My name is Linda Bobo Davis, a lifelong resident of Gibson County, TN.  I have located an ancestor, Soloman Skelton, in Sunflower, MS in the approximate time period of l860 to 1870, more or less.  Soloman is my great-great grandfather, on my maternal linage.  He was married to Nancy Montcrief while in MS and at least six children were born to them while there.  They were, James Franklin 1858, William Jefferson 1861, Sara Ella 1866,  Charlie 1867, Mollie 1869 (my great grandmother) and Cora Alice 1871.  
 
Soloman enlisted in the Confederate cause on August 1861 and served in Co G 5th Mississippi Regulars, Chalmers Brigade,Walkers' Division.  He was taken as a prisoner by the union forces at Franklin, TN and held at Camp Douglas, Illinois until the war ended after which he was released in June l865.  He shows up in the Gibson Co, TN census of 1880, living near the town of Rutherford.  There are three more children listed, Clara,1874, Suda ? Glenn, 1876, and Mattie ?.
 
Soloman Skelton was the son of Dosier Skelton, grandson of Soloman Skelton and Mary Dosier, Great GS of Robert Skelton and Elizabeth Bobo.  The Skeltons were English and the Bobos French Huguenots.  They migrated to Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi with Soloman the younger spending his final 41 years in Rutherford, Tennessee.
 
Hope this helps someone as fascinated as I with this family.
My e-mail is legacyacres@wiwt.com and phone number is 1-731-665-7634---
52 Salem Rd, 
Rutherford, Tn 38369
 

I was so thrilled when I found this site on the computer.  There were 10 children in my family, with one set of twins.  My sister, Annette Williamson Hardy has a twin buried in Sandy Bayou Cemetery.  His name is Phillip Anan Williamson and was born on June 12, 1941 and died on September 19, 1941.   On Oct. 7, 2004, we had a head stone put down for him.  I am attaching a couple of photos.  The lady standing by the headstone is Annette.  You will note that there are two pieces of angle iron.  When Anan was buried, my parents didn't have enough money to buy a head stone and this was the way the grave was marked.  We had a hole drilled in the headstone so we could keep the pieces of angle iron in place.  Daddy had also planted a tree at the head of his grave but the last ice storm got it.   

Thanks again to you and all the others that have put this on the computer.  It inspired me to adopt a cemetery near where I live.  

Judy Williamson Jones    
J 
 

My name is Linda Bobo Davis, a lifelong resident of Gibson County, Tn.  I have located an ancestor, Soloman Skelton, in Sunflower, Ms in the approximate time period of l860 to 1870, more or less.  Soloman is my great-great grandfather, on my maternal linage.  He was married to Nancy Montcrief while in Ms and at least six children were born to them while there.  They were, James Franklin 1858, William Jefferson 1861, Sara Ella 1866,  Charlie 1867, Mollie 1869 (my great grandmother) and Cora Alice 1871.  
  
Soloman enlisted in the Confederate cause on August 1861 and served in Co G 5th Mississippi Regulars, Chalmers Brigade,Walkers' Division.  He was taken as a prisoner by the union forces at Franklin, Tn and held at Camp Douglas, Illinois until the war ended after which he was released in June l865.  He shows up in the Gibson Co, Tn census of 1880, living near the town of Rutherford.  There are three more children listed, Clara,1874, Suda ? Glenn, 1876, and Mattie ?. 
  
Soloman Skelton was the son of Dosier Skelton, grandson of Soloman Skelton and Mary Dosier, Great GS of Robert Skelton and Elizabeth Bobo.  The Skeltons were English and the Bobos French Huguenots.  They migrated to Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi with Soloman the younger spending his final 41 years in Rutherford, Tennessee. 

