Jamie Allen's own Agnatic Line

My 7-great grandfather is probably forgotten, although some sources claim he was a James Allan from Scotland, born about 1650.

My 6-great grandfather Robert Allan (1695? - 1769) left Armagh County in Ulster, Ireland in 1736 and came to America. He was a Protestant fleeing religious persecution; his brother James was killed in a religious uprising shortly before this immigration.

Robert arrived in America with his wife, Deborah Montgomery, and their first three sons, John, Thomas and Robert. (An oldest child, Martha, is shown in some sources but not others. She was born before Robert married Deborah, so perhaps she was a niece or child by an earlier wife.) One or more of Robert's siblings may also have come to America at this time, along with their children and James' widow.

Robert Allan and his family first lived in Pennsylvania, but soon they moved to Virginia where they joined the Jost Hite (Joist Heydt) pioneers who were the first colonists to settle west of the Blue Ridge mountains (in the Opequon Run area at the end of the Shenandoah Valley). Their settlement was named Winchester, now part of Frederick County.

Robert Allan seems to have had at least one slave, named William Bogle, but he was called ``godson'' and received a large inheritance in Robert Allan's will.

Robert Allan was buried next to his friend, the pioneer leader Jost Hite.

My 5-great grandfathers John Allen (1732 - 1794) and Robert Allen, Jr. (1736 - 1791) were born in Ireland but grew up in the Opequon Run area of western Virginia. Both these men served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, John as a Major. Their other brothers, Thomas and David were also officers in that War, Colonel and Captain respectively. (John also served in the French and Indian Wars.)

John married Anne Polk, whose father, Thomas Pollock, was also an Irish immigrant. She was born in 1743, but otherwise her birth details are unclear. Her tombstone names her mother as ``Ann'' and her birthplace as Carlisle, Pennsylvania, but an old ``carefully prepared genealogy'' claims she was born in Coleraine, Ireland with mother Mary Cochrane. (That Mary Cochrane was niece of the 2nd Earl of Dundonald and has an impressive royal pedigree.)

Robert married Martha Roberts, also an Irish immigrant from Armagh.

After the deaths of John and Robert, their sons continued West, traveling up the Ohio River by flatboat to what is now Shelby County, Kentucky. The widow Anne Allen nee Polk accompanied her sons, but I have no information on Robert's wife Martha.

My 4-great grandfather Montgomery Allen (1766 - 1835) was born in western Virginia but moved to Kentucky about the turn of the century with his brothers and cousins. They were part of the early Western expansion Teddy Roosevelt wrote about; Roosevelt called these pioneers the ``Presbyterian Irish.''

Montgomery Allen was the principal partner to help his cousin Robert Polk Allen establish the Allen Dale Farm near present-day Shelbyville. That Farm exists to this day and is still owned by a descendant of Major John Allen. Robert Polk Allen was also Montgomery's (double) brother-in-law since Montgomery married Robert's sister Martha Allen (1772 - 1839) and Robert married Montgomery's sister Deborah.

Leaving Allen Dale Farm to their cousin and brother Robert, Montgomery and Martha continued on to Indiana, where they spent time in both Monroe and Putnam Counties. Montgomery died in 1835; Martha in 1839.

My 3-great grandfather John Washington Allen (1804 - 1852) was born in Kentucky but spent most of his life in Indiana where he died in 1852. He had two wives (Fanny Clark and Martha Anne Givens), two sons and a daughter. John W. Allen appears in the Monroe County Book of Land Deeds; he may have been a business partner of his brother Robert. He attended Indiana University after the death of his second wife. Other than this I have no data on John W. Allen. Two of the Indiana Allen mysteries center on John W. Allen.

My 2-great grandfather James Darwin Allen (1849 - 1912) was an orphan. His mother died when he was just one year old, and his father died two years later. He seems to appear in the 1860 census in Perry Township of Monroe County, living with 45-year old Eliza Ann Allen and 9-year old Robert Allen, next to the household of his half-brother William J. Allen. Eliza Ann may have been John W. Allen's third wife but so far I am unable to identify her.

James Darwin Allen received an A.A. degree from Indiana University in 1869 and soon moved to Kansas where he married Nettie Wiley in 1871. He served for many years as Cashier of the Wilson County Bank. There is a little more information in his son's obituary.

Some of his cousins may have moved to Kansas at about the same time, including James Montgomery Allen. (A man of this name served as Kansas legislator in 1874 but, although I know our cousin was living in Kansas, I have no proof the legislator was the same man.)

