Thank you in advance for any corrections.
John Rhodam Allen -- also known as Rhoda and Rhody -- was the son of Thomas Allen and Anne Bradley. He was the eldest of three sons.
Rhoda's father was the son of Robert Allen, a master cabinetmaker. Rhoda became a master cabinetmaker in his own right and passed the craft on to his sons.
Shortly after his birth, the Allens, who were living in Charles County, Maryland moved a short distance away, crossing the Potomac River to Stafford County, Virginia, and settling near the town of Dumfries.
Rhoda Allen married Mary Emily Ransom in 1770 in Charles County, Maryland. They are known to have had the following children:
(1) Theophilus Allen
Born 1770 in St. Charles County, Maryland
Died 11/1/1832 in Ohio County, Kentucky
Married Elizabeth Crawford (1775-1805) in 1790 in Sumner County, Tennessee
(2) Mary Emily Allen
Born 4/24/1773 in Charles County, Maryland
Died 12/13/1837 in Jefferson County, Illinois
Married William McKendree Maxey (1770-1838) in 1793 in Sumner County, Tennessee
(3) Nathan Nelson Graves Allen
Born 2/8/1775 in Edgecombe County, North Carolina
Died 3/19/1859 in Bee County, Texas
Married Celia Bloodworth (1775-1796) in 1796 in Edgecombe County, North Carolina
Married Margaret Quinn (c. 1800-1886) in 1837 in Nacogdoches County, Texas
(4) Sarah "Sally" Allen
Born 4/4/1777 in Edgecombe County, North Carolina
Died 5/18/1853 in Itawamba County, Mississippi
Married Walter Ganado Maxey (1775-1839) in 1795 in Sumner County, Tennessee
(5) Elizabeth Allen
Born 1780 in Edgecombe County, North Carolina
Died 9/27/1850 in Jefferson County, Illinois
Married William Thomas in 1798 in Wilson County, Tennessee
Married John Wilkerson (1867-1832) in 1807 in Wilson County, Tennessee
(6) Henry Davis Allen
Born 3/26/1782 in Edgecombe County, North Carolina
Died 5/25/1873 in Lauderdale County, Alabama
Married Mary "Polly" Barnes (1787-1856) in 1804 in Sumner County, Tennessee
Married Mary Marcy Mayfield (1820-1905) in Lauderdale County, Alabama
(7) John Rhodam Allen
Born 4/10/1785 in Tennessee
Died 11/4/1851 in Jefferson County, Illinois
Married Phoebe Wilkerson (1785-1827) about 1807 in Tennessee
Married Lucinda Pace Atwood (1811-1885) in 1827 in Jefferson County, Illinois
In 1773 Rhoda purchased property in Edgecombe County, North Carolina and moved his family there. He was listed in the lower Town Creek area.
Rhody served in the American Revolution in 1775 as a Private in North Carolina.
The 1790 Federal Census listed "Roda Allin" as living in the Halifax District of Edgecombe County, owning one slave.
Rhoda was ordained as a Methodist minister, as were at least two of his sons and numerous grandsons. He became a circuit rider. This is said to have influenced the family's move to Sumner County, Tennessee between 1790-92.
By 1792 Rhoda was paying taxes on property in Sumner County. He thus qualifies for a First Family of Tennessee Certificate.
Rhody registered his brand (swallow fork and half moon in the right ear) on July 2, 1793.
Rhoda settled in Sumner County "on the east fork of Station Camp Creek" (East Camp Creek), three miles north of Gallatin. On April 8, 1794 he purchased 70 acres there from John Williams. He remained there until 1819. He appeared on the Sumner County tax list for 1794 and 1816-19.
Rhody Allen was listed as a private ensign in James Farr's Detached Regiment of the Sumner County militia, Southwest Territory. He served September 1-30, 1794.
