[The early Scots-Irish settlers of America] were a hardy,
brave, hot-headed race, excitable in temper,
unrestrainable in passion, invincible in prejudice.
Their hand opened as impetuously to a friend as it clinched against an enemy.
They loathed the Pope as sincerely as they venerated Calvin and Knox;
and they did not particularly respect the Quakers.
If often rude and lawless it was partly the fault of their position.
They hated the Indian while they despised him, and it does not seem,
in their dealings with this race, as though there were any sentiments
of honor or magnanimity in their bosoms that could hold way against
the furious tide of passionate, blind resentment.
Impatient of restraint, rebellious against everything that in their eyes
bore the semblance of injustice, we find these men readiest among the
ready on the battle-fields of the Revolution.
If they had faults, a lack of patriotism or of
courage was not among the number.
-- Winthrop Sargent
Agnatic Descendants of Robert Allan (1695 - 1769)
and his siblings.
My Allen ancestors were Presbyterian Scots-Irish who immigrated
from Ulster to the American mid-Atlantic in the 1730's.
In addition to my own relations, I've accumulated lists of Allens
with similar migrations, hoping that eventually a connection may
be established.
There are several descendancy charts at this website,
compiled into three pages:
This page -- ``My'' Allens and possible relatives:
- 1. Descendants of Robert Allan (1695 - 1769) of Armagh and his siblings.
- (A simplified chart of line 1.)
- 3. Descendants of James Allen (1785 - 1837) of North Carolina.
- 4. Allens of early Ripley County, Indiana.
- 5. Descendants of Edwin Dow Allen.
- 12. Descendants of John Allin of Pennsylvania.
- 13. Descendants of David Allen (ca 1720 - ca 1800) of Eire and Penn.
- Go to Miscellaneous Notes.
Other Allen chart:
Let me stress again that all these pages, and especially this one,
are unresearched by me, and simply a compendium of Internet sources.
- 6. Descendants of Robert Allen (1678 - 1772) of Antrim.
- 7. Descendants of Robert Allen (1715 - 1790) of Ulster.
- 8. Descendants of John Allen (1738? - 1830) of Pennsylvania.
- 9. Descendants of James Allen (1733? - 1810) of Augusta Co., Virg.
- 10. Descendants of Robert Allen (ca 1670 - ca 1774) of Antrim.
- 11. Possible descendants of Hugh Allen (1745 - 1774) of Augusta Co., Virg.
- 14. Descendants of James Allen (1691 - 1771).
Givens chart:
- 2. Descendants of Samuel Givens (1695 - 1740) of Antrim and his siblings.
- (A simplified chart of line 2.)
- 15. Descendants of Samuel Alexander Givens (1753 - 1833) of County Cork and Missouri Territory.
Return to the Allen Table of Contents.
Return to the Master Pedigree index.
A big Thank you
to everyone who provided this information, including
Wanda Smith Ballard, Joyce Selix (blucricket@humboldt.net),
Bill and Loydean Allen, Phyllis Ewer, Chuck Allen,
Kathleen McCraw,
Jean Brite, the Kentucky Biographies Project and many others.
Montgomery Family
The only real clue I have about Allans before Robert is
my own DNA (Y-chromosome) test.
But there is a big hint about Deborah Montgomery, in the will of
Thomas Montgomery (d. 1766 in Philadelphia):
From the will abstracts from Philadelphia (see the GenWeb Archives)
MONTGOMERY, THOMAS. City of Phila. Merchant.
March 1, 1766. June 23, 1766.
Children: Susannah, Elenor, Robert.
Nephews: Thomas Montgomery, Robert Allen.
Exec.: Robert Montgomery.
Wit: Danl. McLonen, Wm. Johnson, Alexander Harvey, Thomas Dunn. N.527.
(From other sources we deduce nephew Thomas Montgomery was son
of (deceased) brother Valentine.
Robert Allen is, I think, son of Deborah Montgomery.
Summary of first generations
From Wanda Ballard's summary:--
``Two brothers, Robert and John Allen, came to America from Armagh, Ireland, in
1736. Shortly before they left Ireland an older brother, James Allen,
had been killed in an uprising against England.
They landed at Philadelphia and lived for two years in Chester County, PA.
Robert later settled in Frederick County, VA and John in Albemarle County, VA.''
(For more information on Robert Allan (1695 - 1769) of Armagh,
Go to his biography.)
The mother of Robert's first four sons was Deborah Montgomery.
(Some sources show a daughter who precedes the marriage to Deborah.
I conjecture she may have been instead a niece but show her
simply as a daughter of Deborah in the Chart.)
John, Thomas, Robert (Jr.) and David had a younger sister Rebecca,
who married one John Givens (Jr.?) who has never been clearly
identified.
(My conjecture is shown in the Givens Chart.)
