Rufus Chester Allen: Among the First Latter-day Saint Missionaries to South America (Chile, 1851)

Rufus Chester Allen was born October 22, 1827, in Tompkins, Delaware County, New York, the son of Albern Allen and Marcia Allen. He joined the Church and, in 1851, was chosen to accompany Apostle Parley P. Pratt—and Pratt's wife Phoebe Soper Pratt—on a mission to Valparaíso, Chile. They were among the very first Latter-day Saint missionaries to preach in South America. The small company sought 'to establish a presence' for the Church on a new continent, laboring and distributing the gospel in Chile before civil unrest and hardship forced their return. BYU Studies has chronicled the effort as 'Hoping to Establish a Presence: Parley P. Pratt's 1851 Mission to Chile.' Rufus Chester Allen also authored a biography of Parley P. Pratt. He died in 1915.