JAMES MONTGOMERY ALLEN GRAVESTONE PHOTO
The Chanute Daily Tribune, Monday, Dec. 2, 1912
Died: Dec. 1, 1912
Buried in East Hill Cemetery, Erie, Neosho County, KS.
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James M. Allen, for more than forty-seven years a resident of Neosho county, died at his home, 401 South Lincoln avenue, at 11 o’clock last night. His death was the direct result of injuries which he received when he fell from a buggy Thursday of last week---Thanksgiving day.
He alighted upon his head, the blow producing concussion of the brain and a fracture of the spine. These injuries, in connection with his health, which had not been robust for three or four years, soon terminated fatally.
At the time of the accident Mr. Allen was returning from an inspection of the rock road being constructed south of the city. The horse behind which he was riding became frightened. It kicked and backed and was starting to run when Mr. Allen jumped from the buggy.
A telegram is expected from the son, Clay Allen, in Seattle, Wash., and if he cannot come the funeral will be tomorrow. A short service will be held at the home and the body will be taken on the afternoon train to Erie for interment. The Santa Fe railroad has expressed its willingness to hold the train returning from Erie, in case there should be any delay in the funeral, so that all will be able to return to Chanute that evening.
Mr. Allen was born January 31, 1842, in Putnam county, near Greencastle, Ind. In September, 1860, he entered Asbury university, now De Pauw university, which institution he attended until the following April, when he, together with a number of other students of the university, enlisted in Company K, Sixteenth Indiana volunteer infantry, for one year. He was mustered out at Washington, D. C., in June 1862.
His regiment was reorganized an he re-enlisted and was mustered in as a sergeant, August 16, 1862. He was commissioned second lieutenant in July, 1863.
While taking passage down the Red river on the river boat “City Belle,” he was taken prisoner, May 1, 1864, by the Confederate forces at Snaggy Point, and was, by them, taken to Tyler, Tex. October 20 of the same year, under the name of Andrew H. Patrick, a fellow prisoner who had previously escaped, he was exchanged and returned to his regiment, where he was commissioned first lieutenant in May and served until the end of the war, July 1865. He was discharged with his regiment at Indianapolis.
September 27, 1865, he moved to Kansas and settled on a claim in what is now Neosho county. August 27, 1867, he married Eva Foster at Baldwin, Kas. Thereafter they continued to make their home on the farm until November, 1883, when they moved to Erie, Kas., together with his nephew, Will T. Allen, organized the private banking firm under the name of Allen & Allen. In this business he continued for sixteen years, at the expiration of which time he disposed of his interest in the bank and with his family moved to Chanute, where he had made his home ever since.
He is survived by his wife, Eva Foster Allen and four children, I. Foster Allen of Chanute, Miss Ada Allen of Chanute, Mrs. T. L. Rosebush of Tecumseh, Okla., and Clay Allen of Seattle, Wash. Another son Harry the first born, died in infancy, at the age of 4 years.
His three surviving brothers are A. P. Allen of Erie, H. C. Allen, who many years ago made his home in this city, but now resides in Indianapolis, Ind. And R. N. Allen of this city.
He had held a number of positions of public trust, and was a member, at the time of his death, of the Tioga township road commission, road improvement being a matter in which he was much interested.
He was a member of the state legislature in 1873, defeating C. F. Hutchings, now of Kansas City, Kas. While in the body he gave warm support to the bill, which is now law, making taxes payable semi-annually instead of only once a year, as formerly.
In 1867 he was a member of the board of county commissioners, and was re-elected in 1871, being chairman of the board his second term.
He was appointed chief of police by Mayor D. M. Kennedy in 1903, serving a year or more.
Biography transcribed by John Jackson from:
Portrait and Biographical Record of Southeastern Kansas, pg 243 & 244
Chicago: Biographical Publishing Co.
1894.
J. M. ALLEN is the senior member of the firm of Allen & Allen, bankers of Erie, and is a worthy representative of the business interests of this place. A native of Indiana, he was born in Putnam County, January 31, 1842, and is a son of R. N. and Elizabeth (Talbott) Allen. The father was born in Virginia, and about 1827 emigrated to Putnam County, Ind., where he entered land from the Government. He made the trip in company with William Talbott, the father of his intended wife. There he opened up a farm, transforming the wild land into rich and fertile fields. Devoting his energies to its cultivation until 1865, he then removed to Bloomington, Ind., where he died on the 12th of October, 1876. His wife passed away in 1860. While in Indiana he served as Associate Judge of Putnam County. He held membership with the Methodist Episcopal Church. The maternal great-great-grandfather of our subject was one of the heroes of the Revolution.
J. M. Allen belongs to a family of eleven children, eight of whom grew to mature years, while four sons and two daughters are yet living, all of who graduated at De Pauw University. The sons are: A. P., residing in this county; R. N., who is President of the First National Bank of Chanute, Kan.; H. C., a prominent lawyer of Indianapolis, Ind., who is now serving as attorney for the street railroad company and an insurance company; and our subject.
Mr. Allen whose name heads this record attended the public schools of Putnam County, Ind., and then spent one year in De Pauw University, where we find him at the breaking out of the war, in April, 1861. He immediately left the schoolroom, and when Lincoln issued the first call for troops he joined Company K, Sixteenth Indiana Infantry. He became First Lieutenant, and was mustered out July 20, 1865. At Snaggy Point, on the Red River, he was taken prisoner May 1, 1864, and was incarcerated for five months and twenty days at Tyler, Tex. He was wounded at the battle of Arkansas Post, and again at Vicksburg. He participated in the entire siege of that city, and was also in many other hotly contested engagements.
After the war, Mr. Allen removed to this county and entered from the Government one hundred and sixty acres of land in Erie Township. He afterward purchased eighty acres and began the development of his farm, the boundaries of which he extended from time to time until he had seven hundred acres. This he sold in 1883. He was married in Baldwin, Kan., August 27, 1867, to Miss Eva, daughter of Henry Foster, of Putnam County, Ind. They began their domestic life upon the farm where they lived until 1883, when they came to Erie.
Mr. Allen is numbered among the pioneers of Neosho County, which was very sparsely settled by white people at the time of his arrival, and Indians still lived in the neighborhood. He has seen as many as twenty-two deer from his cabin door at one time. On coming to Erie in 1883, he formed a partnership with his nephew, W. T. Allen, in the banking business, in which he has since continued. It has become one of the leading financial institutions of the county, business being conducted on a safe and conservative basis. He has led a busy and useful life, yet has found time to serve in public office. In 1867 he was elected County Commissioner for a two-years term, then was re-elected, and served as Chairman of the Board during the time of the trouble concerning the county seat. In the fall of 1873 he was elected to the State Legislature upon the Republican ticket, being a stanch advocate of Republican principles until 1877, at which time he espoused what was known as the Greenback cause. In 1878 he was a candidate for State Senator, but was defeated by one hundred and forty-four votes. Socially, he is a member of Erie Post No. 311, G. A. R., which he joined at its organization, and in 1892 was elected as a delegate to the National Encampment in Washington. He belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen and Modern Woodmen, and holds membership with the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Allen were born four children, two sons and two daughters: J. F., who is serving as book-keeper in the bank in Erie; Clay, who has just been appointed a cadet at West Point; Sue and Ada, who are at home. The family is widely and favorably known in the county, its members holding an enviable position in social circles. Mr. Allen has borne all the experiences of frontier life in this locality, and is familiar with the history of its troublous times. On the side of right and order he has ever been found, and his hearty support and co-operation have ever been given to those enterprises tending to advance the best interests of the community.