BIO: Donald C. Allen, Beaver County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja & Joe Patterson Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/beaver.html http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/beaver/bios/bbios.htm Index for this bio book. _________________________________________________________________ BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES. This Volume Contains Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Beaver County, Pennsylvania. Buffalo, N.Y., Chicago, Ill.: Biographical Publishing Company, 1899, pp. 179-180. _________________________________________________________________ DONALD C. ALLEN is a dealer in flour and feed in the borough of Beaver Falls, Pa., and is among its most enterprising merchants. He was born near Prospect, Butler county, Pa., August 13, 1860, and is a son of William and Penelope (Lambie) Allen, and grandson of Robert and Jane (Cochran) Allen. Robert Allen was born in County Down, Ireland, and in 1832, with his wife and family, came to the United States; He settled on a farm in Mercer county, Pa., which had been purchased for him by his son William. There he continued to reside until overtaken by death, which was at the age of eighty-four years. His wife, Jane Cochran, also died at about that age. They were the parents of a family of six children, namely: Margaret (Montgomery); Mary (Stewart); William; Robert; Samuel; and Cochran. William Allen, the father of Donald C., was born in County Down, Ireland, in the year 1815, five years previous to the arrival of his parents in this country, and spent several years on his 180 BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES father's farm in Mercer county. He then went to Pittsburg, Pa., and worked in a wholesale grocery store at No. 196 Liberty street, for a period of ten years. He then engaged in the grocery business in the village of Prospect, Butler county, Pa., successfully continuing thus for ten years; he then sold out his store, bought a saw and grist mill three miles south of that village; rebuilt the mills, and continued in the milling business until death claimed him,-which was in 1879. He was united in the bonds of wedlock with Miss Penelope Lambie, a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, and a daughter of William Lambie; she passed from this earth, in 1897, aged seventy-four years. Their union was blessed by the birth of the following children: Robert, deceased; Agnes, who died aged seventeen years; Marion (McCandless); Jeannette R. (Crabbe); Penelope, the wife of James Balph, a medical missionary, and prominent resident of Latakia, Syria; Margaret, a school teacher; William L., deceased; Donald C., the subject of this brief memoir; and John G., who is in the grocery business in Beaver Falls. Religiously, he was connected with the Reformed Presbyterian church. Donald C. Allen obtained a good schooling in his native district, and spent his boyhood days in helping his father in the work about the mill; in 1884 he began work at lumbering, but in 1889, he went into the grocery business with his brother, John G. Allen. He continued thus until 1897, when he sold his interests and bought out R. A. Bole, who was engaged in the flour and feed business. Mr. Alien is well deserving of the large patronage he has already secured, and his genial manners and straightforward business methods have secured for him hosts of friends. Mr. Allen formed a matrimonial alliance, in 1896, with Miss Mary E. Heiser, a daughter of Daniel Heiser, of Lewisburg, Pa., and their home has been blessed by the birth of one son, Donald C., Jr. Mr. Allen is an active member of the Reformed Presbyterian church; he was the prime mover in establishing the Mission Sunday School at Patterson Heights, and is still a leader in the school. He is a deacon, and a trustee, of the church. On a preceding page is shown the family group, of Donald C. Allen, his wife, and his son, Donald C., Jr.