The Story of Ezra Hela Allen and His Wife Sarah

This was a Story that was found by a Family Member and pasted on to Me.

The Pouch and It’s Circle of Gold

Soldier’s gold reached his family - and paid their way to Zion.

Norma Baldwin Ricketts, formerly columnist and drama- critic for the Sacramento Union, is active in California writing and public relations circles. She is a Primary teacher in Whitney (California) Ward and Church representative to the California State Fair.

When Sarah Fisk and Ezra H. Allen were married in Potsdam, 'New York, on Christmas Day, 1837, they looked forward to a happy life together, with all the high hopes and dreams peculiar to young couples in love. She was a descendant of an early Massachusetts family, and he was "an ambitious young man of good character."

Their years together were few-yet during the brief eight and a half years shared by Sarah and Ezra there were enough events to fill a lifetime. Little did either of them realize at the beginning that their story would be such a dramatic one, reaching from one side of America to the other and then circling back again. It is fitting that a ring-a circle of gold is left as the symbol of their story.

The Allens, married four years, had been blessed with two lovely daughters when Mormon elders Christopher M. Merkley and Murray Simmonds arrived in Potsdam in 1841. They began, holding meetings, and before long Ezra and two of his brothers were baptized. By the summer of 1842 the Allen brothers were. ready to leave for Nauvoo. They arrived there early in the winter of 1842 and settled 25 miles up the Mississippi in a beautiful location, where wild flowers greeted Sarah at every step.

In April 1843 they traveled to Nauvoo for general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, held inside the walls of the incomplete temple. They were thrilled to hear the Prophet Joseph Smith, and a short time later Sarah, too, was baptized into the Mormon Church. She wrote of the meetings held in their branch and of the rich outpouring of the Spirit of the Lord that attended them, causing their hearts to rejoice.

This was probably their last period of peace and happiness, because the persecution of church members by outsiders began to reach them. In June 1844, when the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum were murdered by a mob at Carthage, Illinois, the Allens shed bitter tears along with many others. But their faith was in God, and they were counseled by members of the Twelve Apostles to remain calm and to complete the temple. The sacrifices of' the Saints at this time were great because of loss of property and sickness.

On the 2nd of September 1845, Alexander Alma Allen. their second son. was born. During the winter of' 1845-46 the Allens worked, with many others, on the Nauvoo Temple and were able to receive their ordinances in the temple before leaving.

As the preparations were completed for the westward trek Ezra Allen and Joel Ricks traveled to St. Louis to bring additional stock to Nauvoo for the journey. They finally crossed the Mississippi River on April 27, 1846. Heavy rains made traveling difficult and slow, but they continued on until they reached Council Bluffs, Iowa. Sarah Allen wrote of the evening camps. Her husband. who had been a piper with the Nauvoo Legion, and some men who had brought their violins endeavored to cheer the Saints with their music. It was here in July I846 that Brigham Young received the request from the president of the United States for a battalion of 500 men to assist in the war with Mexico.

Allen enlisted and made plaits for Sarah to remain in Council Bluffs until he could return and take his family west to the gathering place of the Saints. He also made arrangements for his young wife to draw supplies From a store at a small settlement on the Missouri River. Pleased that he would be paid for his services, he marched away hopefully.

The accomplishments of the Mormon Battalion have been told times. The hardships they endured, their courage, and their determination are recorded in many journals and subsequent histories Arriving in San Diego on January 30, 1847. they continued to serve until July 1847, when their year of enlistment was over. Except for 81 who reenlisted for another six months, the rest left immediately for northern California.

The discharged men had heard of the Brooklyn and its load of Mormons in San Francisco and decided to take this route to join the main body of the Church, although they did not know at that moment exactly where Brigham Young had decided to stop.

Using all old map that showed only a few rivers. they journeyed past Fresno. where the Indians gave them corn and melons. A short time later they met Thomas Rhodes a Mormon emigrant of 1846, and learned from him for the first time that Great Salt Lake Valley had been selected as the stopping place. They arrived at Sutter's Fort on August 25, had their animals shod. purchased needed supplies, and then continued on.

The ex-battalion members saw the remains of the Donner Party tragedy on September 5. They continued to the other side of the summit where they met Captain James Brown, also of the battalion, who had been ill charge of one of' the companies in Pueblo. He came to collect their discharge pay and to bring them a letter from President Brigham Young. They were instructed to return to California for the winter and to , work for clothing, stock and provisions if they did not have sufficient means. If their families were in Salt Lake, they were to continue on. Diaries state "half went on and half turned back." Since about 265 had been discharged in Los Angeles there were approximately 130 discharged soldiers who turned around arid went back to work a season at Sutter's Fort and in the Salt Francisco Bay area.

Thus it was that Ezra Allen spent the winter working for Captain John Sutter. The following January 1848. the nine workers building a lumber mill for Sutter at Coloma were present when the mill foreman, James Marshall., discovered gold. Six of the men present were former members of the Mormon Battalion.

As spring approached, the men were eager to be on their way to Salt Lake. Situated ill an enviable position, they bad first claim to rich gold deposits, yet a majority remembered the instructions of their Prophet and began to make plans to leave.

Eight men started out on May I under Captain Daniel Browett to pioneer a wagon road over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, since the Truckee route was still impassable.

(Browett had been elected captain of this returning group.) Others in this first exploring company were Ira J. Willis. James C. Sly, Israel Evan's Jacob G. Truman. Ezra Allen, J. R. Allred, Henderson Cox, Hobert Pixton It took them three days to reach Iron Mountain where they found the snow to deep to travel. They decided to postpone their explorations and for the next couple of months the men hunted gold and bought wagons, supplies, and cattle. They also built a large corral at Pleasant Valley, nine miles from present-day Placerville, where they planned to rendezvous for the trip to Salt Lake Valley.

