Thomas Allen Article Now Available

My academic article about Thomas Allen and his origins, which was published in the “Magazine of Virginia Genealogy” in February of 2013, is posted below in its entirety as a PDF file.

My thanks for the reprint permission from the Virginia Genealogical Society.

Thomas Allen Article by Veselik

Thomas Allen Subject of New Academic Article

My academic article about the origins of Thomas Allen will be published in the upcoming issue of The Magazine of Virginia Genealogy, a publication of the Virginia Genealogical Society.

The article is entitled “Thomas Allen of North Carolina and Virginia: Mystery Solved,” and documents the Allen family’s presence in Granville County, North Carolina, prior to Thomas Allen relocating to Southwest Virginia after 1810.

You can access the Virginia Genealogical Society’s website here.

Document Backs Up Bible Record Info

An 1827 Washington County VA court document proves the connection between Thomas Allen and his step-son, John Harvey Crow. This document supports the information in the Robert Batey Allen family Bible. Both documents state that John Harvey Crow was the son of John M. (Mackey) Crow. A similar document was executed making Thomas Allen the guardian of Jane Crow, John’s sister.

https://allenfamilyarchives.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/guardianship1.jpg.

The Railroad was in the Allens’ Blood

It’s interesting to note that all but one of the sons of Robert Batey Allen ended up working for the railroad at some time in their careers.

The oldest son, William Jackson Allen, was born in 1850 and died in 1893. He was a railroad engineer and his monument in the Allen Family plot in the Mt. Carmel Cemetery near Marion, Virginia, bears the symbol of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.

James Thomas Allen (1852-1920) relocated to Radford, Virginia, and at the time of his death he was referred to as the “wreck master” at the rail yard in Radford.

Michael Albert Allen (1854-1944), according to his granddaughter, was a railroad carpenter in Radford.

Samuel Floyd Allen (1862-1939) lived in Erwin, Tennessee, and was also a railroad engineer.

The only remaining son of Robert Batey Allen, Ferd Johnston Allen (1864-1945), remained on the family homeplace near Marion, Virginia, and cared for his aging parents. He was a farmer and was active in the local Methodist Church. He was always close to the railroad, nonetheless, as the main rail line through Smyth County was located about sixty feet from his front door.

Thomas Allen’s Paternal Ancestry

Extant records show that Thomas Allen and his sister, Elizabeth, were the only children of Samuel Allen, Jr. and Frances “Fannie” (Rice) Allen.

Samuel Allen, Jr. is believed to have died about 1799 or 1800, though his death is more likely to have occurred in 1801, as it was in November of that year that his administrator filed the inventory of Samuel’s estate in Granville County, North Carolina. The administrator was his father, Samuel Allen, Sr.

Samuel Allen, Sr. is also known to have made allowances in his will for his orphaned grandchildren, Thomas and Elizabeth Allen, to have the portion of his property that would have gone to their father, Samuel, Jr. In fact, Samuel Allen, Sr. was named a guardian of Thomas and Elizabeth in 1812. When Samuel passed away in early 1813, Thomas and Elizabeth’s uncle-by-marriage, John Jenkins, was named their guardian for purposes of handling their inheritance. Extant records in the holdings of the North Carolina State Archives provided the above information.

Fannie Allen, Thomas and Elizabeth’s mother, was remarried in 1807 to John Earl in Granville County. The Earls relocated to Southwest Virginia (Washington County) shortly after 1810 and likely before 1812, when their second child is known to have been born in Virginia. It is not known why Samuel Allen, Sr. chose to seek guardianship of his grandchildren unless he simply did not want their mother or their new step-father to have any control over their inheritance.

Samuel Allen, Sr. was married to Mary McAllister. Though no record of the couple’s marriage has been located, the biography of their son, the Rev. Zachariah Allen, published in A History of Grassy Creek Baptist Church From its Foundation to 1800, with Biographical Sketches of its Pastors and Ministers by Robert I. Devin, published in 1880, specifically names Zachariah’s parents and Samuel Allen and Mary “McCollister.” It also notes that Zachariah was born in Virginia.

Records indicate that Samuel Allen, Sr.’s father was Joseph Allen of Spotsylvania County, Virginia, who died in 1783. Samuel Allen, Joseph’s son, was named one of his executors. Samuel Allen, Sr. and his wife, Mary, are known to have owned land in Louisa County, Virginia, and some researchers believe that Mary McAllister was born in that county.

Further proof of the connection between Thomas Allen and his grandmother, Mary McAllister, can be found in the Robert B. Allen family Bible, in which Thomas’ daughter’s birth was recorded and her name listed as “Mary Mcaulister Allen.”

It’s Time to Clear Up Some Confusion About Thomas Allen

There are so very many inaccurate or incorrect websites and pedigrees floating around the Internet and websites such as Ancestry.com, that I felt it necessary to start a site dedicated to sharing information about Thomas Allen, his ancestry and his descendants, purely for the purpose of clearing up the matter and sharing accurate information with other Allen researchers.

First, let me explain that the Thomas Allen in question was my great-great-great-grandfather on my maternal grandmother’s side of the family. I am in possession of the family Bible of Thomas Allen’s son, Robert B. Allen, in which are recorded many of the only extant birth, marriage, and death dates for the family. The Bible was published in 1854.

(Please see the documented academic article I wrote that was published in 2013 in the “Magazine of Virginia Genealogy.” A copy can be found by clicking here.)

The Thomas Allen in question was born in 1798 in Granville County, North Carolina, and died in Smyth County, Virginia in 1843. He was the son of Samuel Allen, Jr. and his wife, Frances “Fannie” Rice, who married as her second husband, John Earl. After Samuel’s death (his estate appraisal was filed in November of 1801) and her remarriage to John Earl in 1807, the family relocated from North Carolina to Southwest Virginia. This move occurred probably shortly after 1810, when John Earl was enumerated in the census of Granville County. The birth of a son born to John and Fannie Earl occurred about 1812 in Virginia, meaning they had already moved well in advance of their having been enumerated in the Washington County, Virginia, census of 1820. Thomas Allen had one sister, Elizabeth, who was born about 1799/1800.

Thomas Allen married only once in his life. His wife was Elizabeth Snider, who was married first to John Mackey Crow, by whom she had a son and a daughter. Her first husband having died in 1815, Elizabeth married Thomas Allen in 1821. The couple had three sons and a daughter, of which one son died young and another married but died without issue. Thomas’ descendants were the result of the marriages of his only daughter, Mary Ann, to George Washington Cullop, and his surviving son, Robert Batey Allen, to Paulina Jane Killinger.

I plan to post copies of records and photos here, including many that have never before been available on the Internet or elsewhere. I welcome constructive input from other researchers working on this family line. Thomas Allen’s roots go back to Louisa County, Virginia, and beyond. Fannie Rice’s parentage is a bit hazier, but I shall try to shed some light on the Rice family, as well.

Welcome to the Allen Family Archives.