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?

Jennie Allen
1865-1962

My Great-Aunt Jennie Allen lived a very long and eventful life. Several other of the Allen family members were long-lived, John D. Allen lived to 95 and Jennie's sister, my grandmother, was 87 when she passed away. The other seven didn't fare as well, but with the advance of medicine today they might also have lived as long. There were five girls and four boys. Of the nine, there were only four grandchildren, which is somewhat odd for the time period. Lillian and Ann never married, Lillian was a nurse and Ann worked at an Insurance Company. Mollie, Jennie, Charles, and Lewis (Babe) married but had no children. My grandmother, Nell, had only my father; John E. had a boy, and a girl and Jude had just one boy.

Jennie was raised in Lancaster, Ohio where her father was a grocer. They undoubtedly spent considerable time at her mother's home in Fultonham, Ohio. John D. Allen had been a Grocer in that town and married Mary Lake, adopted daughter of Enoch B Lake and his wife, Mary.  Mary's biological father was Christopher Retallick Short, and her mother died after giving birth to her daughter on the ship to America.  When Christopher Short arrived in Ohio, the older boy remained with him, but Mary was adopted by the Lakes.  The Lake home eventually came to be owned by the five Allen girls and was maintained by them to be used as they needed.  Ann probably spent the most time there. I "think" I remember her, but the only two sisters I have positive memories of is Nell, who was my grandmother, and her sister, Jennie.

The Allen Home in Fultonham, Ohio 

In 1887 Jennie married Noah Fenton Bowers. He was kind of the boy-next-door,  next door to her grandparents in Fultonham, that is. Noah was from a local farming family, the last Bowers son living at home - however, he did not inherit the Bowers farm (his sister Elizabeth did).  In the 1900 census, Jennie and Noah are renting a farm close by, as a matter of fact, they are house #109 in the Uniontown Precinct (Fultonham). Jennie's adoptive grandfather, Enoch B Lake is close by - house #145. Now, while we are on the subject of the 1900 census, let it be known that the Minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Fultonham, James H. Rogers, lives in house #144. Remember that name, we'll come back to it in a minute.

Noah Bowers

I have searched the 1910 Census records for Noah and Jennie and have never been able to find them. I did see that Mr. Bowers died in 1914 and he is buried in the Fultonham Cemetery. Jennie was to live another 48 years after her first husband died.

Jennie Allen

Rev. Rogers and his family, on the other hand, are found in the 1910 Census in Stockton, California, where his occupation is shown as "clergyman."


So, the next step is to move on to the 1920 Census. Now, it was no surprise to me because I already knew, but in 1920 we find Jennie married to James H. Rogers and they are living in Pinole, California. Whoa, how actually did this come about?  Annie Mariah Waddel Rogers died 10/2/1911 and is buried in Stockton, California at the Stockton Rural Cemetery.  While we know Jennie probably knew the Rogers family & may have attended services while Rev Rogers was officiating at the Fultonham ME Church, how did they "get together" after their respective spouses had passed? He was, after all, in California and she in Ohio. I wish I knew, but alas...no one left who might know what transpired.  A romantic story, perhaps.

Rev James H Rogers & Jennie Allen

Because I had been confusing James with his son Dwight, I decided to do a little research on James and his first wife & family.  James was born in Wales and emigrated to America in 1880 at the age of 20. He made his way to Ohio,  within three years of his arrival he was married to Anna Mariah Waddell, daughter of Alexander Waddell. Alexander was a lifelong resident of Raccoon, Gallia County, Ohio, a carpenter by occupation and a pillar of the community. His obituary contains the statement "His house was for many years a home for Methodist preachers, and his hospitality and generosity were known far and near." I would suspect James was one of the Methodist preachers Alexander Waddell took under his wing.  Perhaps it was even arranged before James Rogers got on the boat for America. 


James and Anna moved on to Fultonham and later to Stockton, Ca. There were seven children, two of the names I knew - Avanelle and Dwight. I met them when we visited Aunt Jennie in Berkeley during the 50's and early 60's, but I don't remember them.  


In the1930 census, James and Jennie are living in Los Angeles.  Sometime before my folks visited them in the late 1930's (I wasn't around yet) they had moved to 849 Neilsen St in Berkeley, Ca. This was their last move. James died in 1948 at the age of 87 and Jennie stayed on in the Berkeley home until she passed in 1962 at the age of 96. I remember her house quite well, it had a built-in dinette in the kitchen, which I thought was really "cool" but best of all she had one of the early TV's with a round screen, and I distinctly remember watching Howdy Doody on it. Jennie seemed very, very old to me but I liked her very much. I remember being thrilled by the beautiful flowers in her garden that she maintained well into her 90's.

Jennie Allen, Florence Darling (my Mom), Avanelle Rogers and; Me, in front!!

I wish I could find where Jennie and James are buried, likely in Berkeley, but they don't show up on any of the Find-a-Grave searches.