After Deborah's early death, Robert married Samuel Givens' widow Sarah.
They had one child, Benjamin.
I've noticed many 'Net sources pointing to Benjamin
(more than for the other four sons put together!)
but I've not pursued them (though I hope
to add all agnatic descendants to this webpage)
-- do any of these descendants show up in early Putnam,
Monroe or Ripley counties?
Robert Allan had five sons and two daughters.
He had twenty-three grandsons who bore the Allen surname:
- John's five sons (oldest named Robert Polk Allen)
moved up the Ohio River to Shelby County, Kentucky about 1797
with John's widow Ann nee Polk.
John was a Major in the Continental Army.
- Thomas's seven sons seemed to have stayed behind in Virginia.
Thomas was a cutlery maker and acquaintance of Thomas Jefferson.
- Robert had a single son who, with his sisters, accompanied
John's sons to Shelby County.
- David's four sons moved to Green County, Ky.
David was a Captain in the Continental Army.
- Benjamin's six sons moved to Casey County, Ky.
Benjamin was a half-brother.
- Martha and Rebecca both had families
which settled in Lincoln County, Ky.
Three of Robert Allan's sons are shown as Army officers.
Intermarriages
You will note many family intermarriages.
Not only among Allen-Givens, but also Allen-Allen,
Allen-Hornsby
(Four of Robert Allan's grandchildren married Hornsbys)
Allen-Sharp,
and Allen-Taylor.
Spelling of ``Allen''
The spellings ``Allan'' and ``Allen'' are both seen for
those born in Ireland, with the former disappearing in America.
Other spellings, like ``Allin'' or ``Allyn,'' also occur.
Naming Pattern
Studying the descendants of Robert Allan,
I find six instances in the early generations
where we know the names of a man's father, father-in-law
and his first three sons in order.
In each of those cases the oldest son was named after one of his
grandfathers. (Three were named after paternal grandfather, three after
maternal.)
In four of the six cases, the second son was named after the other
grandfather; in the other two a third or fourth son was named after
that grandfather.
Of the six cases there were four where father's name differed from
both grandfathers; in each of those four, the third or subsequent
son was named after the father.
Daughters followed a similar pattern.
Three of Deborah Montgomery's sons named their first daughter Deborah;
the fourth shows a single daughter named after her maternal grandmother.
The naming pattern might be a useful clue
in ``filling in some of the blanks''
but I've yet been unable to apply it. For
example, James Allen (1785-1837) (3) did not name a son after
his father-in-law Richard, instead choosing as names John Godfrey,
Harrison, Hiram.
We don't know the fathers of Robert Allan and Deborah Montgomery
(although some say Robert's father was James);
if the naming pattern is followed for their children,
the fathers might be John Allan and Thomas Montgomery.
(Thomas Allan is less likely since no brothers or nephews of Robert Allan
have turned up with the name Thomas.)
Agnatic Descendants
With a few exceptions, I follow only sons, not daughters.
(One exception is that I show all the owners of Allen Dale Farm
near Shelbyville. It is still owned by a descendant of Major John
Allen (Susanne M. Van Stockum nee de Charette, my 5th cousin once removed).
I don't regard the Allen daughters as ``less important'' than the Allen
sons, but the decision to limit the list to ``agnatic'' (patrilineal)
descendants was motivated by practical factors:
- Assuming sons and daughters are equally common and productive,
after just six generations
a list of all descendants might be sixty-four times as large (and
unwieldy) as a list of agnatic descendants.
I could never hope for completion.
- By restricting to the surnames ALLEN and GIVENS,
my searches can be more focussed.
- My distant cousins are unlikely to stumble across this website
anyway, unless they've already traced their ancestry back to an ALLEN.
I do try to note the name of the husband for the ALLEN daughters,
and indicate websites where their descendants may be listed.
Number of Agnatic Descendants
At last count I show 7 children of Robert Allan,
48 agnatic grandchildren,
130 agnatic great-grandchildren,
158 agnatic 2-great grandchildren,
87 agnatic 3-great grandchildren,
61 agnatic 4-great grandchildren,
with most 5-great grandchildren suppressed for privacy.
The notation in this table should be self-explanatory.
When a man has children by two wives
I assign two index numbers to him.
When descent is recorded from James(?) Allan or Samuel Givens in more
than one way, two (or more) family/descendancy indexes are shown.
I searched at some genealogical indexes for last name `Allen',
middle name `Dow'. Five 19th-century individuals turned up, including
the Edwin Dow Allen shown as 5 in the main table above.
The other four? Though they appeared unrelated to each other
(or to me) all four were named ``Lorenzo Dow Allen.''
Two of the four had maternal grandfathers also forenamed ``Lorenzo Dow.''
(Later I read that 20,000 children were named after
Lorenzo Dow (1777 - 1834), a famous Methodist evangelist in the South.)
