Friday, May 1, 2015

The Allen Family Photo Album


Recently a third cousin, once removed showed up in my Ancestry DNA matches.  It turns out he has a picture of my great-grandfather's sister, Elma Allen and is descended from her.  Elma and my great-grandfather, John D Allen,  were born to John Allen and Sarah Ann Freeman who were married in New Jersey and headed west to join relatives on the frontier....Muskingum County, Ohio.  Arriving in 1831, Elma was born in 1832 and John D followed in May of 1833.  However, tragedy struck in November of 1833 when John Allen died, likely of cholera.   In a couple of years Sarah married again, an older man by the name of Benjamin Robinson.  She had four children by Benjamin before he also died, leaving her a young widow with six children.  Those four children were Nancy, Lucy, Emeline and Albert.

John D Allen married Mary Short Lake, the Short for her natural father and Lake for the family that adopted her when the Short family arrived in Ohio.  So, Mary had two fathers.

This album belonged to John D and Mary.  My dad identified a few of the pictures but many remain unidentified.  When I went looking for the album to see if any of the pictures matched the one my new cousin had of Elma Allen I had a hard time finding it and was so relieved when it finally showed up.  I decided to scan all the pictures and preserve them here and, who knows, maybe someday someone WILL identify these folks.

The family members that are possibilities:
Sarah Ann Freeman, John D Allen, Elma Allen, Nancy Robinson, Lucy Robinson, Lucy's husband William Case, Emeline (who, to my knowledge was never married) and Albert Robinson and his wife.

We have to also add the possibility of Mary Short Lake's family, which would include her, her fathers Christopher Retallick Short and Enoch B Lake.  Mary had one full brother, William Short and a half sister by the name of Sarah Short - oh, and possibly her mother Keziah Ogg.

Then, of course John D's nine children, Lillian, Mollie, Jennie, Nell, Anne, John, Charles, Jude and Babe.  Mollie's husband Isaac Newton Keyser and Jennie's first husband Noah Bowers are also in this group.

The pictures all appear to be before the turn of the century.  So, here we go - first, the ones I know:

 Anne Elma Allen 1870-1951
Never Married
 Louis Lake (Babe) Allen 1881-1923
Was a Printer
Married Margaret Lutz after the turn of the 
century, no pictures of her
 Charles R Allen 1876-1951
Charles married Ada Alma Martin in 1920
 Charles R Allen 1876-1951
 Jennie Allen 1865-1962 
and an unidentified friend in a tintype photo
  Jennie Allen 1865-1962
  Jennie Allen 1865-1962
 John E Allen 1874-1943
John married Gretchen Rutter in 1906, but
there are no pictures of her in this album
John D Allen 1833-1929
Mary Short Lake 1842-1900
 Isaac Newton Keyser 1857-1932
 Noah Fenton Bowers 1852-1914
Noah Fenton Bowers 1852-1914
 Adda Alma "Addie" Short 1864-1951 
Addie was the dtr of William Short
George Shuler 1865-1946
Husband of Addie Short
They lived in Salina, Kansas 

The following picture is not in the album, it is the picture of Elma Allen my cousin sent me.


                                              Elma Allen 1832-1914
Married Oliver Hamilton 1857

The following people are unidentified, but are Allen's in my opinion because of the deepset eyes and nose.  They all appear to be related.

 My feeling is that this is a younger Elma
 Very likely also Elma
 Again, it's the eyes - check out John D Allen above
Again, it's the eyes - check out John D Allen above

The following are ones where I don't have a clue.





 A couple of these (far left and top right) might be Allen girls.



 This is an old photo.  Sarah Freeman died in 1875, could this be her?

Some of the Tintypes that were scanable....some I didn't do because they were in bad shape.  Have no idea who any of these folks are.  

 This girl looks like the one on the left above.  Sarah's other daughters?  One of them died young, these could be Emeline and Lucy?