Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: Genealogy Report: Descendants of Peter Allen

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Descendants of Peter Allen

Generation No. 2

6. Robert² ALLEN (Peter¹) was born June 12, 1797 in Washington County, VA, and died May 24, 1872 in Meigs County, TN. He married Margaret COX September 09, 1820 in Washington County, VA ², daughter of Samuel COX and Eleanor THOMAS. She was born October 12, 1802 in Baltimore, MD, and died September 18, 1870 in Meigs County, TN.

Notes for Robert ALLEN:
THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION WAS TAKEN FROM A BOOKLET PUT TOGETHER BY SPENCER MARTIN ALLEN, AUGUST, 1979.

THE VIRGINIA TO TENNESSEE MOVEMENT (1828)

In the spring of 1828, the Cox, Allen, DENTON and Woods families moved to Meigs (then Rhea) County, TN. There is no detail on the reasons for the migration nor on the trip itself. Probably, as in most changes of residence, the reasons were economic.

It is generally believed the families came down the Holston and Tennessee Rivers to Stewart's landing, just north of Decatur. It is also assumed they all came together in one party, but there is no confirmation. An earlier history compilation says Robert Allen left Virginia in 1844 by flatboat and landed at Hunter Bluff, west of Decatur TN. This evidently in error, as it is mentioned elsewhere in this record that Robert was a Rhea County resident in 1828 when he sold property he owned back in Virginia, and is so noted in a court indenture.

The assumption is that the Virginia party travelled in one group by flatboat, either on a hired craft or navigation their own. There is the possibility that steamboats may have been in operation on the Tennessee River south of Knoxville during that period and the party travelled as commercial passengers, but that premise is doubtful.

Considering the number of individuals in the migration, and assuming they brought at least a minimum of household goods, tools and farm implements and possible livestock, the cargo would have been considerable.

Samuel Cox, then 54, was the patriarch of the group since most other male members were his sons-in-law and his 14-year old son Jehu. The adults, in addition to Samuel and Eleanor, were : John and Elizabeth Cox Woods; Uriah and Mary Ann Cox DENTON; and Robert and Margaret Cox Allen. There is no indication that another daughter Sarah and her spouse Drewery L. Godsey accompanied the party, although a Godsey family appears later in Tennessee. Son Abraham and his wife Celia Collins Cox had preceded the group into Tennessee and may have been influential in determining Rhea County as the families' future home.

Among the children in the group were Nancy Cox who died in Tennessee that same year at the age of 17 ; and 15-year old Jehu who died a month later, both possible victims of typhoid fever. Seven-year old William Owen, five-year old Jane Carson, three-year old Eleanor Elizabeth and infant RJDW, all children of Robert and Margaret Allen were included in the journey. Considering Elizabeth Cox Woods age at the time, 28, she probably had at least three children in the migration--Celia, Julia and Nan. Other adults may have been Jane Allen Patterson and Nancy Allen Davis (Robert Allen's sisters) and their spouses and children, but there is no record. Nor is there any information of the mysterious William and Sarah Allen, presumed brother and sister of Robert, were include in the trip. And there is no indication that Peter and Jane Carson Allen, Roberts' mother and father, made the journey. One of the migrants, Mary Ann Cox DENTON was pregnant at the time as her son Jerro Patton was born later that year in Tennessee.

So, totalling up the probable number in the migrating party, we have a count of 20--12 adults and eight children. The logistics of this journey by whatever means must have been formidable.

According to the current tradition in Meigs County, after putting in at Stewart's landing, the party later proceeded downstream a few miles to Goodfield Creek and fanned out from these headwaters to establish their farms and homes, and for Robert Allen to set up his grist mill on the Creek. Records of the purchases of land and original deeds, as well as other vital statistics, were lost during a fire in the Meigs County Courthouse in the early 1900's.

A century and a half later, much of the farmland bought by the Virginia emigre families is now owned by the Roberts, Scott and Lewis families, descendants respectively of Jehu Wilson Allen and Nancy Findley Allen Scott. Few if any identifiable Allens, Dentons or Woods remain in the vicinity, although several Cox's still live there.

