Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 

Judge O. H. Allen 

Judge O. H. Allen, a pioneer of 1849, now residing with his daughter in the southern part of 
Downey, is a native of Nelson County, Kentucky, born May 25, 1805, and is the son of Colonel 
James and Mary (Reed) Allen.  His paternal grandfather was born in Ireland, and on the mother�s 
side the genealogy goes back to the English.  Colonel James Allen was a farmer in Nelson County, 
Kentucky, till his death in 1851.  In his family were seven children, the subject of this notice being 
the second.  In addition to a common-school education he also attended St. Joseph College in 
Bardstown, Kentucky.  He was a law student under Benjamin Harding, and was admitted to the bar 
in Washington County, Kentucky, in 1824.  From here he moved to Monticello, Mississippi, where he 
practiced law; he later went to Texas, and in 1832 established and edited the first newspaper in the 
State, the Advocate of the People�s Rights.  In this paper he published the celebrated letters, which 
led to the arrest of Stephen F. Austin, the grantee of the Mexican Government.  The next paper he 
edited was the Western Spy, published at Bedford, Indiana.  In 1836 he moved to Missouri, where he 
practiced law until 1849.  Judge Allen was marred in 1835 to Jane Kenton, of Kentucky, a niece of 
Simon Kenton, an associate of Daniel Boone in the early settlement of Kentucky.  By her Mr. Allen 
had one son, Thompson K.  She died in 1848, and the following year Mr. Allen came to California, by 
the popular route overland with the ox team.  After a journey of six months he landed in the Sacramento 
Valley, at a place called Lawson.  For several years he engaged in mining and in practicing law, 
subsequently moving to San Jose, where he continued his law practice and was the mayor of the city 
for the year 1852.  There, in 1853, he married Angelina A. Neely, who was born near Springfield, 
Missouri. Leaving San Jose, he moved to Columbia, Tuolumne County, where a daughter, Rosina was 
born.  He next moved to Alpine County, and practiced his profession there two years, after which he
 located in Los Angeles County, where he ranked among the prominent lawyers until ten years ago, and 
was also for two years justice of the peace in the �City of the Angels.�  Judge Allen has had a varied 
experience.  He was a soldier in the Mexican war, enlisted under Colonel Price at Fort Leavenworth, 
Missouri, in 1846, and was mustered out at Santa Fe.  At one time he was ordered by Governor Boggs, 
of Missouri, to raise a regiment to go to the �far West� to quell the Mormons, being elected Colonel of 
his regiment.  He commanded as Brigadier-General the militia of Northeastern Missouri, to enforce the 
collection of State revenue due from the people on disputed land between Iowa and Missouri.  Since 
1825 Mr. Allen has been a member of the Masonic fraternity, and is also a member of the Southern 
Methodist Episcopal Church.  Judge Allen�s second wife died in April 1874.  By this marriage one child 
was born � Rosina, now the wife of James Quill, one of the most successful fruit growers in this part of 
the county.  With his faithful daughter, the subject of this sketch is now spending the evening of his life.  
James Quill owns thirty-seven acres of land where he resides, one mile south of Downey, and is devoting 
it to the cultivation of fruit, oranges and grapes principally.  He also owns sixty acres of land one mile and 
a half south of Downey.  On this place the principal products are fruit and alfalfa.  A vineyard of thirty 
acres yielded him a gross profit of $3,000 in one year.  February 22, 1882, Mr. Quill was united in marriage 
with Miss Rosina Allen.  They have been blessed with an interesting family of four children: Oliver James, 
Charles Allen, Joseph Armstrong and Angelina.  Judge Allen died about ten day after the data was obtained 
for this sketch.


An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California � Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1889 
Pages 365-366

Transcribed by Pat Houser, March 17, 2006