Biography of William A Allen, Independence Co, AR

***********************************************
This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb
Archives by: Michael Brown
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgenwebarchives.org
***********************************************

----------------------------------------------------------------------
SOURCE: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas. 
Chicago: The Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1889.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

page 634

William A. Allen, an extensive and highly-respected farmer of Batesville, was
born in 1842, within eight miles of that place. His parents were Abraham and
Isabella Allen, of North Carolina, who, on their journey to the West, first
settled in Tennessee, and then in the State of Arkansas. They moved to
Independence County in 1827, and located within six miles of Batesville, and
afterward to a point south of the river, where the father died, in 1873, over
eighty years of age. He left a fortune of $20,000, and considerable landed
estate at the time of his death, and had been one of the most successful
farmers of that period. He was upright and honest in all his dealings with
mankind, and his name was one that commanded respect in every grade of society.
William A. Allen was the youngest of the family, and remained with his parents
until the latter days of the war between the North and South, when he enlisted
in Company C, of Col. Dobbins' regiment, and fought for the Confederate cause.
His career through the war was short, but brilliant, and though not on the
victorious side, after the surrender at Jacksonport, he still bore the honors
of a brave soldier. In 1866 he was married to Miss Nancy A., daughter of Joel
and Matilda McClendon, of Mississippi. Mrs. McClendon, the mother, died three
years after her arrival in Independence County, and the father survived her for
four years, leaving four sons and six daughters at the time of his death, of
whom five are yet living. Mr. Allen and his wife have had their union blessed
with six children, although one of them has since died. The names of those
living are Abraham, Andrew, George William, Ida and Emily. The family resided
on the old farm south of the river until February, 1889, and then moved to
Batesville, where Mr. Allen has a fine residence. He owns three tracts of land
comprising about 840 acres, and has some 300 acres under cultivation. Part of
his land he inherited from his father, and his own good judgment and natural
ability have added the rest. He is a Democrat in politics, and a strong
upholder of the principles of that party, and is a member of Neill Lodge No.
285, A. F. & A. M., of Jamestown. Mr. Allen also belongs to the I. O. O. F.,
being a member of the Batesville Lodge. He is one of the leading farmers of
Independence County, and a man whose opinion and advice are always received
with the fullest confidence. Mrs. Allen is a member of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, and is well known for her generosity and the interest she takes
in all matters pertaining to that church.