First Settlers
The first in our line of Allens to come to the New World from England were George Allen and his son Ralph Allen (1615-1698). Ralph settled in the Massachusetts Bay area in Sandwich and was an early convert to Quakerism. This was around the same time the Boston Martyrs were executed for their Quaker faith.
Aside from religious persecution, this was a dangerous period to be in New England. In 1675, Wampanoag chief Metacomet launched a war against the English colonists, burning crops and destroying entire towns. Despite this, Ralph and his son Joseph (1642-1704) remained in Massachusetts for most of their lives.
Joseph’s son Reuben (1690-1741) left Massachusetts as a young man for Maryland where his brother Benjamin owned land. The Allens of this era were presumably well off since Reuben bought 900 acres of land in Cecil County, Maryland around 1720. Over the next 15 years he sold all of his land and moved to Shenandoah County, Virginia.
Reuben’s son Joseph (1730-1805) established extensive holdings in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia receiving three land grants from Lord Fairfax. He also would have been a witness to a war with Native American’s, living on the edge of the warzone during Pontiac’s War.
Joseph’s son Jackson (1764-1846) grew up during the American Revolution but was likely too young to participate, and, like his ancestors, he was a Quaker at a time when nearly 1000 Quakers were disowned for taking up arms during the war.
Journey West
After the war was a time of expansion and exploration. In 1787 the Northwest Territory was established consisting of present-day Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and parts of Minnesota. The Louisiana Purchase happened in 1803. And in 1804, two Virginia explorers named Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set off for a round trip to the Pacific Ocean.
A few years after Ohio achieved its statehood in 1803, Jackson moved his family to Clinton County, Ohio. Only a year before, his eldest son Edward (1790-1855) had moved to Ohio where he married in 1810. Edward was the first in our line to leave the Quakers. Two years after he joined a Methodist church, he was drafted into the War of 1812 and likely served as a sergeant under Captain John Clark. Given his location in Ohio, it’s also likely that he participated in battles against Native chief Tecumseh. Edward’s son John (1813-1860) was born in the midst of the war.
In 1829 Edward’s family moved to Warren County, Indiana – 13 years after statehood – where a number of land grants were issued in his name. The family stayed here until around 1843. While in Warren County, they would have had a front row seat to both the Potawatomie Trail of Death of 1838 and the completion of North America’s longest canal, the Wabash and Erie Canal, both of which passed through Warren County.
Sometime before 1850 both Edward and John moved again to Green County, Wisconsin (which achieved statehood in 1848). Both father and son again received land grants in Green County. Edward passed away from cholera in 1855, the same year his grandson James Milton (1855-1918) was born. John died suddenly in 1860 and his wife, Lavina (Odle) Allen took James and his younger siblings to Warren County, Iowa where they stayed for 10 years.
In 1874 James and his mother moved to Smith County, Kansas where he received a land grant in 1882. In 1910 he had settled in Finney County, Kansas working as a farmer and a minister in the Methodist faith of his grandparents. James’s son Milton (1885-1954) stayed in Kansas for his entire life working various jobs. His children and grandchildren are spread across the country from New Jersey to Los Angeles.
