Allen, William

William ALLEN (1822 - 1891) and Matilda Caroline NORWOOD (1830 - aft. 1900)

The parents of Mary E. (ALLEN) BOWERS, as named on her death certificate, were William ALLEN and Caroline NORWOOD, both born in BER?INGHAM, ALA., which I suppose is Birmingham. (Although technically, the city of Birmingham was formed in 1871.) Mary's birthplace is ????an, Miss, which, as Rory BOWERS has suggested, could be Richman, meaning Richmond, a ghost town in Lee County, which was then part of Itawamba County, MS.

There was another William ALLEN, who married Matilda REAGAN on 9 Aug 1846 in Lawrence County, AR. This must be the wrong William and Matilda ALLEN.

William's gravestone in Paint Rock Cemetery, Paris, Logan, Ark, says he was born 30 Jun 1822, and died 25 Jun 1891.

The parents of Matilda Caroline NORWOOD were probably Theophilus NORWOOD (1809 - 1870) and Sally C. BROWN (1810 - 1832). The parents of William ALLEN are unknown.

The 1850 Census has William and Matilda in Mississippi. This looks like the right family, except that William should be 27 or 28, not 21. Also, William's wife is called Matilda, not Caroline. It's not clear at this point whether the pieces will fit together. There are many mistakes in the records!

The 1853 Mississippi State Census has the Wm ALLEN household, in Itawamba County, with 1 male and 4 females, which agrees with the 1850 and 1860 censuses.

Lee County, MS (left) was formed in 1866, from the western part of Itawamba County (right).

District 6 was generally in the western part of Itawamba County, and District 7 was in the eastern part. It is not clear whether District 6 was exactly the part that became Lee County in 1866. See this blog post from Itawamba History Review. So it is likely that William and Matilda lived in the part of Itawamba that later became Lee County.

About 1855 the ALLEN family moved to Franklin County, Arkansas. I don't have a map of the townships of Franklin County, as they were in 1860, but there was a village called Six Mile, which was included in Logan County when it was formed in 1875.

Looking at the birthplaces of the children, the ALLEN family must have moved from Mississippi to Arkansas between 1854 and 1856. Hence my estimate of 1855. William was a Farmer, with real estate valued at $400, and personal estate $315. So far they have 6 daughters and no sons!

In Mar 1860 William ALLEN was granted 40 acres under the Homestead Act. He was granted an additional 40 acres on 1 May 1860, and 40 more acres on 1 Jul 1861. These parcels were all in Section 12, Twp 7N, Rng 27W, which is now part of Logan County, AR. This is about 5 miles north and a bit west of William BOWERS' farm. More details are on the William BOWERS Jr page. More information about the grants can be found at the Bureau of Land Management.

There must have been hundreds of William ALLENs born around 1823, in or near Alabama, and more than one of them married women named Matilda. This pension application was made by Matilda C. ALLEN, widow of William ALLEN. So it is likely to be the right one, agreeing with the middle initial C in the 1900 Census (below). It shows that William ALLEN served in the Civil War, Company C, 2nd Arkansas Infantry, and died before 25 Sep 1891.

In 1870, the oldest child, Mary, had married William BOWERS, and was living next to or with her parents and siblings, still in Franklin County, Arkansas. In fact they were in dwellings 14 and 15, but both family 16. Usually the censuses have dwellings with more than one family, not vice versa, so this may be a mistake. At any rate, they are consecutive in the list, so probably lived together or nearby. This leaves little doubt that these are the right families.

In 1870, William ALLEN and his son-in-law William BOWERS are both Farmers. William ALLEN has real estate valued at $400 and personal estate $300, and William BOWERS has no real estate, but he does have a personal estate of $800. So he is probably working on his father-in-law's small farm. Three of the ALLEN sisters are still at home, and still attending school, even the 19-year-old. Malissa and Matilda would be 16 and 14, and they are missing, and I have no other trace of them. John ALLEN is not in school yet, at age 8. There are 2 Mary BOWERSes in the BOWERS household, both 21, and I think the second one is William's sister. The 3 women over 20 are able to read, but not write.

