WILLIAM P. ALLRED is a retired citizen of Corydon, Wayne County, and is probably the oldest resident of the county in point of continuous years, covering a period of more than three-quarters of a century. Mr. Allred among other distinctions of a busy and useful life is a veteran Union soldier.

He was born in Randolph County, North Carolina, April 26, 1846, son of Mahlon and Eleanor (Patterson) Allred. Mahlon Allred, who was of English and Welsh ancestry, was born in North Carolina April 15, 1817. He was one of many western North Carolinians who came west in the early days, settling in Iowa in 1854, an d was one of the early converts to the principles of the Republican party. Her served in the office of justice of the peace. He was an active member of the United Brethren Church. His wife was of the Patterson family of Scotch-Irish lineage, and a great-granddaughter of John Patterson, who with his brother Robert came from the North of Ireland and settled at Baltimore in 1767. John Patterson founded the North Carolina branch of the Patterson family, while his brother Robert remained in Maryland. A daughter of Robert married Jerome Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, and their grandson, Jerome Bonaparte, was United States attorney general under President Roosevelt.

William P. Allred was seven years old when in the fall of 1853 the family left their old home in North Carolina an d started for the West. Their first settlement was in Carroll County, Arkansas, and from there they went to Lawrence County, Missouri, and in October, 1854, arrived in Wayne County, Iowa. Mahlon Allred built the first log cabin in Monroe Township on the prairie west of Genoa, on section 17, township 67 north, range 20 west. It was the first habitation in the district west of Genoa. In the environment of the pioneering activities of this community William P. Allred grew to manhood. He attended some of the first schools taught in that community, and from boyhood he knew the arts of woodcraft, swinging as ax with ease and precision, and doing the hard work of breaking up and plowing and cultivating the new soil.

When he was eighteen years of age he enlisted, May 22, 1864, in Company H of the Forty-sixth Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He was discharged while in a hospital at Keokuk, Iowa, in September, 1864. For many years he has been a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, being affiliated with Post Robert Jackson No. 192.

After the war he engaged in farming and stock raising, and continued active in that business until he retired, leaving the farm for a comfortable town home in Corydon. He has also been honored in a political way. His political affiliation has been with the Republican party. He held various township offices and for about twelve years was secretary of his local school board. He was for six years deputy recorder and several times was elected county
recorder, putting in about eleven years i the duties of that office. In 1908 he was elected to the House of Representatives from the Fifth Iowa District and served a second term by reelection.

Mr. Allred for twenty-nine years has been a member of the Masonic fraternity, belongs to the Masonic Veterans Association and the Order of Anointed High Priest. He and his family are all members and active workers in the Methodist Episcopal Church. At the age of eighty-four Mr. Allred has an unabated interest in people and affairs, and is rounding out a life of high ideals and splendid activities among friends of a lifetime.

He married, December 12, 1869, Miss Louisa C. Kellogg, who was born in Ohio and whose people came to Iowa as early as 1857. Mr. and Mrs. Allred were married for over half a century. She was greatly beloved by her family and friends, was an active church woman, and passed away March 4, 1921. Of the nine children born to them seven are living. Gertie E. is the wife of J. H. Roof and lives in Oklahoma; their three children are Edward A., a World
war veteran; Jessie H. and Maxine. Clarence E., who lives in Kansas City, Missouri, married Lilly Campbell, and they also have three children, Bennie, a veteran of the World war; Raymond and Clarice. Mary Olive is the wife of W. B. Welch, and they live at Kansas City, Missouri, Ernest, of Corydon, married Maude Seward and has three children, Myron K., who was in the World war; Rolla S. and Ernestine. Henry L. Allred, a resident of Des Moines,
married Molly Jenison and has three children, Howard W., Roxie Louise and Robert.
William P. Allred, Jr., lives at Kansas City, Missouri, and married Alice Howard. Rilla May by her first marriage has a daughter, Cleo Luce, and she, Rilla May, is now the wife of W. G. Whitely, of Kansas City, Missouri.