived under such shelter for several weeks. They moved to a log cabin left by one of the former pioneers on Montezuma. While they were in the old cabin, Jane made it homey by covering the ceiling and the open windows with clean flour sacks. Apostles Joseph F. Smith and Lorenzo Snow visited them while they lived there. She cooked chicken for them and they were profuse in their praise of Sister Allan. Annie remembers they sang sings and she sat on Elder Snow's lap. the Apostles advised Brother Allan to move to Bluff. Elder Snow told them if they always felt kindly disposed toward the Indians, they would never thirst for their blood. Shortly after reaching the Montezuma, the family made friends with a Navajo by the name of Pejo. He called across the river one morning and said that the Indians were up in arms against a family up the river. Two of their number had been killed, but that no harm would come to the Allans because he knew they were friends to the Indians. There had been killings above and below them on the river but the Allan family had never been harmed. Brother Snow had told them that the Indians would become friendly and those who would not, would die. This was actually true. In Bluff, they found a fine class of people whose faith and courage was outstanding in pioneer history. In the fall of 1884, They moved into the little town of Bluff, which had about twenty families. John A was then nearly three. Annie enjoyed her life there. She went to school in the old log house which served for all public gatherings. It had been built in the days of the fort which had been built during the hard times of early pioneering. Its twisted cottonwood log walls and the dirt roof with hewn logs for the floor stands still in the memories of many of the young folks who grew to manhood and womanhood. The Christmas parties, church and school celebrations, dances and the ball games down by the Old Swing Tree--all of these thrilled Annie and added to her childhood store of care-free happy days. Her father had a large field and the hoeing of the weeds in the beans and corn had to be done by those little girls who also had to do their share of the cane growing and molasses making. Elizabeth was a real mountain of strength in the hoeing. Annie says she furnished the allurements that kept them going. One day she and Agnes were lagging sadly behind standard accomplishments and went home disheartened. The middle sister, Elizabeth, went back with them in the afternoon and no weeds remained when they went home again. In 1890, a great sorrow came to the Allan family. Diphtheria struck the home and took away little Florence and John A. Annie herself lay at the point of death. She told the folks afterward of the wonderful dream she had which showed her that her mission on earth had not at that time been accomplished. She was snatched as by a miracle from death. But it seemed that never again was she a little carefree girl. The experience she went through, the grief of losing the sweet children, her mother's sorrow and the heartlessness of the disease all combined to crowd her into mature womanhood and make an impenetrable sheath of courage to face sickness, death, darts of temptation and hardship of disappointment and heartache. In it all she never faltered one iota, but remained a tower of strength to those who stood in wonder at her fortitude. When Annie was a young woman, she had assumed to be self-supporting and clerked in Fred Adams' store in Bluff for the sum of two dollars a week. She not only kept herself on that but had paid her tithing and by strict resourcefulness had saved enough to take her to the Brigham Young Academy in Provo. On returning, she went to work for Cunningham Ranch. There she had a family to cook, wash and iron for, besides cook for a group of eighteen cowboys. Her weekly pay for all this was five dollars. She met here all kinds of men who marveled at her charm, beauty, firm and steady life. Try as they would, they had no influence on her. She once had in the group a man of Robber Roost fame. He was playing a game of gambling and all at once he pulled his pistol and said, as he held the attention of the other player, "I'm a gambler and I rob and steal but I make no profession to be anything but a thief, but I do it in the open and don't sneak about it." While still quite young, she met a young Scotchman who did not believe in a divine being, but there was that in him that appealed to her finer nature. She wished he would see the beauties of the religion that had been her guide and protection against every temptation. He sought her out on every occasion for five long years. She studied, argued and prayed; she listened to his love-making but made no promises. At last she went to the Brigham Young Academy and left him to the tender mercies of her mother and the Bluff saints. Finally her years of patience