In the 1880 census, William and his two sons are still in Short Mountain, which has become part of Logan County.

In 1880, William's son John and Robert are still at home. John has married, and his wife and child are in the household. The older daughters are grown and have left home. Robert is the only one in school. John and Rebecca have been married in the past year. There are some discrepancies. Is this the right family?

Pros: The names match up, except for Nancy. We would expect to see sons Robert and possibly John, and no other children. They are still in Short Mountain.

Cons: William's wife is Nancy, not Matilda or Caroline. William born in MS, not AL. The ages are messed up - especially William's. He should be 58, not 50.

It looks like the 1880 census taker for Short Mountain has done a sloppy job. Or maybe the family mmember who reported the information was careless. But I think the pros outweigh the cons, meaning that this is the right family. Maybe William has a second wife? If the ages are correct, did John and Rebecca have a child at ages 13 and 14? Or is Sallie the child of one of William's daughters, not present?

We might suspect that Matilda's middle name is Nancy. However, in the 1900 Census (below), she is Matilda C. ALLEN. This might explain why she was called Caroline in her daughter Mary's death record (above).

By 1900, Matilda is living with her daughter Mary and family, on the farm near Driggs. William ALLEN had died in 1891, as mentioned above.

So Matilda lived past 11 Jun 1900. William is a Farmer, and his 3 sons are Farm Laborers. William and Mary have been married 34 years, so their marriage was between 12 Jun 1865 and 11 Jun 1866. Mary has had 12 children, of which 9 are still living. See the William BOWERS Jr page for more about this. Matilda has had 8 children, and 5 are still living.

I have not made any progress on finding the parents or siblings of William and Matilda in Alabama. A record in the IGI says that Wm ALLEN and Matilda Mrs ALLEN were married in Mississippi, 1849.

1 William ALLEN b: 30 Jun 1822 in AL, d: 25 Jun 1891 in Logan, AR, age 68
+ Matilda Caroline NORWOOD b: May 1830 in AL, m: 11 Nov 1848 in Itawamba, MS, d: Aft. 1900 in AR, age 70+
......2 Mary Elizabeth ALLEN b: 07 Sep 1849 in Richmond, Covington, MS, d: 29 Oct 1935 in Magazine, Logan, AR, age 86
...... + William M. BOWERS b: 04 Nov 1846 in Clarkesville, Johnson, AR, m: 06 Aug 1865 in Fort Smith, Sebastian, AR, d: 17 Mar 1929 in Magazine, Logan, AR, age 82
......2 Sarah Ann ALLEN b: 1852 in MS, d: aft. 1870, age 19+
......2 Martha T. ALLEN b: Aug 1852 in MS, d: 14 Oct 1919 in Logan, AR, age 67
...... + Lorenzo Dow SEWELL b: 1853 in AR, m: 1872
......2 Malissa ALLEN b: 30 Dec 1853 in MS, d: 07 Aug 1920 in AR, age 66
...... + William Manassas "Will" LEE b: 10 Sep 1848 in Johnson, AR, m: 13 Mar 1870, d: 06 Mar 1935 in Yell, AR, age 86
......2 Surena ALLEN b: 1855 in AR
......2 Matilda ALLEN b: Feb 1860 in AR, d: Bef. 1870, age < 10
......2 John William ALLEN b: Jun 1861 in Franklin, AR
...... + Molly b: 1889 in AR
...... + Annie Minerva VAUGHAN b: Dec 1877 in IL, m: 1894
...... + Rebecca Jane MOORE b: 1860 in MO, m: 02 May 1880 in Logan, AR
......2 Robert B. ALLEN b: Jan 1870 in AR
...... + Mary E. BIGGS b: Oct 1874 in AR, m: 1894 in Logan, AR

