Andrew Jackson Allen: A Kentucky Seeker Who Reached Nauvoo at the Martyrdom and Was Baptized in the Exodus (1818–1884)

Andrew Jackson Allen was born September 5, 1818, in Somerset, Pulaski County, Kentucky. In 1834 Latter-day Saint elders—including Wilford Woodruff—began preaching near his home. One night after Elder Woodruff's sermon, Andrew's sister went to her bedroom and prayed that she might gain a testimony of what he had taught; 'right away there came a light in her darkened bedroom,' which she believed was a sign from God, and at fifteen she joined the Church. Two of Andrew's brothers were also baptized by Wilford Woodruff. Though his Baptist parents disapproved, Andrew believed the gospel message and desired to go to Nauvoo to see the Prophet and the temple the Saints were building. In June 1844 he and a brother arrived in Nauvoo only a few days after Joseph and Hyrum Smith had been martyred in Carthage Jail; 'the Saints were in mourning and there was a heavy gloom throughout the city.' He had planned to be baptized then, but returned to Kentucky to await a better time. In 1845, hearing that the Saints were preparing to leave Nauvoo for the West, he again 'felt the spirit prompting' and knew he must be with the Saints in Zion. He sold everything and, with his pregnant wife and three children, immigrated to Nauvoo in February 1846 as the Saints began their exodus; his wife gave birth to a baby girl on a cold winter day soon after arriving. Two weeks after the first wagons left, the Mississippi River froze over—'something it usually didn't do'—allowing some Saints to drive their wagons safely across the ice. On April 22, 1846, after the Mississippi thawed, Andrew and his wife were baptized. He settled finally in Draper, Utah, where he died July 18, 1884.