John Allen Sr.

    Ann was born Aug. 11, 1806 in NC, married John Allen (born 1794ca) about 1826 in Bedford Co., TN and died about 1850. However she is listed with the family in the 1850 Hardeman Co., TN census (#576-215) and is not listed in the 1850 Haredman Co mottality schedule. John was born May 15, 1794 in Warren Co., NC and died about 1881 in Hardeman Co., TN. John Allen is listed as Admr. to the estate of Sarah Odeneal in a court record that also lists James Grant, Jan. 17, 1842. In the 1850 census both Mary and Vincent have left home but could not be found in the 1850 TN census or 1850 TX census.
    The following information about John Allen is from a letter his grandson, James W. Allen, sent to The Warren Report, Warren Co., NC for a newspaper article by T. J. Taylor.. The letter was dated Oct. 30th, 1917 from Nashville , TN. It appeared in the November 9th, 1917 edition.
    John Allen was the grandson of Charles Allen who was reared near Culpepper, VA. Charles Allen was a strong personal friend of President Washington, and served two enlistments in the Revolutionary War, and during the last, was Captain of his company at more than fifty years of age. His company was brigaded with Gen. Ashe and he was in the battle of "Brier Thicket," "Alamance Creek," and "Guilford Court House." John Allen was the son of Vincent Allen, who bore his mother's maiden name, and who was also in the Revolutionary War from a Virginia Regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Posey. John Allen himself, served a short enlistment in the "War of 1812," in a company of North Carolina Militia of which ???? was Capt. and drew a pension from the United States Government for this service to the time of his death. He was born May 15, 1794, and died Janary 12, 1881, on the plantation that he cleared himself near Whiteville, TN, and is buried in the family graveyard at that place. He moved to Whiteville in 1835, 12 years after the treaty with the Indians providing for the purchase and settlement of West Tennessee.
    While teaching school in the early part of his life, he found it necessary to supply a number of the children with shoes in order to keep them in school, and in orderr to do this he was compelled to make them himself, supplying them without cost to any of the pupils wishing him to do so.
    He was married about 1821 to Miss Nancy Caroline Morton, of one of the most prominent families in this section at that time. She was the daughter of John Morton and his wife, Miss Caroline O'Dineal (Odeneal),. who lived near Triune in Williamson County. His children were Mary Allen, Thompson Allen, Vincent Allen, Caroline Allen, Ada Allen, John Allen, Joe Allen and Amanda Tate Allen.
    Mary Allen married Caswell Coates, Bolivar, Hardeman County, TN, and moved to Texas soon after that state was admitted to the Union. She only had one daughter, Alma, who married a Mr. Hester, and Alma only had one child by the name of John Hester. They are both living, at Columbus, Texas, and are in a good financial condition.
    Thompson Allen married Miss Araminta Wilson, near Bolivar, Tenn., and a Miss Newsom, near Fayette Corner, TN, and died about 1892 without heirs. He was buried with Masonic honors at Goodwin, Arkansas, where he owned a plantation. He joined E. Company, Forrest Old Regiment, and was shot down at the Battle of Shiloh, which was the first battle he was ever in. His horse was killed by the same bullet,and this wound was the cause of his death.
    Vincent Allen went to Texas when he was a young chap with his sister Mary, and married a Miss Wilson near Alleytown, in Colorado county, and raised a family. One son, Gussie, the oldest, lives in Montana and Mrs. Traylor and Mrs. Leeds live at Wharton, Texas. Miss Pearl Leeds, one of the daughters, is quite a prominent school teacher in that section.
    Caroline, Jane and Ada Allen died when they were in their teens and were ever married.
    John Allen married Miss Louisa Harwood near Trenton, TN, and left two children, Orion and J. W. Allen (James Walter, myself). My brother, Orion Allen, lives at O'Donnell, Texas, and is engaged in the cattle business. He left Tennessee in 1881 for his health, which was restored by the refreshing breezes, of the Panhandle country. He has three children. Glenn Allen, who is married and settled near his father; Fern Allen, who is in the National Army and Ora Allen, who married a Mr. Miles and is settled near that point. John Allen lost his wife in February 1861 and he immediately joined Company E. of the 7th Tennessee Cavalry which was brigaded with Gen. Forrest's old Regiment throughout the entire Civil War. He was wounded at Union City, Tenn., and, again, at Harrisbutg, MS. These wounds superinduced his death in 1866. He was a lawyer by profession.
    James W. married Miss Flora Hamel November 23, 1881. She descended from a long line of Indian fighters who came to Tennessee from North Carolina in the early part of the eighteenth century. She died on,June 7th, 1916. Our children are as follows: Mrs. A. A.. Bailey, Chicago, IL; Mrs. 0. A. Burbank, Chicago, IL; Mrs. W. A. Dyer, Washington, D. C,- J. W. Allen, Jr., New Orleans, LA; W. T. Allen, Chicago, IL; Morton P. Allen, Chicago, IL; Forrest' F. Allen, Nashvillee, TN; and Mary Graddy)
    The following is from Barbara Gunn Ryon "History of the Matthews".

