Allred
Family Organization
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This is an article published in a local Indiana newspaper on September 27, 1931. It is an interview of Laban Allred, son of Abner Allred. The name of the paper was not with the article. This was found in the Huntington Co, IN Genealogy Library. Debbie Montei Dowling Old
Time Hospitality Still Lives at Laban Allred's By
F.S. Bash It Is a God-given, attribute of mankind to look upon the farm with a sense of respect and obligation, since the world must depend on the soil as the only source of food Supply. Farming among the nations of the earth has been paternal and patriarchal rather than regal, brilliant and spectacular. It is the foundation of honest toil and good, safe method of livelihood. In some men are born a love of the soil more deeply embedded in their nature than is found in others and for them there is no happiness so great as to cultivated crops and see herds grazing in the pastures. Such a farmer likes activity and energy and takes pride in the cultivation of his mind as well as the soil, which enables him to give sound advice not only in the realm of agriculture but in problems of government in township, county, state and nation. I believe it is a conservative statement to mention in this connection and entirely of my own responsibility that a man of such predilection from youth to mature manhood has been Laban Allred, a modest unassuming life resident of Lancaster township. His fondness for the soil, education and fruitful mind have won for him success in farming all the way back through the years since he has been managing his agricultural interest, but now he has come to the time when he is puzzled to know how to handle the acres and herds so as to scrape up enough money to meet taxes and upkeep each year. "I have always loved farm life," he said to me recently while we were visiting together on the porch of his splendid home in Lancaster Township, just off of pavement No. 9. "For many years I have enjoyed feeding out beef cattle for market. Covering many years I made trips to Chicago and later to Kansas City to purchase carloads of cattle for my farm and along with crop farming, could manage to either break even or make a little money. But now, upon my word, prices are so low and taxes so extremely high that there seems no way out of the gulf of despair. There is no evading the fact that the country is in a serious condition." A
Cattle Buyer Calls Soon after we began talking a cattle buyer from another county called to dicker with Laban for his herd of beef cattle. I was told the same man had called the week before but no sale resulted. After an hour of negotiations in private, the cattleman drove away and Laban joined me on the porch. "Did you come together" was asked. "No sir, I didn't sell," he answered with an expression of mingled disappointment and enigmatical quandary over something he was not able to understand and solve. "No, the best he would offer me was four and a half cents," explained Laban, "and I paid five cents for them last spring when shipped here from the western stockyards. These buyers have good contracts with the state to supply meat daily to the big public institutions, such as the penitentiary at Michigan City, or the reformatory at Pendleton, yet they offer only four and a half cents. They care nothing for my losses in the transaction. They are making money and right now are figuring on the purchasing of on of the largest packinghouses in northern Indiana. But there is no pity for the farmer." This is a fair sample of the situation all along the line in farming. The best of farmers cannot see their way out of the gloom. So far as I know, Mr. Allred is one of the heaviest landowners in Lancaster Township. He and his wife hold title to 629 acres, but this figure includes a farm in another township. It is necessary to produce in cold cash each year something like $800 to take care of taxes, saying nothing about upkeep expenses that must be met constantly. Mr. Allred believes like many of the wisest thinkers that there must be a radical halt in public expenditures for tax reduction as well as other forms of economy brought about until a more equitable adjustment of things can be reached. Tractor
Speeds Up Work Mr. Allred and his son Merritt operate all of the Allred land in Lancaster Township except some farmed by Ralph Snider. It is by use of a tractor that such large acreage can be handled. Merritt was drilling wheat the day I called. During the season he and his father put up 101 acres of hay, harvested 40 acres of oats, a large crop of wheat and now have 50 acres of good corn. Besides the cropping they look after extensive numbers of beef cattle and some cows. Mr. Allred bought 460 lambs last fall, which proved a fair investment. "I have always enjoyed feeding out cattle," continues Mr. Allred, "and for the first fifteen years of my experience did my buying in Chicago, but ever since then I have been buying in Kansas City. "On one of my trips to Chicago many years ago," he narrated "I took with me Roe Killen and Enoch Grull. It was Roe's first trip outside of the state and he was greatly interested in the sights. He and I were seatmates together in the district school we attended when boys. I belonged in the south end of the district and he was from the north side. One of the matters we were interested in was to look up a firm that specialized in making lasts for deformed feet. Enoch had a foot that was not normal. Well we found the place and after measurements were taken the last was made and cost $5.00. Down through the years, Enoch has kept that last and now and then has a shoe made over it. He is still living and I suppose still has the last we helped him get. Asked whether Laban was born in Lancaster Township, he said: "No I was born two miles south of Banquo and was three years old when my parents moved over here in l863 and settled on the old homestead which is the next house south on the pavement from where we are now living. So, with the exception of those three years I have always been a resident of Lancaster Township. My ancestry goes back to Scotland, but my daddy was born in North Carolina. Burials
in Primitive Times "One of my earliest recollections after we moved over here from south of Banquo," explained Mr. Allred, "was the burial of a neighbor's child one cold winter day. The family was very poor and lived just back of us. But we were all poor for that matter and neighborhood customs were pretty much alike with all of us. There was no expense connected with a funeral. In the case of the family referred to they made the little coffin themselves and the body was hauled to the graveyard in a wagon or sled. No minister was present, no service held. It may have been impossible to secure a minister even had one been desired, for they were scattered over a wide territory of county and only came into a neighborhood when a religious service was arranged at a residence or school house. The day was bitter cold when our neighbor's child was taken to the old graveyard south of Mt. Etna for burial. I remember the funeral party all stopped at Lewis Antwerp's store in Mt. Etna, to warm. "My mother's uncle, Hiram Sparks, when visiting at our house told of coming through the woods where he found Mr. Hefner, a pioneer, grubbing brush and chopping down trees for the starting of a town to be called Mt. Etna. At that time the village of Charleston, a mile east of Mt. Etna, was already platted and houses going up. When the Mt. Etna boom got under way, Charleston soon passed away. Those big locusts in Mt. Etna are said to be as old as the town. My father told me the large locust tree in front of our old homestead was raised from a cutting. When No. 9 was to be paved I feared the tree would be removed, but the roadmen left it stand and I was very glad. It would have grieved me to see it destroyed for there is something sacred about a tree planted by one's ancestors. When I was a lad I remember being out with my father when he was hunting squirrels and other game along the river. We came across a man who was clearing ground for the first store building in what he said was going to be Monument City. The man was either John Irey or "Squire" McKinstry, of Andrews, and I have forgotten which. The monument at that time stood a couple of hundred feet further south than its present location. It was dedicated by the Odd Fellows. In that day the regalia was quite gaudy and many of the plain religious creeds did not like it, claiming it was all for show. Mrs.
