Joseph Allen (1701 - 1777)

Born 13 Jan 1701 in Bridgewater, Plymouth County, Province of Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Husband of Rebecca (Fuller) Allen — married 1729 in Norwich, New London County, Connecticut

Descendants

Died 1 Jan 1777 at age 75 in Scotland, Windham, Connecticut

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Ellen Smith [send private message]

Disputed Origins

Joseph was the son of his father's second wife Mary, whose maiden name was NOT Alden. She was NOT the granddaughter of John Alden and Priscilla Mullens, as speculatively claimed by Mitchell in the History of Bridgewater, Mass., then repeated as speculation in the 1867 Alden Memorial. Joseph's mother Mary is identified as Mary Pratt, probably the Mary Pratt born in Weymouth, Massachusetts in 1667, the daughter of Matthew Pratt and Sarah (Hunt) Pratt of Weymouth. (See the profile of Mary (Pratt) Allen for the basis for this identification.)

There has been some uncertainty as to whether this Joseph Allen was the son of Samuel Allen of Bridgewater, Massachusetts. John Barrett Robb has found that several lines of evidence support the hypothesis that Joseph Allen of Windham, Connecticut, was the Joseph Allen born in Bridgewater, son of Samuel Allen. Robb inventoried birth records for males named Joseph Allen born in New England between 1695 and 1710. Of these, the date on the Bridgewater birth record was most consistent with the death date and age of death inscribed on Joseph Allen's gravestone in Windham, Connecticut. Additionally, he noted that records exist showing most of the other men marrying and residing in other places, the names of two of Joseph's sons (Joseph and Samuel) suggest that Joseph's father was named Samuel, and the hypothesized removal from Bridgewater, Massachusetts, to Norwich, Connecticut, is geographically consistent with migration patterns seen during that time period.^[1]

Biography

Joseph Allen was born 13 January 1701 in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, the son of Samuel Allen and his second wife, Mary. ^[2] The birth record gives his year of birth as 1701, which is inconsistent with the contemporary practice of using a double date (e.g., 13 January 1700/1 or 13 January 1701/2) for dates between January 1 and March 24. Robb considered the possibility that the reported birthdate could indicate birth in either 1701 or 1702, and concluded that he was born in January 1701, stating: "We may reasonably dismiss the latter date, ... since Joseph’s next younger brother, Benjamin, would have been born just 8 months after Joseph, while otherwise the shortest birth interval in his father’s families was 21 months."^[3]

Joseph Allen married Rebecca Fuller, daughter of Sgt. Samuel Fuller and Elizabeth Thacher, at Norwich, Connecticut on 29 April 1729.^[4][5]

Their children were:

1. Barnabas Allen, baptized February 22, 1730 at Norwich, Connecticut.^[6]
2. Jemima Allen, born October 24, 1731;^{[citation needed]} baptized 21 November 1731 at Norwich.^[7]
3. Betty (or Bette) Allen, born November 25, 1734 at Windham Connecticut;^{[citation needed]} baptized 9 February 1735 at Norwich.^[8]
4. Mary Allen, born Nov. 24, 1736 at Windham. Dexter mistakenly claimed that Mary married her half first cousin Rev. Timothy Allen, Jr., the son of her father's half-brother Timothy, as his second wife. Instead, she married Timothy Allen of Lebanon, Connecticut, and died before 21 November 1780, when he married for the second time.
5. Joseph Allen, Jr., born April 9, 1739 at Windham.
6. Samuel Allen, born March 10, 1740/1 at Windham, baptized April 9, 1741 at the Scotland Society Church, and d. at 5 weeks of age on April 14, 1741.
7. Asahel Allen, born November 16, 1742 at Windham.

Joseph Allen was buried in Old Scotland Cemetery in Scotland (Windham County), Connecticut. The inscription on his stone reads:^[9]

Here Lyes ye Body

of Mr. Joseph Allen

he Departed this

Life Janr. 1th 1777:

in ye 76th year of

his Age

The Memory of

the Juft is Blefsed

DNA Evidence

Robb reports that ancestries of three yDNA-tested men descended from Joseph's sons Barnabas and Asahel have been credibly traced back to this Joseph Allen. ^[10]

Sources

1. ↑ Robb, pp. 3-4
2. ↑ Vital Records of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850, vol. 1, p. 28
3. ↑ Robb, p. 4
4. ↑ Mayflower Families, Vol. 4, page 85
5. ↑ Norwich CT: Vital Records of Norwich, 1659-1848. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015.) Originally published as: Vital Records of Norwich, 1659-1848. Hartford, Society of colonial wars in the state of Connecticut, 1913. page 157: Joseph Allen of Norwich and Rebeckah Fuller of Prefton were married Apriel 29th. 1729. by me Salmon Treat paftr
6. ↑ Records of Newent Congregational Church, page 4
7. ↑ Records of Newent Congregational Church, page 5
8. ↑ Records of Newent Congregational Church, page 4
9. ↑ Find-A-Grave
10. ↑ Robb, p. 3

• Ancestry Family Trees. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.
• Dexter, Franklin Bowditch. Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College (Holt, 1885) Vol. 1, Page 554
• Joseph Allen, Sr, Find-A-Grave
• Family Data Collection - Individual Records: Edmund West, comp. - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000.
• Records of Newent Congregational Church, Lisbon, Connecticut, 1723-1932. Hartford: Connecticut State Library, 1944. Accessed at Ancestry.com.
• Robb, John Barrett. "Two New England Patriarchs of ALLEN Patrilineage 2: Samuel of Braintree, and George of Sandwich." 29 June 2014; revised 20 May 2015.
• Joseph is buried at the Old Scotland Cemetery North in Scotland, Windham County, Connecticut, USA. His page lists and has links to his spouse, 6 children. There is a picture of his headstone. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/44259524/joseph-allen

Acknowledgments

• WikiTree profile Allen-3891 created through the import of DeMarco-Gaffney Family Tree.ged on Jul 1, 2011 by Regina DeMarco. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Regina and others.
• WikiTree profile Allen-3861 created through the import of The BTM Tree.ged on Jun 26, 2011 by Carolyn Trenholm. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Carolyn and others.