Martha Pamelia Allen (1858 - 1931), son of Lewis Allen and Elizabeth Alexander, was born in Platte Township, Andrew County, Missouri, on 9 December 1858, the eleventh of thirteen children. Her parents had converted to The Chursh of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints within a few months of their marriage, and two of her father's siblings had joined with the very earliest settlers in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1862, her father and his brother, James Allen, joined an independent oxcart company and emigrated to Utah Territory. Martha was just four years old when they reached the home of her uncle, Andrew Jackson Allen, in Draper, Utah on 30 August 1862, after three grueling months of travel.

The family first settled in Washington, Utah and remained there for several years, but in 1868 her father was called to to the Muddy Mission in Nevada. Lewis Allen and his family helped found the settlement of West Point, in Lincoln County, Nevada, which was quickly revealed to be a nearly impossible place to settle due to heat, flooding, and extremely alkali soil. During their first winter there, on 23 March 1869, Martha's mother, Elizabeth Alexander, died and was buried at West Point, Lincoln County, Nevada. Martha was just ten years old.

The family returned to Washington in 1870 and Martha's father bought a farm in Utah's Long Valley, naming it the Moccasin Springs Ranch. Five years later, Lewis moved the family again, in response to LDS President Brigham Young's call to enter the United Order of Enoch, a form of communal living. In February 1875 the valley was surveyed and the town of Orderville, Utah was laid out and building commenced. Ever obedient to the Church leadership, Martha's father turned his profitable Moccasin Springs Ranch over to the Order and moved his family to Orderville.

Orderville's streets ran in all four directions. A large square 30 x 30 rods was laid out in the center of which was a community-dining hall. This was also used for meetings and dancing. The dwelling houses were built and joined together to form an enclosure of the square on the order of a fort. Each family had to reside in one room. The dining hall was made of rough lumber and put together with wooden pegs. It was lined with adobe and later plastered. The kitchen and bakery were built on. They all had assigned jobs. William H. Black was in charge of the dining hall and seven women were assigned to help him. Those eight people cooked and served three meals a day for 80 families. The men were served first, at 7 a.m., 12 noon and 6 p.m. The women and children were served later.

The storehouse was built on the southeast corner of the property. There was also a shoe shop, where Lewis Allen made and mended shoes. At first his shoes were very simple, with no difference between shoes for the right or left feet. J. S. Allen and Lewis Allen were in charge of a bucket factory where wooden buckets, tubs, kegs, barrels and churns were made from the local red cedar. Lewis Allen and his son-in-law Willis Webb ran the first molasses mill in the Order. Molasses was the only sweetening available in Orderville for some time.

On April 17, 1878, Martha Pamelia Allen married William Marshall III in St. George, Washington County, Utah. Although St. George was also a United Order community, it is not presently known how Martha and William met. Martha's father was still living and working in Orderville at the time of her marriage.

Martha and William had nine or ten children. She died of pneumonia at the age of 72, on 16 February 1931, in Huntington, Emery County, Utah.

Children of Martha Pamelia Allen and William Marshall

1. William Lewis Marshall (1879 - 1958)
2. John W. Marshall (1882- 1925)
3. James Ira Marshall (1883 - 1945)
4. Adelbert Marshall (1885 - 1963)
5. Elizabeth Marshall (1887 - 1887)
6. Arley Marshall (1888 - 1959)
7. Lorin Marshall (1891 - 1903)
8. Andrew Marion Marshall (1896 - 1975)
9. Alison or Aliene Marshall (1898 1959)
10. Marie Marshall (b. 1903)
11. Jesse Marshall (1904 - 1981)

Notes

• Middle name spelled variously, "Permilla", "Parmelia", and "Pamella"

Sources

• Find A Grave Memorial #21564486
• Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Original data: Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. (NARA microfilm publication T9, 1,454 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. Year: 1880; Census Place: Orderville, Kane, Utah; Roll: 1336; Family History Film: 1255336; Page: 452C; Enumeration District: 29.
• Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1900. T623, 1854 rolls. *Year: 1900; Census Place: Huntington, Emery, Utah; Roll: T623_1683; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 197.
• Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Original data: Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910 (NARA microfilm publication T624, 1,178 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. Year: 1910; Census Place: Huntington, Emery, Utah; Roll: T624_1603; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 0043; Image: 454; FHL Number: 1375616.
• Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. (NARA microfilm publication T625, 2076 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. Year: 1920;Census Place: Huntington, Emery, Utah; Roll: T625_1862; Page: 12A; Enumeration District: 72; Image: 960.
• Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930. T626, 2,667 rolls. Year: 1930; Census Place: Huntington, Emery, Utah; Roll: 2415; Page: 8A; Enumeration District: 14; Image: 526.0.
• Ancestry.com. Utah Death Registers, 1847-1966 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Original data: Bureau of Vital Statistics. Utah Death Index, 1847-1966. Salt Lake City, UT, USA: Utah Department of Health. Utah State Archives and Records Service; Salt Lake City, UT; Utah State Archives and Records Service; File Number #: 1931000657.