Surname Saturday ~ Allen of Manchester, Massachusetts

                               

ALLEN

As I work my way through my family tree for my Surname Saturday posts, I’m often stymied by how to proceed with certain names.  I started at the top of my ahnentafel chart with my paternal surname, and I haven’t reached my maternal side yet.  However, ALLEN is my mother’s maiden name, and here it shows up on my father’s side of the tree.

Yes, William Allen of Manchester, Massachusetts is an ancestor of both my mother and my father.  There are many names that show up on both sides, which is the fun of untangling colonial New England roots.  William Allen was born about 1602, probably in Dorsetshire, England.  He arrived in Massachusetts with the Dorchester Company in 1624.  This was an association of adventurers who came to make money salting cod and shipping it back to England.  Their first settlement was in Gloucester.   They joined with Roger Conant’s settlement at Naumkeag (now Salem) a few years later.  By 1649 William Allen was at “Jeffrey’s Creek” (now Manchester) where he built the first saw mill.   The name “Saw Mill Creek” still remains in this town.  The year Manchester was incorporated as a town, 1645, William Allen was elected a selectman.

The above biography should delight my first cousin, who lives in Manchester, Massachusetts and is married to a saw mill owner.  She loves when I find ancestors in her line who have lived right in her home town! 
 

The Dorchester Company and their history is an interesting part of Massachusetts history.  Their salt cod enterprise failed, but the settlers who decided to stay and live were called the “Old Planters”.  Some of the original party did not join up with Roger Conant’s Salem settlement, but returned to England or went south.  Among this group of “Old Planters” are other ancestors of mine including John and Humphrey WOODBURY, John BALCH,  Thomas GARDNER, Richard NORMAN, and William TRASK.

Researching the ALLENs in Essex County is complicated by the fact that there is a second William Allen who lived in Gloucester, Massachusetts and had sons with the same names (Samuel, Joseph, etc) all living at the same time as William Allen of the Dorchester Company.  Several books have confused the lines, including the History of Gloucester by Babson, and other compiled genealogies.   There is a good book called The Allens from William Allen, by Raymond F. Allen, 1958, and also an Allen Genealogy in the Essex Antiquarian, September 1898, pages 136 – 140. The towns where the Allens lived (Manchester, Salem, Beverly, Ipswich, Essex, Hamilton, etc.) have fairly good vital records for piecing together the family tree.  The best reference for the first few generations is the sketch of William Allen in The Great Migration Begins, by Anderson, Volume 1, pages 30 – 35.

Lineage from William Allen:

Generation 1:  William Allen, born about 1602 probably in Dorsetshire, died 30 January 1678 in Manchester, Massachusetts; married first about 1629 in Salem to Alice Norman, daughter of Richard Norman and Margaret Alford.  She was born about 1612 in England, and died 8 March 1632 in Salem.  They had two children.   He married second to Elizabeth Unknown about 1633 in Salem and had six more children.

Generation 2:  Samuel Allen, son of William Allen and Elizabeth, born 8 January 1633 and died 1700; married about 1660 to Sarah Tuck, daughter of William Tuck and Elizabeth Unknown.  She was born about 1636 in Beverly, Massachusetts and died about 1706.  Ten children (I descend from three)

A.

Generation 3:  Samuel Allen, born 4 August 1663, died about 4 February 1744; married on 17 March 1686 in Marblehead to Abigail Williams, daughter of Joseph Williams and Sarah Browning. .  Nine children (I descend from two). 

A1.

Generation 4. Abigail Allen, born 10 June 1690 in Manchester, died 23 December 1743 in Beverly; married on 16 December 1714 in Beverly to Nehemiah Preston, son of William Preston and Priscilla Randall. He was born 15 January 1692 in Beverly.  Eight children.

Generation 5. Hannah Preston m. Robert Woodbury

Generation 6. Molly Woodbury m. Westley Burnham

Generation 7. Henry Burnham m. Sally Poland

Generation 8. Sarah Ann Burnham m. Samuel Mears

Generation 9. Sarah Burnham Mears m. Joseph Gilman Allen  (see below)

Generation 10. Joseph Elmer Allen m. Carrie Maude Batchelder

Generation 11. Stanley Elmer Allen m. Gertrude Matilda Hitchings (my maternal grandparents)

A2.

Generation 4: Jeremiah Allen, born 26 June 1704 in Manchester, died 15 July 1777 in Manchester; married on 14 November 1727 in Beverly to Lydia Tuck, daughter of George Tuck and Mary Morrill.  She was born on 12 December 1705 in Beverly and died 26 January 1782 in Manchester.  Four children.

