Connection between William Henry Pavey and the name Allen

Date: 1800 to 1900
Location: England
Surname/tag: Pavey Allen

William Henry Pavey (1806-1880) had many descendants with the middle name of "Allen". They is no obvious reason why. None of his known ancestors have this name.

List of descendants with the name Allen

• Elizabeth Adelaide (Pavey) Nicholson (bef.1829-aft.1856)
  • Frederick Allen Nicholson (1856-1937)
• Charles Allen Pavey (1842-1925)
• Harry Alfred Pavey (1852-1914)
  • Charles Allan Dew Pavey (1883-1934)
    • William Allen Pavey (1910-1943)
  • Ralph Edgar Pavey (1891-1958)
    • Ralph Allan Pavey (1914-1992)

The marriage of John William Allen and Mary Ann Ellacott

The only known connection of William Henry Pavey with the Allen name is that his wife's sister Mary Anne (Ellacott) Allen (bef.1815-1863) married John William Allen (1814-1900). The marriage was on 25 Nov 1840 in St George Hanover Square, Middlesex, England.

So the simplest explanation is that John William Allen was a very wealthy brother-in-law and possibly gave money to William Henry Pavey's family so they used his last name as a middle name for their children.

William Henry's daughter Elizabeth migrated to Australia in 1848 so she may well have met John William Allen. He could even have contributed to her fare to Australia (pure speculation).

The biological father of William Henry Pavey

DNA tests have hinted at the idea that William Henry Pavey was not the biological child of Zechariah Pavey.

So one theory is that William Henry Pavey's biological father was an Allen and that William Henry Pavey knew this.

Taking that a step further one could speculate that his biological father was John Allen (abt.1782-bef.1849) the father of the John William Allen who married Mary Anne Ellacott.

There is, as yet, no evidence for this. There is unlikely to be any paper trail. y-DNA testing is probably the only way that evidence would be found.