Allen Wright, son of Evan and Rebecca Wright, was born in Wayne County, Kentucky November 19th, 1809. On July 3rd, 1828 he married Elizabeth Summers. Shortly after this he moved to Alabama, where he remained a short time. He then moved to Vermillion County, Illinois, where his oldest son, James N., was born. In 1840, he came to Missouri and settled on a farm western Randolph County. To care for his family, he worked in the field during the week, preaching on Saturday night and Sunday, returning to the field on Monday morning. He preached without salary, and often without compensation.

Allen preached extensively in Randolph, Macon and Howard counties, occasionally visiting counties south of the Missouri River and was remarkably successful in baptizing many and establishing churches. In 1841 he moved to a farm in Green County not far from Springfield, where he remained until the death of his wife, on March 23rd 1843. During the years he resided there, he preached as he had opportunity, and planted many congregations in southwest Missouri.

In 1846 he moved to Georgetown, in Pettis County, where, on December 22nd 1846 he married Lydia Virginia Fristoe. At a meeting held in a grove in that county, two young ladies made themselves quite disruptive, much to the annoyance of the preacher. He therefore reproved them sharply in very plain language. The next morning he started on his way to a neighboring town. While passing through dense woods, a young man dashed up behind him and announced that he was the brother of the young ladies whom he had so severely reproved, and that he had come to punish him for the offence; that he must get down from his horse and fight him. The preacher told him he was a man of peace and did not want to fight. The young man was incorrigible, so the preacher tied his horse, removed his coat and announced himself ready. The young man rushed upon him, and in an instant was knocked sprawling on the ground. The preacher then said, "Young man, I bear you no malice; you forced this battle on me; you have been badly worsted. Now if you will never tell it, I will not," and he did not, till just before his death, and then he would give no name.

Shortly after his second marriage Wright moved to Lexington, Missouri, and remained there for more than ten years. It was here, December 18, 1856 with Allen Wright at his bedside, that John T. Johnson died. Wright spent much of his time evangelizing in Lafayette County. He had become a fine speaker and a man of great influence among the churches. He soon became a recognized leader. It was here he lost his second wife (on May 24th, 1857) by whom he had two children, Allen Wright, Jr., and Ella V.

In the fall of 1858 or early in 1859, he married Lizzie R. DeJarnett of Pettis County. He bought a farm there and began to preach in the region round about. During the summer of 1859 his health began to fail. He and his wife made a visit to the Republican Church in Lafayette County in the summer of 1860. While there, he was taken sick at the house of his old friend and brother, Anderson Warren. He could not have fallen into kinder hands, or among a people who loved him better. His sickness resulted in his death. He passed away on July 19th 1860, mourned by thousands who had come into the kingdom of God through his influence.

J.W. McGarvey, then of Dover, Missouri, and T.P. Haley (Wright had converted Haley) then of Lexington, were called to preach his funeral. A large crowd was present on that hot July day at the old Republican Church about two miles southeast of Higginsville. All wept and mourned him as if he had been a member of their own household. Since he had organized the church there, his devoted brethren claimed his body, laying him to rest only a few feet from the pulpit where he had so often preached the gospel. They erected a monument to his memory which reads:

In Memory Of ALLEN WRIGHT - A Preacher Of The Original Gospel - Fell Asleep In Jesus July 19, 1860 - Aged 50 Ys. & 8 Ms.

[Bill Goring, Friendsoftherestoration Facebook Post, May 27, 2013].