Rhoda's wife Emily died in 1807. Rhoda next married Lucinda Overby (also spelled Overbay and Overbey) in 1810. They had the following children:
(1) Margaret N. Allen
Born 1811 in Sumner County, Tennessee
Died 8/1/1876 in Cooke County, Illinois
Married Edward Owens in 1828 Jefferson County, Illinois
(2) William S. Allen
Born 5/21/1811 in Sumner County, Tennessee
Died after 8/20/1850
Married Mary J. Mufflin (c. 1820- after 8/20/1850)
(3) John Wesley Allen
Born 8/4/1813 in Sumner County, Tennessee
Died 2/9/1889 in Jefferson County, Illinois
Married Sarah Jane Owens (1813-1874) in 1832 in Jefferson County, Illinois
The United States Daughters of 1812 recognizes service from the end of the Revolutionary War 1783, to the end of the War of 1812. Rhody Allen's service may thus be used to apply for membership in that organization.
In 1814-16 an expedition crossed the Ohio River into the Northwest Territory to survey and map what became Jefferson, Hamilton, and White counties in Illinois. Rhody and his son-in-law William McKendree Maxey (husband of Rhody's daughter Mary Emily) joined the party. After seeing the prairie, they decided that it was the place where they wanted to settle their families.
An old family tradition relates that in 1815 Rhody helped to relocate his sons Henry and Nathan N.G., daughter Sally -- wife of William Maxey's brother Walter Maxey -- and their families in northern Mississippi Territory (which included Alabama). But Henry was squatting on Bluewater Creek near present-day Lexington, Lauderdale Alabama as early as 1808-10. Traveling on the frontier could be arduous, and Rhoda would have been in his seventies, but Henry's place on Bluewater Creek was about 140 miles from Rhoda's home, which may not have been excessive. Rhoda's youngest son Rhodam also lived in North Alabama for a time in the late 1810s-early 1820s before settling in Illinois.
At least one late 20th century researcher stated that, in Rhoda's years as a circuit minister, he came to oppose slavery and sensed that there would eventually be a reckoning on the matter. He is thus said to have urged his children to free their slaves, but Nathan, Sally and Henry Allen did not do so, which caused a rift in the family and prompted them to move to the lower South.
This is a remarkable account. We must be cautious though. Some modern researchers have called Rhoda an abolitionist. This is almost certainly inaccurate. Prior to the 1850s abolition was a small movement, its members disliked even by most northerners. Rhoda had spent all of his life in slave societies. If this account is based on fact, the more likely case is that Rhoda came to disapprove of slavery and welcomed relocating to a free state.
During and after the Revolution many Americans freed their slaves, seeing it as incompatible with the assertions of natural rights, liberty and equality used to justify independence. Moreover, the first sectional crisis over slavery came in 1818 when Missouri -- which bordered Tennessee -- applied for admission to the Union as a slave state. This may have also influenced Rhody's move to Illinois, where slavery had been prohibited since the territory's organization in the mid-1780s.
In 1818 Rhoda and son-in-law William helped lead a wagon train from Sumner County, Tennessee to Jefferson County, Illinois. There were 41 families and more than 100 wagons in the train. The party followed the Ohio River, then crossed it at Cave-in-Rock (Hardin County, Illinois). They took what became the Old Goshen Trail northwest to Moore's Prairie in Jefferson County. Train members, many with bounty warrants from service in the War of 1812, initially made their claim in that area.
In addition to William and Emily Allen Maxey, the move included Rhoda's wife Lucinda and their three young children, Rhoda's daughter Elizabeth (wife of John Wilkerson) and family and his son Rhodam Jr. and family.
In 1820 Rhoda bought 160 acres in the southeast quarter of Section 12 in Shiloh Township. This is on the northwest side of present-day Mount Vernon in Jefferson County. This was subsequently shared by his children and their families.
Two of Rhody's grandchildren by his son Theophilus Allen moved from Ohio County, Kentucky to Illinois. They were Mahala Allen and her husband Issac Askew and Asa Allen and wife Abigail Campbell. Both families settled in Pike County in western Illinois.
Sarah Jane Owens, wife of Rhody's youngest son John Wesley, described Rhody as "a powerful man who thought nothing of shouldering good-sized logs and stacking them in a pile or loading them on a wagon."
