I was born in Bristol, Summersetshire, England, January 22, 1858. I was christened Thomas William Frederick Allen. At the age of one year my parents moved to Swansea, South Wales, Glamorganshire. At the age of 8 years I was very anxious to get a job and finally succeeded in getting one rather than go to school. With what little schooling I had before I was eight years of age and a short time of night school after, that was about the end of my schooling, only with what I have picked up myself.

I hired out to a building contractor by the name of Thomas Reese and Sons, stone masons. There were three of us boys as tenders, mixing Jim's mortar and carrying it to those masons. We would put three shovels full, after it was mixed, on a square board, then put it on our heads and carry to the masons, that being the customary was of carrying everything in Wales. I soon got used to it so that I could use both hands to cling to the ladder and balance the board on my head. Work commenced at six o'clock in the morning until six in the evening, with breakfast at 9:30 a.m. I worked for those people about four years every day of the year except holidays.

Then I had one year, or about that, which was the last year before leaving for America, so I worked a few months in a meat market, mostly soliciting orders for the supply of meat to those ships that would come in the docks. I was successful in getting the orders which meant quite a supply. Then I worked a few months at a tea biscuit factory.

On August 9, 1871 we set sailed for America and bade farewell to Babylon. We arrived at Liverpool the next day and were met by one of the Liverpool office men. He informed my father and mother that a mistake had been made in the date for our departure to America. But arrangements had been made for our board and lodging for the whole family at the Church's expense. The next steamer would leave for America in about six days and would see to it that we were all right and to try and enjoy ourselves. So we spent about a week sightseeing.

Well, here we are, on board the great mail boat, Idaho [POSSIBLY Minnesota], about its first trip across the ocean to New York. The captain's name was Allen. This was his last trip before his retirement. As soon as we got on board the steamer, I noticed an officer motioning to me, I thought. Father stood by me; he told me to go over to the officer and see what he wanted. I did, and he asked, "Is you father here?" "Yes, Sir," I replied. He asked Father if he had a ticket for me. Father said "yes, his is a steerage passage, the same as ours." The officer said, "If you will let this boy work across, we will give the whole family first cabin food for his pay." I was surely a tickled boy. I was dressed in a big white apron. We were nine days from Liverpool to New York. The hand of providence was surely with us for our dear mother's sake, having the very best of food to eat, for she wasn't very well, the trip being [p.69] quite tiresome.

So here is New York! This is where all the passengers get off and are ushered into Castle Gardens and everybody checked, and baggage overhauled. Continuing our journey, we went from New York to Pottsville, Pennsylvania. We located at a village called Fishbauch. There my Father and I secured work in a large rail mill where rails are made for railroads. After getting located we found that there were five or six families of Mormons which made us feel more at home and seemed to give us much joy after leaving so many of our dear friends and relatives so far behind, not knowing when we would meet again. We finally met the brothers and sister and joined in with them. Meetings were held at the homes of Brother and Sister Edwards. He was blind but always jolly and made everybody welcome to their home. Three of those families came to Utah besides ourselves. We always had very nice meetings. The Spirit of the Lord was always there.

After spending about two years working in those mills, we had earned enough to take us to Utah, our desired destination. I was very glad of it for the outsiders were very bitter to the Mormons, although we made lots of friends while there.

So here we go again, on the train for another nine days in what is known as the Immigrant Train. We are still the only family of Mormons aboard--steamer and train.

We have finally arrived at Ogden, Utah, the place where the Lord has chosen for the gathering of His children, and thanks to our Heavenly Father for blessing us with safety and for the many blessings in our native home. We are glad to know that our hard struggle for means to get us this far has been successful. After a few days in Ogden we continued our journey to Salt Lake City and met with some of our old country friends. . . . [p.70]

BIB: Allen, Thomas William Frederick, Autobiography, In Harker, Mary Afton Allen, The Allen Family (Idaho Falls, Idaho: Printcraft Press, 1966) pp. 69-70. (CHL)
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