CROSS CO, AR - DR. WILLIAM D. ALLEN - Bio

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SOURCE:  Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Eastern 
Arkansas. Chicago:Goodspeed Publishers, 1890.
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Dr. William D. Allen, of Wynne, Ark., has been a successful practitioner
of Cross County, Ark., for forty years, and is ever to be found at the
bedside of the sick and afflicted. His birth occurred in Baton Rouge,
La., in 1823, and he was the fifth of a family of ten children, the
result of the union of William and Clementine J. (Quillin) Allen,
natives of Tennessee. Both Mr. and Mrs. Allen removed with their parents
to Louisiana when children, and there attained their growth. William
Allen was a farmer by occupation, also carried on stock raising, and
remained in Louisiana until 1836, when in the spring of that year he
came to Arkansas. He settled about six miles southeast of the present
village of Wynne, in what was then Phillips County, Ark., and when there
were about forty families living along Crowley's Ridge, a distance of
about sixty miles. Here Mr. Allen, Sr., bought about 4,000 acres of
land, on which he at once began making improvements, clearing land,
erecting buildings, etc., and he brought with him a large number of
negroes, who, with his family, numbered fifty-six souls. He chartered a
small steamboat to transport his family and slaves to Arkansas, and
landed at a point called Andrew's Landing. This boat was the second one
up the St. Francis River. He then went to work and cleared about 400
acres, and resided on the same until his death, which occurred in 1846.
The mother lived until 1880, and died at the age of seventy-eight years.
Dr. William D. Allen was twelve years of age at the time his father
moved to Arkansas, and prior to that time had attended school in his
native State. After moving to Arkansas his father engaged a private
teacher for his family and other children in the vicinity, and the
Doctor received instruction in this manner for three years; then as new
settlers came in they had permanently established subscription schools.
At the age of twenty-one years Dr. Allen went to Lexington, Ky., and
entered the Transylvania University, where he took a literary course of
three years. There were attending, at that time, Gen. Morgan, William
Walker, Gen. Buckner, Col. Pickett, and a number of others, who have
since become known in history. From there Dr. Allen went to Louisville,
where he took a year's course in medicine, and then went to the
University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated after a strict
examination, in May, 1849. He then returned to Arkansas, and at once
began the practice of his profession in the country surrounding his
father's homestead. The Doctor has been in the constant practice of his
profession since that time, and in the immediate vicinity of the place.
In 1852, Dr. Allen was united in marriage to Miss Eliza Oliver, a
granddaughter of John Johnson, who came to Arkansas in 1812, settling in
Phillips, now St. Francis County, where he cleared a large tract of
land, and there died about 1830. Many of his descendants are still
living in this section, prosperous and well-to-do. After [p.334]
marriage Dr. Allen continued his practice, and in connection speculated
considerably in land, making large sums on some of their sales, and on
some tracts making extensive improvements. In 1884 he came to Wynne, a
station on the railroad, that had just been named, and at that time
there was but one shanty in the place. His office was a small log-cabin.
In 1886 he erected an office which was destroyed in the fire that year.
The Doctor is a member of the Masonic fraternity. Forrest City Lodge No.
34, and he and family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. To
his marriage were born four children: Willie, John, Walter and Emmett.
The first three are living in St. Francis County, where they own fine
farms, and the last is attending medical lectures in New Orleans.