My Genealogy Hound

ALLEN, BENJAMIN, farmer and stock raiser, Sec. 5, P. O. Rockbridge. Years ago, when the emigrant wagons lined the banks of the Macoupin, Benjamin Allen, then in the flush of early manhood, became an inhabitant of Illinois; when Chicago was so deep in the wilderness that the news of Indian outbreaks on our western frontiers did not reach the adventurous men comprising its inhabitants, for many weeks; St. Louis itself, now one of the wealthiest cities in the Union, a mere trading point for the Hudson Bay Fur Co., and others who, plunging into the wilds of the far west, hunted the fresh water streams for mink, otter and other fur bearing animals; but to the subject under consideration. Benjamin Allen was born in South Carolina, in 1792. In an early day he made his way to Kentucky where he subsequently married Miss Susan Taylor, and shortly after this important event, he made his way to Monroe Co., Illinois, two years later removing to Madison Co., thence to Greene Co., where he bought an improved claim; for a considerable length of time his only neighbor was John Taylor, who has long since been gathered to his fathers; in those days, wolves abounded, and deer and turkey in great numbers, sometimes formed a delicious repast for the vigorous backwoods man; many a time he found it necessary to make a journey of thirty or forty miles, and there patiently await the grinding of his grist. Years have flown since then, and Mr. Allen has long since reaped the benefit of his early labors in the far west. To follow step by step his career on the prairies, where he followed the plow, or swinging his ax among the timber, or assisted in the raising of a cabin, would perhaps be superfluous, as so many of the trials endured in frontier life are found in our general history. His wife, whose maiden name was Susan Taylor, departed this life in 1860, and was laid at rest in the Rockbridge Cemetery; the children born of this marriage now living, are John, who married Miss Amanda Huff; Margaret, who married Jefferson Dixon, and Mary, who married Anson Miller. In the war of 1812, Mr. A. became an active participant, and few indeed have witnessed a more eventful, progressive life than the aged veteran from whom this narrative is obtained.