Linda Davis

"A Local legend shared with the writer by Mr. GAYLEN SMITH through his son DENNIS SMITH, says that WILLIAM LEACH was in the CIVIL WAR as a Confederate Soldier and served in QUANTRILL'S RAIDERS. This unit was lead by  WILLIAM CLARKE QUANTRILL who was born in OHIO in 1837. He had been a gambler and sometimes a school teacher in the midwest before the war. He had also at times been suspected of murder and thievery but apparently was never charged.  He enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1862 and was commissioned a Captain. He enrolled  a band of gorillas including JESSE AND FRANK JAMES.  
The deeds of this renegade band attracted the attention of the UNION ARMY and early on, he was branded an "OUTLAW". Somewhere along the line he was promoted to COLONEL.  They committed many atrocities, the most heinous of which was the sacking of LAWRENCE, KANSAS.  It was at that place that they killed more than 150 unarmed men, women and children and pillaged and burned the town. In October of 1863 they killed about 100 UNION SOLDIERS at BAXTER SPRINGS, KANSAS.  In 1865 the guerrilla band was looting in KENTUCKY when a small force of UNION TROOPS surprised them and fatally wounded Quantrill.  
How much time, if any, WILLIAM LEACH spent in the unit is unknown. It also not known whether or not he was present at any of these reported events.  

The local legend further states that sometime in the early 1900s, FRANK JAMES paid MR. LEACH a visit. He was reportedly there to sell "FRUIT TREES" to local people. However, local  rumor was that the two old cronies were planning something sinister.  Judging from their age at the time I doubt that there was anything more serious than talking over "OLD TIMES". Indications are that MR. LEACH lived an upright and honorable life as a citizen Of SUNFLOWER COUNTY and was not suspected of any  dishonest acts while a citizen there.   We know that there were many atrocities committed by both Confederate and Union soldiers, those acts of QUANTRILL were more widely reported. QUANTRILL  also continued his gorilla warfare after the war  
had ended.  

WILLIAM LEACH'S  WIFE MARY NEAL  VANCE LEACH had died on 27 February 1901 which appears to have been prior to FRANK JAMES reported visit.  

The house in which WILLIAM AND MARY LEACH lived is still standing and is reportedly one of two houses in the area that are well over 100 years old. The other house is the old WOLFE HOME where the parents of  JERUSHA PARENTINE WOLFE VANCE (wife of JAMES B. VANCE) lived. This writer has recent pictures  
of the house owned  and occupied by WILLIAM  LEACH AND MARY NEAL VANCE LEACH which is still habitable .  

Information received after that above NOTES were made: the writer obtained a copy of the book 'FEVER, FLOODS AND FAITH, A HISTORY OF SUNFLOWER COUNTY MISSISSIPPI WRITTEN BY MARIE M. HEMPHILL".  In this history it indicates that Mr. Leach was in Company B, 2nd Missouri,  McCulloch Brigade.  It is known that he had been born in Missouri.  The history also states that Mr. Leach was at one time, POSTMASTER at  SAINTS' REST, located near SHAW. In 1890 he was a MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS (an elected position similar to County Commissioners today) of Sunflower County.  

There is also  a story in the Sunflower County History about a citizen named WILLIAM M. DUNCAN who arrived in the County after  the Civil War. He purchased the residence of WILLIAM O. Key in  1873 . He had grown up in MISSOURI near the home of JESSE AND FRANK JAMES and is said to have" known  
them well".  The DUNCAN family tells a story about a MYSTERIOUS visitor who came to their home while Mr. DUNCAN  WAS AWAY.  They later learned that it was in fact FRANK JAMES and that he had come there to serve as the  FAMILY PROTECTOR while Mr. Duncan traveled to MISSOURI to intercede for JESSE JAMES who was then in prison.  Mr. DUNCAN is not listed among the men who served in the Civil War from that area and it is  not known whether or not MR. LEACH AND MR.  DUNCAN became confused in relating the  LEGENDS OF THE AREA.  

There was a place named "GARVIN'S FERRY on the SUNFLOWER RIVER about 3 miles east of the present city of INDIANOLA. It is said that FRANK JAMES spent time there, incognito, posing as a fruit tree salesman.  He is said to have stayed in the home of  a MR. DOMINECK near the present day location of the  
ALLEN-BRASHER PLANTATION. Here again the similarity of the two stories indicates that  the two   were mixed together.  

Jesse James was shot and killed in 1882 so the time line for this later story is plausible. However I find no record that JESSE JAMES was ever imprisoned. There was an attempt made in about 1880 to obtain amnesty for  
him. Therefore the  trip to MISSOURI by Mr. DUNCAN may have been in this connection. Needless to say the trip was in vain, there was a $10,000.00 reward for him, DEAD OR ALIVE. at the time he was shot and killed by BOB FORD, a member of his gang.  