and prayers were rewarded by his conversion to a God who ruled the universe. But still he was determined to investigate all other religions before he joined the Mormon faith. This he did and became a devoted member. He spent the rest of his life rejoicing in the light of the gospel and always defending its principles and telling others of the light that had come into his life. The happy girl knew that God had answered her prayers and the greatest thrill of her life was listening to him bear his earnest testimony. Soon after he was baptized, they were married and not long after, he went to Great Britain on a mission, leaving his wife with a little year-old son and a little daughter who was born seven months after he left. In the mission field, he had a most unusual meeting with his father, who after his mother's death had gone to Australia and had not seen his son all those years. It was a happy reunion and a happy miracle that both should return to their native land at the same time. Edward Fleming Thompson was the name of the man to whom she had given herself for time and all eternity. Their love for each other was a most beautiful thing. They lived in Bluff until called by the church to go to Blanding (then called Grayson) to help settle and develop that new town on the White Mesa. There they went into pioneering again. They cleared land, built houses, dug irrigating ditches, pitched tents and erected new homes. The meeting house was a tent the first year. Here Annie, with a growing family, helped in the church and civic organizations. She did outside chores and assumed added responsibilities always rejoicing in the growing family which equaled nine children. As the responsibilities grew, Ed, a stone mason, had to go where more building was to be found. The family finally moved to Salt Lake City in 1927. The eldest son filled a very successful mission. Ed Thompson passed away in 1931. West, the youngest son, was killed in action, 1 February 1944. Annie had a rare gift of compassion in caring for others. In the early days of Blanding, typhoid fever raged around. Some husbands and wives resolved they would keep themselves safely away from it. Annie went night and day. When it was necessary to take her small baby, she would put him in his carriage and saturate the wheels with coal oil so they would not pick up any germs. Then she would often leave her four children home with her husband and stay all night. She was an angel of mercy wherever she went. Her family escaped entirely from the scourge while others were stricken who had tried to shield themselves. Annie would stay with the sick until almost daylight. Cows would be in the street when she returned home. They would sometimes rise in front of her with a low bellow, frightening her almost out of her wits. Then, her immediate attention was required at home with breakfast to get, children to care for, the week's washing to do, Relief Society meetings to attend and more sick people needing care. Annie died 5 October 1957. In San Juan County in southern Utah, a tall Indian was seen leading two horses and a pony through the little town of Bluff. On the back of each horse, about five Navajo rugs were stacked. When the Indian arrived at the door of the Allan home, he tied his horses and the pony to the post. Then he went over to the window and peeked into the room. Seconds later, my grandmother, Jane Fleming Ferguson Shaw Allan, opened the door. The Indian greeting her and entered the room. Jane was used to Indians asking for food or handouts, however, she sensed something special about this call and sent one of her boarders out to fetch her husband, John Allan, from the cane fields. While Jane waited for her husband to appear, she took the molasses which they had made the day before and began to pour some into a narrow-necked bottle. The Indian caught the spilled-over molasses from the side of the bottle with his finger and licked it. He smacked his lips and said, "Good," and then repeated the finger-licking gesture again and again until Jane was through filling the jar with molasses. John and Jane Allan had built five rather substantial nice homes in the Utah territory since they had immigrated from Scotland and were well known for their gracious generous hospitality. No Indian, Mexican of stranger was ever refused a meal. Indeed, authorities of the Mormon Church were often guests. Erastus R. Snow, sought by the United States Militia for his plural marriages, hid in their home in Manassa for sometime. When John Allan arrived at the house, he took the situation into account. It was unusual for Indians to bring horses, pony and blankets to their house. They usually brought sheep or something to trade, but not quite so much. In the Bluff area, there hadn't been an uprising among the Indians for quite sometime now and my Grandfather Allan didn't want to start a war