Descendants of Isaac C. Allen  

 Information from: Lyle VanHook    Thanks Lyle

Generation No. 1

      1.  Isaac C.¹ Allen was born March 15, 1755 in Scott Co., Virginia, and died December 15, 1831 in Fountain Co., Indiana.  He married (1) Frances Elizabeth Pettit in Virginia.  She was born in Jessamine Co., Kentucky, and died in Crab Orchard, Kentucky.  He married (2) Margaret Elizabeth Poplett. 

Notes for Isaac C. Allen:

Information  about Isaac C. Allen was taken from family records of Belinda

Adeline Cates Kelch, a daughter of Robert Milton and Bessie Summers Cates.

Among the records mentioned above was a page of printed material that appeared

to have been removed from a magazine or some type of publication. The document

was entitled, " The Allens of Wallace/Wolf Creek" and was written for a Gordon

Allen, 9342 Crestview Drive, Indianapolis, Indiana 46240; phone 317-846-5026.

Upon contacting Mr. Allen, Lyle VanHook learned that he is a C.P.A. and is

still active in income tax work at the age of 75 years (in 1997).

The text of "THE ALLENS OF WALLACE/WOLFCREEK" follows:

Isaac C. Allen was Revolutionary War Soldier under the command of George

Rogers Clark. He participated in Clark's expedition to the capture of Kaskasia

and then the march across Illinois to the capture of Fort Sackville at

Vincennes. Family tradition says he was the third man after Clark to cross the

swollen Wabash River with a shorter man on his shoulders holding the powder to keep it dry.

D.A.R. records say that Isaac was born March 15, 1755 in Scott County,

Virginia. There could be some question about this because it seems that pioneer

settlement had not yet reached that area at that time. In any event we can be

fairly confident that he was born somewhere in the Shenandoah Valley region, of

Scotch-Irish parentage. The author of this article has made some trips and

attempts to find the parentage but no success. Several Allens, including a

brother of Ethan Allen, settled in the valley and it appears most of them came

from Scotch-Irish families which originally came into port at Philadelphia and

began migrating down the Shenandoah. These settlers were busy taming the

wilderness and didn't have much time to waste with reading and writing, which

makes it difficult to find good records.

A little history here of George Rogers Clark will reveal some of the ties

Isaac had with Clark which includes theories by this writer. During the

Revolution Patrick Henry was the Colonial Governor of Virginia and Virginia

claimed the present-day West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois as part

of of her territory. Clark was a Virginia native and a friend of Patrick Henry.

Before his famous march to Vincennes he did some walking about in the Kentucky settlements. A two-volume book on Clark's life was written in 1895 by William English, a President of the Indiana Historical Society and builder of the

English Hotel which was located on the Circle in downtown Indianapolis. In his

book he lists Clark's soldiers, which includes Isaac. When Clark travelled about

Kentucky, English says he took a walk from Fort Harrod (Harrodsburg, Kentucky)

to Fort Boone (Daniel Boone's Fort), a distance of about forty miles, and that

overnight he stayed at the home of the Pettits. Now Isaac's first wife was

Frances Elizabeth Pettit. Gordon Allen believes that when Isaac went back to

his home in Virginia after leaving Vincennes, he picked up Frances Elizabeth in

the Jessamine County, Kentucky area and took her with him back to his home in

Virginia where they raised six children. Her Pettit family was not originally

in his home area because the first population census for the year 1790 shows no

Pettit family anywhere near his Scott County, Virginia home. Their children's

names were Thomas, Annie, Isham (Isom), William, Jane, and David.

When Patrick Henry wanted an army to push the British out of Virginia's

territory he called upon a fellow Virginian, George Rogers Clark, to create

a force to the job. Clark called for men to assemble at Fort Pitt (Pittsburg,

Pennsylvania). He sent one of his officers in to the Appalachian region of

present day southwestwern Virginia to pick up more volunteers. Isaac was one

of these. This force met at the falls of the Ohio (Louisville, Kentucky). When

the men were assembled Clark revealed his plan to float down the Ohio on

rafts.They came ashore near present-day Shawneetown, Illinois and marched

across country to the French settlement of Kaskasia. After capturing Kaskasia

and winning the allegiance of its citizens, he dispatched part of his army up

the Mississippi to capture Cahokia, near present day St. Louis. This completed,

he marched across southern Illinois to Fort Sackville. This was in mid-winter

and the weather was wet and nasty. The British General Hamilton was taken

completely by surprise and quickly induced to surrrender whereby he was taken

prisoner and escorted with a guard to Virginia and held as a P.O.W. but later

exchanged and released.

The death of Frances Elizabeth is unknown but it's said she died at Crab

Orchard, Kentucky. Crab Orchard is near Pettit's Station, an early fort no

longer on the map, which was established by Benjamin Pettit from Virginia. She

is possibly a descendant. Isaac's second wife was a widow, (Margaret Elizabeth

Poplett). By her he had three more children, who were James, Isaac, Jr., and

Peggie (Margaret). This Poplett name appeared nowhere in the early population

census reports so it's somewhat of a mystery where her family came from. Maybe, someone knows.

About the year 1825 Isaac and his clan migrated from Virginia to Morgan

County, Kentucky. His daughter, Annie, married Lewis Henry and remained in

Morgan County where she raised her family of ten children. She's buried in the

Henry Cemetery on Caney Road near the village of Index. Isaac's son, William,

married Jane Summers, and his daughter, Jane, married John Summers III. His

son, Thomas, married Elizabeth Summers.(William, Jane and Thomas Summers were children of John Summers II). Thus, there are close ties of the Allen and

Summers families. Records in Morgan County show where Thomas and his

brother-in-law, John Summers III were assigned to lay out a road in the Caney

Creek area. Also they took up about 50 Acres of land from the government. As

for Annie's husband, Lewis Henry, his family also came from Virginia and it's

possible he was related in some way to Patrick Henry. This would be interesting

to know.