This situation indicates once again the folly of  the use of  LOCAL LEGENDS as FAMILY HISTORY. They do add to the mystery of the area and the individuals and  should be recorded as "JUST LEGEND". This story is included here as JUST THAT."  

“ADDENDUM October 2004 
This account of the death of WILLIAM CLARK QUANTRILL (shown below) was obtained from a CIVIL WAR SITE on the internet, That site carries a roster of QUANTRILLS RAIDERS. The names of neither Mr. Leach or Mr. Duncan appear on that list. It is not stated whether or not the list is complete but this probably indicates that if  either of them served in that unit, it was for only a short time.  
  
Quantrill, William Clarke  was trapped in barn at Wakefield farm, about one mile from Smiley, Kentucky by Capt. Edward Terrell and his cavalry detachment. While attempting to escape, Quantrill was struck by two Spencer balls, one on the hand, the other paralyzing him from the waist down.  He was transferred to a military hospital in Louisville, then to a Catholic  hospital in Louisville. He died there at 4pm, 6 June 1865. He was  buried in the old Portland Catholic Cemetery at Louisville. In  1887, his mother had his bones brought back to Ohio. The man she paid  to remove the body stole some of the skeleton, and years later,  parts of it showed up in the hands of a Kansas collector. In 1993,  these parts were moved to Higginsville, MO, and re-interred in the Confederate Cemetery there.” 

Contributed by Don Blasingame.

1833-1911 
 

JAMES ALEXANDER VANCE III arrived in Mississippi  from South Carolina with his parents, JAMES ALEXANDER VANCE JR. and SUSANNA PRESLEY VANCE  ca 1833. They settled in CALHOUN COUNTY in the general area of SLATE SPRINGS  MISSISSIPPI. We have very little documented history on our family until 1850 when we find JAMES ALEXANDER VANCE III and  his wife MARY NEAL VANCE on the 1850 census of Choctaw County. Mary was the daughter of  ELBERT NEAL and NARCISSA SPURLIN NEAL. The NEAL  family had arrived in Mississippi from COVINGTON COUNTY ALABAMA and settled in Calhoun County sometime after 1830.  

On the 1860 census  they are still in Choctaw County and we now find  JAMES, MARY, and children , NARCISSA SUSAN age 9, Mary Elizabeth  age 7, JOHN ALEXANDER age 4 and WILLIAM H. age 1. 

On 8 October 1863, JAMES enlisted in the Army of the Confederacy at Greensboro, Mississippi. He was placed in Company D, 43 Regiment, Mississippi Infantry. The last record we have for him was reported in THE GENTLE REBEL by Jones and Martin.   The 43rd Regiment was in the Battle of Franklin Tennessee which occurred on 30 November 1864. The Civil War Letters of Lt.  William Harvey Berryhill of Company D published in that book reported that JAMES A. VANCE shot in the head and JOHN G. NEAL (Neal was James wife MARY S first Cousin) shot in the hip, both may die .  It appears that this prediction came to pass, neither JAMES nor JOHN NEAL returned home. We have no record of where they are buried.  

In 1870 Calhoun County, Mississippi census, Mary, a widow, appears as the head of the household. She indicates that her husband was "killed in the war".  We do not believe that the family had moved but that Calhoun County now included a part of what had been Choctaw County.  With her are MARY ELIZABETH age 17, JOHN ALEXANDER age 15, THOMAS W. age 10 and JAMES B. age 7. Also in the household are   her daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter: JAMES J. ADAMS age 24, NARCISSA SUSAN ADAMS age 19 and MARY ADAMS age 8/12.  William H. who would have been 11 years old is no longer listed and is presumed to have died.  

Sometime in the early 1870 s the family moved to Shaw, Mississippi in SUNFLOWER COUNTY. On 9th of February 1879 JOHN A. VANCE  and LORILLA V. NORRIS were married in the home of the bride's parents, J. A. and Susanna Norris also of Sunflower County. The ceremony was solemnized by Revered A, D, Brooks, serving as witnesses were; J. G. Carpenter and J. I. Adams (Mr. Adams was the husband of JOHN VANCE's sister, Narcissa Susan). Reverend Brooks founded the Bethel Baptist Church No. 3 (later changed to Fairview Baptist Church) and is said to have founded the first school in the area.  

