Nathan N.G. Allen (as he signed his name) was born in the lower Town Creek area of the Halifax district of Edgecombe County, North Carolina.

By 1792 Nathan's family had moved to Sumner County, Tennessee (which at the time was still the western district of North Carolina). In 1794 Nathan's father Rhoda purchased 70 acres on "the east fork of Station Camp Creek" (East Camp Creek) in Sumner County, three miles above Gallatin; Rhody retained this homestead until 1819.

On November 23, 1797 Nathan sold 30 acres in Sumner County to Walter G. Maxey, husband of Nathan's younger sister Sarah "Sally" Allen.

While other members of his family settled in Sumner, Lawrence and Maury counties, it is believed that Nathan moved on to Giles County. He may also have lived in Franklin County. Nathan married his first wife, Celia Bloodworth, in Tennessee.

Nathan N.G. Allen and Celia Bloodworth may have had as many as 11 children. This list likely includes errors:

(1) Talitha Allen

Born 12/28/1797 in Tennessee

Died before 9/21/1870 in Alabama

Married Benjamin Winstead (1795-1876) in Giles County, Tennessee in 1817

(2) Nathan Eliba Allen

Born 11/10/1799 in Giles County, Tennessee

Died after July 1860 in Lavaca County, Texas

Married Nancy Walden (1797-c.1882) in 1818

(3) Hardy Allen

Born 12/27/1801 in Tennessee

Died July 1896 in Lee County, Mississippi

Married Nancy Young (1802-1877) in Marion County, Alabama in 1820

(4) Mary Allen

Born 12/21/1803 in Tennessee

No further information

(5) Zachariah H. Allen

Born 12/12/1805 in Tennessee

Died 1878 in Lafayette County, Arkansas

Married Nancy S. Witt (1814-1889) in Arkansas around 1834

(6) Theophilus Allen

Born 10/8/1807 in Tennessee

Died before 1850 in Marion County, Alabama

Married Sarah Spruill in Marion County, Alabama around 1832

(7) John Rhodam "Rhody" Allen

Born 1/28/1810 in Tennessee

Died before 1850 in Marion County, Alabama

Married Elizabeth Spruill (1805-1876) in Alabama around 1831

(8) Narcissa Allen

Born 5/21/1815 in Tennessee

Died in the 1860s in Cherokee County, Texas

Married Williams James Meador (1800-1871) in Itawamba County, Mississippi in 1845

(9) Sarah "Sally" Allen

Born 5/21/1815 in Tennessee

Died after November 1850

Married Jesse Whittle (c. 1804- after 1884) in Marion County, Alabama around 1842

(10) Elizabeth Allen

Born 7/28/1817 in Giles County, Tennessee

Died 8/30/1871 in Chickasaw County, Mississippi

Married James Brown Dyer (1819-1868) around 1840

(11) Celia Vrecely Allen

Born 9/10/1819 in Franklin County, Tennessee

Died 6/21/1878 in Fayette County, Alabama

Married Alexander Berryhill (1817-after June 1870) around 1837

Nathan, Celia and their family appear to have left Tennessee by the end of the 1810s. They appear to have been in northern Alabama by the second half of the 1810s. They may have been influenced to go there by Nathan's younger brother Henry Davis Allen, who was squatting on Bluewater Creek by the early 1810s if not prior to that (just west of present-day Lexington in Lauderdale County).

By 1820 Nathan appears to have settled in present-day Itawamba County, Mississippi, between and just south of the present-day towns of Fulton and Tremont. His homestead was on the east side of the Wagon Road (now Clay Tilden Road). This was 3/4 to one mile south of present-day Interstate 22. Nathan's sister Sarah ("Sally") lived on the other side of the road with her husband Walter G. Maxey and their children (These homesteads were between sections 11 and 14 of Township 10 South, Range 9 East). When they first lived there it was Marion County, Alabama; it became part of Monroe County, Mississippi in 1821 and Itawamba County, Mississippi in 1836.

It is not known with certainty that this was Nathan's home. However, by the federal survey of 1833 Nathan's eldest son Eliba was living there. It is assumed that, as Nathan's sister settled on the adjacent property, this had been Nathan's home, and Eliba took it over after Nathan moved out of the region.

In the early 1820s Nathan received a land grant in Lamar County, Alabama (which borders Monroe County). In 1825 Nathan served as a justice of the peace in Marion County, Alabama (which borders Lamar and Monroe counties as well as Itawamba County, Mississippi).

Nathan was a Methodist preacher and circuit rider. The first license for a preacher to perform a marriage ceremony in Monroe County, Mississippi was issued to Nathaniel N.G. Allen in 1823.

In 1825 or '26, for reasons now lost, Nathan left his wife and family in Alabama-Mississippi and moved to the Mexican province of Texas. He may have initially lived in or near the town of Nacogdoches. By the early 1830s he was living 20 miles west of Nacogdoches in what was then Nacogdoches County and is now Cherokee County, Texas.

Nathan and Margaret Quinn were living as husband and wife by 1827 (although their marriage was not legally solemnized until 1837, after Texas independence from Mexico -- perhaps because Mexican citizens were required to be Catholic).

