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Below is a family biography included in History of Shawnee County, Kansas and Representative Citizens by James L. King, published by Richmond & Arnold, 1905.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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HON. STEPHEN H. ALLEN.
Hon. Stephen H. Allen, who has been an honored resident of Topeka, since 1892, the same year in which he was elected a Supreme Court judge, was born March 19, 1849, at Sinclairville, New York, and is a son of Caleb J. and Emily (Haley) Allen.

The Allen family is an old New England one and both parents of our distinguished subject were born in Connecticut. The father entered business life as a hatter, but later became a merchant at Sinclairville, New York. Of the nine children of the family, Judge Allen is the only survivor.

Like many other eminent men, Judge Allen found no royal road to learning. His early education was secured in the public schools under very different conditions from those of the present day, and when his aptitude for mathematics and later leaning toward the law led him to study civil engineering and enter upon the stud of Coke and Blackstone, he first earned the money to pursue these studies by teaching school and various other labors. His preceptor in the law was Obed Edson, a well-known practitioner of Sinclairville. He was admitted to the bar at Buffalo, New York, November 5, 1869, and in the same year removed to Missouri as a member of a railroad surveying party and reached Pleasanton, Kansas, in 1870, and settled in Linn County, where he still owns a fine farm of 260 acres not far from Mound City, the county-seat. From 1875 to 1876 he served as prosecuting attorney of Linn County and continued in the practice of his profession there until 1890 when he was elected judge of the Sixth Judicial District. Two years later he was elected to a seat on the Supreme bench. Judge Allen has always enjoyed a large measure of professional success and the universal esteem of both bench and bar.

In 1872 Judge Allen was married to Lucina A. Smith, who is a daughter of Capt. Otis H. and Phoebe A. (Thurston) Smith, formerly of Illinois. The four children born to Judge and Mrs. Allen are: Otis S., in partnership with his father in the practice of the law, who was married October 19, 1904, to Flora B. Jones, of Bloomington, Illinois; Emily A., Mrs. Charles H. Drew, of Richfield, Morton County, Kansas, who is a graduate of the Kansas State University; Ellen A., who resides at home; and George S. Judge Allen and his family are prominent in the city’s social life and he is a valued member of the Authors’ Club.

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This family biography is one of 206 biographies included in History of Shawnee County, Kansas and Representative Citizens by James L. King, published by Richmond & Arnold, 1905.  For the complete description, click here: Shawnee County, Kansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional Shawnee County, Kansas family biographies here: Shawnee County, Kansas

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