William Allred

  General Notes:

WILLIAM ALLRED was born ca 1732 in Northumberland County, Virginia, the son of John Allred (Aldred, Aldridge) of Northumberland County. William, with his brothers John and Thomas, came to North Carolina and settled in Orange County (later Guilford Co., now Randolph County).William Allred married Elizabeth Diffee, who was born ca 1736 in Randolph Co. and died there. He was a private in the N.C. Cavlary Militia; he died ca 1824-25. Will proved May 1825.Issue of William and Elizabeth (Diffee) Allred:1. John Allred, b. ca 1758, m. Sarah Spencer.2. Samuel Allred, b. ca 1760, d. in DeSota Co. Mississippi3. William Allred, b. Aug. 8, 1765, m. Patience Julian.4. Polly Allred, m. Joseph Elliot.5. Elizabeth Allred, b. ca 1767, m. a Duncan.6. Nancy Allred, b. ca 1769, never married.

JOHN ALLRED, son of William and Elizabeth (Diffee) Allred, was born ca 1764 at Coffin’s Mill, Randolph County, N.C. He died in the same county ca 1850. He married Sarah Spencer, who was born ca 1769 in Randolph County and died there ca 1850-52. Their son Claiborne Allred was born March 12, 1814 in Randolph Co. and died there Mar. 10, 1886. He married Orpha Savina Russell who was born and died in Randolph Co., and died Oct. 19, 1925 at Asheboro, North Carolina. He married July 5, 1862 Martisha Caroline Greene, born aug. 8, 1837 at West Warwick, R.I., and died Jan 6, 1915 at Randleman, North Carolina.Ida Martisha Allred, daughter of William Franklin Allred, was born April 16, 1878 at Gray’s Chapel, Randolph County, and died Feb. 2, 1963 at High Point, N.C. She married Oct. 1, 1896 Edward Emerson Mendenhall, who was born De. 27, 1872 in Guilford Co., N.C., and died Oct. 9, 1946 at Greensboro, North Carolina.William Franklin Mendenhall, son of Edward Emerson Mendenhall and his wife Ida (Allred), was born at Greensboro, Jan. 15, 1914. He married (1) Anna Mae Porter, Feb. 12, 1938. Their son Edwin Gray Mendenhall was born at Charlotte, N.C. on sept. 3, 1939. William F. Mendenhall m (20 Sept. 4, 1942) Margaret Elizabeth Cann, and their daughter Marianne was born at Greensboro, N.C., Oct. 27, 1944.Two markers have been placed by the Department of Defense in the cemetery at Gray’s Chapel, Randolph Co., N.C., marking the burial place of William Allred and his son John; both father and son served in the American Revolution. (1)Anyway I resolved that this day I would make a start on that report to you. The father of Patience Julian and the father of her husband, William Allred, were both in the American Revolution. They were Renne Julian and William Allred. This is from information obtained by Sam Houston Allred in North Carolina as to Renne Julian and obtained by Renne Allred, Jr., in Utah and from Renne Allred, Sr., by letters 1942-45 as to William Allred. We boys and Maurine will recall that coming up and until recent years, about all we knew was the story Dad (Renne Allred Sr., of Bowie, Texas) told on so many occasions, in substance that: His grandfather, Renne Allred, was born in North Carolina; his daddy whipped, or threatened to whip him when he was about 14 years old, and he ran away, joining up with a wagon train to Tennessee, where he married and had two children. William, dad’s father and our grandfather, and Elizabeth, whom we older boys will remember er as Aunt Betty Washborn, old and using an ear trumpet when we visited Graham, Young County, about 1910.Renne lost his wife in Tennessee, sold out all he had, and took a steamboat from Memphis to New-Orleans, he bought a wagon and team of oxen and started west with an immigrant train bound for Texas; he left the train and struck out north, heading for “Dugan’s Fortâ€� in Fannin County (later Grayson County), from which a friend had written him that “all we need is salt, seed powder and leadâ€�; it took him a week to cross the Sabine River. He had to cut a way down the bands and back up, and , at times, through trackless forest; that each night he pointed the ‘waggin tongue’ toward the North Star.Renne arrived in the Dugan’s Fort country in 1837, where he took up a league and a labor (about 4400 acres) of land. (Note: 1280 acre. Vol. B., p. 25, Fannin Co, surveyor’s records, R.A.Jr.) The Indians killed a man in bed with William one night when, as a boy, he was visiting the Dugin Family.Dad was born near Cherry Mound, north of Bells, in Grayson County (carved out of Fannin County in1848); he and Mama were married in 1890, went to Childress County, where he took up a claim and they lived in a ‘dug out’; he worked as a cowboy on the OX Ranch where Oran was born. The drought got ‘em, and they started back to Grayson County, stopping at Bowie where the stand-pipe (water tower) was being built and he got a job at ‘six-bits’ a day for himself and his team, hauling rock, gravel and sand; he stayed on at Bowie where the rest of us were born... and that’s about it!Later in the late ‘20s Dad heard of an old letter in the possession of some of his kin in Wise County, purportedly written by his great-grandfather in North Carolina to one of his sons in Texas. He secured the original of this from Mrs. S.L.Atkins, then of Paradise, Wise County, a descendant of Elijah Allred. He had a number of photostats made. A copy is appended, marked Appendix ‘A’.Briefly, the story was that it, the log cabin, had two rooms, separated by a through porch - the type we saw as boys, that the older Dugan boys had gone to sleep in the barn since it was moonlight and horse stealing time for the Comanches, that the older folks were sleeping in one room and had the door barred while William, 14, and another boy of his age and a man named Fry were to sleep in the other, that the boys were sculling and arguing about who would sleep on the outside and who next to the wall, that Fry, who had already gone to bed, said “boys, stop it. I’ll sleep on the outside ‘ and moved over; that carelessly pushed the door open, fired and ran, killing Fry; that William jumped up and dashed a bucket of water on the fire; that they heard gun shots at the corral and next morning found a dead Indian there. Years later I found this same story appearing in the bound volume of Frontier times. Bol. 3., as recounted by Miss Date Dugan, who, with her father, mother and sister, Emily, was in the other room.The original was faded, but remarkable well preserved. Written in a fine Spenserian hand, it is dated ‘North Carolina, and Patience Allred, dated at the end, “July the 20th, 1843'. Samuel, N. C., 7 mo. 26th’; and over to the right ‘paid 25'. It is addressed to ‘Elijah Allred, Shreveport, La.....This letter to be forwarded to the Republic of Texas, Harrison County! You will note that in this letter he gives Elijah an account, so far as he knows, of his brothers; and says:“I should be glad, heartily glad to see all of my sons that has gone far to the West; but I very little expect ever to see any of