Calvin C Allen (abt. 1860 - 1924)

James H Allen was an Episcopal-Methodist Minister from SC that was an original Homesteader in west Mobile Co. in the 1830s. He gave the land for the Toumanville Methodist Church (still standing). His wife was Lenora Maples. They are buried in Allentown Cemetery (off Wolff Rd, off Moffit Rd) in what is now known as Semmes. Their son John (E.) Allen was married to Sarah Howell, Daughter of Benjamin Howell. John (E.) joined the 21st AL Co. I (United Rangers) with his brother Perry Allen and brother-in-law Phillip Howell and fought at Shiloh and at Fort Morgan (most of his unit was at Gaines). He was captured and sent with his brother to Elmira Prison in N.Y. where half of the men died from disease and malnutrition. He was released at the end of the war and returned to farming his own land in Mobile. His farm (160 acres) is in the middle of Magnolia Grove, a Robert Trent Jones golf course. The beginning of this message is historical fact. Now for the story my g grandmother, Cora Belle Allen, told me: A rich man wanted to buy John (E.)'s farm. He resisted. One day as he was working in the fields, a group of men came onto his property, shot him dead, threw his body into a wagon and rode the corpse all over Wheeler Ville to show others what would happen if you resisted. Now more facts: The Mobile Register April 6, 1874 front page has an article "Homicide in Wheeler Ville": A notorious scoundrel by the name of John Allen was shot and killed by Deputy James Fincher. John Allen was being sought on a charge of forgery when he entered Deputy Fincher's house with a musket over his shoulder and defied Deputy Fincher to take him. A fight ensued in which John Allen pulled a pistol, but Deputy Fincher was quicker and John Allen was shot in the stomach and was dead at the scene. The body was taken to the City Jail awaiting inquest. The following day the results of the inquest were such that it was found to be justifiable homicide on the part of Deputy Fincher. Fact: John (E.) Allen was the son of a minister who had a community named for him. John (E.) Allen was a property owner well off financially per the 1870 census with a home full of children. The name of the Judge that signed the supposed warrant for John (E.) Allen's arrest? The Judge was Judge Semmes, brother of Raphael Semmes. Conjecture: How did Judge Semmes get to be a Judge as early as 1870? What political affiliations allowed him to be a public official during Reconstruction? Was Judge Semmes a patriot like John (E.) Allen or a scalawag? Fact: What was once Allentown is now Semmes. Conjecture: What grain of truth was running through my g grandmother's story? Fact: JohnÂ’s widow and children were unable to keep the farm. Due to the loss of his fatherÂ’s farm, JohnÂ’s son Calvin Allen worked as a farm laborer on lands his grandfathers had owned. When Cora's mother died she and her younger siblings went to live with her Broadus grandparents. Cora went to work in a cotton mill at the age of 8. My g grandmother was a very religious and uneducated person.