Inez Knight Allen
| Amanda Inez Knight Allen | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
September 8, 1876 Payson, Utah Territory, United States |
| Died | June 5, 1937 (aged 60) Provo, Utah, United States |
| Resting place | Provo City Cemetery |
| Known For |
|
| Alma mater | Brigham Young Academy |
| Spouse(s) | Robert Eugene Allen |
| Children | 5 |
| Parents |
Jesse Knight Amanda McEwan Knight |
Amanda Inez Knight Allen (September 8, 1876 – June 5, 1937) was a Mormon missionary and a Utah politician. In 1898, she became one of the first two single women to be missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).
Amanda Inez Knight was born near Payson, Utah Territory, to Jesse Knight and his wife Amanda McEwan. She was born the 4th of five children; her siblings included brothers Raymond and J. Will Knight and sisters Jennie Knight Mangum and Ione Knight Jordan. The family moved to Provo and Inez Knight enrolled in Brigham Young Academy. By the age of 22, Knight had completed her studies at B.Y.A. and had moved to St. George, Utah, where she was involved in family genealogical research.
On April 1, 1898, Knight was set apart as one of the first two single women in the LDS Church to be formally selected as full-time church missionaries. The other was her childhood friend Jennie Brimhall. Jennie Brimhall and Inez Knight were missionary companions in England for a year, leaving Provo on April 2 arriving in England on April 28, 1898. As missionaries, Knight and Brimhall were frequently asked to speak at public meetings and distribute missionary tracts on the street. Because Knight and Brimhall were the first, and for a time only, lady missionaries serving Europe, they were often asked to travel throughout England to speak. In a letter to the Deseret Evening News, missionary Joseph S. Broadbent wrote that "Sisters Jennie Brimhall and Inez Knight, both of Provo, Utah, each spoke at some length on Utah and her people and bore strong testimonies on the restoration of the Gospel and the divine mission of Joseph Smith. There were about 800 people present and a pin could be heard drop."
Knight and Brimhall not only traveled extensively in England, but throughout other parts of Europe as well. Knight reported having spent "a month visiting the principal cities of France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, and Holland. Knight believed that one of her main purposes as a missionary was to dispel the belief, common throughout Europe, that Mormon women "were downtrodden slaves". Knight and the other missionaries were not always welcome, however. In February 1899, Knight was in attendance at a church meeting in Bristol when all of the windows were broken by anti-Mormon rioters. Knight, her companion, and the other missionaries had to seek protection from the local police. Although Jennie Brimhall returned to Utah in November 1898 due to poor health, Knight continued her mission until 1900 with several other companions, including Liza Chipman and J. Clara Holbrook, both from Utah. Due to the scarcity of lady missionaries, however, at times Knight served alone. She recorded in her journal one meeting in which "I was the only girl. I felt more conspicuous by the elders beginning their remarks; my brethren and sister." Areas in which Knight served included Cheltenham, London, Kent, and Bristol. Knight returned home from Britain in June 1900, after over two years service throughout Britain, Scotland, and Wales.
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