Individual Details
Allen
(1810 - Bef 1850)
"Miss Allen" is a near-mystery woman born two centuries ago in Cocke County, Tenn. She spent most of her short life (approx. 30 years) along English Creek. She left no birth or death records. No one today knows her first name. She gave birth to only one child, a son. On his death certificate, his mother is listed as simply "Allen." Even the cemetery where she was buried is a ruin with overturned and disintegrating grave markers.
Yet, Miss Allen is the head grandmother of dozens of descendants spread across the country with concentrations in northeastern Texas, including the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Her only son, just a child when she died, became a prominent citizen in Cocke County before achieving similar prominence in Collin County, Texas. Three of her grandsons were medical doctors, one of whom was also a prosperous banker and rancher.
Miss Allen was living with "Mr. Allen" (Calvin Allen), possibly her brother or other relative, a teacher at the Old Sardis Church School, when her closest neighbor Jane Bryant died in 1830. Jane was the wife of Tarlton Bryant, who soon married Miss Allen. They became the parents William Carson Bryant. Miss Allen must have died soon thereafter, as census records indicate that Tarlton raised William as a single parent. In 1850, four years before his death, Tarlton (65) and his son William (18) were living with the Wright Brooks family.
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Throughout my Allen ancestry research, I've tried to unveil the identity of "Miss Allen," something no other genealogist has been able to do. I've concluded that ""Miss Allen" was a sister of "Mr. Allen," Calvin Allen, both children of Abraham Allen. Carolyn Whitaker, who has done extensive research on early Allens of Cocke County, has speculated that Calvin Allen was "most likely son of Hiram Allen...."
[UPDATE: In May 2016, I received DNA testing data indicating with “high confidence” that I (Gene Bryant) and descendants of Calvin Allen are distant cousins. This seems to support my theory that Calvin and George Washington Allen, from whom I am a descendant, were brothers.]
Most Allens in Cocke County are descendants of Isaac Allen. A smaller number [including myself] are descendants of Reuben Allen. Isaac and Reuben were brothers, both coming from Virginia in the 1790s. Both raised families in Cocke County. Reuben and his family moved to Missouri. In the early-to-mid-1800s, a half dozen Allen families resided in the Upper English Creek/Lower Cosby area of Cocke County. Among them were Abraham (son of Reuben) and John and Jackson (sons of Isaac). Other Allens in the area were Calvin, George, William and Hiram (relationships undocumented). After Abraham's first wife died, he left Cocke County and joined his parents in Missouri, where he raised a second family. His son George [my great-great-grandfather], born in Cocke County, left Missouri and returned to Cocke County.
As for "Miss Allen," Tarlton Bryant's second wife, I'll never have firm documentation of who her father was, but most clues point toward Abraham.
--Gene Bryant
Parents: Abraham Allen 1794–1844
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In May 2015, I visited Pecan Grove Cemetery in McKinney, Texas where Miss Allen's son and many of his descendants are buried.
--Gene Bryant
Notes for Unknown ALLEN:
Marriage: Abt. 1831, Cocke County, TN
The 1850 Census of Cocke County, TN reports only her husband Tarlton and William Carson Bryant, age 18, at location page 381, house number 527. Her whereabouts unknown.
Yet, Miss Allen is the head grandmother of dozens of descendants spread across the country with concentrations in northeastern Texas, including the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Her only son, just a child when she died, became a prominent citizen in Cocke County before achieving similar prominence in Collin County, Texas. Three of her grandsons were medical doctors, one of whom was also a prosperous banker and rancher.
Miss Allen was living with "Mr. Allen" (Calvin Allen), possibly her brother or other relative, a teacher at the Old Sardis Church School, when her closest neighbor Jane Bryant died in 1830. Jane was the wife of Tarlton Bryant, who soon married Miss Allen. They became the parents William Carson Bryant. Miss Allen must have died soon thereafter, as census records indicate that Tarlton raised William as a single parent. In 1850, four years before his death, Tarlton (65) and his son William (18) were living with the Wright Brooks family.
--------------------
Throughout my Allen ancestry research, I've tried to unveil the identity of "Miss Allen," something no other genealogist has been able to do. I've concluded that ""Miss Allen" was a sister of "Mr. Allen," Calvin Allen, both children of Abraham Allen. Carolyn Whitaker, who has done extensive research on early Allens of Cocke County, has speculated that Calvin Allen was "most likely son of Hiram Allen...."
[UPDATE: In May 2016, I received DNA testing data indicating with “high confidence” that I (Gene Bryant) and descendants of Calvin Allen are distant cousins. This seems to support my theory that Calvin and George Washington Allen, from whom I am a descendant, were brothers.]
Most Allens in Cocke County are descendants of Isaac Allen. A smaller number [including myself] are descendants of Reuben Allen. Isaac and Reuben were brothers, both coming from Virginia in the 1790s. Both raised families in Cocke County. Reuben and his family moved to Missouri. In the early-to-mid-1800s, a half dozen Allen families resided in the Upper English Creek/Lower Cosby area of Cocke County. Among them were Abraham (son of Reuben) and John and Jackson (sons of Isaac). Other Allens in the area were Calvin, George, William and Hiram (relationships undocumented). After Abraham's first wife died, he left Cocke County and joined his parents in Missouri, where he raised a second family. His son George [my great-great-grandfather], born in Cocke County, left Missouri and returned to Cocke County.
As for "Miss Allen," Tarlton Bryant's second wife, I'll never have firm documentation of who her father was, but most clues point toward Abraham.
--Gene Bryant
Parents: Abraham Allen 1794–1844
-------------------------------
In May 2015, I visited Pecan Grove Cemetery in McKinney, Texas where Miss Allen's son and many of his descendants are buried.
--Gene Bryant
Notes for Unknown ALLEN:
Marriage: Abt. 1831, Cocke County, TN
The 1850 Census of Cocke County, TN reports only her husband Tarlton and William Carson Bryant, age 18, at location page 381, house number 527. Her whereabouts unknown.
Events
| Birth | 1810 | Cosby, Cocke County, Tennessee | |||
| Marriage | Abt 1831 | Cocke County, Tennessee - William Tarleton Bryant | |||
| Death | Bef 1850 | ||||
| Burial | Tarlton Bryant Family Cemetery, English Creek, Cocke County, Tennessee |  |
Families
| Spouse | William Tarleton Bryant (1785 - 1854) |
| Child | William Carson Bryant (1832 - 1919) |
Endnotes
1. Find A Grave Memorial 112394111.