On the 1880 census of Sunflower County, J. A.  (JOHN ALEXANDER) VANCE age 24, L. V.   (LORILLA V.) VANCE, age 17, MARY LEACH, widow (this was MARY NEAL VANCE, the matriarch of the family), THOMAS VANCE, age 19 and J. B.  (JAMES B.), age 16, are all listed in the same household.  This indicates that MARY had remarried in the 1870 s.  MARY ELIZABETH is not listed. Until recently, we thought that she had married and remained in CALHOUN COUNTY. It now appears that she may have died.  

On 15 August 1882, THOMAS W. was married to ADDIE MCLAIN in Sunflower County.  We have no information on the identity of parents of Addie.  On 28 November 1885, OLA SCOTT VANCE was born to THOMAS W. and ADDIE.  Sadly, this child died on 23 June 1890 and is buried in The Fairview Methodist Cemetery near Shaw.  

On 15 November 1885 in Sunflower County, JAMES B. VANCE married J. P. WOLFE who is believed to have been the daughter of David D. Wolfe and Mary Nelson Wolfe.  

In 1888 JOHN and LORILLA moved to Ellis County, Texas, leaving the rest of their family in Sunflower County. They traveled in two Ox drawn carts and spent many days on the road. My Grandmother recalled that  she drove one Ox Yoke and my Grandfather the other and that the trip was uneventful except for the mosquitoes in the Louisiana Swamps. They joined members of  the Neal family who had earlier settled in  NEAL VALLEY in ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS.  

On 24 August 1891 THOMAS W. wrote a letter to his brother JOHN who was now living in Texas, the letter says as follows: 

Dear brother and family.  I will write you a few lines this morning. I have neglected writing but I hope you will excuse me for  it. The health of the country here is bad. We are sick, our baby  has been dangerously sick but is better now.  I have been right sick for several days but aim to  get up some this morning.  John I am in bad health, Jim  (this would have been his brother JAMES B. is in very good health. I sold him mags colt for $89.00. My crop is cut off by the rain. It looks like I never have my health in this country.  John will you kindly tell me the value in that TOM BRYANT tract. I want to go and look at it.  I want to leave here If I can get rid of what little stuff I have got.  We had a protracted  (revival) here last week, brother TOM WILSON dun the  preaching.  I am the present  supertendant for the fair  view Sunday School.  I ask for  your prayers.  A man came from the hills  by the name of  Revis to buy land.  I supose he bought the tract lying behind the Watson farm. As I am very puny I will close write soon love to all. 

The letter was transcribed using the same words and spelling as the original, some punctuation was added to improve clarity of thought.  

Sadly only 17 days later, Thomas died and is buried in the Fairview Methodist Cemetery alongside his child who had died in 1890.  

We have been told that the FAIRVIEW BAPTIST CHURCH was originally named THE BETHEL BAPTIST CHURCH #3 . THOMAS makes reference to the FAIR VIEW CHURCH. This would indicate that the name was changed prior to 1891. 

On 26 March 1893, L. ETTIE ADAMS, child of JAMES J. and NARCISSA  SUSAN ADAMS died and was buried in the Fairview Cemetery near the graves of THOMAS and OLA SCOTT VANCE... 

 In the mid 1890 s, Addie VANCE and her two children MOLLIE and WILLIAM moved to Ellis County, Texas and joined JOHN and LORILLA there. She later remarried and had two children by her second husband.  She died in Wichita Falls, Texas. 

On the 1900 census MARY LEACH b. February 1835 is living with her husband WILLIAM LEAH b. March 1841 in Missouri, They indicate that they own the farm and had been married for 21 years which would indicate a wedding date in 1879.  Mary says that she has 6 children and that three of them are living. The living children were JOHN ALEXANDER VANCE, NARCISSA SUSAN ADAMS and JAMES B. VANCE. We know that WILLIAM H. had died in Calhoun or Choctaw County prior to 1870, THOMAS W.  had died in 1891. This would leave MARY ELIZABETH who may have died before they left Calhoun County. However, if  Narcissa Susan died before 1900, as we now suspect, this would indicate that Mary Elizabeth may have been the other living child. 