Although Melissa is called Marilyn in the record above, I think it is the same family as in the previous records, because the birth dates and places match up. They had 4 sons in 1880, and by 1900 those sons had left home, and they are replaced by 5 daughters. One of the sons, Omer, lives nearby with his wife, Emma. William and Melissa/Marilyn had been married 30 years, and Omer and Emma had been married 2 years. Melissa/Marilyn had had 12 children, with 8 still living, and Emma had not had any children. William was owner of his farm, and Omer rented. Myrtle and Omer were illiterate.

1 Malissa ALLEN b: 30 Dec 1853 in MS, d: 07 Aug 1920 in AR
+ William Manassas "Will" LEE b: 10 Sep 1848 in Johnson, AR, m: 13 Mar 1870, d: 06 Mar 1935 in Yell, AR
......2 James Calvin LEE b: 26 Jul 1872 in Sarber (now Logan), AR, d: 1906 in Short Mountain, Logan, AR
...... + Adelia BIGGS b: Jun 1875 in AR, m: 1891 in Montgomery, AR
......2 John LEE b: 1874 in AR
......2 William LEE b: Nov 1879 in AR
......2 Maud B. LEE b: Mar 1881 in AR
......2 Matilda C. LEE b: 14 Aug 1881 in AR, d: 12 Sep 1949 in Yell, AR
...... + James Julian SMITH b: 02 Jul 1881 in AR, m: 11 Jan 1903 in Montgomery, AR, d: 08 Feb 1965
......2 Edith Lucinda LEE b: 03 Dec 1884 in Paris, Logan, AR, d: 07 May 1943 in Wyandotte, Wayne, MI
...... + Edgar Jackson SMITH b: 27 Apr 1883 in Story, Montgomery, AR, m: 29 Jul 1906 in Garland, AR, d: 11 Jan 1956 in Wyandotte, Wayne, MI
......2 Omer Britton LEE b: 12 Aug 1886 in Paris, AR
......2 Myrtle LEE b: Mar 1890 in AR
...... + Ernest L. MCELRATH b: 1892 in AR, m: 25 Nov 1916 in Garland, AR
......2 Cora Ellen LEE b: 13 Jan 1894 in AR, d: Jul 1982 in Hot Springs National Park, Garland, AR
...... + W. C. MELTON b: 1893 in AR, m: 05 Dec 1915 in Garland, AR
5. Surena ALLEN was born about 1855, in AR.
6. Matilda ALLEN was born in Feb 1860, in AR. She was absent from the 1870 US Census (above), and probably died before 1870.
7. John W. ALLEN was born Jun 1861, in Franklin County, AR.

John appeared with his parents in the 1870 US Census (above) in Short Mountain, Franklin, AR. He married Rebecca Jane MOORE on 2 May 1880, in Logan County, AR. John and Rebecca lived with his parents in 1880, and they appear in the same household in the 1880 Census (above) in Short Mountain. John married twice more, but only had 1 child, that I have found.

There were other John W. ALLENs in the area, about the same age. One was jailed for stealing a cow in 1897, Fort Smith, AR. Another was County Clerk of Clark County, AR, in 1902. Probably not the same one! I'm not sure if the 3 wives listed below all belong to our John W. ALLEN.

1 John William ALLEN b: Jun 1861 in Franklin, AR
+ Rebecca Jane MOORE b: 1860 in MO, m: 02 May 1880 in Logan, AR
......2 Sallie ALLEN b: 1874 in AR
+ Annie Minerva VAUGHAN b: Dec 1877 in IL, m: 1894
+ Molly b: 1889 in AR

8. Robert B. ALLEN was born in Jan 1870, in AR. He married Mary E. BIGGS in 1894, Logan, AR. He may be the Robert ALLEN who married Delphia PARKER in Marvinville, Yell, AR on 1 May 1900.