Generation 5: Jeremiah Allen, born 6 April 1728 in Manchester;  married on 17 June 1748 in Manchester to Eunice Gardner, daughter of James Gardner and Abigail Unknown.  She was born 18 March 1724 in Gloucester. Eight children.

Generation 6:  Abigail Allen, born 23 July 1753 in Manchester, died 16 June 1799 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia; married on 21 July 1777 in Chebogue, Nova Scotia to Comfort Haley, son of Ebenezer Haley and Grace Bullen. Seven children.

Generation 7: Comfort Haley m. Rebecca Crosby

Generation 8:  Jopseh Edwin Healy m.  Matilda Weston

Generation 9:  Mary Etta Healey m. Peter Hoogerzeil

Generation 10: Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell Hitchings

Generation 11: Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my maternal grandparents)

B.

Generation 3. Joseph Allen, born 26 June 1672 in Manchester, died 17 August 1727 in Manchester; married first on 28 October 1696 to Catherine Leach, daughter of Samuel Leach and Arabella Norman.   She was born on 1 October 1680 in Manchester and died after 1711.  Seven children.   He married second on 20 January 1713 to Sarah Knowlton and had four more children.

Generation 4: William Allen, son of Joseph Allen and Catherine Leach, born 21 May 1711 in Manchester, died 10 June 1785 in Essex, Massachusetts; married on 12 January 1738 in the Chebacco Parish (now Essex) church of Ipswich to Mary Ingalls, daughter of Joseph Ingalls and Sarah Thompson.  She was born about 1716 in Gloucester and died on 27 December 1796 in Essex.   Nine children.

Generation 5: Isaac Allen, baptized on 3 August 1740 in Ipswich,; married on 24 November 1763 in Ipswich to Abigail Burnham, daughter of Jeremiah Burnham and Abigail Andrews.  She was born 12 April 1741 in Ipswich.  Five children.

Generation 6: Joseph Allen, born on 22 September 1776 in Essex, died 24 March 1861 in Essex; married on 5 April 1799 in Ipswich to Judith Burnham, daughter of Amos Burnham and Sarah Giddings.  She was born 14 January 1782 in Essex and died 26 October 1848 in Essex.  Eleven children.

Generation 7:  Joseph Allen, born 31 July 1801 in the Chebacco Parish, died 2 August 1894 in Beverly; married on 28 October 1824 in Essex to Orpha Andrews, daughter of James Andrews and Lucy Preston.  She was born 3 February 1804 in the Chebacco Parish, and died 20 April 1869 in Peabody, Massachusetts.  Six children.

Generation 8: Joseph Gilman Allen, born 22 May 1830 in Essex, died 9 April 1908 in Essex; married on 23 May 1964 in Essex to Sarah Burnham Mears, daughter of Samuel Mears and Sarah Ann Burnham.  Ten children.

Generation 9. Joseph Elmer Allen, born 24 September 1870 in Essex, died 12 March 1932 at the Masonic Home in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts; married on 1 November 1892 in Essex to Carrie Maude Batchelder, the daughter of George E. Batchelder and Mary Katherine Emerson.  She was born 22 September 1872 in Chichester, New Hampshire and died 21 January 1963 at the Sea View Convalescent and Nursing Home, Rowley, Massachusetts.  Five children.

Generation 10.  Stanley Elmer Allen, born 14 January 1904 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, died on 6 March 1982 in Beverly; married on 14 February 1925 in Hamilton, Massachusetts to Gertrude Matilda Hitchings, daughter of Arthur Treadwell Hitchings and Florence Etta Hoogerzeil.  She was born on 1 August 1905 in Beverly and died on 3 November 2001 at the Pilgrim Nursing and Rehabilitation in Peabody, Massachusetts.  Seven children.  (my maternal grandparents)

C.

Generation 3:  Alice Allen, born 20 September 1674 in Manchester; married about 1695 to Daniel Williams, son of Joseph Williams and Sarah Browning.

Generation 4: Ruth Williams m. Moses Platts

Generation 5: Sarah Platts m. George Southwick

Generation 6: Mary Southwick m. Robert Wilson

Generation 7: Mecy F. Wilson m. Aaron Wilkinson

Generation 8: Robert Wilson Wilkinson m. Phebe Cross Munroe

Generation9: Albert Munroe Wilkinson m. Isabella Lyons Bill

Generation 10: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my paternal grandparents)

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ Allen of Manchester, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 15, 2012, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/09/surname-saturday-allen-of-manchester.html