Allen, John (Allin)

Born: 1801-03-30 Vermont

Died: 1863-04-01 Petersburg, Illinois

Flourished: 1831-1863 Menard County, Illinois

Alternate name: Allin

Allen graduated from Dartmouth Medical School before settling in New Salem, Illinois in 1831. There, he began practicing medicine and first became acquainted with Abraham Lincoln. Allen was a Presbyterian and organized a Sunday school, prayer meetings, and a temperance society in the village. Allen was also a silent partner with John McNamar in a general store. In 1838, Allen moved to Petersburg, where he continued his medical practice and his business partnership with McNamar. In 1840, he married Emily Chandler. By 1850, Allen owned $7,000 worth of real estate and was practicing as a physician in Petersburg.

Benjamin P. Thomas, Lincoln's New Salem (Springfield, IL: Abraham Lincoln Association, 1934), 6, 29, 31-32, 37; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Menard County, IL, 268; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Cass County, 5 March 1840, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Gravestone, Rose Hill Cemetery, Petersburg, IL; Douglas L. Wilson and Rodney O. Davis, eds., Herndon's Informants: Letters, Interviews, and Statements about Abraham Lincoln (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998), 259, 545-46.