Rhoda died a few months after moving to Jefferson County. He is said to have suffered a heart attack in the woods while carrying a 12-foot log to be used on a building he was erecting. He was the first burial in the newly-consecrated Union Church Cemetery in Mt. Vernon. His grave monument was erected by his grandson Samuel King Allen. Rhoda was also the first white adult buried in the county.
At the time of his death Rhoda Allen had at least eleven children, eighty-six grandchildren.
On September 5, 1820, Henry Burchett Maxey (Rhoda's grandson) and James Johnson (husband of Rhoda's granddaughter Clarissa Maxey) were appointed administrators of Rhoda's estate. An inventory of his holdings was taken on September 12, 1820. The total value of the estate was about $1,500. Included in the inventory were a large number of woodworking tools.
Sources: Passenger Log of the \"Charles\", Port Tobacco, Maryland, 1690 Charles Co., Maryland Archives- Deeds Maryland State Archives Virginia State Archives Census 1790 University of Virginia Archives Stafford Co., VA Deeds Stafford Co., VA Wills Stafford Co., VA Tax List Stafford Co., VA Archives Census 1800 Allen Family Notes Personal interview notes from Louisa Askew Wooldridge, daughter of Mahala Allen Askew Sumner Co., TN Archives Sumner Co., TN Deeds Sumner Co., TN Early Marriages Sumner Co., TN War of 1812 Muster List Sumner Co., TN Tax List Census 1810, 1820 Ohio County, KY Early Marriages Will of Theophilus Allen, Ohio County, KY Wilson Co., TN Early Marriages Pension Records- War of 1812- Issac Askew Illinois State Archives Land Deeds- Illinois Marriage Certificates Birth Certificates Death Certificates Allen Family Letters Allen Family Oral History Personal interviews with surviving Allen family members. Census for Jefferson Co., IL. Early Marriage Records- Jefferson Co., IL. Cemetery Records- Jefferson Co., IL. Probate Records- Jefferson Co., IL. Clark, Murtie June, American Militia in the Frontier Wars 1790-1796, pg. 144. Granville O'Neal Allen, Our Allens: From Maryland to Muscle Shoals via the Midwest.
Thank you in advance for any corrections.
John Rhodam Allen -- also known as Rhoda and Rhody -- was the son of Thomas Allen and Anne Bradley. He was the eldest of three sons.
Rhoda's father was the son of Robert Allen, a master cabinetmaker. Rhoda became a master cabinetmaker in his own right and passed the craft on to his sons.
Shortly after his birth, the Allens, who were living in Charles County, Maryland moved a short distance away, crossing the Potomac River to Stafford County, Virginia, and settling near the town of Dumfries.
Rhoda Allen married Mary Emily Ransom in 1770 in Charles County, Maryland. They are known to have had the following children:
(1) Theophilus Allen
Born 1770 in St. Charles County, Maryland
Died 11/1/1832 in Ohio County, Kentucky
Married Elizabeth Crawford (1775-1805) in 1790 in Sumner County, Tennessee
(2) Mary Emily Allen
Born 4/24/1773 in Charles County, Maryland
Died 12/13/1837 in Jefferson County, Illinois
Married William McKendree Maxey (1770-1838) in 1793 in Sumner County, Tennessee
(3) Nathan Nelson Graves Allen
Born 2/8/1775 in Edgecombe County, North Carolina
Died 3/19/1859 in Bee County, Texas
Married Celia Bloodworth (1775-1796) in 1796 in Edgecombe County, North Carolina
Married Margaret Quinn (c. 1800-1886) in 1837 in Nacogdoches County, Texas
(4) Sarah "Sally" Allen
Born 4/4/1777 in Edgecombe County, North Carolina
Died 5/18/1853 in Itawamba County, Mississippi
Married Walter Ganado Maxey (1775-1839) in 1795 in Sumner County, Tennessee
(5) Elizabeth Allen
Born 1780 in Edgecombe County, North Carolina
Died 9/27/1850 in Jefferson County, Illinois
Married William Thomas in 1798 in Wilson County, Tennessee
Married John Wilkerson (1867-1832) in 1807 in Wilson County, Tennessee
(6) Henry Davis Allen
Born 3/26/1782 in Edgecombe County, North Carolina
Died 5/25/1873 in Lauderdale County, Alabama
Married Mary "Polly" Barnes (1787-1856) in 1804 in Sumner County, Tennessee
Married Mary Marcy Mayfield (1820-1905) in Lauderdale County, Alabama
(7) John Rhodam Allen
Born 4/10/1785 in Tennessee
Died 11/4/1851 in Jefferson County, Illinois
Married Phoebe Wilkerson (1785-1827) about 1807 in Tennessee
Married Lucinda Pace Atwood (1811-1885) in 1827 in Jefferson County, Illinois
In 1773 Rhoda purchased property in Edgecombe County, North Carolina and moved his family there. He was listed in the lower Town Creek area.
