Born to Rial Easter Allan and Margaret Evans. Married Delilah Emaline or Bennett Andrews. Father to 11 children.

I wrote this first person account of Andrew Jackson Allen for a Utah Pioneer Day celebration July 2011. -Anjanette Lofgren:

"I grew up in Pulaski County, Kentucky. In 1834 Mormon Elders began preaching near our home. This is where some of my family members heard Wilford Woodruff preach. One night after his sermon, my sister went to her bedroom and prayed that she might gain a testimony of what Elder Wilford had taught. Right away there came a light in her darkened bedroom. She believed this was a sign sent from God and at the age of 15 she joined the church. Two of my brothers joined the church also after hearing Wilford Woodruff preach and were baptized by him. Our family was of the Baptist faith and our parents did not approve of my brothers and sister joining the church. I also believed the gospel message and desired to go to Nauvoo, Illinois and see for myself the prophet of the Mormon Church and the temple the saints were building. In June of 1844 my brother and I packed up our supplies and headed for Illinois. We arrived in Nauvoo just a few days after the Prophet Joseph Smith Jr. and his brother, Hyrum, had been martyred in the Carthage Jail. The saints were in mourning and there was a heavy gloom throughout the city. I had planned to be baptized into the church when we arrived in Nauvoo but because of the situation I decided to wait until a better time and we traveled back home to Kentucky.

"In 1845 Mormon elders were spreading the news that the saints were preparing to leave Nauvoo for the wilderness in the west. I had felt the spirit prompting me many times before and upon hearing this news, I once again felt the spirit prompting me. I knew I needed to be with the saints in Zion. We sold everything we owned and with my pregnant wife and three young children, we immigrated to Nauvoo in February 1846. This was at the time the Saints were beginning their exodus westward to flee from the mobs. My wife gave birth to a baby girl on a very cold wintery day soon after arriving in Nauvoo. Two weeks after the first group of Saints left Nauvoo, the Mississippi River froze over, which is something it usually didn't do, and some of the Saints were able to drive their wagons over the ice safely to the other side.

"On April 22, 1846, after the Mississippi thawed, my wife and I were finally baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."