For a number of years the Rev. Robert Allyn was prominent in educational work in Illinois, first as president of McKendrie College at Lebanon and later of the State Normal School at Carbondale. He was a graduate of Wilbraham Academy and of the Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn. He was a man of superior mental powers and attainments, and stood very high both as a preacher and teacher. Many able articles were written by him for leading Methodist papers and educational periodicals. His first wife, Emeline Denison, died young, leaving him with an infant son and daughter — Charles and Emeline. He subsequently married Mary Budington, of Franklin County, Massachusetts, who bore him four children. The Rev. Robert Allyn died at Carbondale, Ill., January 7, 1894, aged seventy-seven years. He had previously been bereft of his second wife and two of their children. But three of his six children are now living, namely: Emeline, the widow of William Hypes, of Lebanon, Ill.; Joseph, a mining engineer in Chicago, Ill.; and Ellen S. Allyn, residing in Carbondale.

Mr. Charles Allyn is survived by his wife, whose maiden name was Helen L. Starr. She was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., daughter of William Holt and Freelove Hurlbut (Williams) Starr. Her father was a native of Groton, and her mother of Stonington, Conn. Mr. Starr at one time carried on a large manufacturing business in Brooklyn, and he was also a writer and publisher. He was a man of influence in public affairs, serving two terms in the Connecticut State legislature. He died at his home in New London in 1884, aged seventy-six, in the house that he built in the winter of 1853-54, forty-four years ago, on Front Street, near the historic old mill, it being one of the first residences erected in this part of the town. Mr. and Mrs. Starr had five children; namely, William H., Charles F., Eliza D., Helen L., and Sarah J. William H. Starr is a Congregational minister in Providence, R.I.; Charles F. lives on Post Hill; Eliza D. Starr lives with Mrs. Allyn; and Sarah J. is the wife of Henry C. Fuller.

Charles Allyn and Miss Helen Starr were married on November 18, 1867. The first six years of their wedded life were spent in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he held a position in the custom-house office. In 1873 they left Brooklyn and came to New London; and a year or two before his death they removed to Mrs. Allyn's old home at 4 Front Street, corner of Crystal Avenue, where she has continued to live. In New London Mr. Allyn engaged in the book trade. He was the publisher of the History of the Battle of Groton Heights, which appears in a fine quarto volume with illustrations; and for several years he published the Daboll Almanac. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Allyn, namely: Charles, who died at sixteen; Louise, a graduate of the Emerson College of Oratory, Boston, in the class of 1895, and now engaged as a teacher of elocuation and physical culture; Robert, who is studying in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Harriet May, thirteen years old, who is attending the grammar school.