On the 24th of June three members of the first exploring company -Captain Daniel Browett, Ezra Allen, and Henderson Cox-decided to try again to find a route through the mountains. Their friends advised them against going in such it small group because of the Indians. They set out, each having a riding animal and a pack mule, saddle, and gun.

Allen made it small double pouch for his gold dust and attached a buckskin string, enough to put around his neck, letting the pouch hang in his bosom inside his clothes. Saying they would travel slowly, hunt the best way to cross the Sierra Nevada Range, and meet

their battalion companions again somewhere in the mountains, they left.

By July 2 the main body was ready to leave Pleasant Valley. Also included in this group were several families from the Brooklyn as well as the discharged battalion members. As they traveled along, they kept it sharp lookout for their three companions who had started out ahead. Since Browett had not returned, Samuel Thompson, former second lieutenant of Company C, was made captain in his place.

On July 18 an advance company of five men was sent ahead to clear the road. They located it rushing mountain spring, which had evidence of a recent campfire beside it. Nearby they also saw a new mound of dirt. While traveling back to the main group they noticed an Indian who was wearing the vest of one of their missing companions. They told their companions, and tile next day, when the entire group arrived at the spring, they found upon closer examination arrows, broken arrows, blood-stained rocks, and evidence of a hard struggle. Near a big fir tree lay Ezra Allen's gold pouch.

Darkness settled in, and around the campfire that night the men decided to open the mound the next morning. To their dismay they found the naked, mutilated bodies of their companions. The men determined the three must have been attacked it night, since there was evidence that two had slept together with the third nearby. The pouch had apparently slipped to the ground unnoticed in the dark when Allen's clothes were being taken. They reburied the bodies, putting a three-foot high wall around the grave. After filling the center with dirt, stones were put over the top to further seal it from wild animals. Next they chopped the bark from the large fir tree tree and on the hole, of the tree carved this memorial to their friends:

"To the memory of Daniel Browett, Ezra H. Allen, and Henderson Cox, who were supposed to have been murdered and buried by Indians on the night of 27th June, 1848."

They then named then named the spot Tragedy Spring, a name it bears today. The men continued on, arriving in Salt Lake Valley on September 29, 1848.

Meanwhile, Sarah Allen waited in Council Bluffs for the return of her husband. The supplies she was supposed to receive from the store had gone to others, and times had been difficult for her. After two years word came. that some discharged battalion men were to arrive in a few days. Certain that her husband would be among the first to return, she waited anxiously for his footsteps. Finally the men did arrive and handed her the blood-stained pouch. Her world crumbled quickly. All of the longing of two years engulfed her, and she thought she could not go on. But she determined to follow out the original plan-to go to Zion and join friends who had preceded her. After all, there was the gold dust in the pouch, which could outfit her for the journey.

Sarah Allen hired a wagon made and purchased another cow. Supplies, and a yoke of oxen. She saved a small amount of the gold flakes and had it ring made-a plain gold band. which she wore the rest of her life. Her journal mentions starting. west with two children so apparently two had died during the two years their father was gone. Without giving details of the journey, except to say the "loads were heavy and the progress slow". she stated simply: "We arrived in Salt Lake City in good health September 14, 1852."

She was welcomed into the home of her old friends, Joel and Eleanor Martin Ricks. She later became his second wife, and they had six children. The Ricks lived in Farmington, Utah, until July 1859, when Mr. Ricks moved his two families to Logan in the beautiful Cache Valley. Sarah died there June 12, 1891, Her daughter Amorette Allen married Lewis Ricks, second Soil of Joel and his first wife, Eleanor. Her soil Alexander A. Allen later became a bishop in Weston, Idaho.

Meanwhile, the stately fir kept its constant vigil over the grave. Correspondence in the historian's office, state of California, reveals that for a time no one knew the identity of the men whose names were carved on the tree. Someone covered the inscription with a piece of class to protect the carving from the weather. In 1929 a county sheriff from Auburn, California, wrote to the curator of Sutter’s Fort, telling him insects were boring into the tree severely and that the glass was completely steamed from a sweating action of the tree. He suggested the tree be cut down and taken to Sutter’s Fort for preservation. A heavy windstorm in the spring of 1930 snapped the infested tree off 15 feet above the ground. Fortunately the inscription, untouched, was left standing.

On August 30, 1931, the Native Sons and Native Daughters of California from Amador County placed a bronze replica of the original inscription near the fir tree. About 300 persons attended the ceremony. The following week the stump, which stands about six feet high, was cut down and hauled to Sutter’s Fort in Sacramento. There it remained until January 1966, when the Division of Beaches and Parks moved it permanently to the museum in the James Marshall Gold Discovery Park at Coloma, California.

The Sacramento County Camp. Daughters of Utah Pioneers, has applied to the State of California Landmarks Commission to have Tragedy Springs declared a historic landmark. A recent trip to the site revealed the stone-covered grave in a rugged, majestic forest 150 feet from California State Highway 88, just west of Carson Pass. Two tall trees stand at one end of the grave, leaning over it slightly as if to protect it. A large granite boulder with the small plaque of the Native Daughters embedded on it is nearby on higher ground.

Little did Sarah Fisk and Ezra Allen realize on their wedding day in 1837 that the events of their lives would become one of the treasured stories in California and Utah pioneer history, that his grave and that of his two companions would someday be declared a historic spot, and that over a hundred years later descendants in Salt Lake City would cherish the gold pouch and the ring as prized heirlooms.

It was the pouch and its golden contents that reached Sarah and provided the needed items for her trip to Zion, just as her husband had planned to do himself. It seems fitting that this ring-this circle of gold-remains a symbol of love and faith Sarah and Ezra Allen shared!

The End

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