Crawford Co., AR - Biographies - William M., James A. and Thomas Allen

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SOURCE: History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford,
Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas. Chicago: The Goodspeed 
Publishing Co., 1889.
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William M., James A. and Thomas Allen are sons of William and 
Elizabeth (Rose) Allen. William M. was born in Roane County, Tenn., 
December 8, 1846; James A., in Whiteford County, Ga., October 16, 
1849, and Thomas, in Crawford County, Ark., March 16, 1854. The father 
was born and reared in Tennessee, and about 1847 immigrated to 
Georgia. He was a contractor on the L. T. V. & G. Railroad, and also 
engaged in farming. He came to Crawford County, Ark., in 1853. The 
mother is a native of Roane County, Tenn., and is related to the 
Tipton family. Of her five children four are living, our three 
subjects and Jessie F. John A. is deceased. The paternal grandparents 
were early settlers of Tennessee. Mr. William Allen died in this 
county in June, 1856, aged thirty-five, but the mother is still living 
and makes her home with her children. She is sixty-two years old. 
William M. received a common-school education during his childhood, 
and at the age of sixteen the main support of his mother and the 
children fell upon him. March 24, 1872, he married Sarah J. Carlisle, 
daughter of Alexander Carlisle. This union has been blessed with seven 
children: Mary A., Julia W., Ollie J., Jessie W., Emma M., John H. and 
James Thomas (deceased). Mr. Allen enlisted in Brooks' brigade, 
Confederate States army, in 1864, was taken prisoner at Clear Creek, 
and sent to Little Rock, where he was kept a prisoner until 1865. He 
then returned to Van Buren, where he farmed. In 1876 he engaged in 
milling, and in 1884 removed to the mill he now has in partnership 
with his two brothers. He is a Democrat, a close communion Baptist, 
and a member of the Agricultural Wheel. Thomas B. Allen was married 
December 27, 1887, to Florence Jackson, daughter of B. H. and 
Elizabeth Jackson, and is engaged in the above named mill. James A. is 
unmarried, and politically is a strong Democrat. The mill which Allen 
Bros. own was erected in 1870 by Wiley Bronson, and is a large three-
story building, having cotton-gins, carding machines and a hominy and 
flour mill. Allen Bros. also own 160 acres, seventy being cultivated.