them again during my stay in this world; my son RENEE is gone far away from all his connections and I have not had a scrape of a pen form him since he left Tennessee; nor no word or any account of him any way; so I want you to select to best Information you can and give me a Schedule of his Standing in life......This definitely ties in with Dad’s story of the lad who ran away from North Carolina to Tennessee, and thence to Texas. He was not much to talk, Dad said, so it is small wonder he never wrote back. (Renne, you and I have sons who seem to have inherited this latter characteristic.)The next bit of proof, if it were needed, came to me in 1935, the first year I served as Governor. Hon. Claude Pollard, who defeated me for Attorney General in 1926, forwarded to me a photostatic copy of a page from the “Biographical Souvenir’ of Texas, published in 1889, containing the following account of my grandfather (the 8 or 9 year old boy who came to Texas with Renne in1837): “WILLIAM ALLRED , a resident of Grayson County, was born in Henderson County, Tennessee, December 27, 1828, and is the son of Renne and Margaret (Ward) Allred. His father, a son of William Allred, of North Carolina, was born in the latter State, but removed to Tennessee, and thence, in the fall of 1837, to Texas, settling in Grayson County, where he died in 1869. During his life he was a farmer and stock-raiser. His wife, who was a daughter of Thomas Ward, was born in North Carolina, and died in 1833. William is the elder of the two living children of his parents, the other being his sister Elizabeth.“William Allred settle in Grayson County with his parents, in 1837, and had since resided there. Before the war he devoted his time and attention to stock-raising and since then has been a farmer. He owned 231 acre near Norton with substantial commodious buildings and other improvements. In this business he has been successful - the result of his enterprise and industry.In the summer of 1862, Mr. Allred enlisted in Company A; Marin’s regiment, Confederates States Army, and served in the trans-Mississippi department until the close of the war. (3) his record as a soldier, like that of his life in peace, is an honorable one, for he did his duty in all things to the best of his ability.(3)A bit more detailed account of William’s confederate army service is contained in a letter to my father, dated July 23, 1934, from T.N. Fugate of Alvord, Texas, who was in the same company with William and remembered him, from which the following is quoted:.‘The company was organized at Sherman in 1862. With Dick Randolph, Captain. Company B. Randolph’s Company, & two other companies went into camp at Camp Reeves and was known as Randolph’s Battalion. Other companies from different counties were joined to Ganore’s Brigade. Consisting of three other regiments, Gurley, Demorse and Hardeman. The last winter of the war we wintered at Lanesport, Ark. Near where the city of Texarkana now is. Were sent from there to southeast Texas, where were dismounted at Hempstead and put in the infantry. In Robertson’s Brigade. Forneys division went from there to Harrisburg, from there to Richmond, Ford Bend County and were there disbanded and started home.’It is to be noted that this regiment first was enrolled as the Fifth Texas Partisan Rangers and was sent to the Indian Territory....This probably explains a story of my father told about his father (William) almost dying of thirst on his way home from Fort Belknap, now restored, in Young County, Texas.“Mrs. Allred was married in 1851 to Miss Frances Washburn of Arkansas, who died leaving one child, David. Mr. Allred subsequently married Miss Jemima Crawford, by whom he had two children, Texan and Emily J. Again Mr. Allred was made a widower, and afterward he married Mrs. Eliza I.T. Cross, Daughter of Thomas Goff. They have six children, Rosa B., Elizabeth, Rene, Allie, William and Mamie. Mrs. Allred has four children by a former husband - Ann, Joseph, Bethel, and George Cross.“Mr. Allred bears an excellent reputation in the community of which he is a member. In has business transactions he is straight forward and honorable, while his private life is without reproach. As he has been prospered in worldly affairs, hands to his good judgement and forethought, we may look for his further advancement. (Since the above was prepared for the press, Mr. Allred departed this life December 19, 1888.)William Allred and ‘Granny’ are buried at Cherry Mound, Grayson County, where Made and Dad went to school. In one of my campaigns for Attorney General, I stopped at the little town of Sells and was shaking hands with everyone in the stores on Main Street. A young feeler said, ‘Allred? We life out on the old Allred place and there feeler said, ‘Allred? We live out on the old Allred place and there are some old tombstones out there but most of ‘em have fallen down.â€�I learned that the old place was about 7 miles north of Bells and Drove out ... There they were, just a few stones in an old orchard. But one of them was still half-standing; that is, the slab was in two pieces and the top part had fallen to the ground and the foundation upon which it rested was still there. The part on the ground was marble, bearing the Masonic square and compass; and clearly carved upon it ‘Rene Allred’, with the date of his birth and death...Raymond went up there, leased for 99 years a sufficient plot to embrace the several graves and had the Masonic headstone restored.Later at a picnic at Cherry Mound during the time I served as Governor, a man came up to me and said, “We live out on the old Allred place another is an old ox yoke out there in the barn...it belongs to the Allred family and you can have it.’ Dad was with me at the time. We went by and he said, ‘Jimmie, that’s the yoke my grandfather used coming from New Orleans to Texas...I saw it many times when I was a boy’. The old yoke is on display in the museum at Ft. Belknep, Young County, where William served for a short time during the war between the States.I don’t think any of us had ever thought much about our family background until the Texas Centennial in 1936. All of us had been too busy making a living and trying to get a start in life. I had heard of an organization known as the sons of the Republic of Texas but it never had occurred to me that we were eligible for membership in it until after I became Governor. I was proposed for honorary membership, and it was discovered that I was eligible.To be eligible for membership, some forebear must have lived in Texas during the time she was a Republic (1836-1845) and have rendered some service, such as in the army, public officer, Indian fighter, etc.From the time I was elected Attorney General in 1930, however, I had been receiving occasional letters from Allreds all over the United States inquiring as to my background. Most of them mentioned that their family originated in North carolina. Up until that time I had no idea there were so many of them - quite the contrary, coming up and running for office. I had to spell my name to most everyone I met - the remark often being made that it was an unusual one.Many of these letters came form North Carolina, others from Iowa, Indiana, Utah, Arizona, Arkansas and Washington State. I do not have these letters, most of which I sent on to my father at Bowie, keeping only copies of my replies. My only alibi for this inattention and the neglect of many other things and peoples is that when man is elected Attorney General of governor, his time is never his own. He never gets to make his own program, or see the people he should see, or do the things he ought to do. Too many people descend upon him, too many things ‘bob-up’ that just have to be ‘tended to.’ So I pushed the family correspondence largely off on Dad, who had retired as a rural mail carrier and seemed to enjoy discovering so many wonderful kin.The earliest letter of which I have a record, dated August 15, 1931, was from H. C. Allred, P.O. Box 156, Alamance, North Carolina, inviting me to attend an Allred family reunion to Gray’s Chapel, Randolph County, which was to be held on the third Sunday in September. The following year he wrote to inform me that ‘there will be no reunion of the Allred families this year on account of the terrible depression which exists in this part of the Country as the Farmers are almost destitute of crops owing to the severe drought and public work is not fifty per cent normal, but God willing it will be held at or ear the old Homestead of William Allred, Millboro, Randolph County N. C. next year in September, third Sunday.’Other letters later on came from James M.(?) Allred, Franklinville show the formation of an ‘Allred Reunion Association’ with a letterhead ‘Met Annually on First Sunday in September, Bray’s Chapel, Methodist Church, Randolph County, North Carolina.’ The officers were shown on that letterhead for any years as follows: President, James M. Allred, Franklinville, N.C., First Vice President, A.M. Allred, Liberty, N.C., Second Vice President James H. Allred, South Boston, Va., Financial secretary J.R. Allred, Franklinville, N.C., Corresponding Secretary E. Clay Allred, Franklinville, N. C. on our trip lst summer we learned that James M. Allred, who had so faithfully invited me to come up there year after year, had died and his nephew, C. H. Allred, of Cedar Falls, is now President.Under date of August 26, 1931, I received a letter of inquiry from William Patterson Allred of Corydon, Iowa, stating that he had been born in Randolph County, N.C. in 1846, and was the son of Mahlon and Eleanor Patterson Allred. (Not from William Allred’s letter to Elijah in 1843: ‘Mahlon was married the first day of September in 1842 to Miss Nelly Patterson, and living in the house that Stephen lived in but is building ( a very good house on the premises and has got it up and covered, two stories high’) We corresponded until his death in 1939, and he visited the Governor’s Mansion in Austin, in the fall of 1937, when he was 90 years old. He was a grand character, a union soldier at the age of 18, a life-long Republican who had served as Justice of the Peace, County Recorder and a member of the Iowa State Legislature.In 1853 when ‘Patterson’ (hereafter called Uncle Pat, was only 7 years old, Mahlon, his father, left North Carolina and moved to Carroll County, Arkansas, where he died in 1892. According to the Times-Republican dated Thursday, March 9, 1939, ‘Mahlon Allred built the first log cabin in Monroe township on the prairie west of Genoa in section 17, township 67 North, range 20 West’.This was the end of the first memorandum Jimmie started. The remainder was another memorandum written by him which I next copy attempting to leave but any duplications but there will be necessarily, some duplications anyway, to carry forward his thoughts. R.A. Jr.In August, 1956, I stood beside the grave of our great-great-grandfather, William Allred, and his wife, Patience Julian Allred, at Gray’s Chapel, a charming country churchyard, about 10 miles northeast of Asheboro, Randolph County, North Carolina. Asheboro is located on U.S. Highways 64 and 220, less than 30 miles south of Greensboro. Joe Betsy and I searched through a number of graveyards and found more tombstone with ‘Allred’ chiseled on them than we knew existed.Had I but thought to take with me the file I had assembled during my ears as Attorney General and Governor, when I heard from so many Allreds, we would have had no trouble. As it was, however, we finally located some wonderful kinspeople and were directed the following day to two dark brown native stone, the one with ‘William Allred, Esq., Born Aug. 8, 1765, Died Jan 24, 1849'; the other with ‘Patience Allred, Born Sept. 15, 1772, Died Feb. 26, 1856' The letters were fading but still readable.In between these old monuments, a new marble monument was placed in 1957, with the aid of our kinsman, Col. T. Redding, Route 1, Franklinville, North Carolina. Colon, like us, is a great-great-grandson of William and Patience Allred, being descended from Susan Allred, the only daughter of William and Patience. He is the one who led me to the graves. Joe Betsy and I had gone all over them in Gray’s Chapel churchyard the day before, found many Allreds, but not William and Patience, because the letters were just about faded out.From Colon I secured such valuable information, including the names and dates of birth of the 11 children of William and Patience, taken from the old family Bible, still in the possession of Mrs. Elmer Julian, a cousin of Captain Redding. Here it is as he copied it for me from the Bible:William Allred was born the 8th of August 1765Patience Allred was born the 15th of September 1772Reuben Allred was born the 27th of November 1781, Randolph County, North CarolinaJohn Allred was born the 11th of January 1794, Randolph County (Franklinville)Stephen Allred was born the 2nd of May 1796, TexasWilliam Allred was born the 11th of October 1798, Randolph Count (Old Home Place)Elijah Allred was born the 20th of October 1801 TexasRENE Allred was born the 11th of May 1804 Tennessee, TexasAlfred Allred was born the 14th of April 1807 (Died Young)Susan Allred was born the 4th of June 1810 - Colon. Redding of Millboro is descendantLaban Allred was born the 6th of January 1813 (Far to the west)Mahlon Allred was born the 15th of April 1817 D. ArkansasThe same information, exact names and dates, later were given to me by Mrs. Metta Allred Crawford. 