He was born near Lunah on Quicksand Creek, in Breathitt County; his parents were PVT. James Elias "Eli" Allen, Sr. (Feb 1841-27 Apr 1864) and Martha Ann Walker (25 Apr 1842-2 Mar 1909). He was one of 2 children born to this couple, when he was 4 years old his father, Eli, was killed in the Civil War. His mother remarried to Meredith Mann in 1865 and moved to Menifee County. He was taken in by his uncle, LT. John Lee Allen and his family at the head of Lewis Fork of Troublesome Creek in Breathitt (now Knott) County. Both John Lee Allen and his wife, Paulina A. Combs, died a little after 1870. By 1873 James Lee Allen was living with his grandparents, Shack and Betty Allen on Quicksand Creek. Sometime around 1879 Lee made his way over the hill from Lunah on Quicksand Creek to Middle Fork of Licking River in Magoffin County. He committed a crime here and was a prisoner in 1880 to the family of John and Annie Salyer on Middle Fork of Licking River near the Magoffin/Breathitt line. He was just across the hill from his grandparent's, Shack and Betty Allen's house near Lunah. He was using an alias at the time, John Allen, after his deceased uncle that had helped raise him and he would never use his first name again. By December 1, 1886 he was in the area of Long Creek of Licking River in Magoffin County. He married Leaster Sylvania "Hester" Joseph on April 19, 1887 at Samuel C. Allen's home on Long Creek in Magoffin County. There on Long Creek Lee and Hester raised a family, they had 7 children: Nora Lee Allen Bradley Joseph 1887-1962, Martha Jane Allen Wireman 1888-1954, Elliott Alexander "Alex" Allen 1892-1972, Eva Susannah "Susie" Allen Hicks 1894-1986, Bertha Allen Stumbo 1901-1983, Troy Allen 1903-1978, and Myrtle Allen Nickels 1905-1987. Sometime between October 1908 and April 1910 he moved his family to the head of Triplett Branch, near Betty on Jones Fork in Knott County. He was employed by the Elkhorn Coal Corporation in late April/early May 1911, as a Carpenter; he and his family [excluding Alex and Susie] moved across the hill to Wayland. He helped to build Wayland, he worked this job until about a month before he died, and it is presumed he learned to be a carpenter from his grandfather, Shack Allen. By January 1913 Hester had left him and took the children [excluding Alex and Susie] back to Long Creek in Magoffin County. Sometime around early February 1914 Right Beaver Creek flooded and Lee caught Typhoid Fever and was taken to Dr. Marshall M. Collins' house/office at Lackey in Floyd County. When he died he had been sick for about a month; the undertaker and death certificate informant was his ex-son in law, George Junior Bradley. George Bradley didn't know much about Lee Allen, but he was the only person available to bury him and fill out his death certificate. Lee was buried the day he died in the Chandler Cemetery in Lackey, Kentucky.