Fayette County PA Archives Biographies.....Allen, James October 18, 1818 - ????
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Marta Burns marta43@juno.com August 26, 2024, 7:52 am

Source: Gresham and Wiley, 1889: Biographical & Portrait Cyclopedia, Fayette Co, PA, pg 408
Author: John H. Gresham & Samuel T. Wiley

JAMES ALLEN of New Haven, comes of a family founded in 
the United States in about 1740 by David Allen of Ireland 
and Susan White of Scotland.  They were the great 
grandparents of James Allen, the subject of this sketch, who 
came to this country on the same vessel and were married 
after their arrival here.

    After marriage they settled in Chester county, Penna, 
where they lived for some years, and removed thence to 
Franklin township, Fayette county, Penna.  They had eleven 
children: Agnes Allen, Nancy Allen, Jane Allen, Margaret 
Allen, Susanna Allen, David Allen, Anne Allen, James Allen 
(from whom sprang the immediate family of James Allen), 
Josiah Allen and George Allen.

    James Allen (grandfather) was born August 22, 1758, died 
February 16, 1840, and was married to Nancy Peairs.  She 
died February 4, 1859, and they both sleep in Laurel Hill 
Cemetery in Franklin township.  They had two children: 
Elisha Allen and David Allen.

    David Allen, the father of James Allen, was born in 1787 
in Franklin township, Fayette county, Penna, died May 7, 
1828, and was by occupation a farmer.  He served for a time 
as a watchman down the Ohio river against the Indians in the 
early settlement of the country.  He married Rebecca Smith, 
a daughter of William Smith, native of Scotland.  They had 
the following children: Martha S Allen, born 1817; James 
Allen, born 1818; William Allen, 1819; Mary Peirce Allen, 
1820; John White Allen, 1821; David Hunter Allen, 1822; 
Susan Allen, 1823; Josiah Allen, 1824; and Robert Rush 
Allen, 1825.

    The maternal grandfather was William Smith, born in 
Scotland, and came from Edinburgh to Philadelphia.  He 
afterwards started to join Daniel Boone in Kentucky, going 
as far as Mt Pleasant, Westmoreland county, Penna, where he 
spent the winter in a pen that had been built to protect the 
sheep from the wolves.  Failing to receive any word from 
Boone, he settled in what is now the "loop" of Jacob's Creek 
in Westmoreland county.

    James Allen was born in Franklin township, Fayette 
county, Penna, October 18, 1818, and was the second of nine 
children born to his parents.  Born and reared on a farm, 
his business through life has been farming in his native 
township.  He continued to farm successfully to 1882 when he 
retired, and at present resides at New Haven.

    James Allen has been three times married.  His first 
wife was Sarah J Gutherie, a daughter of Rev James Guthrie, 
who for forty five years was pastor of Laurel Hill church.  
They had the following children: James Allen, Rebecca Ann 
Allen, Walter L Allen, and William S Allen, all of whom are 
dead except Walter L Allen, a farmer living in Harrison 
county, Ohio.  His second wife was Sarah Louisa Allen, 
daughter of Jonathan G Allen of Uniontown, to whom he was 
married March 26, 1856.  They have one child: Sarah E Allen. 
 His third wife was Mary Miller of Connellsville, to whom he 
was married September 8, 1864.

    Mr Allen has served as a director of the county home for 
three years; was one of the directors of the Youghiogheny 
Bank at Connellsville at the time of its organization and 
has held the directorship continuously from that time to the 
present.  He has been a director in the Youghiogheny Bridge 
Company, and is at present school director of New Haven.

    He is a member of the Presbyterian church at 
Connellsville.  Prior to 1882 he was a member at Laurel 
Hill, having joined the church there in 1841; was elected an 
elder in 1851, and has held the office ever since. He is one 
of the present trustees of the church at Connellsville.  
James Allen has always been an earnest worker in the church 
in all matters of a moral and religious character, and has 
always supported them with his means as well as with his 
might.  He has represented the Redstone presbytery at 
different sessions of synod at Pittsburgh; Indiana, Indiana 
county, Penna; Parkersburg, W Va; McKeesport, Kittaning and 
Belle Vernon, Penna; and was a delegate from the Redstone 
presbytery to the general assembly of the Presbyterian 
church at its session in 1862 at Columbus, Ohio.

Additional Comments:
Originally submitted 2000.

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