The children of Nathan N.G. Allen and Margaret Quinn were as follows:

(1) Susan Allen

Born abt. 1828 in Nacogdoches County, Texas

Died between June 1880-1887 in Angelina County, Texas

Married Wesley Morehead Selman (1818-1900) in Nacogdoches County, Texas in 1842

(2) Mariah Allen

Born 9/15/1829 in Nacogdoches County, Texas

Died 6/21/1878 in Angelina County, Texas

Married (1st) Eli M. Thomason (1809-1868) in Cherokee County, Texas in 1847

(2nd) William Lemuel McCord (1817-1893) in Angelina County, Texas in 1870

(3) Frost Thorn Allen

Born 3/20/1831 in Nacogdoches County, Texas

Died 1/28/1880 in Corpus Christi, Nueces County, Texas

(4) Henry Davis Allen

Born 1/22/1833 in present-day Cherokee County, Texas;

Died 5/1/1874 in Nueces County, Texas

Married Jane Selman 1/2/1854 in Cherokee County, Texas

(5) Margaret Nelson Allen

Born abt. 1836 in present-day Cherokee County, Texas

Died abt. April 25, 1881 near present-day Driscoll, Nueces County, Texas

Married (1st) Franklin B. Johnson ( -bef 1855) in Cherokee County, Texas in 1852

(2nd) William Black (abt. 1836- bef. 1880) in Cherokee County in 1856.

(6) Mary Emily Allen

Born abt. 1838 in present-day Cherokee County, Texas

Died after July 1855

(7) Delilah Durst Allen

Born abt. 1843 in present-day Cherokee County, Texas

Died after July 1855

(8) Rhoda "Rhody" Allen (male)

Born 1845 in present-day Cherokee County, Texas

Died after June 1880 near present-day Driscoll, Nueces County, Texas

The circumstances of Nathan's arrival in Texas are unclear. He may have tried to be introduced in the colony of Frost Thorn, a prominent local merchant (for whom Nathan and Margaret named a son). Thorn's empresarial contract was cancelled by the Mexican government, but in 1834 the Mexican government granted Nathan a league (4,428 acres) of land under the jurisdiction of empresario David G. Burnet (who later became the first President of the Republic of Texas). Nathan's land was is present-day Leon County.

However, By about 1832 (if not sooner) Nathan, Margaret and their children were living in present-day Cherokee County, Texas, and remained there for more than 20 years. They homesteaded on the south side of the Old San Antonio Road (El Camino Real), just west of the Angelina River, along a stream that is still named Allen Creek. This was at the present ghost town of Linwood, on Texas highway 21, about six miles east of Alto. Today their homestead is marked by Selman-Roark Cemetery.

Because Nathan had arrived in Texas before its declaration of independence from Mexico, he received a first class headright. He was granted a league and a labor (177 acres of prime farmland) in Nacogdoches County in 1838. This may have been at his homestead, as Cherokee County was later carved out of Nacogdoches County.

Nathan appeared in the census record in 1835 and the Nacogdoches County tax record for 1837 (when he claimed 2,387 acres valued at $2,039), 1839, 1840 and 1845.

On file in the Texas State Archives is an audited claim filed by Nathan. He had sold twelve bushels of corn to troops of the Nacogdoches militia under the command of Thomas Jefferson Rusk (1803-1857). Rusk, the first Secretary of War for the Republic of Texas, later joined Sam Houston as Texas's first U.S. Senators. At this time Rusk was preparing for a campaign in the Cherokee War.

On September 15, 1840 Nathan sold $1,200 worth of beef to Republic of Texas troops, for which he was finally paid only $200 eight years later by a claims commission. These troops were under the command of Nathan's neighbor James H. Durst (abt. 1819-1858), son of Joseph Durst (1789-abt. 1843) and nephew of John Marie Durst (1797-1851). The Dursts were one of the most prominent families in East Texas.

When Texas became a US state, Cherokee County was carved from Nacogdoches County. Nathan was elected Justice of the Peace for precinct 1 in 1846 and 1848. Nathan's occupation was listed as mechanic in early Nacogdoches records.

In 1854 Nathan surrendered all claims to the estate of his deceased father Rhoda Allen. This document, filed in Jefferson County, Illinois, was William Maxey (husband of Nathan's sister Mary Emily Allen) and Nathan's brother Henry Davis Allen of Lauderdale County, Alabama. Henry also executed power of attorney.

In fall 1855 Nathan and Margaret moved to South Texas. They jointed their sons Frost Thorn, Henry Davis and family, and Rhody, daughter Margaret N. Black and family and likely other children. Also in the caravan was the father and sister and family of Henry's wife Jane.

Nathan and Margaret settled near Papalote in what soon became Bee County, Texas. Several of his children, including Frost, Henry, Margaret, settled nearby in Nueces County on the Diezmero (or Dismero) Ranch, owned by their East Texas neighbor and friend James H. Durst.

Rev. Nathan N.G. Allen's death was reported in the August 11, 1859 edition of the Nashville Christian Advocate. Family tradition recalled that Nathan was buried on the east side of Papalote Creek, near the town of Papalote in Bee County, Texas. Nathan's great-great-grandson Carl M. Allen Jr. (1925-1999) was shown the grave site as a boy, but it is now lost.