| Notes |
- (Pioneer Families of Cleveland - 1796-1840 - Gertrude Van Rensselaer Wickham - 1914 - http://www.heritagepursuit.com/Cuyahoga/Cleveland301.htm)
John W. Allen came to the village from Litchfield, Conn., in 1825. His father, also John Allen, was a lawyer, poet, and a Connecticut congressman. On account of his height, and perhaps to differentiate him from other Allens of the same family, he was designated as "Long John Allen." He died at 42 years of age, and when his son John was but a lad of ten years. His wife was Ursula McCurdy, and related by blood and connection with many noted New England families. Her death followed closely that of her husband, so that John was an orphan at the age of seventeen.
The fame of Judge Samuel Cowles as a jurist must have reached Connecticut, for John W. Allen chose to come to Cleveland and study law under him than acquire the same knowledge nearer home. Upon finishing the study previous to the examination, he became a member of the Cleveland bar, and within five years was president of the village council, and the last one to hold that position. In turn he was Mayor and postmaster of the city, state senator, congressional representative, banker, railroad director, and filled other positions of civic and commercial trust. With it all, he was ever the city's most unselfish champion and promoter.
A fine portrait of him is in the possession of his only daughter, Mrs. Louise Allen Fuller. The face is a noble one, full of refinement and dignity. Like most men of good family, he was simple-mannered, and no one, even the humblest stranger, left his presence with a sense of unmerited humiliation.
Soon after entering the bar, he rode away, one day, to Warren, Ohio, and returned with a bride, Anna Maria, the young daughter of Gen. Simeon Perkins. His domestic happiness, however, was of short duration, for she died within three months' time.
He married secondly, Harriet E. Mather, the 18-year-old daughter of James Mather of Lyme, Conn. She was his cousin, once removed, a descendant of Rev. Cotton Mather, and a relative of the late Samuel L. Mather of this city.
The Allen residence faced the north-east section of the Public Square and stood on the site of the present chamber of commerce. The lot took in the alley now opened for a passage-way, and extended through to St. Clair Street. There were but four houses on that part of the Square. Charles M. Giddings' stone residence, afterward occupied by N. E. Crittenden, now the site of the Citizens' Savings Bank, was on one corner, the Allen home on the other, and between them were the residences of James F. Clark and John Irwin.
Mr. and Mrs. Allen were of the earliest members of Trinity Church. Their children were:
James Allen, unmarried.
William Allen, m. Miss Clara Gale. Was in the Civil War, and died, soon after in Washington, D. C. His son Clarence Gale Allen lives in that city.
Louise Allen, m. Dr. George Wood, U. S. A.; 2nd, S. A. Fuller.
Mrs. Fuller is an accomplished musician, and for many years she has been the organist of Euclid Ave. Presbyterian Church.
John W. Allen lived much in Washington, D. C., in the latter years of his life. Mrs. Allen died in 1887, and four weeks after he followed her to the Better Land.
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1802 - 1887
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