    The first trace we found of John and Nancy in Hardeman County was in 1834 when John bought 640 acres. Over the years he bought another 528.25 acres, which brought his cotton plantation up to 1168.25 acres. All of John's land was in the 10th District, Range 5, Section 5.
    Tragedy struck the family on 11 July 1835 when John and Nancy's fourth child, four-year old Eliza 0., died. She had been born 14 Oct 1830, and is buried in the Farley Cemetery.
    Nancy's grandmother, Sarah Tate Odneal (sic); may have been living with the family when she died. John Allen was the Administrator of her estate. One bed and saddle were sold on 14 Sep 1839 from her estate.
    The 1840 Census shows John and Nancy's family consisting of six children: 1 girl aged 15 20; 2 boys aged 10-15; 2 boys aged 5-10; and 2 girls aged 0-5. These children would be: Mary, ca 16; Thompson, 14; Vincent, ca 12; John, 7; Joseph, 5; Caroline, 3; and Jane, 1. (Eliza would have been 10 if she had lived.)
    John and Nancy had only been married 17 years so its safe to say that this was all their children, i.e., no child had left home yet.
    Only two more children were born into the Allen family: Adaline was born ca. 1841, and Amanda Tate was born on 3 Dec 1846.
    On 30 Dec 1841, their oldest girl, Mary, married Caswell Coates. He was the son of William and Mary Coates of Hardeman County.
    The 1850 census shows Thompson at home farming with his dad, the next five children were "students," and Amanda was a tyke of 4 years. There must have been a governess or tutor (or both) in the home as there was no school building in Whiteville until 1856. Vincent was not living at home and was probably married. He and Thompson belonged to the Bolivar Masonic Lodge in 1850 so he must have been living in the area.
    John Allen's wife, Nancy, died in late 1850 at the age of 44. Amanda was four when she lost her mother.
    Two years later, John married Susanah Rebecca Johnson, the widow of the Rev. William Johnson, on 24 August 1852. She was 39 and John was 58 when they married and they did not have any children.
    A published history of Hardeman County tells us:
    "In 1856 the first school building was erected in Whiteville at a spot now occupied by the John Cross residence. It was a two story house with an auditorium and study hall on the lower floor and class rooms on the upper floor. The Jeffersonian Institute, as it was called, stressed music and art and had special rooms provided for these subjects.
    "The first principal of the school was Professor Dillard of New York. Miss Wally and Miss Sherwood, also from New York, were instructors of music and art, this is probably where Amanda received her training in art and music. Other teachers were Professor N. E. Wood and Professor Allen who was killed in the Battle of Shiloh."
    The husband of the oldest daughter, Mary, was in Colorado County, Texas, just west of where Houston is today in October, 1856. He made out a Power of Attorney authorizing John Allen to handle his inheritance from his parents. Was Mary the first Allen child to emigrate to Texas?
    Rebecca Allen, John's second wife died on 12 Aug 1860. Thompson and Amanda were the only two children living at home when she died. Amanda was 14 when her stepmother died; she would have been the only mother that Amanda remembered.
    The Civil War started on 12 April 1861. The 1860 census shows the Allen household consisting of only John Allen, age 66; Thompson, age 35; and Amanda, age 14. Rebecca, John's wife, had just died.
    John and Thompson were raising cotton on the family's 1168+-acre plantation with the help of 30 slaves. The Allens had a two-story antebellum home, and there were seven slave houses on the property. The value of John Allen's property was $35,760; Thompson's was $5,600.
    (If the information on the 1860 Census is accurate, the Allens had more than twice as much wealth in land, slaves and personal property as the Matthews.)
    There is a real mystery in the slave schedule for 1860. ownership of the slaves on the Allen plantation was: Thompson, 3; John Allen, 2; and Arthur Allen, 25. Who in the world was Arthur Allen? This was the only mention I found of this name in any of the county records over a 70-year period.
    Amanda had four brothers who probably fought in the Civil War. Thompson was 36, Vincent was 34 (if he was still living), John was 28, and Joseph was 26 when the war started.
    John and Joseph rode to Jackson on 24 May 1861 and joined the Confederate calvary. They were originally assigned to Logwood's Battalion in the fall of 1861 and first saw service about New Madrid, MO. On 10 June 1862 they were attached Company E of the Seventh Calvary, known as "Hardeman's Avengers," under General Forrest where they spent the rest of their military careers. Private Joseph F. Allen was "killed at Denmark Tenn" on 1 Sept 1862. Private John Allen was "wounded and left in Tennessee" on May 2nd, 1864.
    The war was over in the Spring of 1865, and on 29 October 1865 Thompson married Martha Araminta Wilson in Hardeman County.
    In April 1866, John Allen made out a Gift Deed to his newly married son, Thompson, for 264 acres off the Allen plantation.
    The Allen household on the 1870 federal census consisted of John Allen, 76; Amanda, 23; Walter, 12; and Orion, 10. These two boys were the sons of either John Allen who died in 1866.
    The children of John Allen and Nancy Morton are listed below:

In the 1860 Colorado Co., TX census Caroline and Adaline were listed with their brother Vincent. After Barbara Ryon had this info she thought it possible they did not all die of TB. It may be Jane died and the other two moved to Texas for their health and died there or , perhaps, married and had families.