or ruckus or hurt any feelings. He didn't want to dishonor or cause an Indian to lose face and seek revenge or anything of the sort. The Allans had been told by the leaders of their church that "if they never thirsted for blood of the Indians, the Indians would never thirst for their blood." The unusual language, "thirst" proved true. The facts were that families all around the Allans were attacked and harassed, but the Allan family was left in peace. Most Indians knew some words in English and with sign language, some gesturing, communication was understandable. How I would have delighted to have the experience of listening to the exchange of words between the Indian and my Grandfather's thick Scotch brogue. Slurping and smacking one's lips by Indians showed "heap much" appreciation. It was the polite thing to do. So, with one last finger full of molasses and one last noisy smack of his lips the Indian began: "Me heap big chief. Me have two horses." Then he raised his whole arm, pointed out the door towards the horses. "You take," he continued. "Me take Annie." At the sound of her name, John and Jane's sixteen-year old daughter Annie, who had been involved preparing supper for the family and the boarders, looked up. Her eyes widened and she gasped. Never having given a second thought to belonging to any man, let alone an Indian, she was traumatized. Annie was "Miss Independence" of her day and she intended to stay that way. She clerked for $2.00 a week at Fred Adams' store and saved as much as she could to attend Brigham Young Academy in Provo. Annie would wait on Indians, Mexicans, outlaws, farmers, farmer's wives and cowboys. She was also aware of the compliments and flattery of the rough talking, rough acting, boisterous cowboys. She had to become slightly haughty at times to protect herself from them. the town's people would come in to seen Annie's cheerfulness and look upon her fair complexion with pleasure. Annie's mother, Jane, taught her daughters from infancy that they must protect their skin from the sun's rays with bonnets, scarves, blankets--anything. Jane had been badly burned from the sun when she pulled the handcart across the plains years ago and she wanted her daughter to escape that kind of pain and disfigurement. The first phase of the bartering was adequately dealt with by Annie's father. Then the Indian started again and this time he added the pony. With each touchy, scary, diplomatic rejection, the Indian would add one more prize to the trade. "Me heap big chief. Me have two horses. Me have fine pony. Me have heap good rugs. You take. Me go. Me take Annie. She make good squaw." Grandfather, always seeking and thinking, "peace, peace, peace" bargained adequately and almost skillfully in his Scotish brogue. The chief gave one more grunt of dissatisfaction. "Ugh!" he said and picked up the jar of molasses and left the Allans a new Navajo rug. Annie heaved a sigh of relief. The second the Indian was out of sight she ran to her father and hugged him in appreciation and joy. She ran to her mother and hugged her in relief. She was glad that she was not the cause of the Indian losing face, or the case of an uprising or a war. She had seen her father exercise more patience than she knew he was capable of. Annie, the "Miss Independence" of her time, practiced patience and peace at any price to the full extent of her being the rest of her life. As her daughter, I know. She only spanked me once and I deserved heap much spankings. Down in the sunny San Juan is a little town called Bluff situated on the banks of the river. It was built by a splendid class of pioneers who were chosen from among the original inhabitants of Utah because of their faith, bravery and courage which has seldom been outclassed in the history of the west. They were chosen to be missionaries among the Indians who, at that time, were very hostile and savage and knew no law only the "law of might." These pioneers were promised by an apostle of the church "if they would never thirst for the blood of an Indian that the Indian would never thirst for their blood." This promise of divine protection was fulfilled as the years went by in many instances. One was told to the writer by Bishop Kumen Jones. "The town of Bluff has high cliffs on both sides. The settlers turned their livestock out on the bench above town to feed. One afternoon three of the men were hunting for some stock that had strayed when they encountered about 300 Utes who had been in Colorado on one of their raids. They were driving a large band of stolen horses and on their saddles some fresh human scalps were tied. The three men were surrounded. Joe Nielson, young and brave, recognized a little mare that he had lost the year before. He impulsively went over, pulled the rider off and threw the saddle and blankets on the ground. Bishop Jones said that a dozen guns were