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Like so many
of the present resident of Vernon county Mr. Allen is a Kentuckian by
birth, having been born in Nicholas county November 27, 1824, the sixth
of fourteen children in the family of his parents, Jesse and Margaret
(Craig) Allen, the former of Mason and the latter of Bourbon county, of
the Blue Grass State. The father was a farmer by occupation and to that
calling young Jesse was principally brought up, but during the Mexican
War he was employed as teamster, driving from Fort
Leavenworth to Santa Fe; in addition to the regular pay obtained for
these services he received a land warrant as a bounty at the close of
that war. Returning from the war Mr. Allen went to Monroe county, Mo.,
in 1848, but the following year, on July 20, he started overland for the
famous gold fields of California, passing while on the way through
Arizona and New Mexico and finally after a four months’ trip reaching
San Diego, where he wintered. In the spring he went to Sacramento and
subsequently became engaged in mining on the Yuba river, continuing to
be thus occupied during 1851, 1852 and the spring of 1853, both on the
Yuba and Feather rivers. During this time his labors resulted
successfully. Returning home in 1853, he soon married Miss Lucinda
Williamson, of Monroe
county, Mo., after which he made his home in that locality until 1861,
then living for a time in Ray county. During the war he passed two and
a half years in Idaho and Montana, prospecting in the summer and hunting
in the winter, and his many experiences during this period are of
thrilling interest. At the close of the war he returned to Monroe
county by the Missouri river, taking passage at Fort Benton. In 1881 he came to
Vernon county, and since that time he has been actively and successfully
engaged in agricultural pursuits. He has a good farm, well improved,
and underlying it in portions is a thick vein of coal of no little
value. Upon the adjoining farm, that of his son, is a vein now being
worked from three and a half to four feet thick, and of excellent
quality. Mr. and Mrs. Allen have a family of four children: Lafayette,
Mary, wife of J. W. Elkins, Jesse H. and Charles. Besides these two are
deceased, Effie Jane and Bennie. Mr. Allen and wife are earnest,
consistent members of the Christian Church. |