On the 1900 census and living  next door to MARY AND WILLIAM, was JAMES B. VANCE and his wife JERUSHA P. VANCE  and their four children, VELMA 13, EMMA 11, CLAUD 6, and MARY  1 year old (this would have been MARY ALMA). 

On 15 July 1900 MARY ALMA VANCE, the youngest child of JAMES B. and JERUSHA P. VANCE  died and is buried in the Fairview Methodist Cemetery near Shaw, Mississippi.  On 25 June 1901, JERUSHA died and is buried beside her child. In about 1904 James B. was married a second time, to MARY A.. (MOLLIE) HOPP. They had 4 children, CHARLES, ETHEL., MARY AND VALLIE. James died in 1941 and buried in the Old Shaw City Cemetery in Sunflower county.  

We have not found JAMES and NARCISSA SUSAN ADAMS on the 1900 census. However, we do find on the Sunflower County census,  GEORGE FRAZIER b. November 1861 in Louisiana and his wife MARY   b. September 1869 in Mississippi with their two children, MARY b August 1897 and EDDIE b September 1898.  Mary indicates that she has been married for 8 years, is the mother of 3 children and that two (shown above) are still living.  We have no record on the deceased child. Also in the household is brother-in-law DEWRELL ADAMS b 1881. MARY, who was the oldest child of JAMES AND NARCISSA SUSAN, her husband, their two children  and  her brother,  Dewrell  Adams. There is an unmarked grave in Fairview Methodist Cemetery near the other family members that we believe is that of Narcissa Susan. There is a broken headstone strewn about, but not enough remains for positive identification. We have learned that James  moved back to Calhoun County at about that time and  later remarried.  This gives further evidence that Narcissa Susan died in that time frame.  A number of the descendants of James and Narcissa Susan still live in Mississippi  

DEWRELL ADAMS died 10 October 1900 and is buried beside his sister ETTIE and his Uncle THOMAS W.  VANCE and other family members  in THE FAIRVIEW METHODIST CEMETERY 

 MARY LEACH, who was born 3 February 1835 died on 27 February 1901and he is buried in the family plot at Fairview Methodist Cemetery. Nearby is a broken gravestone with LEACH that is readable, there is no other legible inscription. Cemetery records indicate that this is the final resting place of WILLIAM LEACH who was MARY NEAL VANCE LEACH 's second husband. We have no explanation as to why MARY stated on the 1880 census that she was a widow.  If the 1890 census had not been destroyed we might find some additional answers. 

We have no further history until 1911.  On 26 December of that year JOHN A. VANCE wrote a letter from Shaw, Mississippi to his wife Lorilla at Wills Point, Texas, the letter is as follows: 

SHAW MISSISSIPPI 

Dec the 16 1911 

Dear Rilla and babes, I am still at Jim s (his brother James B. Vance).  it has been raining every day since I have been here and it just pour down this morning. The rivers are bank full and water all over the country. I looked across the road this morning and a man was chopping wood on the galary. Mr. Leach is dead, James Adams  (his brother-in-law) is here. Jim (presumably his brother) and I have to go to Indianola just as soon as it quits raining.  I am coming home as soon as I get through with some business. Here the business is in bad shape.  The farm is sold. I think Jim will come home with me to look at Texas. He is going to leave here . This country I consider a dead letter.  I will see you all soon,  as ever your loving husband and pa pa, kiss the babies for me, write me at Shaw. John Vance  

This letter was transcribed as written, some periods and comas were added  for clarity.  In his letter, JOHN said that "Mr. Leach is dead"  and mentioned selling some land. We now believe that the Mr. Leach was WILLIAM LEACH, MARY'S  husband and  the land   to which  reference was made,  was the land that had belonged to his MOTHER  and WILLIAM LEACH  

We have never learned what illness prematurely took the lives of so many of our loved ones during the period 1860 through the early 1900 s.  Some have suggested that it may have been Tuberculosis but that is purely speculation.  

Family history is a treasured thing; we have lost so much because we became too soon old and too late smart.  Our prayer is that future generations will benefit from our mistakes and record their history while facts and events are still clearly in their mind.  