Allred a Stouder Here I asked the lady of the house to explain how the fates contrived to bring her and her husband together, since she was Ida J. Stouder, daughter of John and Mary Lahr Stouder, who lived some distance away over near Andrews. She thought for a moment then made this interesting comment: "I can tell you of the very first meeting I had with Laban that is to say, the first time I ever saw him. I was fifteen and was with a funeral party going to Mt. Etna to bury the wife of Elihu Turner. It was a very cold day and we stopped at the Abner Allred home to warm. Laban was just beginning to sit up after a spell of sickness from pneumonia. "The Allreds owned some land over in Dallas Township near where we lived. It was what was known as the Charles Hahn place. Laban came over there to put in crops and incidentally made it suit to drop in at our house and visit. Our friendship continued to grow from year to year." At this point Laban began coloring up and I think he wanted to change the subject. At any rate he broke in with some interesting details about his crops on the Hahn land that paid his way in college at Danville. He said: "I raised enough wheat on seven acres over there to make me $95.00 that paid all my expenses at the Danville College from September to March and I had enough left to come home on. The next year I made my college money off ten acres of corn. And so I managed to farm in summer and go to college three years, beginning in the fall of 1881, my expenses each year ranging around $95.00. Do you think a college student these days could do that? In the first place the cost now would run away over that I paid, and in the next place seven acres of wheat or ten acres of corn would not bring such good returns. Laban
Did Some Contracting Mr. and Mrs. Allred were married September 18, 1888. Their children are Stanley and Willard Allred, Mrs. Edna Snider, Russell Allred, Mrs. Mary Haines and Merritt Allred, the last named, with his wife, living in the same house with the husband's parents and farming the place. "I did a little contracting in my younger days," said Laban. "I helped Elihu Turner build the Hart School House. We drew up our own plans and specifications, submitted them to the trustee where they came in competition with other bidders for the job. Our offer called for $1000 when the building was completed. We were awarded the contract and went to work. We bought the brick in Andrews and hired Fred Scheiblen, of Huntington to lay up the walls. John H. Welch of Fort Wayne, put on the slate roof. When all was done and we had our pay we found we had cleared one hundred dollars and were very well satisfied. That was back in 1885. Think of putting up a building like that now days for $1000! That was before the day of graft so common now in public improvements. That Hart SchoolHouse is still standing and in good repair so far, as I know. It was once a community center for public gatherings, Sunday school and church services" For twenty-eight years Mr. and Mrs. Allred lived on the old homestead place south of where they are now located. They built a splendid residence on the Sam Crull farm and moved there sixteen years ago. The location is somewhat historical. Not only was Samuel Crull about the earliest settler there, but later on Isaac E. Fisher and father, Caleb Fisher, resided there. Andy Bolinger finally purchased the farm and sold out to Laban Allred. "There is 143 acres in the farm," said Laban, "and when I bought it from Andy Bolinger I gave him a check calling for $7000. That was the biggest check I ever issued in my life. In those days that was a heap of money but would be harder to get now than it was then." The writer's visit at the Allred home was not by invitation but came as a surprise to the family. I only expected to tarry for an hour or so, but circumstances alter cases you know. The elegant home, shade trees, shrubbery, fruit, choice current reading matter were all so irresistibly inviting to me that it was an easy matter to linger beyond the hour planned. In the first place Laban was away when I arrived. He had gone to town for timothy seed to sow in the wheat but would be right back, so the son and wife assured me. He came back directly and we were soon visiting. Then the cattleman from another county called as I have already explained in the beginning of this story. It was nearly noon. And then, oh boy! The family ushered me into the dining room where a chicken dinner was ready with an extra plate for me. As I feasted on chicken, dressing, spreads, ground cherry preserves and peach pie I did thank my stars that the cattleman stayed so long Man may boast of banquets clever And tell of chef's supreme endeavor. But for real dining and supplying Of every want quite satisfying- Including mind and heat and innerman- Warm, genuine, cosmopolitan- Just choose for me a place to dine At Laban's out near Number Nine. |
North Carolina Allreds in the 1750's North Carolina History Timeline |