Many of the Virginia group and their descendants are buried in the well-maintained Goodfield Cemetery near Decatur. Others are buried in the nearby Cottonport Cemetery.

ROBERT ALLEN AND MARGARET COX

The first we hear of Robert Allen (1797-1872) is his marriage to Margaret Cox (1802-1870) in 1820, recorded in the Virginia Colonial Abstracts, Volume 34, Washington County (VA) Marriage Register. The marriage was performed by the Rev. Stephen Bovell, September 7, that year.

Robert's next appearance in public records is 1821 when he purchased 50 acres of land in the Great Knobs from his father Peter. The last Virginia record is the sale indenture of those same 50 acres in 1828 to Claiborne Gumm, after he and Margaret and family had moved to Rhea (later Meigs) County TN. There must have been some urgency concerning the sale, since he took a twenty-dollar loss in the transaction. Conjecture might be that he needed ready cash to buy property in Rhea County, or to settle debts involved in the recent move to Tennessee. It is established that he bought considerable farmland around Goodfield and constructed and operated a gristmill on nearby Goodfield Creek.

The impression we get today about Robert from some of his letters and from the stories and legends passed along by his descendants in Tennessee and elsewhere is that he was a complicated man. His letters indicate a degree of education above average of that time, although this may have been from the influence of his mother Jane Carson, reputedly a college graduate. One story heard in Meigs County says he studied for the Presbyterian ministry but "fell from grace" and did not follow the calling. Another story has it that he refused to "bow down to graven images" and have his picture taken--hence no known photos of him today. While we know nothing of religious practice in his own household, his daughter Nancy Findley Scott reportedly maintained strict observance of the Sabbath in her own home, refusing to cook on that day--she prepared the Sunday meals on Saturday.

It is evident that Robert was a strong-willed and opinionated man, and was, perhaps, given to violence. He is represented to have been strongly pro-Union and anti-slavery and outspoken in defense of his views. A current recollection in Meigs County is of a split which developed in the Methodist Church at Goodfield over the slavery issue. Anti-slavery members, including "Granddaddy Bob" (as he is called today in Meigs County) and his daughters pulled out and formed their own Methodist Episcopal Church at Pleasant Hill. The original Goodfield Church became the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

One story goes that a visiting pro-Union preacher was scheduled to speak at Pleasant Hill, but was threatened by Confederate sympathizers. Robert is said to have sat down in front of the church, displayed a couple of six-shooters and announced : "Anybody bothers this preacher is going to hear from Bobby." And, the tale concludes, the preacher delivered his sermon and was not molested.

The most controversial story about Robert Allen is his alleged killing of a Confederate soldier at his gristmill. The following was related by Wanda Scott as she heard it from her grandfather J.M. Scott, husband of Nancy Findley Allen:

"Three rebels came to Granddaddy Bob's mill with a rope and were going to hang him. He warned : 'The first man to step on the dam (probably a walkway) is a dead man.' J.M. Scotts's record shows the man's name as Smith Hutton; however, other records show the name as Hutton Smith. Hutton started across and Granddaddy Bob shot him. Granddaddy Bob hid out on the hillside until arrangements were made for him to escape to the North. His son Peter (in a Confederate army regiment) took him through Rebel lines and met another son, probably Joel (RJDW) who took him through the Union lines. That night , his (Robert's) sister Nancy Davis went into a trance and 'followed' him. Things she told while in the trance were later verified as having happened just as she said and where she said."