By Don Blasingame, Great Grandson of  JAMES ALEXANDER VANCE III 
 

        NATHAN ALLEN, the Immigrant, came to North Carolina from England.  It is thought that the Allen family originally went to England from France and the name to have been spelled ALAN. 
        At the time of the Revolutionary War, Nathan Allen was sent north to Massachusetta and was killed just before the Battle Bunker Hill which was fought on June 17, 1775.  About the same time his son, GREEN ALLEN, (2nd gen.) was sent south to Georgia to fight.  There he married and settled down to raise his family.  It is thought that they lived 
near Henriettee or Macon, Georgia. 
       GREEN ALLEN, second generation, had at least one son --our ancestor, Green Allen (3rd gen.) He was born on August 1, 1797 and was married to Elizabeth Pollard on July 11, 1820 by Rev. Harmon Mercer, Esq.  They had  three  children:  George T. Allen, William Green Allen, and Susan Sophia Allen and each of these married and had children of their own.  I have been able to find descendants of  George but not of either William Green or Susan Sophia Allen. 
        Elizabeth Pollard Allen died between March 10, 1832 and November 14, 1833 for on this last date Green Allen married Susan Roby.  She was born on September 14, 1813.  They were married by Rev. Frank Hearn. They had twelve children—ten of whom lived to have children of their own. 
       Sometime between 1844 and 1846 Green Allen, his wife, and ten children—three by his first wife—moved to Leake Co., Mississippi.  The Family Bible states that Welcome Berry Allen was born in Georgia on November 28, 1844 and the next child, Catherine Ford Allen was born in Mississippi on December 29, 1846. 
       Making the trip from Georgia to Mississippi were at least three other families, the Allens, the Shelbys, the Edwards, and the Robys.   I believe this last to be the family of Malachi or Ky Roby, a Captain in the Confederate Army and the brother of Susan Roby Allen. 
        The names of Green and Susan Roby Allen’s children who were born in Georgia were: Nathan Harrow Allen, Martha Jana Allen, Robert Van Allen, Eliza Ann Allen, Malachi Tip Allen, Elizabeth An Jack Green Allen, and Welcome Berry Allen.  Those born in Mississippi were: Catherine Ford Allen, Miles Turner Allen, John Marcus Allen, James Timotha Allen, and Emma Roby Allen. 
       The family were Baptists.  Green Allen died on March 7, 1875 and Susan Roby Allen died on January 30, 1876.  Both are buried  in the cemetery in Thomastown, Mississippi. 
       The Green Allen Family  Bible -- at least  part of it --  is in very good condition and is being cared for by Lottie Hollingsworth, a grand daughter of Welcome Berry Allen who lives in Kosciusko, Mississippi.  I have seen  it and have  taken all the dates and names directly from it. 
        I have received much help from descendants of  Green Allen in compiling this data.  Margaret Allen Sevier, a daughter of  Robert Van Allen and lives in Gulfport, Mississippi gave me the historical data on the forebears of Green Allen and their coming to the United States. Others who have helped me are:  May Allen Mansell, Norma Mann Triplett, Tip Allen, Lottie Hollingsworth, Clarance Gwin, Emma Eugenia Allen 
Lewis, Dewitt Allen, and my father W.  Roby Allen. 
      If any one knows or has any more information on any thing about our family I would appreciate hearing from them. 

This write-up was found in a folder with “Allen Family” on the tab in the Drew, Mississippi library.  Type-o’s were left in place and transcribed by Kim M. Pollard, March 20, 2002. 
Names listed in this page: 
NATHAN ALLEN, GREEN ALLEN, (2nd gen.), GREEN ALLEN, (3rd gen.), Elizabeth Pollard- Elizabeth Pollard Allen, 
Rev. Harmon Mercer, Esq., George T. Allen, William Green Allen, Susan Sophia Allen, Susan Roby, 
Rev. Frank Hearn, Welcome Berry Allen, Catherine Ford Allen, Shelbys, Edwards Malachi or Ky Roby,  
Nathan Harrow Allen, Martha Jana Allen, Robert Van Allen, Eliza Ann Allen, Malachi Tip Allen, 
Elizabeth An Jack Green Allen, Miles Turner Allen. John Marcus Allen. James Timotha Allen, Emma Roby Allen, 
Lottie Hollingsworth, Margaret Allen Sevier, May Allen Mansell, Norma Mann Triplett, Tip Allen, Clarance Gwin, 
Emma Eugenia Allen Lewis, Dewitt Allen, W.  Roby Allen. 