Most of Isaac's people left Morgan County after a short time and took up land

around the Wolf Creek Church area, 2 and 1/2 miles south of Wallace, Indiana,

purchased from the government. His son-in-law, John Summers III, donated land

for the church and cemetery. Many of these people, including Isaac, are buried

there. Over the years Isaac's descendants have multiplied rapidly and there are

surely thousands living today in all parts of the nation. To date, Gordon Allen

has identified about 300 of these and hopes to find many more so as to compile

a publication to be placed in libraries, and some for sale. (Anyone interested

and claiming descent should contact Gordon Allen, 9342 Crestview Drive,

Indianapolis, Indiana 46240, phone 317-846-5026. Please show how you are

descended and provide as much detail as possible such as dates of birth,

marriage, deaths, parentage, children, brothers, sisters,etc., also where

others can be contacted.)

Note: During a telephone conversation with Gordon Allen, Lyle VanHook was

informed that the familys of Summers and Allen were acquainted with each other

in Virginia before either of them emigrated to Indiana..... which he stated,

"was about 1827".

For those who have interest in an affiliation with the Daughters (or Sons)

of The American Revolution, and who wish to use their descendancy from Isaac C. Allen for qualification purposes, they can find a listing for him in the 1990

DAR Patriot Index - Centennial Edition, Part one.

More About Isaac C. Allen:

Burial: Near Wallace, Wolf Creek Cemet, Parke Co., Indiana

Children of Isaac Allen and Frances Pettit are:

        2                 i.               Thomas² Allen, born June 13, 1790 in Scott Co., Virginia; died July 07, 1841.  He married Elizabeth Summers Allen February 01, 1809.

Notes for Elizabeth Summers Allen:

!Elizabeth Summers married a son of Isaac C. Allen, Thomas Allen.

        3                ii.               Annie Allen Henry, born February 06, 1792 in Scott Co., Virginia; died in Index, Morgan Co., Kentucky.  She married Lewis Henry.

More About Annie Allen Henry:

Burial: Index (Caney Rd), Henry Cemetery, Morgan Co., Kentucky

        4               iii.               Isham (Isom) Allen, born May 15, 1793 in Scott Co., Virginia.  He married Martha May Montgomery Allen.

        5               iv.               William Allen, born March 1794 in Scott Co., Virginia.  He married Jane Summers Allen.

Notes for Jane Summers Allen:

!Jane Summers married William Allen, a son of Isaac C. Allen.

        6                v.               Jane Allen Summers, born February 23, 1800 in Scott Co., Virginia; died October 10, 1855 in Parke Co., Indiana.  She married John Summers III July 25, 1816 in Scott Co., Virginia; born September 07, 1789 in Fairfax Co., Virginia; died January 05, 1872 in Parke Co., Indiana.

More About Jane Allen Summers:

Burial: October 1855, Wolf Creek Cemet, Sugar Creek Twp., Parke Co., Indiana

Notes for John Summers III:

!John Summers III, born and raised in Virginia, moved his family to Sugar Creek

Twp., Parke Co., Indiana in 1827. He settled near where he later donated the

land for the Wolf Creek Church and some of the land for the cemetery.

The Wolf Creek Community is located at the Northern line of Parke County and

the Southern border of Fountain County, immediately south of Wallace, Indiana.

(The information on this page was taken from " The History of the Town of

Wallace, Jackson Township, Fountain County, Indiana" at Covington Public

Library, Covington, Indiana. Bio of Joseph Marx Summers.)

His 1st marriage was to Mariah Barbara Runkle (b. 2/25/1792:d. 6/17/1815)

Children......

Elizabeth Summers (Morgan)

Elijah Summers

His second marriage was to Jane Allen (b. 2/23/1800:d. 10/10/1855), daughter of

Isaac C. Allen.

This marriage produced the 11 following children.

1. John Summers IV             7. Julia Ann Summers (Thomas)

2. David S. Summers            8. Thomas A. Summers

3. Joseph Summers              9. William A. Summers

4. Mariah B. Summers           10. Andrew J. Summers

5. Isaac Summers               11. Louisa Jane Summers (Van Cleave)

6. Martha Summers (Henry)

Following Jane Allen Summer's death, he married Mary S. Van Cleave.

More About John Summers III:

Burial: January 1872, Wolf Creek Cemet, Sugar Creek Twp., Parke Co., Indiana

        7               vi.               David Allen, born November 01, 1802 in Scott Co., Virginia; died August 16, 1861.  He married Elizabeth Quillen December 11, 1824 in Scott Co., Virginia.

Children of Isaac Allen and Margaret Poplett are:

        8                 i.               John² Allen, born March 07, 1803 in Scott Co., Virginia.

        9                ii.               James Allen, born February 15, 1805 in Scott Co., Virginia.

        10             iii.               Elizabeth Allen, born January 29, 1807 in Scott Co., Virginia.

        11             iv.               Susie Allen, born May 20, 1808 in Scott Co., Virginia.

        12              v.               Margaret(Peggie) Allen, born 1814 in Scott Co., Virginia.

        13             vi.               Sarah Allen, born Abt. 1816 in Scott Co., Virginia.

        14            vii.               Jr. Allen Isaac, born September 1820 in Scott Co., Virginia.