A more romanticized and perhaps apocryphal version of the same story is told by Harry Drennan Allen of Carlsbad CA. His account relates how it was known Robert was a Union sympathizer and son RJDW was in the Union army, although another son, Peter, was in the confederate army. This story goes :

"After the outbreak of the War.....Old Bob had been allowed to continue with his gristmill because the Union families and the Confederates alike needed grist from his mill.....some of the CSA soldiers gathered at the mill, and knowing that RJDW was in the Union army, began to castigate the old man and his mill. One remark, among others was : 'If hell was raked and scraped, there would not be a meaner man than old Bob Allen.' One of the tormentors slashed a bag of corn meal with his Bowie knife. They left the mill, telling Old Bob they would return tomorrow. On the morrow Old Bob took his squirrel rifle to the mill and stood it in the wheel-house. The next day, the 'Rebs' came back as promised and began their accusations. Finally, one more intoxicated that the others came at Bob with his knife. Bob withdrew across the cat-walk to the wheel-house ; when the drunk followed, Old Bob used the rifle and let the man down into the river. Old Bob had to run. He hid out in the mountains. His daughters would go for a walk in the forest. When crossing the stream or gulley on a foot-log (they) would release strings and let fall meat and bread hidden under their skirts. Finally, the pursuit became so intense and close.....the family contacted their brother Pete in the Confederate army. He came one night with an extra horse, picked up his father and took him to the Union picket lines. There he met brother RJDW who took charge of the father. Son Pete had to be back in camp before reveille, rode one horse to death, but made it back. Old Bob drove an ambulance for the Union army as a civilian. His son RJDW was victim of typhoid fever, was left by the army with a family in Kentucky, where his father, Old Bob, found him and nursed him back to health."

Harry Allen says he recounts this story from memories of conversations he heard between his father, Robert Nelson (Dick) Allen and his uncle Abraham Denton. All we know for sure is that a man named Smith Hutton was killed by a man named Allen (no first name given) in April, 1862, according to the roster book of Company I, First Regiment, Tennessee Infantry.

The years following the Civil War were melancholy time for Robert Allen. His son Samuel had died in 1864. Son RJDW took his family to Illinois in 1866. Son Peter moved his family to Alabama. Daughter Eleanor and son John Fowler died in 1868. And two years later his wife Margaret died. As related in the November, 1871 letters to RJDW, Robert's health was failing; he walked with difficulty, using two canes; and he was plagued and hurt by a court suit brought against him by daughter Sarah (Sally) Brown following the sale of his property. Despite it all, he wryly observed he could still eat, talk and drink whisky. He had made his own corn liquor for years, using a hollowed out log as a trough to prepare the mash. That log was still in existence until a few years ago, according to Jay Denton and Gene Roberts.

The eloquence of Robert's letters suggests the measure of his education, perhaps his training to be a minister; it also indicates the depth of his religious faith, his awareness of approaching death, and the knowledge this was a last farewell he was writing to RJDW.

Six months later, Robert Allen died at the age of 75.

More About Robert ALLEN:
Burial: Unknown, Goodfield Cemetery, Goodfield, Meigs Co., TN ³

More About Margaret COX:
Burial: Unknown, Goodfield Cemetery, Goodfield, Meigs Co., TN³

Children of Robert ALLEN and Margaret COX are:

+	7	i.	William Owen³ ALLEN, born September 09, 1821 in Washington County, VA; died November 09, 1899 in Meigs County, TN.
+	8	ii.	Jane Carson ALLEN, born October 16, 1823 in Virginia; died December 13, 1890.
	9	iii.	Eleanor Elizabeth ALLEN, born 1825; died WFT Est. 1826-1919.
+	10	iv.	Robert Joel Dryden Wilson ALLEN, born January 12, 1828 in Washington County, VA; died January 05, 1911 in Jefferson County, IL.
+	11	v.	Nancy Findley ALLEN, born July 04, 1830; died December 27, 1890.
	12	vi.	Sarah ALLEN, born January 23, 1833³; died March 02, 1907³. She married E. B. BROWN ⁴; died Unknown.

More About Sarah ALLEN:
Burial: Unknown, Goodfield Cemetery, Goodfield, Meigs Co., TN ⁵

	13	vii.	Samuel ALLEN, born 1836; died WFT Est. 1837-1926.
+	14	viii.	Peter ALLEN II, born 1840; died 1915.
+	15	ix.	Jehu Wilson ALLEN, born November 12, 1842; died February 20, 1907.
	16	x.	John Fowler ALLEN, born 1845; died WFT Est. 1846-1935.

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