The Mexican American War, Maternal Line

Allen, Albern.

(1802-1867)

4th Great Grandfather

Albern Allen was born in Connecticut and fatefully moved to New York state where he met his first wife, Marcia, and became a convert to the Church of LDS in 1835. He moved several times with the first LDS members ending up serving as a Private in the Mormon Battalion in the Mexican American War.

The battalion is the only religion based unit in the history of the US military. It came to be that at the time the Mormons faced much persecution and this had been ignored by the US government. A member went to Washington to appeal for federal aid to pioneer west rather than continue to face persecution where they were. It happens that at that time the US had just declared war on Mexico to contest the territories that now make up the US southwest. A deal was struck for a group of men to muster for the US army in exchange for funding and protection to move west. It took Brigham Young 3 weeks to obtain the numbers he needed.

It is not known if Albern Allen was an eager volunteer or was pressured to do so but in either case he was a private in the US Army as part of this battalion. They marched from Iowa to San Diego, some 1900 miles. Their role was more of a peace keeping force and they did not see much action in the way of battles. Some men died from disease along the way.

In 1847 Albern was released from service and moved to the Salt Lake Valley in Utah where he settled with his wife and 7 living children as a farmer. Details are unclear but he is known to have had several wives (as polygamy was a practice in the LDS faith at that time) and many children. It is also recorded that he was a generous man and would be quick to give financial assistance to any who needed it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_Battalion

North Am Fam Histories 1500-2000. Descendents of Robert Alling, p 136

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