pointed at their heads and they expected to have their scalps join the others on the saddles. At this moment of danger, a big Ute mounted a large sand boulder and commenced to talk. They could not understand what he said, but he kept mentioning the name 'Mormon' and soon they departed, leaving the mare and the three men to marvel at the turn of events. That night the story was told to their families and the prayers that were offered up were something like this: 'Thank thee dear Father for all thy mercies and kindness and bless the Lamanites around us.'" (Transcribed by Sue Anne B. Thompson--granddaughter-in-law of Annie Jane Allan Thompson and second great niece of Kumen Jones.) This little story was written by Annie Jane Allan Thompson for her granddaughter, Sona Viola Thompson (Schmidt) "Long ago when Grandma Thompson was a little girl living down on the San Juan River, about 1881, she had no playmates but a little Navajo girl who herded her father's sheep. She was a very brave little Indian. Grandma was afraid to roam over the hills alone. The canyons were wild and seemed unfriendly. Indians roamed everywhere. Wild cats and coyotes could often be seen in the daytime. Grandma called her Belcladdie because she always wore a blanket and Belcladdie was the right name for a blanket in their language. Once Belcladdie killed a coyote with her bow and arrow. "There came a great flood that washed Great Grandma's home [Jane Fleming Ferguson Shaw Allan] away so that she had to hitch a team of horses to a molasses boiler and go to higher ground against the high bluffs. Grandma Thompson worried about little Belcladdie and her sheep. After the flood went down, Belcladdie came to visit. It seems the flood had surrounded her on an island. She led the sheep to the highest part and climbed a large cottonwood tree where she had remained all night--the angry waters passing in great waves. 'Weren't you afraid, little Belcladdie?' Grandma asked her. 'Yes, at first. Then I remembered that Great Spirit was watching me as he had always done and He seemed to say 'be not afraid little Indian girl. I'll take care of you.' "Grandma says the little Navajo girl taught her to have more faith in our Heavenly Father and has never forgotten the brave, dark-skinned Indian girl who said the Great Spirit seemed to say, 'Be not afraid little one; I'll take care of you.' Written by Grandma Thompson (her experience) for Sona Thompson. Transcribed by Sue Anne B. Thompson from Grandma Thompson's own hand writing. Memories of Annie Jane Allan Thompson as told to her friend Mary R. John Allan was born in Scotland in affluent circumstances but when the gospel found him, he left all his worldly goods to his kindred and friends and arrived in Utah with his young wife, Agness, in 1855. From then on his life was concerned with the hardship of a frontier life. He pioneered in five early settlements, some of them in the roughest country on earth. Jane F. Shaw also came from Scotland for the gospel’s sake in 1858. She had been out to service since she was eight years old, being the eldest of a family of seven children. She was a very refined and cultured young woman who never allowed the hardships through which she passed to dim her ideals. Her daily toil could easily have excused an untidy appearance but her love for cleanliness and beauty kept her sweet and lovely and charming. Her courage and devotion to others, her giving of her best, handing out the material comforts of life, feeding the smelly Indians and going without herself—these were the joys of her life. When she accepted the gospel, she saw an opportunity for sacrifice and service. She gave up her lover and became the plural wife of John Allan, though he was old enough to be her father, and devoted herself to his interests and welfare the rest of her life. A whole volume could be written extolling her virtues. Annie Jane was the third of the five children who came to John and Jane Allan. She was born in Richfield, Sevier County, in the large brick house that is still standing. This was 27 August 1875. Agness, the first wife, had no children of her own but was one of the best of mothers to John’s three motherless boys: Johnny, Peter and Robert. Jane’s children were: Agness, Elizabeth, Annie Jane, Florence and John A. In 1878, John Allan and his two families were called by Apostle Erastus Snow to pioneer in San Luis Valley on the Conejos River [south central border of Colorado]. The first year the families stayed at a Mexican village, where Annie’s brother, Peter, taught school. She was three years old and she remembers how she went to the door of the school house and called to him repeatedly until he had to leave his scholars to come out and firmly but kindly take her home and impress upon her the gravity of her disturbance. She loved her brother, Peter, with a fierce devotion. She had a