Littlebury Woodson Allen

“ On the 16th of October 1816 he married Miss Nancy Hobson, a young lady of beauty and some property. By her he had two children. One now survives him, Miss Harriet W. Allen (she is a Baptist) . In June 1822 his wife died. A few years afterwards, his youngest daughter, Mary Morton, died. Falling a prey to his misfortunes, brought on by the ill treatment of certain individuals of Richmond while he was a bank officer, (whose names it may not be proper to mention here) , he died suddenly in March 1832. He never professed religion. ”

“ My father, Littlebury Allen (after whom I am called) was a highly respected farmer of that county. My grandfather, Littlebury Allen, was, I am told, a Baptist preacher, but he died when my father was a boy, I know but little about it. My grandmother was also a Baptist and one of the oldest in Virginia, having been baptized by either El. Joseph Anthony or John Leland, though I think the former.
She lived to be very old, eighty-six perhaps. In early life my father married my mother, Jane Austin. ”

“ From these offices he saved considerable money which enabled him to pay much of his debts, as well as to accumulate other property, which he did indeed after his embarrassments commenced. At his death he owned upwards of twenty Negroes, and about 1500 acres of land, some of which was very good, being situated in Chickahominy Swamp. He was, without exception, one of the best and finest of fathers and as an honest and upright man and useful citizen no man was more esteemed and respected by all who knew him than he was. ”

“ She still survives him.
From tradition my father traced our ancestry back to Edmund Allen, mentioned in Burke’s History of Virginia, who came from England in the early settlement of the colonies. Edmund Allen had five children, three sons and two daughters. Edward, our immediate progenitor, displeased his father by marrying an Indian, or half breed, but I must think she was full blood, so that he disinherited him and left the whole of his large property to his other children. ”

“ She never professed religion, but had the seasons for religious improvement been then as they have been since, she doubtless would have been religious. A more tender and affectionate mother, a better wife, or a kinder mistress and neighbor, no one ever made. ”

“ Edmund Allen settled in James City County. One of his daughters married Bradley, from whom the Bradleys of Charles City, etc., descended. The other married Christian, from whom the large and respectable family of that name in Charles City, New Kent, Powhatan, Buckingham, Cumberland, Etc., descended. The Allens of Henrico, Cumberland, Prince Edward, Pittsylvania, and the Wilsons of Cumberland all descended from our branch of the family. The Indian character and complexion may be easily traced in some of the family. ”

“ Several of my father’s near relatives fought bravely in the Revolution... he being too young to take any part in it, himself. They distinguished themselves as soldiers at Camden, South Carolina, The Cowpens, Eutaw Springs, Guilford Court House, and several other places. ”