 A partial family tree is available via e-mail from Kim M. Pollard. 
 

     On September 4, 1914, W. Roby Allen, his wife, Bessie Blaker Allen and their six daughters, with Mr. & Mrs. James M. Blaker, parents of Mrs. Allen, and her sister, Sallie May Blaker, stepped off the Rock Island train which had brought them to Faribault, MN from Kosclusko, Mississippi. Mrs. Allen had accepted a position on the teaching staff at the Minnesota School for the Deaf, where her sister had been employed since 1907. The family went directly to the Brunswick Hotel to remain until living arrangements could be made. Late that afternoon they moved into a house which they had rented at 428 North East Second Street. Before nightfall, bedding had been bought and the family was settled in their new home. That evening, they were welcomed by their Second Street neighbors, the Stehlys, Erblangs, O'Briens, O' Connells and Klopstegs, who brought a picnic supper for the newly arrived family. 
     James M. Blaker was born in Allegheny, Virginia on January 15, 1848 and died in Faribault on December 20, 1915. His wife, Emma Charping Blaker, was born in Kosclusko, Mississippi on January 9, 1854. They were the parents of Bessie Blaker Allen, born February 7, 1879; Sallie May Blaker, born May 20, 1889; and Thaadeus Blaker, born April 9, 1892. Mrs. Blaker was killed by a troop train at the Eighth Street crossing of the Rock Island Railroad on Sunday, September 30, 1917 as she was returning home from attending church services in town. 
     Green Allen, born in Georgia in 1797 and his wife, Susan Roby Allen, born in 1813 and ten children, migrated from Georgia by covered wagon to Leake County, Mississippi between 1844-1846. There, five more children were born one of whom was Miles Turner Allen, born November 22, 1848, died September 27, 1924. He was the father of W. Roby Allen. Miles Turner Allen was married on April 28, 1869 to Sarah Adeline Presley, born December 8, 1849 in Chester County, South Carolina. W. Roby Allen was born in Thomastown, Mississippi on 
May 23, 1873. 
     W. Roby Allen and Bessie Blaker were married in Koscluko, Mississippi on June 10, 1901. They moved to Crowley, Louisiana where Mr. Allen owned and operated a rice plantation. Their first child was born there before they returned to Kosclusko. Mrs. Allen taught at the Minnesota School for the Deaf until the end of the school year in 1923. That fall, she and her husband founded The W. Roby Allen School in their family home at 525 North East Fifth Street. Although Mrs. Allen's parents had been deafened in early childhood and educated in the manual method of communication, she believed firmly in the oral method, directed towards the early education of young deaf children, enabling them to take their places in the mainstream of our society. She emphasized the importance of speech and lip-reading in a normal home environment and provided this in her own home with her own children. Both Mr. and Mrs. Allen continued their association with the school until their deaths. Mrs. Allen died on December 11, 1931 and Mr. Allen on January 19, 1948. Their surviving daughters were: Imogene Presley, Faye Charping, Alleen Dale, Margaret Mahannah, (Mrs. F. Earl Swoyer) Dena Barbara, Winifred Roby, (Mrs. Leonard W. Swanson). The education of young deaf children, using the oral method in a home environment has been carried on by her daughters, Faye and Dena. 
     Imogene Allen died on July 9, 1964. Margaret Allen Swoyer and F. Earl Swoyer are the parents of Allen Leighton Swoyer, born in Faribault and delivered by Dr. C. M. Robilliard on June 19, 1935, and Sallie Swoyer Williams, born December 13, 1946 in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, Winifred Allen Swanson and Leonard W. Swanson are the parents of Marilyn Sue Swanson born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on May 27, 1945. 
     All six of the Allen girls have carried on the philosophy and teaching methods of their mother in various schools in this country. Faribault is still home to each of them and frequent visits keep them close to the community. All six girls attended the Faribault High School and five of them were graduated from Carleton College. Margart Allen Swoyer attended Stout College in Menomonee, Wisconsin. 

contributed by Shelby Price 
From an article in the book, "Rice County Families" published in 1981.