Rev. James Allen

                                          Rev. James Allen

                   Revolutionary War Soldier

Linwood Cemetery

Columbus, GA

“He was as useful, as a minister of the Gospel, as he was a physician, and the work of his hands will fruit on and on and ripen in eternity.” * 

*(from an article in Alabama Historical Quarterly, V. 15, no. 2 (Summer 1953) “ The History of Opelika and Her Agricultural Tributary Territory.” 

 

Rev. James Allen was born in Virginia, possibly in the Richmond area on July 26, 1764. He was the son of Andrew Chapman and Hannah Newton Allen. He served in the Virginia Continental Line during the Revolutionary War.  After the war, he settled in Columbia County, GA. He married Jane Eliza McGehee on June 16, 1792. 

The family moved into Meriwether County in the 1830’s where he worked as a carpenter. His wife Jane died there in October 1834. 

When the family moved into Russell County, AL, Allen became a physician and minster. It was reported that he never charged for his services. “The last half of his active life was devoted to the gratuitous practice of medicine. This necessity arose from the scarcity of regular physicians in the early days. It is known that he rode day and night, during the sickly season, to meet the calls of the suffering, furnishing medicine at his own expense and never charging a cent for his services. He was very successful in his practice, though he never made medicine a study until it became necessary and never graduated from any school of medicine, except that of the saddle and the sick bed.” *

*(from an article in Alabama Historical Quarterly, V. 15, no. 2 (Summer 1953) “ The History of Opelika and Her Agricultural Tributary Territory.” 

Rev. Allen died in the home of his son, John W. Allen, on July 12, 1871 near Smiths Station, AL.

James and Jane Allen had six children: Zilpah, Harriet, William, Mariah, James, and John.

Allen Family Plot

Linwood Cemetery

 References

U.S. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800-1900, www.ancestry.com, accessed February 19, 2025

“The History of Opelika and Her Agricultural Tributary Territory,” Alabama Historical Quarterly, V. 15, no. 2 (Summer 1953), Chapter 29, 322, Alabama Department of Archives and History.

"United States, Rosters of Revolutionary War Soldiers and Sailors, 1775-1966", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org)

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/26485569/james-allen

 Historic Linwood Cemetery, Linda J. Kennedy and Mary Jane Galor, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, SC, 2004, p.50

Linda McCardle