James Darwin Allen was something of a mystery to me for a while. Even his middle name was unclear; the very few references to this man usually being ``James D.'' or just ``J. D.'' or ``James.'' (My grandfather wasn't much on genealogy, saying only ``there was a Darwin back there somewhere.'')

Eventually I located the full name ``James Darwin Allen'' on the Internet in three places (not counting my own website):

He appears in the records of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (his descent from Major John Allen allowed three of his granddaughters to join the NSDAR).
His full name appears on an on-line death certificate. (He died 1 Sept. 1912 in Oregon. I have no idea why he retired to Oregon.)
A record of his A.A. degree from Indiana University was kindly placed on-line by the Monroe County Historical Association.

James Darwin Allen's half-brother rated a biographical sketch in an old book when he was 48 years old, which I reproduce here.

Biographical Sketch of William J. Allen (from a 1884 book placed on the Internet)

Counties of Morgan, Monroe and Brown, Indiana. Historical and Biographical.
Charles Blanchard, Editor. Chicago:F. A. Battey & Co., Publishers, 1884.
MONROE COUNTY, INDIANA
BLOOMINGTON TOWNSHIP AND CITY
PAGE 550
WILLIAM J. ALLEN, only son of John W. and Fannie J. (Clark)Allen, was born September 8, 1836, in Putnam County, Ind. He was reared on a farm in Perry Town-ship, Monroe County, Ind., whither he came with his parents when but three months old. In September, 1850, he entered the State University, and remained until the death of his father, September 8, 1852. In April, 1853, he came to Bloomington with his mother, and entered the employ of W. O. Fee, a dry goods merchant, with whom he remained for nearly a year. March 13, 1854, he went to California, where he mined until the spring of 1857, when he returned to Bloomington. Removing thence to Iowa, he remained a short time. In September, 1857, he was married to Harriet L. Swearingen, daughter of Charles and Harriet Swearingen, residents of Monroe County. They had three children -- John C., Fannie C. and Joseph H. His wife died on November 8, 1865, and in July following he was married to Eliza J. Allen, daughter of Robert N. and Elizabeth Allen, of Greencastle, Ind. They have six children -- Robert N., Eliza L., Mary M., William D., Eva O. and Arthur G. He farmed after his first marriage until the war broke out in 1862, and then enlisted in Company A, Fifty-fourth Indiana Light Artillery, serving for three years, taking part in the battles at Atlanta, Jonesboro and Nashville, and on July 5, 1865, received an honorable discharge. Returning to Bloomington, he was engaged in the stove and tinware business with M. E. Benegar, afterward with Samuel Osborn, until 1870, when he purchased the whole stock, and at present does a lucrative business in stoves, tin and hardware, also agricultural implements, and all kinds of building material. Mr. Allen is a member of the United Presbyterian Church, and politically he is a Republican.
Data Entry Volunteer: Diana Flynn

My great grandfather Guy Wiley Allen (1872 - 1908) was born in Fredonia Kansas, had four sons and died an untimely death. Another webpage. contains both his obituary and a biographical sketch of his maternal grandfather, James Wiley.

After his death, his widow, Lois Allen nee Hudson, moved to Colorado where her friend was Governor. Lois H. Allen was a prominent newspaperwoman. Here's information on Lois Hudson and her ancestry. Here's a little more information on Lois Hudson's father's ancestry.

My grandfather James Dow Allen (1900 - 1986) followed his mother into the newspaper business, working over forty years at the Rocky Mountain News. Just as his ancestors had fled Ireland during a religious uprising, his wife, Maurita Mae Anderson, was the granddaughter of a man who fled Ireland after his father was assassinated by the Sinn Fein. James and Maurita had a single child.

James Dow Allen was an avid fisherman and a loving father and grandfather.

My father James Dow Allen, Jr. (1926 - 1975) published his own newspaper as a young boy. He served as a Radio Technician aboard the U.S.S. Cotten during World War II. After the war he completed his education, joined the aerospace boom in California and became a noteworthy inventor. He served as Program Manager of the Aries and Hydra projects at IBM, where he was Advisory Engineer. He was active in community affairs, serving as President of both the Jaycees and the Homeowners Association of Los Gatos, California. Among other recreations, my father was a private pilot. In 1947 he married Barbara Jeanne Church who forsake her education and career to support him and raise his children. She also found time to do copious volunteer work, e.g. at migrant workers' health clinics. Late in life, my mother established a second career as a counselor. She has served as an officer of CAADAC and received their highest award.

This completes our summary of the travels westward of one line of Allens from Armagh to Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Kansas, Colorado and California.