beautiful little silk dress that had been one of the things which the family had been given when the United Order had come to a sudden stop in Richfield. The dress stood in her mind as a symbol of great beauty and she prized it very highly. It seems she was not the only one who liked it very much and when one of the Mexican women admired it, Annie gave it to her with great enthusiasm. For this extravagant generosity, Annie had to stay home from all Sabbath meetings that season. Not for punishment. Oh no! But because having a dress was a real event and one of sufficient importance that when one did not have a dress, one went without unless one found a girl as liberal as was Annie Allan and they were very few. The Mexicans enjoyed the blue beauty and Annie learned to enjoy it vicariously. She also learned something of consistency in giving for the giving of the dress was a calamity in her young life. It could not be substituted. As long as Annie sees blue, she remembers. Later John Allan settled in Manassa [same area in Colorado] with his first family and was called into the Bishopric. Jane and her family were on a ranch eight miles away on a hillside above the river. There were green meadows below but there were rattle snakes in abundance. Jane was kept busy doctoring the dog whose head would swell up as big as a bucket because of the snake bites. Wild animals were thick all around. Wild ducks and geese were everywhere. Annie’s brother, Robert, (Bob they called him) found eggs belonging to the wild creatures and Jane put them under her hens, [and] thus Jane increased her flock of poultry. Annie tells how when the wild creatures grew to maturity, she would stay in the house. . . .and for good reason too, because the big gander would jump on her shoulders and with his mighty wings would beat her until she dropped whatever morsel of food she had in her hands. Here on the ranch, Jane, with the help of Bob, ran a small dairy. They sold butter at Alamosa, Colorado. The cattle had wicked horns and were wild. Jane had to do the milking and she earned all she made. Travelers, both white people and Mexicans, stopped at the ranch for something to eat or to stay over night. One night at sundown, a Mexican came in sight but the dog refused to let him come near the house. All the scolding Annie’s mother could do did no good. He was not allowed to enter. Later that same night, a posse of men awakened the household to ask if a Mexican had been around. A little white girl had been killed and her body had been found on the hillside not many miles away from the place. They never doubted the wisdom of the dog after that. One day, the little girls were out in a wagon with their father to get wood. Among the things they told of was seeing seven wild cats up in one tree. They also saw a coyote that their father had killed in the night when he had been aroused by the squealing of a pig. He had gone out and found the pig in the mouth of the coyote and had killed it and saved the pig for the eating of those in whom he was more interested. They saw and talked of these things. The wind blew fierce and strong and they pulled the quilts up over their faces to protect their eyes from the sharp pebbles that stung their tender young faces. The Sabbath was strictly observed even if more butter could be made when they stayed home. The sixteen mile trip to Manassa and back over the rocky roads and the wind creeping in and dust and gravel it picked up and threw in their faces—these were of small importance when it came to missing their meetings. Annie to this day never lets a matter of personal convenience keep her away from going to the house of worship. If Bob were along he drove, if not, Jane did. The little girls lay covered in the bottom of the buggy covered up from any danger of cold or flying stones. When Annie speaks of her mother, her voice becomes husky and she says how her mother never considered any little task to trivial when the good of her loved ones were in questions. She would milk the cows before and after the long trip and drive all the way while her flock cuddled under shelter. She said they would have enough to meet in life if she shielded them as long as she could. These were her golden hours of showering hr loving devotion on her precious daughters who lay covered with a quilt in the bottom of the moving vehicle. Surely Jane, you must have often rejoiced in the stern stuff in those daughters you nurtured so jealously. The near neighbors were the MacIntyres who lived below them on the river. They were not Mormons but they were fine people and took a kindly interest in each of the Allans--a personal interest. Mr. MacIntyre was later made Governor of Colorado and that made the Allans happy. John Allan was a taxidermist. All of Annie’s life she remembers seeing her father mount with life-like precision birds of all description. He