John Allen

The Old North Church, formally the First Church of Christ Marblehead, was organized in 1635 by fishermen and mariners who sought permission to form an ecclesiastical society in order to relieve them of the burden of travel to Salem in order to receive church sacraments and participate in civil affairs. They met in homes until 1638 when a barn-like meeting house was constructed upon a rocky hill overlooking the ocean.

Lay-led Sabbath services were held every Sabbath until the Rev. Samuel Cheever, an ordained clergyman was called and settled in 1668 (the first pastor, the Rev. John Avery, was called in 1635, but perished, along with his family, in a shipwreck off Gloucester on his way to take up his call.

In 1684, under the guidance of the Rev. Cheever the settlers received permission from the First Church in Salem to become a separate ecclesiastical society [https://www.onchurch.org/ourhistory].

John Allen's seven children were baptized in the church, 4 baptized in June 21, 1685 (John, Miriam, Nicholas and Thomas, order not known), and three children baptized later (Richard, bapt. Aug. 21, 1687; Abraham, bapt. Dec. 15, 1689, and Ebenezer, Jan. 1, 1692/3). Notice that there was a Abraham Allin mentioned in the Marblehead town records in v. 1, p. 69, April 2, 1669; v. 1, p. 112, year 1675; and v. 1, p. 120, April 2, l677. It is possible that Abraham son of John Allen, bapt. in 1689, and the earlier Abraham Allen were related. There was also a Timothy Allen earlier in Marblehead in the town records.