Relatively Speaking Blog

My grandfather Charles Brown had several half siblings including William Henry Allen. William was the eldest son from the marriage of my great grandmother Margaret McGarvey and her first husband Valentine Allen. Family stories about my grand uncle William are not known, perhaps due to the age gap between the brothers or that they lived in different parts of the state. Nevertheless, I have had to speculate about his life from records like the census.

William was born on April 17, 1861 according to his death certificate. However, he could have been born in 1860 if calculating his birth year from the census since enumeration day was often in April several weeks before his birthday. William was thought to have been born in Columbia County PA. His first enumeration in 1870 was in that county with his parents and three younger sisters. For the first part of his childhood he likely grew up in Columbia County and probably received some education in its schools, although in 1870 he was not listed as having attended school during the year.

1870 census Greenwood Township, Columbia County PA
Name	Age	Occupation	Place of Birth
Valentine Allen	35	farm laborer	PA
Margaret Allen	28		PA
Wm H. Allen	9		PA
Martha Allen	6		PA
Susanna Allen	3		PA
Mary Allen	1		PA

William’s father, Valentine, was a farm laborer in 1870 and had no valued personal or real estate. In 1872 when William was about 12 years old, his father died. Without any property or any discernible savings his death probably created a financial hardship for the family. Although William was the oldest surviving child, he was still too young to help financially in any significant way. He may have been forced to earn what little money he could at the sacrifice of an education. By 1880 the family was separated into different households, with his younger sisters working as servants. William, almost an adult, lived in Jordan Township, Lycoming County, with Henry Gordner during the 1880 census. Henry was a farmer, and William probably was a hired hand for him.

1880 census Jordan Township, Lycoming County, PA
Name	Relationship to head of household	Age	Occupation	Place of Birth	Father’s Birth Place	Mother’s Birth Place
Henry Gordner Sr.	Head	65	Farmer	PA	PA	PA
Catharine Gordner	wife	63	Kept house	PA	PA	PA
Jane Gordner	daughter	20		PA	PA	PA
Susan Gordner	daughter	19		PA	PA	PA
Jacob Gordner	son	18	worked on farm	PA	PA	PA
Edward Warner		19	laborer	PA	PA	PA
William Allen		19	laborer	PA	PA	PA

At the turn of the century, William had settled his family in Penn Township, Lycoming County, where he resided the next several decades. In 1887 he had married Sarah Alice Phillips, daughter of Franklin and Catherine Phillips, and they had a family of four children within a six year span. In 1900 William worked as a day laborer and the family lived in a rented house. As several enumerations show, William was unable to read or write; according to the 1940 census he had only reached the 5th grade, about the age he would have been when his father died. His lack of education, however, did not impede his ability to support his family.

According to the 1910 census, William owned a farm and was paying a mortgage. All the males in his household worked at some job. William’s livelihood had become farming—one he would pursue for some time—however, it is unclear if “rent farm’ by his occupation meant he farmed on someone else’s land, or if he rented his own farm out to others. With timbering a large industry in the area, his son Ernest had employment in a saw mill. His other two sons did odd jobs. William’s oldest child and only daughter, Bessie, was married during the previous year but she still resided with her parents while her husband worked as a hired man for a family with whom he lived.

1910 census  Penn Township, Lycoming County, PA
Name	Relationship to head of household	Age	Marital Status	Years Married	Mother of how many children born	Number of children now living	Occupation
William Allen	Head	48	married	22			farmer, rent farm
Alice Allen	wife	49	married	22	4	4
Ernest Allen	son	20	single				sawmill laborer
Frank Allen	son	18	single				laborer odd jobs
Harvey Allen	son	16	single				laborer odd jobs
Bessie Rider	daughter	21	married	0	0	0

Over the next ten years his four children ventured out, married and had families of their own. However, William’s household in 1920 included 6 year-old George E. Allen listed as a son. William and Sarah would have been 53 when George was born. With a 20 year gap between son Harvey and George, it seemed more plausible that George might be an adopted child or a grandchild, rather than their own son. Delving into some other resources, it was determined that George was indeed their grandson; his father was Ernest, but further investigation about George has not been conducted.

1920 census  Penn Township, Lycoming County, PA
Name	Relationship to head of household	Age	Marital Status	Occupation	Birth Place	Father’s Birth Place	Mother’s Birth Place
William H. Allen	Head	59	married	farm laborer	PA	PA	PA
Sarah Alice Allen	wife	59	married		PA	PA	PA
George E. Allen	son	6	single		PA	PA	PA

In Dec of 1927, after 40 years of marriage, Sarah died. Attempts to find William in the next census have proven unsuccessful. In 1930 his son Franklin lived in Penn Township, either on the family farm or very near it. Grandson George was living with his Aunt Bessie in Moreland Township. If William lived with his children once he became a widower, he was not listed in any of their households in 1930. Although William lived many years in Penn Township in the east of the county, before 1940 he had relocated to the opposite side of Lycoming County in Porter Township to live with his son Ernest. The 1940 census, the last enumeration for William, suggests that he had lived with Ernest since 1935, if not longer.

1940 census  Porter Township, Lycoming County, PA
Name	Relationship to head of household	Age	Marital Status	Occupation	Birth Place	Place lived in 1935
Ernest E. Allen	Head	50	married	laborer in limestone co.	PA	same place
Margaret A. Allen	wife	47	married		PA	same place
Clifford H. Allen	son	18	single	new worker	PA	same place
William H. Allen	father	79	widowed		PA	same place

William continued to live with his son until his death a few days after his birthday in April of 1943; he was buried beside his wife in Mt. Zion Cemetery. Using only the census for a framework of William’s life, one can only imagine the challenges he faced after losing his father before he was a teenager. But it also suggests William overcame these difficulties during his life; he earned a living to support his wife and four children, and with determination he bought property where he could farm and work for himself. William lived to be 82 years of age, twenty years more than the average life expectancy at the time. When he died, he left behind 37 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren, and certainly today, he has many more descendants to carry on his legacy.