1725 Fulton, Everett, Washington, a daughter of Mahlon and granddaughter of William and Patience, together with the following: William Allred and Patience Julian were married in Randolph Co., N. C. In 1790.Just to clear the record at this time, especially for our children (when they get interested), here is our order of descent:William and Patience Julian Allred (our great-great grandparents)Rene Allred, (born May 11 1804) our great grandfatherWilliam Allred, (our grandfather)Rene Allred, (our father)It is to be noted that the given names of William and Rene follow one another through each generation until Dad broke the spell and named none of his boys William. Remembering that Mama was a pretty strong willed person, it may be that she had something to do with this! Joe Betsy and I reinstated the custom by naming our second son William David - for ‘Gran’ Paw and Uncle Dave Allred, Dad’s oldest brother.Several things stand out in the letter from William and Patience Allred in the light of subsequent information I have picked up and will discuss, not necessarily in order, in this letter. Perhaps they will throw some light on the many, many Allreds we have met and heard from all over the United States: and why so many of them like ourselves, are confused about just who their remote ancestors were. These features are:FIRST: It was a big family - nine sons and one daughter. The lonely old gentlemen mentions eight of them by name. Four of them were still in Randolph County: (1) Reuben, who would take a ‘dram too many sometimes’, was living on the old place; (2) John was tending the mill ‘that was Coffins in Franklinville’: (3) William was living on the same place he was living on when Elijah went away; and (4) Mahlon, the youngest, had married Miss Nelly Patterson and was living in the house that Stephen lived in ‘but was building another and had it up two stories’.SECOND: At least four of them had gone ‘far away to the west’, whom he should be ‘glad, heartily glad to see but very little expected ever to see any of them again’. They were: (1) Elijah, to whom the letter was addressed, then living in Harrison County); (2) Stephen - WE never knew where my son Stephen had got to till we received Elijah’s letter, in which he stated that you were living within about two miles from him’; (3) Rene ( our great-grandfather) ‘My son Renne is gone far away from all his connections and I have not had a scrape of a pen from him since he left Tennessee; nor not work or any account of him in any way’; and (4) Laban - ‘My son Laban has been the most mindful of any of you in writing to us’. The letter is devoid of any clues to where Laban had gone, except he must have been one of those who had gone far away to the West.THIRD: Not specifically mentioned are Alfred and Susan. Presumably, they were part of the rest of my family (that) is at home why would the old man be complaining about the feeding of his ‘considerable stock’ tiring him so badly that he could not stand up to it much longer, and that it was not likely to continue very long as I am left single handed to work my way through this world the best as way I can’ It could be that Alfred, too, had gone ‘far away to the West’ but, in that event, it would seem that he would have been mentioned. (Note: from Utah and Virginia Allreds we were informed that Alfred died in infancy. R.A. Jr)FOURTH: William mentions his two brothers and one sister; (1) Your uncle John’, who was scuffling along with a gang of Negroes, hard, beset, on account of the bad conduct of two of his sons, John and Claburn; a third son, Elisha, was doing very well; (2) Your Uncle Samuel, whose father-in- law had gone insane and died; and who also had lost his wife; and (3) your aunt Pally Allred, who had just died. (We found her grave and headstone beside that of William and Patience at Gray’s Chapel.)FIFTH: Many of the neighbors and friends who had passed away since you went away form this county. Among these are many names we noted on the tombstones in the various graveyards when we were looking for our own.Of all the sons of William and Patience Allred, I am unable at this time to give any authentic account except (1) Stephen and Elijah; (2) Rene; and (3) Mahlon. All of these tie in somewhat a my knowledge of our own descent developed from time to time, principally during my service at Attorney General of Texas 1931-1935 and Governor 1935-1939. During that time I received many letters from all over the United States, principally North Carolina, inquiring as to my background.One of the great regrets of my life is that I did not accept repeated invitations to a attend the Allred family reunion at Gray’s Chapel, N.C. While I was Governor. It would have meant so much to all of us; but, of course, I was so terribly pressed all the time. When we finally got over there in 1956, the President, James A. Allred, had passed away.As stated earlier, had I but taken my files with me, or had I just looked them over before leaving, we would have had no trouble locating the old community and our folks. But we are always too rushed, too pressed, in these times. As a result, we had a hard time, just after driving to North Carolina form Virginia, in learning where Randolph County was located. After unsuccessful inquires at several filling stations and a curio shop or two, I finally got hold of a highway map which showed county lined in dim blue, and we located ‘Randolph County’.We stopped in Raleigh, the State Capitol, but it was Saturday and all the state offices were closed. I located a Mr. Allred in the telephone book, a few blocks away. I waited there and found him to be the manager of a furniture store. Like most of our generation, he didn’t seem to know a great deal about our family very far back; but he was form Randolph County and told me his mother, Mrs. Alfred Allred, kept up with such thing, He drew directions on the map as to how to reach her home. He was very hospitable and asked us to have lunch with him, but road travel had rendered us hardly presentable. So we made our way toward Cedar Falls, (mentioned in the letter of 1843, remember?). Just short of there, we saw a sign ‘Allred Grocery’. I breezed in and like I used to do in the real stores when I was campaigning, stuck out my hand to the proprietor and said, ‘my name if Jimmie Allred. I’m from Texas. My great-grandfather was born in this county and came to Texas in 1837. I’m trying to locate the old place, and, if possible, some of our folks’. Well, I quickly found that the Texas breeziness didn’t take; the fellow admitted his name was Allred but acted like the thought I was going to ask him to cash a check. He said he didn’t know much about the Allred family, and I didn’t blame him.We drove a short distance to Cedar Falls and saw another store with a sign “Allred Grocery and Garage’. I went in and met a very nice lady. She explained that her husband was out, but said she, ‘His mother and father live in that house right there’. The house was on the same lot or lots as the store, and when I came out I was that Jose Betsy has gotten out and was talking to an elderly man and woman sitting in rocking chairs on the porch. When I waked up, she introduced them as Mr. And Mrs. Allred, and said, ‘Jimmie, doesn’t he look like your father.’This Mr. Allred, James L. Allred, it turned out, did look like Dad, same size, general appearance, pale blue eyes, and smile. And when he talks, his mannerisms reminded me of Dad. His wife, it developed, was the sister of James M. Allred, former president of the Allred Reunion Association, but no relation of her husband, James L. this Mr. Allred didn’t seem to know a great deal about his forebears beyond his grandfather; and , of course, I didn’t have enough information at hand then to discuss it intelligently with him. His did tell me that he had helped his father to build the adjoining mill and the house years and years ago. (He was 72 when I talked with him).Finally, Mr. Allred said, “How’s you like to have a drink of good spring water?