Rhody served in the American Revolution in 1775 as a Private in North Carolina.
The 1790 Federal Census listed "Roda Allin" as living in the Halifax District of Edgecombe County, owning one slave.
Rhoda was ordained as a Methodist minister, as were at least two of his sons and numerous grandsons. He became a circuit rider. This is said to have influenced the family's move to Sumner County, Tennessee between 1790-92.
By 1792 Rhoda was paying taxes on property in Sumner County. He thus qualifies for a First Family of Tennessee Certificate.
Rhody registered his brand (swallow fork and half moon in the right ear) on July 2, 1793.
Rhoda settled in Sumner County "on the east fork of Station Camp Creek" (East Camp Creek), three miles north of Gallatin. On April 8, 1794 he purchased 70 acres there from John Williams. He remained there until 1819. He appeared on the Sumner County tax list for 1794 and 1816-19.
Rhody Allen was listed as a private ensign in James Farr's Detached Regiment of the Sumner County militia, Southwest Territory. He served September 1-30, 1794.
Rhoda's wife Emily died in 1807. Rhoda next married Lucinda Overby (also spelled Overbay and Overbey) in 1810. They had the following children:
(1) Margaret N. Allen
Born 1811 in Sumner County, Tennessee
Died 8/1/1876 in Cooke County, Illinois
Married Edward Owens in 1828 Jefferson County, Illinois
(2) William S. Allen
Born 5/21/1811 in Sumner County, Tennessee
Died after 8/20/1850
Married Mary J. Mufflin (c. 1820- after 8/20/1850)
(3) John Wesley Allen
Born 8/4/1813 in Sumner County, Tennessee
Died 2/9/1889 in Jefferson County, Illinois
Married Sarah Jane Owens (1813-1874) in 1832 in Jefferson County, Illinois
The United States Daughters of 1812 recognizes service from the end of the Revolutionary War 1783, to the end of the War of 1812. Rhody Allen's service may thus be used to apply for membership in that organization.
In 1814-16 an expedition crossed the Ohio River into the Northwest Territory to survey and map what became Jefferson, Hamilton, and White counties in Illinois. Rhody and his son-in-law William McKendree Maxey (husband of Rhody's daughter Mary Emily) joined the party. After seeing the prairie, they decided that it was the place where they wanted to settle their families.
An old family tradition relates that in 1815 Rhody helped to relocate his sons Henry and Nathan N.G., daughter Sally -- wife of William Maxey's brother Walter Maxey -- and their families in northern Mississippi Territory (which included Alabama). But Henry was squatting on Bluewater Creek near present-day Lexington, Lauderdale Alabama as early as 1808-10. Traveling on the frontier could be arduous, and Rhoda would have been in his seventies, but Henry's place on Bluewater Creek was about 140 miles from Rhoda's home, which may not have been excessive. Rhoda's youngest son Rhodam also lived in North Alabama for a time in the late 1810s-early 1820s before settling in Illinois.
At least one late 20th century researcher stated that, in Rhoda's years as a circuit minister, he came to oppose slavery and sensed that there would eventually be a reckoning on the matter. He is thus said to have urged his children to free their slaves, but Nathan, Sally and Henry Allen did not do so, which caused a rift in the family and prompted them to move to the lower South.
