David Allen (1738 - 1779)

(1) The David Allen born in 1738 whom I identified in my last message. We see in his will that he had a wife, Elizabeth whose mother was named Mary Allen. It is possible that her mother had a marriage to another individual but to determine that you would need documentation. I quote the will but perhaps you will be able to discover the original and find more information on the families. David Allen was a Corporal in the Revolutionary War. . (His death date is sometimes shown as 1783 or 1789.) His will synopsis is: "To wife, Elizabeth; to children; to wife's mother, Mary Allen; to son, Robert,infant, £5 in lieu of a horse left him by his grandfather, Robert Allen; to son, John Crooks Allen, infant, to sons, James and David, infants, to daughter Mary, infant; to son James Joseph Allen, infant. Executors, brothers John Allen, in Frederick County, and Thomas Allen of Shanando" (2) David Hume Allen, born in June of 1781, married Sarah Griffin Taylor, He was the youngest son of Thomas Allen born 1732.... HISTORY OF THE LOWER SHENANDOAH VALLEY; Norris; Virginia Book Company; 1890: "EDGAR ALLEN. Among the early settlers of Warren, then a part of Shenandoan county, Va., was Col. Thomas Allen, the youngest son of Robert and Abigail (DuBois) Allen, and born in 1732, in County Armagh, Ireland. At an early age he came to this country, and settled in Warren county as a farmer. Possessing a vigorous mind and the strictest integrity, he had great force of character. He served as a soldier during the Revolution, and for gallantry was presented by his state with a sword. He married Deborah Montgomery Millar, by whom he had five sons, and two daughters, dying at the age of ninety. He left a landed estate, comprising over 6,000 acres, stretching for miles along the south fork of the Shenandoah river. A part of his family went to Kentucky to live, soon after its settlement, where their descendants are numerous and prosperous. David Hume Allen was the youngest son of Col. Allen, and was born in June, 1781. After graduating at Princeton college, he studied law, and practiced at courts of Frederick and adjoining counties. In 1808 he married Sarah Griffin, eldest daughter of Col Griffin Taylor. Soon after the death of Col. Taylor, in 1818, he abandoned the law, and lived at Clifton, Clarke county, the inheritance of his wife, then a part of Frederick. Here he spent the remainder of his life, relieving the duties attendant upon the management of a large estate by the pleasure of literature and society, and in embellishing a naturally beautiful place. He died in his seventy-fourth year, Mrs. Allen, five sons and three daughters surviving him. The following is an extract from a tribute paid to his memory by the late Philip Fendall, former district attorney for the District of Columbia: Mr. Allen was one of the comparatively few survivors of a class once numerous in Virginia, who had fine talents and a liberal education, added to the advantage of hereditary wealth, an advantage so favorable when properly used, to mental culture and embellishment. He graduated at Princeton College during the presidency of the celebrated Dr. Smith. The love of letters, and the habit of intellectual discipline which he acquired, continued to influence him through life. With the various branches of literature and science he had an intimate acquaintance, and of some his knowledge was exact. His independent spirit, his acute and vigorous mind, his extensive information, and the firmness and moderation of his character, his familiarity with the history and resources of his country, and his devotion to her best interests, all eminently qualified him for public life, but its contentions were distasteful to his modest and sensitive temper, and he could never be prevailed to forego, for the prospect of political distinction, the tranquil enjoyments of home. His time was given to his family, his friends, his books and his farm. In the domestic circle, in agricultural pursuits, in the indulgence of a refined literary taste, in dispensing a liberal but unostentatious hospitality, he lived a long and honored life, exemplary in all its relations; as a husband and father, affectionate and thoughtful, a kind master, a faithful friend, charitable and courteous, he was, in a word, a Virginia gentleman of the old school."