loved them. He never killed them except for a good and sufficient cause. The harmony of color with which his skilled eye and hand perfected this work was always a source of great pride to Annie. She [had] a collection in her home of which she [was] justly proud. His work was the admiration of all who knew him. Many of their neighbors said that their knowledge of birds is what he has taught them. He knew the habitat of every feathered creature in the known world. His library was very extensive and was left as a treasured heirloom to his family. The one “A Great Naturalist” who was Thomas Edwards, was loaned among the young folks in after years until it was worn out. Mr. MacIntyre’s brother, Sam Vance, was also a taxidermist and the two had a binding bond of kindred interest. During the winter of 1880-1881, Apostle Erastus Snow made his home with the Allan family. He was having to keep well out of the public sight because of his views on plural marriage. In 1881, Apostle Snow released John Allan from the Conejos Mission and called him into the San Juan Mission. John exchanged claims with Silas S. Smith and settled with his family about eighteen miles above the town of Bluff on the San Juan River. Their claim was a mile east of the fort in Montezuma. That winter they were settled comfortably in nice log cabins built of cottonwood logs. On the Montezuma, called so because of its location on Montezuma Creek which emptied into the San Juan River, Annie’s father constructed a huge water wheel that turned out an abundance of water for their fields of cane and corn and other stable products. They planted and matured a beautiful big orchard. They raised all kinds of vegetables. John Allan was a rare molasses maker. He knew every angle of the process necessary to perfect a molasses that was a real delicacy. He skimmed every offending element from the boiling juice until the finished article was well sought after and brought a good price in all the country around. Annie turned five that fall [1881]. She, with her sisters Agness and Elizabeth, had the task of a great heft of the work. Of course, the men folks took the brunt of the hard work, but there was plenty that could well be shunted on to the shoulders of the little girls. [Making molasses] they were to top, feed the machine and carry away the pommel and between the three of them they produced three tubs of juice [for molasses making] a day. Annie was about six years old at this time. The Allan’s lived on the Montezuma about four years. They were prospering but in the early summer of 1884 something happened. Rain came down in torrents. The head of the San Juan River was a seething mass of torrents. The floods that flowed down into San Juan, though not as great as up above, were still completely beyond control. Its banks were swollen to overflowing and all the bottom lands were flooded. John Allan and his two older boys were away in New Mexico. They had all the teams [wagons and horses] with them. All that were home were Agness, Bob, and Jane and her four young children. We will go back a few years and refresh our memories. Annie’s [younger] sister, Florence was born in a tent on the Montezuma before the folks were settled in their new quarters. Her birthday was 11 August 1881. About a year and a half after that Jane’s only son, John A., was born. [Back to the summer of 1884] At the time of the angry waters, Jane had moved to another home because the river was washing so near to her home. This other home was on high ground up nearer the bluff. The Indians brought word that a big flood was coming from up in Colorado. Jane and her girls were out looking at what could easily turn into disaster. She saw the little wagon wheel that John A had thrown into the river. He stood there shouting as it floated around on top of the water. As she looked she saw a great mountain of water raging toward them. There was panic immediately. One lone mule was on the farm. Bob straddled the mule and raced for help to the neighbors a mile and a half below them. They came to the rescue with a team and wagon. As much of the household goods as possible were moved up against the bluffs. “Aunty” as they called Agness senior was doing her best with a fire shovel to make a dam by the side of her house to protect against the angry flood. Little John A. who was right above them and would be swept from his feet the next instant was gathered in loving arms. Before they got to the door of their home, the water was almost to their necks. Elizabeth and Annie saw some precious wash tubs being swept away. They saved them along with some chickens. There was water all over the floor. Jane put little Florence and John A. on the Bedsteads and piled chairs up with bedclothes on them. The older sister, Agness, had gone with the folks to New Mexico, but father and Peter came home during the excitement. The light wagon was used as log as possible and then John thought of the molasses boiler and they attached a team to it and by swimming the horses, they finally got across to the bluffs. There they pitched a tent and stretched wagon covers and lived under such shelter for several weeks and then moved to a log cabin left by one of the former pioneers on Montezuma. While they were in the old cabin, Jane made it homey by covering the ceiling and the open windows with clean flour sacks. Apostles Joseph F. Smith and Lorenzo Snow visited them while they lived there. Jane cooked chicken for them and they were profuse in their praise of “Sister Allan.” Annie remembers they sang songs and were pleased with them. She sat on Elder Snow’s lap. The Apostles advised Brother Allan [John] to move to Bluff. Elder Snow told them if they always felt kindly disposed toward the Indians, they would never thirst for their blood. Shortly after reaching Montezuma [three years ago] the family made friends with a Navajo by the name of Pejo. He hollered across the river one morning that the Indians were up in arms against a family up the river. Two of their number had been killed and the U.S. soldiers were on their way to the place but that no harm would come to the Allan family because he knew they were friends to the Indians. There had been killings above and below them on the river but none of them had ever been harmed. Brother Snow had told them that the Indians would become friendly. This was actually true. They moved into the little town of Bluff of about twenty families in the fall of 1884 [after the flood]. John A was then going on three years old. In Bluff [the Allan family] found a fine class of people whose faith and courage was outstanding in pioneer history. Annie enjoyed her life there. She went to school in the old log house which served for all public gatherings. It had been built in the days of the fort during the hard times of early pioneering. Its twisted cottonwood log walls and the dirt roof with hewn logs for a floor stands still in the memories of many of the young folks who grew to manhood and womanhood in those far off days. The Christmas parties, the church and school celebrations, the dances, the ball games down by the Old Swing Tree, all of these thrilled Annie and added to her childhood store of carefree happy days which were not so carefree as are the days of our people of today. Her father had a large field and the hoeing of the weeks n the beans and corn had to be done by those little girls who also had to do their share of the cane growing and the molasses making. Elizabeth was a real mountain of strength in the hoeing. Annie says she furnished all the allurements that kept them going. One day she and Agness were lagging sadly behind standard accomplishment and sent home disheartened. The middle sister [Elizabeth] went back with them in the afternoon ad no weeks remained when they went home again. In 1890 a great sorrow came to the Allan family. Diphtheria struck the home and took away little Florence and John A. Annie herself lay at the point of death. She told the folks afterward of the wonderful dream she had which showed her that her mission on earth had not at that time been accomplished. She was snatched as by miracle from death but it seemed that never again was she a little carefree girl. The experience she went through, the grief of losing the sweet babies, her mother’s sorrow and the attendant heartlessness of the disease all combined to crowd her into mature womanhood and make an impenetrable sheath of courage to face sickness, death, darts of temptation and hardship of disappointment and heartache. In it all she never faltered one iota but remained a tower of strength to those who stood in wonder at her fortitude. The writer could take much time on this one side of Annie’s character but she always begs to not be exploited as she says and would shrink from any recognition of her virtues. When Annie was a young woman, she had assumed to be self-supporting and had clerked in Fred Adams’ store in Bluff for the unbelievable sum of $2.00 per week. She had not only kept herself on that but had paid her tithing and by strict resourcefulness had saved enough to take her to the Brigham Young Academy in Provo. Then she went to work for Cunningham Ranch. There she had a family to cook, wash and iron for besides a group of eighteen cowboys. Her weekly pay for all this was $5.00. She met here all kinds of men. She never had the opportunity of attending church, but on Sunday mornings she would sing the songs of Zion as she did her work. The men she met marveled at her charm, her beauty, her unflinchable, unswervable life. Try as they would they had no influence on her. She once had. . . . .[And here the history ends. The other pages appear to be lost.

  
  

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