Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 1014 - 1015

RUFUS J. ALLEN, an enterprising and prosperous farmer and stock-raiser, residing on section 12, owning the southeast quarter of Valley Center Township, is one of the oldest settlers in that portion of the county, having come here as early as Sept. 5, 1870. He came here from Bloomington, Grant Co., Wis. He is a native of Caledonia County, Vt., and made his first appearance among the hills and valleys of that portion of the State Dec. 16, 1844. He is the son of David R. and Emeline (Bigelow) Allen, who claim the States of Vermont and Massachusetts as their birthplaces respectively. Mr. Allen owns 160 acres of good land on the southeast quarter of section 12, town 25, range 1 west.

             Our subject's father brought his family to Cook County, Ill., at an early day, but a year later removed to McHenry County, in the same State. Not finding in that place the locality to suit him, at the end of a twelvemonth he went to Grant County, Wis., where he made his home until June, 1870, and then removed to Sedgwick County, Kan. He settled, on coming here, in that part of Grant Township which is now known as Valley Center, where he took up eighty acres of Government land. On that tract he made his home until 1880, when he sold out and moved to Wichita, where he is living retired from the active cares of life. Up to the date of his last removal he had always been engaged in agricultural pursuits, and by industry, ability and economy, has acquired a comfortable competency. He is a Republican in politics, and takes great interest in all public affairs and in the political campaigns. Both he and his estimable wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and by exemplary lives lead others to admire their sincerity as Christians. They are the parents of three children, as follows: Rufus J., the subject of this memoir; Lyman B., who married Miss Katie Ryer, and is a farmer in Sedgwick County, this State; and Eliza L., Mrs. P. Kennedy, a resident of Grant Township, this county.

             Rufus J. Allen was reared on his father's farm and acquired his education in the district schools. Aug. 9, 1862, when not yet eighteen years of age, he enlisted in Company D, 33d Wisconsin Infantry, under the call made by President Lincoln for men to suppress the Rebellion, in July, 1862. The first Captain of his company was W. S. Earnhart, who was succeeded shortly after by Capt. W. H. Warner, who is the present Congressman from the district in which Kansas City, Mo., is situated. The third officer in command of the company was Capt. Alfred H. Fitch. With the gallant regiment that carried the State flag of Wisconsin to the front in many a hard contested battle, Mr. Allen participated in many of the engagements in the Southwest. He was present at the siege of Vicksburg, and in the sanguinary conflict under Gen. Sherman, at Jackson, Miss., and was with the 16th Army Corps under Gen. A. J. Smith, in the Red River expedition, and wounded at Marksville Prairie. He was also engaged in the battles of Tupelo, Miss., where he was again wounded; at Nashville, Tenn., and at the capture of Mobile and Spanish Fort. In the fall of 1862 he was one of the army which started under Gen. Grant for Memphis, Tenn., to the rear of Vicksburg, which failed in accomplishing the purpose for which it had started. When the war closed and hostilities had ceased, our subject found himself at Tuskegee, Ala., where he was mustered out and discharged in August, 1865.

             Having done his duty as a brave and gallant soldier, Mr. Allen returned to his home in Wisconsin, where he followed farming and stock-raising until coming to Sedgwick County, as above mentioned. While a resident of Grant County he was united in marriage with Miss Ellen E. McWilliams, Aug. 15, 1869. She is a daughter of Isaiah and Eliza J. (Marshal) McWilliams, and is a native of Grant County, Wis., born March 4, 1849. Her father was the first settler in Grant County, Wis., and made that portion of the Badger State his home until a few years ago, when he removed to Dakota, where he is engaged in agricultural pursuits. Mr. and Mrs. Allen have been the parents of five children, as follows: An infant daughter, born Oct. 21, 1870, who died the next day, unnamed; Nellie May, born Nov. 16, 1872, and is living at home, and attending the Lewis Academy, of Wichita; Rufus H., born Jan. 31, 1874; Albert Lee, Aug. 19, 1878, and Olive Grace, Feb. 5, 1880.

             Mr. Allen is extensively engaged in stock-raising in this township, giving much attention to the raising of graded Short-horn cattle, Poland-China hogs and work-horses. The improvements on his place are substantial, and the grove which surrounds his residence and barns is quite large and thrifty, and was all set out by his own hands. He was one of the very first settlers to penetrate into this part of the country, and has been quite prominently identified with its rise and progress. In politics he is what might be termed an independent Republican, not being so thoroughly bound by partisanship as to always support the candidate of his party, if in his judgment the man in question was unfitted for the place. His wife and eldest daughter seek spiritual consolation in the Christian Church, and are good, sincere Christian women. A view of our subject's place adorns a page in this volume.

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