Fanny Allen was the daughter and eldest child of American Revolutionary War leader, Ethan Allen, and his second wife Frances Buchanan Allen. She was the first woman of New England birth to become a Roman Catholic nun.
In 1807, upon asking for permission, Fanny went to Montreal to study French, where she converted to Catholicism. Fanny became a sister in the Religious Hospitaliers of St. Joseph and spent the rest of her life nursing the sick and indigent. She was, however, noted to be the official hospital chemist.
Like other members of her family, she died of consumption on September 10, 1819 at the Hotel-Dieu. She was 34.
The Fanny Allen Hospital in Colchester, Vermont, run by her order, the Religious Hospitaliers of St. Joseph, was named in her honor.
Vitals
Frances Margaret ("Fanny") Allen (b. November 13, 1784 – d. September 10, 1819) was the first New England woman to become a Catholic nun.[1][2]
The daughter of Revolutionary WarGeneral Ethan Allen, she converted to Catholicism and entered the convent of the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph in Montreal in 1811.
Sister Frances Margaret "Fanny" Allen
Religion: Roman Catholic
Born: November 13, 1784, Sunderland, Vermont
Died: September 10, 1819 (aged 34), Montreal, Canada
Profession of Vows: May 18, 1811.
Image Citation
Fanny Allen Hospital: School of Nurses Training - Graduation, Louis L. McAllister Photographs, Box B19, Folder 07, Item 03, http://cdi.uvm.edu/collections/item/mcalB19F07i03 (accessed September 03, 2014)
Sources
References:
"The Allen Family". Ethan Allen Homestead Museum. 2010. Retrieved June 21, 2011. A'Becket, John (1907). "Frances Allen". The Catholic Encyclopedia
1. Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved June 21, 2011.
Byrne, William (1899). "History of the Catholic Church in the New England States"
2. Hurd & Everts. pp. 487–490.
De Goesbriand, Louis (1886). "Catholic memoirs of Vermont and New Hampshire." Burlington, Vermont: R. S. Styles. pp. 12–28.
Clifford, Deborah (2003).
"Allen, Frances Margaret". The Vermont Encyclopedia. University Press of New England. p. 38.
"Our History". Fletcher Allen Health Care. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
"Quick Facts". Fletcher Allen Health Care. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
"Fanny Allen Cemetery." Find A Grave. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
External links:
Fanny Allen at Find a Grave
VT Women: Fanny Allen (by Cyndy Bittinger), a feature from Vermont Public Radio on Allen's life
Is Fanny your ancestor? Please don't go away! Login to collaborate or comment, or contact
the profile manager, or ask our community of genealogists a question.
Sponsored Search by Ancestry.com
DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Fanny by comparing test results with other carriers of her ancestors' mitochondrial DNA.
However, there are no known mtDNA test-takers in her direct maternal line.
It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Fanny: