William Alfred Alfred Allen

WM. ALLEN DIES Veteran of Civil War Born In 1838 Was Ill But Ten Days.

William A. Allen died yesterday afternoon at one o'clock at his home, 301 South Elizabeth avenue. He had been ill for ten days with pneumonia. The funeral services will be held at two o'clock this afternoon at the Mueller chapel, and will be conducted be Rev. H. J. Cockrell of the Trinity Methodist church, of which the deceased was a member. Miss Little, formerly deaconess of the Trinity church will sing.

William A. Allen was born January 1, 1838, in London, Canada. He was married July 11, 1858 to Mary E. Patton at Holton, Kansas. He was a veteran of the Civil War. He is survived by five sons and three daughters. His daughters, Mrs. M. W. Keller and Miss Jessie Allen of this city, Mrs. G. Spangler of Kansas City, and his son G. H. Allen, of Garrison, Kansas, were with him at the time of his death.

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William Alfred Allen Biography "William A. Allen, one of the foremost business men of Jackson County, and a part owner and cashier of the Exchange Bank of Holton, is prominently identified with the early pioneers of Kansas, and since making a permanent settlement in this State, while aiding in the making of this prosperous commonwealth, he has built up a fortune for himself and family, and is numbered among the most substantial and wealthy citizens of this section of the country. He is a veteran of the late war, in which he won an honorable record for faithful, brave and patriotic service in the cause of the Union. Mr. Allen was born in London, Ontario, Canada, 3 January 1837, his father, Howard M. Allen, having been born on this side of the line, in Niagara County, N.Y. The paternal grandfather of our subject was a pioneer of that county, where he cleared a farm and carried on his occupation of a farmer many years. He removed to Lenawee County, Michigan, and spent his last days with his son. The maiden name of his wife was Mary Moore. William A. Allen was two years old when his parents settled in Michigan, and the preliminaries of his education were acquired in the primitive log schoolhouse, heated by an open fire in a rude fireplace, the chimney being built of clay and sticks on the outside of the building, and the seats made of slabs, with wooden pins for legs. As soon as he was large enough, he was set to the pioneer task of clearing the land and preparing the soil for cultivation. In those days lumber was valueless, and large logs that would now bring a good price were rolled together and burned to get them out of the way. Our subject remained with his parents until 1856, and then made his way, with his father, to the Territory of Kansas, coming as far as Peru, Illinois, with a team. After spending the winter in that place, they proceeded on their way to their destination by the Illinois, Mississippi and Missouri rivers to Leavenworth, and thence through an almost unsettled country to Holton. They had heard of Holton, but they found it to be only a town on paper, as all was open prairie here, with a village staked out, and a rude long house in the process of erection was the only visible sign of a habitation. It was nearly night when they arrived at the town site, and they kept on walking to secure shelter. Four miles west of there they found a double log cabin, occupied by a Mrs. Cole and family, who allowed them to stay with them until morning. The next day they set out for Soldier's Creek. The wind was blowing so hard that they found it very difficult to walk, so they returned to Mrs. Cole's shanty. About a week later his father returned Eastward, but our subject remained here, boarding most of the time with Mrs. Cole. He spent the following winter on the Missouri, near the present site of Leavenworth, where he was engaged in chopping wood. In the spring of 1857 he located on a claim of 160 acres near Elk City, paying for it by land warrants. Soon he made a claim in what is now Liberty Township, and erecting a log cabin, he kept a bachelor's establishment therein a part of the time. Deer and wild turkeys and other game roamed abut here and furnished him with substantial food, and a few miles west, on the Blue River, buffaloes were to be seen in numbers. At the time of his marriage, Mr. Allen located on his claim, and lived there until 1860. In July of that year, he returned to Michigan on account of the state of his health, and he was there when the war broke out. He watched its course with intense interest, and as soon as he was able he took up arms in defense of the old flag, enlisting, 1 January 1863, in Company A, 1st Michigan Light Artillery, and serving with credit until after the close of the rebellion. His regiment was with the Army of the Cumberland, and for most of the time did duty around Nashville and Chattanooga. He was honorably discharged at Jackson, Michigan, in July 1865. He returned to Kansas in the spring of 1866 after leaving the army, and having sold the place he first improved, he bought other land in Jefferson Township. Building a log cabin for a dwelling for his family, he engaged in farming and stock raising at that point until 1874. In that year he came to Holton, and has made his home here continuously since. In the fall of 1873 he was elected County Treasurer, and so well did his administration of the finances please his fellow citizens that they re-elected him to that responsible office in 1875. When his term expired he resumed farming, and carried on agricultural pursuits very extensively for four or five years, and he is still proprietor of 1500 acres of choice land in Pottawatomie County. In 1883, Mr. Allen established a bank at Olsburg, which is now owned and managed by his eldest son. In 1884, he bought an interest in the Exchange Bank of Holton, and has officiated as cashier of that institution since then. It is a private bank under the control of Newman & Allen. He is also on the Board of Directors of Campbell Normal University at Holton, and was active in its erection in 1881. Mr. Allen's marriage with Miss Mary E. Patton was consummated 11 July 1858, and they still preserve the certificate, which is in the handwriting of the gentleman who performed the ceremony. Mrs. Allen is a native of Virginia, and daughter of Calvin and Maria Jane (Thornburg) Patton, natives respectively of Virginia and Tennessee. They were pioneers in that part of Missouri known as the Platte Purchase. The father died there in 1856, and the mother subsequently came to the Territory of Kansas, and was a pioneer in Jackson County. Of their fifteen children born to Mr. and Mrs. Allen, eleven children grew to maturity, as follows: Emma, wife of M.W. Keller of Junction City; Edward M. and William W. are engaged in the banking and realestate business in Olsburg; Augusta J., wife of Dr. J.S. Spangler, of Westmoreland; John R., who is in the drug business at Westmoreland; Mary A., George H., in the Bank of Olsburg; Ida, Otto G., Nellie C. and Jessie." (Portrait and Biographical Album of Jackson, Jefferson and Pottawatomie Counties, Kansas", pub. 1890 by Chapman Bros., Chicago)

He was secretary of the Jefferson Grange, Jackson County, KS (William G. Cutler's "History of the State of Kansas", pub. 1883 by A.T.Andreas, Chicago, IL)