From: KyArchives Sent: Monday, December 28, 2015 7:49 PM To: Ky-Footsteps Subject: Allen.Richard.1797.Magoffin-Morgan.BIOS Richard Allen 1797 - January 1867 Magoffin-Morgan County KyArchives Biography Source: Submitted by Marvin Allen Author: Marvin Allen Richard Allen (1797-1867) Richard Allen of Lower White Oak Creek, Magoffin County, Kentucky was born in 1797 in Montgomery County, Kentucky to John and Ann Allen. The Allen Family had a 510 acre farm on Slate Creek near today's community of Jeffersonville. Ann Griffin was John Allen's second wife. They had been married by Baptist preacher Elijah Summers in 1794. Richard was their first born son. A daughter, thought to be named Elizabeth, had been born around 1795. Two more sons were born to John and Ann; Daniel in 1799 and Elijah in 1801. Seven children had previously been born to John Allen and his first wife Hannah; Catron, Sarah “Sally”, George, Joshua, Hannah, William and John. As of this writing, nothing is known about John Allen's parents or his first wife Hannah. Catron married Jonas Fortner. Sally married John White. George married Barbary Myers. Joshua married Eleanor Davenport. Hannah married Abraham Downs. William married Sally. Little has been found about John Jr. after his father's estate settlement. With the exception of Hannah and her husband Abraham Downs who moved on to Illinois, Richard Allen's other half brothers and sisters all seem to have died in either Montgomery or Bath County, Kentucky. Richard moved on down to Floyd County around 1819 and married Edy Williams January 20, 1820. Edy's father was well known Baptist preacher Daniel Williams. He had moved from Montgomery County to Floyd County around 1804. William Coffee, a friend of the Williams family, performed Richard and Edy's marriage. William Coffee's father Ambrose lived in Montgomery on Slate Creek. Back in Montgomery County the Williams and Allen families had both been members of the Lulbegrud Baptist church. Richard's father John Allen had been a church elder. Daniel Williams had preached there before moving on and establishing a number of Baptist churches in early Montgomery and Floyd Counties. While Floyd County was only beginning to be settled at that time, a state designated road did run between Mt. Sterling in Montgomery County on down through Licking Station and Burning Spring on to Prestonburg and the Pound Gap. Richard Allen almost certainly traveled this route on horseback to Caney Creek in what is now Morgan County. At first Richard and Edy lived among her siblings and parents at Caney. But soon they bought 50 acres on nearby Lower White Oak Creek. That was in 1824, shortly after Morgan County was formed from Floyd County. Today that property is just inside Magoffin County. David and Peter Lykins were his neighbors, another family that goes back to Montgomery County. Their father William Lykins had witnessed Richard's father John's will in 1804. Richard's brother Elijah was married to Caty Williams in Floyd County in 1821 by William Coffee. Elijah is shown living next to Richard on the 1826 and 1827 Morgan tax lists. Nothing further is known about Elijah. When Richard's brother Daniel died in Bath County in 1826, Richard was granted guardianship of his children; Daniel Williams Allen and Elizabeth “Betsy” Allen. Richard and Edy raised eleven children on Lower White Oak Creek; Daniel, Elijah, Mary, Samuel, Violet, Joseph, Frances, George, Darcus, Nancy and Rachel. My line goes back to their son Elijah. Throughout the 1830s and 1840s Richard bought additional land, including 654 acres on Upper White Oak Creek. When Magoffin was formed in 1856, some of this property remained in Morgan, some changed to Magoffin. White Oak Creek forks south of the town of White Oak, with the upper creek originating in Morgan and the lower creek originating in Magoffin. In the late 1850s on up through the 1860s, Richard began selling parcels of land. At least four of his son- in-laws bought land from him. Some of this land is still in the hands of Richard's descendants. The 1860 census lists Richard Allen in Morgan County. This may have been part of the 654 acres he bought on Upper White Oak Creek. His daughter Mary and her husband Caleb Lykins are living with him. His wife Edy had died of consumption in late 1858. Richard died in early 1867 at the age of 69. Richard and Edy are thought to be buried close by in Allen Cemetery on Route 1081 near Harper. This cemetery is right on the edge of Richard Allen's first 50 acres of land purchased in 1824. The Magoffin County Historical Society 1989 set of books on the Allen Family lists Richard Allen as the progenitor of the Allen Family on White Oak Creek. The book also noted that some researchers had included Richard as another son of Samuel Allen and Sarah Prater, also of Magoffin County. The book did say that was an unproven relationship. After I took my DNA test and a descendant of Samuel Allen took his test, a comparison of the markers proved we were not related, at least in a genealogical significant time frame. Marvin Allen 2015 Submitted by: Marvin Allen http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00033.html#0008026 This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/kyfiles/