William A. 'Billy' Allen

William A Allen is not a Jr. He was not the same as William A. Allen, Jr., son of William A Allen Sr and Mary Lightfoot, who died unmarried.

Family

Family of Sara 'Jemima' Allen and his wives William A. 'Billy' Allen and Margaret Allen:

Sara Thomason, also known as Jemima, was born between September 04, 1789 and September 04, 1790 in Laurens County, South Carolina, United States, and died in 1848 in Walton County, Georgia, United States.

She was the daughter of William Thomason (died 1762) and his wife Sarah.

Before 1807 Sara married Willam A. Allen, son of David Allen, as his first wife. He was born between February 03, 1768 and February 02, 1769 in Powhatan County, Virginia, United States, and died in 1864 in Walton County, Georgia, United States.

He was the son of David Allen (died 1827) and an unknown woman.

The children of Sara Thomason and William A. Allen were:

1. Gideon (born about 1807)
2. William Young (born about 1810)
3. (perhaps) Linda (born between 1811-1814)
4. Martha (born about 1815)
5. Jesse (born about 1817)
6. David Richmond (born about 1817)
7. Christie Ann (born about 1822), called "Kittie Ann"
8. John W. (born about 1824)
9. Early (born about 1824)
10. Eliza (born about 1829)

William married 2nd to the widow Margaret Ritch in 1849.

Their child was:

1. Nancy F. Allen (1852-1937)

Source: (Sams 1967; Findagrave 2013).

William A. Allen wrote his will in late 1863. He was deceased by 7 December 1863, when his sons Gideon H. Allen and William Y. Allen posted a $9000 bond to administer his estate, and an inventory dated 12 December 1863 included five slaves valued at $6050 along with stock, household furniture, and other personal belongings (Allen 1863).

Research notes

"Documenting Difficult Cases: A Mixed Method Analysis"
Thomas Daniel Knight
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
(document attached)

Summary of William Allen's Historical Context:

- William Allen moved to Morgan County, GA, around its creation and later relocated to Walton County in 1825.
- Key individuals: David Allen (Revolutionary soldier, no property) and Charles Allen (property owner, Justice of the Peace).
- Research methods include chronological study, family reconstitution, and community study to trace historical individuals.
- Evidence suggests William Allen lived in Georgia for over 20 years before appearing in Walton County.
- Mixed methods, including DNA analysis and oral history, are recommended for tracing difficult historical figures.

Wayfarers in Walton, by Anita Sams, recorded the lives of early settlers of Walton County, Georgia. Sams was not a professional historian, but an amateur collector interested in the history of her home county. Established in 1818, Walton County was formed from land that had formerly belonged to the Cherokee and Creek Indians (Cooksey 2018). In discussing pioneer citizens and their families, Sams wrote that “William (Billy) Allen, a native of Virginia, drove a large herd of cattle from Chattanooga, Tennessee, down the Hightower Trail and on to Augusta. He went to Morgan County and later came to Walton. His descendants say he lived to reach the age of 104.

Billy Allen married first Sara Thomason, second, a Miss Burke. His children were Gideon, William Young,
Early, John, Jesse, Kittie Ann, Eliza and Linda”. Sams went on to discuss Allen’s children and their families but provides few details about William Allen himself. Although her narrative provides interesting material, it contained no sources to indicate where she got her information. A cursory review of available documents showed that the 1850 census recorded Allen’s age as 82 while the 1860 census recorded his age as 100. Allen’s estate— which was sizeable—was inventoried in December 1863. If his age in 1860 was correct, this supports the statement by Sams that he died at age 104 (United States 1850, 1860).

Allen was a man of property who lived to an advanced age—two circumstances that distinguished him from other individuals of that time and place. The 1850 census indicated that he was born in Virginia, while the 1860 census indicated that he was born in North Carolina (United States 1850, 1860). What were his origins? Did he live in adjoining Morgan County before settling in Walton (See Figures 1 and 2), and, if so, where did he live before then? Who were his wives and where did he meet and marry them? These are all questions that need to be answered in order to understand the historical circumstances that brought Allen to the Georgia frontier and allowed him to amass a sizeable estate in the late antebellum period. Did he have inherited wealth that facilitated later property acquisition? Was he a self-made man of the Jacksonian era? Did he migrate to the region with others he knew, or did he follow a different path? These are questions that need to be answered to understand the socio-economic processes that shaped the settlement of the Georgia frontier.

References

1. Sams, Anita B. 1967. Wayfarers in Walton; a History of Walton County Georgia, 1818-1967. [Monroe, Georgia]: Genera Charitable Foundation of Monroe, Georgia.
2. Knight, Thomas Daniel. 2022. Documenting Difficult Cases: A Mixed Method Analysis. Genealogy 6: 69. https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy6030069 (document attached)
3. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LLSF-Q7T
4. "Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G93Y-9QVT?cc=1999178&w... : 5 November 2021), Walton > Estates 1820-1904 Abercrombie, Eliza-Armistead, Eugene C. > image 775 of 1022; citing various county, district, and probate courts.
5. FamilySearch Georgia Probate Records, 1742-1990 Walton Probate records 1863-1866 vol P. < FamilySearch >