â€� I responded with alacrity, and he led me around the hill, over a footbridge, which he said he had built himself across a rock creek bed, around to a place just under a bluff form which a tiny stream was flowing. He removed a piece of sheet iron, disclosing a rock-walled, cavern-like place full of clear water. “Have to keep the varmints outâ€�, he said. Then he picked up an aluminum step and with a handle, dipped some water from the spring and handed to me, one side slightly upended; but even so, I saw that water was pouring out to two or three holes on the other side, which appeared to have bene punched with a nail. “Them boys play ball up there, and the come down here for the waterâ€�, he said. “I don’t mind them having the water, but I punched those holes in the dipper to they’d drink here and not carry off my dipper.â€� I laughed, and he grinned, winded and said, “Us Allreds are a little smart sometimes, ain’t we?â€�The way he said, it, his whole manner, was just like talking with Dad again. Although we did not succeed in tracing back to a common ancestor, I am sure it exists....remembering Dad’s old example of years of breaking race horses but every once in while there’s throw-back to an old circus horse. Later, Racon Redding told me Mr. James L. Allred probably was descended from ‘Uncle John’ who was scuffling with a gang of Negroes.We had misplaced the map Mr. Allred had fawn for us in Raleigh, but in the back of my mind was remembrance of that ‘New Salem’ on the envelope of the old letter of 1843. So we began inquiring about New Salem and finally were sent from a filling station out into a remote rural area, off the highway between Asheboro and Greensborro. It was just a rural community, however no post office, with grocery store and filling station. No one there seemed to know anything about the old Allred homestead in that community. Finally we were directed to the home, some miles away, of an Allred who was ‘a pretty old man’. We finally located this place, a fine, old, two story house, and found that we were at the home of Alfred Allred, the father of the Mr Allred whom we had talked with in Raleigh. Too bad we hadn’t stayed with the map he drew for us. Alfred Allred wasn’t as old as we expected the words, ‘a pretty old man’. (Note: Alfred has since died. R.A. Jr.)He was very cordial and was explaining that his wife was somewhere, when Mrs. Allred arrived. She was such a lovely person and seemed so glad to see us. She immediately said, ‘Why , I am an Allred myself, no kin to Alfred, buy my great-grandmother was Susan Allred, the only sister of your great-grandfather, Renne Allred! She brought out the family album and showed us a small picture of a handsome young man, and another of a beautiful woman. Under these were written ‘Rennie’ (sic) Allred, ‘Harriet A. Simmons’. Mrs. Allred’s maiden name was Etta Hinshaw. She was a granddaughter of Susan Allred, whose daughter, Lucina, had married Solomon Redding. Mrs. Allred said, ‘My grandmother used to tell me about Uncle Renne coming home from Tennessee and bringing her a pair of shoes when she was a little girl’.Mrs. Allred, or Cousin Etta, was full of energy and exuded enthusiasm. She had just returned from an airplane trip to Port Angles, Washington, where she had visited two of her Hinshaw brothers. She took us to see her cousin, Colon T. Redding, a great grandson of Susan Allred. He lived near the old family place, post off office Franklinville, N. C. He and Mrs. Redding were most cordial.Colon had in his possession an original deed whereby Stephen Allred had sold to our great-great grandfather, William Allred, 250 acres of land for 75 silver dollars. It was tradition, he said, that this was just before Stephen left for Texas, and it supposed that this was the reason he sold the land. Colon told where William and Patience were buried in the old churchyard at Gray’s Chapel; also, that the old family homestead was not far form there.Joe Betsy and I went in to Asheboro to spend the night, notwithstanding the kind invitations of both the Allreds and the Reddings to share the hospitality of their homes.The following morning, a Sunday, Joe Betsy went to Sunday School and church and Asheboro while I went to meet Colon Redding. I can hardly describe the feelings I had when I stood beside the graves at Gray’s Chapel and thought of that wonderful old man, to lonely, with all his boys gone far to the west, and here was one of them returning, many many years delayed. Or again when I visited the old home, remarkably well preserved and still being used as a home. It was owned by one of the Julian family, well along in years, who had rented it out while she stayed with some of her children.In December 1937, Cousin D.C. Nelson, Gibsonville, N. C. sent a picture of the home above referred to, and that picture and an explanation concerning it is reproduced on the following page.This is a picture of the home of William and Patience Julian Allred, near Milleboro, Randolph county, N.C. as it appears today. The inside of the rooms in the front part of the house are the original walls and are made of boards approximately 12 inches wide. The stairway to the loft, the fireplace mantel, and the chimney are also of the early day construction.The round shrub in the foreground was referred to as a ‘box bush’ and due to it’s slow growth and present size, it is presumed by the Colon T. Reddings, that it was planted by William and Patience Allred, although this is not a known fact.It was from Asheboro that I called Ray’s wife, having learned that he had suffered a heart attack on his birthday, August 8th, which is the same birth date as his great-great grandfather, I found from the tombstone. Ray wanted to know what kind of country it was - it is hilly, rolling, far country, beautiful timber, a farming country, principally tobacco. I recommend that all of you visit it some time; you’ll meet some marvelous people, I want to get back sometime for the family reunion in