This is a remarkable account. We must be cautious though. Some modern researchers have called Rhoda an abolitionist. This is almost certainly inaccurate. Prior to the 1850s abolition was a small movement, its members disliked even by most northerners. Rhoda had spent all of his life in slave societies. If this account is based on fact, the more likely case is that Rhoda came to disapprove of slavery and welcomed relocating to a free state.
During and after the Revolution many Americans freed their slaves, seeing it as incompatible with the assertions of natural rights, liberty and equality used to justify independence. Moreover, the first sectional crisis over slavery came in 1818 when Missouri -- which bordered Tennessee -- applied for admission to the Union as a slave state. This may have also influenced Rhody's move to Illinois, where slavery had been prohibited since the territory's organization in the mid-1780s.
In 1818 Rhoda and son-in-law William helped lead a wagon train from Sumner County, Tennessee to Jefferson County, Illinois. There were 41 families and more than 100 wagons in the train. The party followed the Ohio River, then crossed it at Cave-in-Rock (Hardin County, Illinois). They took what became the Old Goshen Trail northwest to Moore's Prairie in Jefferson County. Train members, many with bounty warrants from service in the War of 1812, initially made their claim in that area.
In addition to William and Emily Allen Maxey, the move included Rhoda's wife Lucinda and their three young children, Rhoda's daughter Elizabeth (wife of John Wilkerson) and family and his son Rhodam Jr. and family.
In 1820 Rhoda bought 160 acres in the southeast quarter of Section 12 in Shiloh Township. This is on the northwest side of present-day Mount Vernon in Jefferson County. This was subsequently shared by his children and their families.
Two of Rhody's grandchildren by his son Theophilus Allen moved from Ohio County, Kentucky to Illinois. They were Mahala Allen and her husband Issac Askew and Asa Allen and wife Abigail Campbell. Both families settled in Pike County in western Illinois.
Sarah Jane Owens, wife of Rhody's youngest son John Wesley, described Rhody as "a powerful man who thought nothing of shouldering good-sized logs and stacking them in a pile or loading them on a wagon."
Rhoda died a few months after moving to Jefferson County. He is said to have suffered a heart attack in the woods while carrying a 12-foot log to be used on a building he was erecting. He was the first burial in the newly-consecrated Union Church Cemetery in Mt. Vernon. His grave monument was erected by his grandson Samuel King Allen. Rhoda was also the first white adult buried in the county.
At the time of his death Rhoda Allen had at least eleven children, eighty-six grandchildren.
On September 5, 1820, Henry Burchett Maxey (Rhoda's grandson) and James Johnson (husband of Rhoda's granddaughter Clarissa Maxey) were appointed administrators of Rhoda's estate. An inventory of his holdings was taken on September 12, 1820. The total value of the estate was about $1,500. Included in the inventory were a large number of woodworking tools.
Sources: Passenger Log of the \"Charles\", Port Tobacco, Maryland, 1690 Charles Co., Maryland Archives- Deeds Maryland State Archives Virginia State Archives Census 1790 University of Virginia Archives Stafford Co., VA Deeds Stafford Co., VA Wills Stafford Co., VA Tax List Stafford Co., VA Archives Census 1800 Allen Family Notes Personal interview notes from Louisa Askew Wooldridge, daughter of Mahala Allen Askew Sumner Co., TN Archives Sumner Co., TN Deeds Sumner Co., TN Early Marriages Sumner Co., TN War of 1812 Muster List Sumner Co., TN Tax List Census 1810, 1820 Ohio County, KY Early Marriages Will of Theophilus Allen, Ohio County, KY Wilson Co., TN Early Marriages Pension Records- War of 1812- Issac Askew Illinois State Archives Land Deeds- Illinois Marriage Certificates Birth Certificates Death Certificates Allen Family Letters Allen Family Oral History Personal interviews with surviving Allen family members. Census for Jefferson Co., IL. Early Marriage Records- Jefferson Co., IL. Cemetery Records- Jefferson Co., IL. Probate Records- Jefferson Co., IL. Clark, Murtie June, American Militia in the Frontier Wars 1790-1796, pg. 144. Granville O'Neal Allen, Our Allens: From Maryland to Muscle Shoals via the Midwest.
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