My Genealogy Hound

Williamson G. Allen, retired merchant, was born in 1819 in Garrett County, Ky., the son of Samuel and Mary (Lamb) Allen, the former of Scotch-Irish origin, born in Virginia in 1793. He was a farmer until his later years, in merchandising. He married in Kentucky, and in 1829 went to Marion County, Mo., and three years later, came to this county, with his nearest neighbor, thirteen miles distant. He died in 1838, after a year as merchant in La Grange. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and in the battle of New Orleans. The mother, of English origin, was born in Garrett County, Ky., in 1796, and died in 1832. Our subject, the fourth of eight children, was educated by a private instructor, and when nineteen years old, taught the first school in Knox County. In 1849 he married Providence Carter, of Dubuque, Iowa, born in Hardin County, Ky., in 1831. Their only child, Ida, was the wife of Robert C. Brennan. She died in 1852 in Texas, and in 1858 he married Susan J., a daughter of Robert Muir, born in 1835, in Henry County, Ky. Their children are Mamie; Eva B., the wife of J. E. Thompson; Maggie L., and Cora, the wife of Charles E. Blair. In 1849 he went to California, and mined for two years, going overland on a five months’ trip. After a time in Dubuque, Iowa, he spent a year in Texas, and in 1857 located at Williamstown, this county, as a merchant. In 1870 he came to Monticello, was elected sheriff, and in 1882 was elected both sheriff and collector, serving altogether four years. He then resumed mercantile life until June, 1886, when he resigned the postmastership to which he was appointed in 1877. Since then he has been a retired citizen. He is a Democrat, and first voted for Taylor. He is a Knight Templar, and the entire family are Free-Will Baptists.