September.....It was with a feeling of genuine regret that we left Randolph County, but we already behind the deadline which we had set for ourselves for this particular vacation. I have continued, however, to correspond with the folks over there. Mrs. Alfred Allred and Harriet A. Simmons. I had them enlarged and sent colored enlargements back to her, wanting to believe, yet somehow doubting, that they were the pictures of our Renne. They were just a bit too good, I thought, to have been made back when our Renee would have been that age. Later I found that I was correcting this and definitely ascertained just who this Rennie Allred and Harriet A. Simmons were. But that’s a story which will come along in its natural sequence. (Note: apparently this story was never written)And now, we’d best get back to the Texas Allreds. From the old letter it appears probable that Elijah Allred, to whom the letter was addressed in Harrison county, was the first Allred to come to Texas. And that Stephen was the second. From a History of the Fair-Play community in Panola County (carved out of Harrison Co.) Written by S.T. Allison of Carthage, Texas, I find this is true. Mr. Allison is a descendant of Elijah Allred on his mother’s side. According to him and Mrs. S.L. Atkins of Paradise, a granddaughter of Elijah, Elijah answered Sam Houston’s call for volunteers after the fall of the Alamo (March 6, 1836), mounted on his horse, with only a blanket, frying pan, axe, rifle and a few dollars, he reached Nacogdoches to learn that the Battle of San Jacinto had been won (April 21, 1836), and Texas was free. He therefore, settled in what is now the Fairplay Community near Carthage, Texas, made friends with the Indians and pioneered. Later with the coming of other settlers, the Indians went on the war path, and Elijah was made captain and led the settlers against them. When the county was organized, he became the first county judge. He was quite a substantial citizen, a slave owners who opposed secession, yet when the die was cast, did his best for the South.It will be remembered that in the old letter, William Allred mentioned that he never knew where my son Stephen had got to till we recorded Elijah’s letter, in which he stated that you were living within two miles from him. So despite the fact that the letter was not written until 1843, Stephen must have come to Texas before 1837, since, according to Mr. Allison, it is a matter of family tradition that Renne came by there to visit them on his way to Dugan’s Fort in 1837, and Renne took the oath of allegiance to the Republic of Texas, as follows:“Republic of Texas, County of Fennin: I certify that Renne Allred this 2nd day of August, 1838, personally appeared before me and made oath that he has resided in Texas the next six months preceding the date hereof. That he intends to reside permanently here in, that the will support the constitution of and bear the allegiance to the Republic of Texas. In Testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal of this count. J.C. Jouett. County Judge, recorded Book B.P. 126.Mr. Allison’ history of the Fairplay Community is well written and is a fitting account of Elijah, but there is little mention of Stephen.Graham Landrum in his book ‘An illustrated History of Grayson County, Texas’ says (p-1, that ‘the real history of Grayson County begins no earlier than 1836 or 1837. Grayson County (formerly a part of Fannin) was not created until November 3, 1848. Landrum says that Rene Allred was one of the early comers to the country, that Rene was on a committee appointed to locate a road from Warren to Coffee’s Station, and was on the first grand jury convened in Fennin County in 1846. (Vol. A.p.3 minutes)in discussing a tornado in May, 1867 (p-85) that ripped the county apart, he quotes form the Sherman Courier of date May 1867, the ‘Hail stones, weighed a pound’. And that we learn that the wheat crops of Rainey Allred and others were literally beat out of the Earth with the hail. Renne Allred’s financial worth in 1856 is listed as less than four thousand dollars, but before his death he is listed as having real property of the value of one hundred thousand dollars and personal property wort sixteen thousand dollars. The volume 26 Tex 73 above may be of interest to some of the descendants of Renne Allred. 1st. Renne had sued one Daniel Montague and obtained judgment at the November 1846 term of court. The sheriff levied on 950 acres of Montague’s property and it was sold to Renne Allred and the sheriff gave him a deed to it on November 7, 1848. Later, Montague sued Renne alleging the sale was void because 431-3/4 acres of the 950 was in Grayson County, the latter county having been organized just four day before the sheriff’s deed. The supreme court in 1861 held the deed valid as to that part in Fennin County and void as to that part in Grayson Co.This history was written in connection with restoration of the old Methodist Church which Elijah helped to build. It’s records were lost in a fire, but it is known to have been organized as early as 1841. Most of the Allred pioneers are buried in the old cemetery, where a picnic and cemetery working are held in July each year.Later information shows Stephen was Justice of Panola Co. for several years beginning in 1846. This was at a time 1845-61 when under the constitution of Texas the C-96o. was run by a chief justice and four justices. The chief Justice performing the duties now performed by the county judge and the justices performing the duties now performed by commissioners and possibly justices of the peace. R.A. Jr. The history was written in connection with restoration of the old Methodist Church which Elijah helped to build. Its records were lost in a fire, but it is known to have been organized as early as 1841. Most of the Allred Pioneers are buried in the old cemetery, where a picnic and cemetery working are held in July each year.A few reminiscences of William’s service we remember, passed on by Dad, which tie in with the foregoing Fugate account.(1) He was stationed for a time at Ft. Belknap, (now in Young county, near Newcastle) since he related how he started out for a visit home with a companion on horsebackBecause of this service at Ft. Belknap, which was restored during my administration as Governor, I placed a number of mementos in the museum there, including an enlarged picture of William Allred as a young man.(2) William told of swimming the verdigris River to get to, or away from, old Banks Aray.