The Allen name comes into the family tree with Sarah Allen who married Richard Higgins who were the parents of Joel Higgins, and the grandparents of John Allen Higgins. The earliest known Allen ancestor on the tree is Thomas Allen Jr. who married Sarah Keys. Thomas and Sarah were the parents of Richard Allen, born on February 22, 1751 in Virginia. Richard married Anna Wisdom, born on January 17, 1754, in 1771 in Spotsylvania, Virginia. Richard and Anna were in turn the parents of the Sarah Allen who married Richard Higgins. The line continues from Sarah and Richard to their son Joel, born in 1803. Joel married Anna Louisa Gibson on April 8, 1823 and together they were the parents of John Allen Higgins, born in 1831. John Allen married Bettie Chinn Webb and one of their daughters was Alline Higgins. It is through Alline that this line continues, with her marriage to Joseph Carter Headley in 1884 and their children Elisabeth Higgins and Frances Carter Headley. Elisabeth married Charles Crain Garr and together they had two daughters, Elisabeth Headley and Charlotte Russell Garr. Frances Carter Headley married B.F. Carruth and they would also have two children, Frances Headley Carruth (Kerr) and Allen Higgins Carruth.
The early members of the Allen line also have ties to the Atchison branch of the tree. Thomas and Sarah Keys Allen had another son named Benjamin Allen. Benjamin married Elizabeth Hudson and they had a daughter named Catherine, born in 1786. This Catherine married William Atchison, a brother of Hamilton Atchison, a direct ancestor in the Atchison line.
This map shows the location of the home of Richard and Anna Allen. To see more family properties, click here.
Documents
Richard Allen (1751-1824) is a direct ancestor in the Allen line, and the father of Sally Allen Higgins. This gallery shows scans of a copy of his will.