(3) He walked home when the army was disbanded near Houston. (This would be about 300 miles). After the war the Yankees come an’ got ‘im, took ‘im to Jesserson, (Texas) and Kep ‘im in a bob wire stockade for six months.Since this is a rambling account, one other observation of William’s I remember, which, I am sure, molded Dad’s attitude about war in general and his opposition to any of us going into the first world war until they made us go. ‘It was a rich man’s war all the fallers in the community told us to go on and get it, we’ll look after your families. I gathered that the rich men didn’t look after the families very well and that William wasn’t much interested in the slave question anyway since he owned none.All of us will remember how Dad brooded when O.H. was called in the first contingent of the draft in September, 1917 and how, of course, he worried over the rest of us as we went in. During my training days in the Navy, I decided Dad was right about it, although, I wouldn’t have admitted it for anything in the world and it turned out to be the best thing I ever did. I would never have been Attorney General or Governor had it not been for my brief war-time service.Well, that’s just about the story concerning Renne and William so far as I have been able to get it.(By RENNE ALLRED, JR. born Bowie, Texas, June 6, 1901)The forgoing was Jimmie’s narration. He wrote some data concerning the offspring of William (our grandfather, which he said he would handle as an appendix ‘so that our children and grandchildren say know something of their kin, when they are old enough to appreciate it’. Since he did not complete it, I will try to do so and attach it as Appendix ‘C’. All of it, the wording will not be his, but a large part of it will be.Before the appendix however, I want to add some information.On June 10, 1961, Aunt Mamie Noe told me (R.A.Jr.) That shortly before the birth of our Dad, Grandpa William got leave to be at home with Granny. That the baby didn’t arrive when expected and his leave was almost up. That he had left home and started to return to the station when Dad was born. Someone caught up with him and returned him so he got to see his son before going back to his company.My brother, Jimmie has detailed in his narrative or in Appendix C the kind of work our father, Renne Allred, Sr. did, farmer furniture dealer, and working on the stand pipe at Bowie, etc. Dad later owned and operated a wagon yard in Bowie, Where we boys used to swop stick horses, using the cowboy jargon, for which we received more than one whipping at the hands of our mother. Dad took an examination and was employed at the first rural mail carrier 1903, out of Bowie. Each of us boys, Elmer to Renne, at one time or another carried the rural mail, Elmer as a regular and the others as substitutes. When Dad returned at the age of 65, he and our Mother opened a real estate office in Bowie and for many years they carried on that business.Velma and I also obtained information in Utah and North Carolina and Jimmie’s Am Houston obtained information in North Carolina which he relayed to me.Velma and I followed Jimmie’s footsteps in Randolph County, met all of these he mentions and some others, and found the new stone which Jimmie mentions as having been put up at the graves of William and patience with the aid of Colon T. Redding. Mr. Redding told us that after Jimmie came back home, Jimmie wrote Mr. Redding and asked him to arrange for the stone, which he did, and Jimmie mailed his check to pay for it. The first we knew that he had the stone placed there was after Jimmie’s death. In reading his narration of his trip there. Velma and I had told Sam Houston about our trip, as Jimmie had told him of his trip in 1956, and in September of 1960 Sam. likewise went there, as is shown in the following paragraph:At page 2 Jimmie refers to the fact his great, great, great grandfather must have been in the Revolutionary War. Jimmie’s son Sam Houston, in 1960 visited the Colon T. Reddings and Gray’s Chapel N.C. Sam. was told by Mr. Redding that the history as relayed down from his ancestors was that Renne Julian, Father of Patience Julian Allred, was in the battle of ‘Guilford Courthouse’, Guilford county being where Greensboro, N.C. is the county seat; that Rene Julian, Soloman Trogdon and another man whose name he did not know were captured by a Guerrilla Army at the home place in Randolph County; at that time Patience was a little girl, and when the soldiers came inquiring where Renne Julian was, his wife, told him he was not there and Patience spoke up and said, “No mama, he is in the barn making a shuck collar.â€� The three were captured and were being taken to prison, and the first night out they escaped, the third man was killed, but Renne Julian and Soloman Trogdon escaped by hiding in a hollow log, and they lay there with soldiers on horses jumping over the log. Mr. Redding said that many years later Renne Julian moved to Tennessee, and it was generally believed that when Renne Allred, the first, ran away from home he went to Tennessee to by with his grandfather, Renne Julian.Jimmie has given our order of descent from William and Patience Julian Allred through other sources obtained by Velma and myself on a trip to Utah in 1951, and information furnished by letters form Utah, and by Samuel F. Allred, Roanoke, Va. We can go back further in the order of descent down to William the husband of Patience, and so the order of descent from 1553 down to Renne Allred, sr., our father is:REV. HENRY ALDRED our ggggggggggrandfather, who was living at Norstead, Norfolk, England in 1553. [Page is missing][Continues here from missing page]religion, the keeping of records of the families, and most of the names in this volume and appendix are in their records.Jimmie says he is unable to give an account of any of the children of William and patience other than Stephen, Elijah, Renne and Mahlon. Again from Utah we received information that Alfred died in infancy; Reuben moved to Chatam County; John, who married Mary spoon 1854, place unknown; William went to Indiana; Susan stayed in Randolph County and is buried with the Reddings at their cemetery, Bethany Methodist; and Laban west to Arkansas. Laban Allred, Huntington, Indiana, writes he was grandson of the William above who want to Indiana, writes he was named after his great uncle Laban, who had brothers that went to Texas and also had a brother Mahlon who lived in Iowa.Now for the benefit of our immediate family, children, grandchildren, and their descendants, I want to make three comments:I want to pay tribute to our mother, Mary Magdalene Henson Allred 1871-1954, as Jimmie would have done had he completed this volume. Each of her children who reached maturity attended the Bowie Commercial College, operated by Prof. B.A. Hays, now living in Fort Worth. We called this college the Bowie Knowledge Box. Prof. Hays, now in his 80's was questioned in 1958, by another Bowie boy, L.D. Hillver, Sr., about the Allreds, this conservation was tape recorded, transcribed and a copy furnished to us. Prof. Hays was asked about the Allred boys, and who was the smartest their mother, Mrs. Renne Allred, Sr. she raised three boys. She got them all through high school and my business college, and after they had all gotten into Court reporting or the practice of law, and well on their separate ways to success, she came down to the Bowie Commercial College and told us that she wanted to take the shorthand and typing course. She completed the course in short order. She was the smartest of them all.Our mother had a dry wit. She never knew she ever said anything funny, but to us her sayings and writings were jewels.In 1945 she wrote my wife Velma, a letter telling about making a tip with her sister back to Grayson County, checking on their family tree. Mama said:“Well, I got to see where all my uncles, aunts, and cousins lived, recognized some of their homes, especially the one where the dog bit me and tore my dress when I was seven years old, been scared of dogs ever since, but that road. West Texas breaks are good by the side of them, straight up, about 2 miles of this, never was so scared in my life. I sat and lived over 65 years of my rugged life and can still see all those hills hitting me in the face. I know that if I had to make that trip again and live 65 years in one day, I’d be crazy enough to make it in a plane and hope I’d never get there or back.Why grandfather’s house on one hill, north, cemetery first hill south, great-grandfather’s second hill south, and three hills only about a mile apart made it one holy sight for generations but I’ve found that the world just goes on in spite of ancestors.Let’s forget it. Worse than bookkeeping, prefer living in the now.“Love, Mamaâ€�2- Our sisters, Maurine and Hazel, did not go into Court reporting as did we five boys. Nor did they become lawyers as we did. It was our mother’s desire that we boys become ministers. She would finally have been satisfied with one, but never attained her desire. In addition to the political offices held by Jimmie, shown at the front of this volume, each of the other four have held political office:Oran was County Attorney of Stephens County. Ben was district Attorney of the 30th District, comprised of Wichita, Young, and Archer Counties.Ray was county Attorney of Wheeler county, and District Attorney of the 31st District, comprised of Gray, Lipscomb, Hemphill, Wheeler and Roberts Counties.Renne, Jr., was county attorney of Montague county and district judge of Gregg and Rust counties, all of the above in Texas.Although Maurine and Hazel did not become Court Reporters or lawyers and did not hold political office, both attended the commercial college, became secretaries and later married. Both of them were as politically minded as their brothers. Jimmie was, and we brothers who are still living are, deeply grateful to them for their political assistance.3-Had our father, Renne Allred, Sr., had the educational opportunities afforded his children, he would, in my judgement, have made a great lawyer. He had the native talent. Some of it is demonstrated by his ability to write the beautiful words which he did write in 1944 following his 80th birthday, as follows:Houston, Texas12-26-1944Dear Rene and Velma:I don’t know if you have heard what the town of Bellaire did for me on my 80th birthday anniversary, which was the surprise of my life. I got a phone call to come to the Bellaire café at 2PM and I came just seven minutes before that time. I had no time to comb my hair or put on a clean shirt. I supposed the proprietor was going to Houston and was taking me along. I got Joe Betsy to drive me down to get there in time.When we went in, the house was full. A judge, lawyer, doctor, preacher, pipefitters, and a hog caller. I was abashed, my mind went from me. I saw a table, a cake two feet long, three stories high with this inscription on top:“Renne Allred, Sr., 80 years old.â€�I had never been at such before. I knew I was supposed to say something, but what? I said “Joe Betsy, take my placeâ€� which she did in a fitting manner and while she was doing that I relaxed and my mind b3egan to function and I said:“Friends, I don’t know what I have done or said to merit all this. I have been passing and repassing you for two years and know everyone of you. Being deaf, I don’t know your names. I don’t know more than a dozen by name.Being uneducated, I am short on words and short on language, but I had but had the learning of Voltaire, the voice of a Bryan, I would still lack something to express my appreciation of this occasion at your hands.I like the little town of Bellaire for it has the blackest land and whitest people on earth. It has more ugly men and more pretty women than any town its size under the canopy of Heaven.So I thank you again for giving me the greatest reception and largest cake I ever received in my 80 years on Earth.â€� From the hand clapping I think I ‘kinderâ€� redeemed myself from the former awkward position.Do you know while Joe Betsy was cutting that cake, a thought ran through my mind. I hated to see the knife go through that name. It carried honor through four generations in a direct line. Never a debt unpaid nor a contract voided, never took the bankrupt law or claimed limitation that I ever heard of, and may it ever be so.You will find that my father’s saying is true: “If you make a bad trade, stick the tighter to it. Your word is worth more than the gain by backing out.â€�Renne Allred, Sr.William, our grandfather, apparently had only one law suit. 24 Tex 184. He asserted title to 320 acres in Grayson county, a preemption survey, and was sued by fowler and Chism for the entire 320 acres. The supreme court in 1859 held Allred’s title to 160 acres was good, but Fowler and Chism had better title to the balance. The 320 acres was divided between them.CONCLUSIONThis volume is presented to you in honor and memory generally of all our departed kinspeople, and specifically in honor memory of James V. Allred (1899-1959), who started it, had Jimmie never used that typewriter on July 4, 1957, this volume would not have been completed. It seems appropriate to me at this time to quote a statement made by him when he was Governor of Texas 1935-38.“I love Texas because it gave me the breath of life at birth; I love it because my forebears settled here 99 years ago and pledged their posterity to its service. I love it because of its romantic and historic traditions; because of this land and people; and because I believe it can be a greater Texas tomorrow and next year then it has ever been before. I want to see Texas grow and prosper; I want only to reflect credit to my native state.â€�We have tried to keep this volume to our immediate family - from William Allred down (1828-1888) to the present. Had we not done so but had attempted to follow the footsteps of all Allreds everywhere this volume would never have been in your hands.It is submitted with love and affection to all Allreds everywhere.Sincerely,Renne Allred, Jr.P.O. Box 365Bowie, TexasJuly 4, 1961