Children of Richard Allen and Margaret Sweeney of County Meath- Thomas Allen 1841 Summerhill- 1920 Jerseyville

 

Thomas Allen was the seventh son born to Richard Allen and Margaret Sweeney. The seventh son was thought by some to hold special powers; the seventh son of a seventh son was though to be a healer. (We don't know Thomas' father Richard Allen's birth order!)

Hugh was seven years old when his brother Thomas was born. We can only imagine the tiny cottage full of little boys; the eldest child, Mary, now 15 years old, was the only girl to help Margaret when this new baby was born.The family was predominantly boys; Frank 12, John 8, Hugh 7, Patrick 6, Peter 4, and Richard 2. 

The baby was baptized at the church at Dangan on November 22, 1841. His baptismal sponsors were Thomas McCan (likely his uncle- the husband of Mary Sweeney, his mother's sister) and Christine Fitzsimons (also likely Sweeney relations- Catherine Sweeney, another of his mother's sisters, had married Andrew Fitzsimmons.)

On the 1900 census, Thomas reports immigrating in 1864. But we see no records for him for the civil war draft.

 However, we do know that on New Years Day in 1872, Thomas married Bridget Burnes/Byrnes at St. Francis Xavier Church in Jerseyville. Richard? and Anna Burns were the witnesses.

In 1880 they were living at 251 Tea Street in Jerseyville.

There were no children born to the union, and we can only assume that Bridget died young. Her burial record shows she  died Sept 28, 1887. She was buried in St. Francis Cemetery.

In 1900, Thomas was 59 years old, living and working on the farm of newlywed John J. and Catherine "Kate" Maloney Quinn and their family, including John's parents- 76 year old Thomas Quinn and 64 year old Ellen Kinsella Quinn (my great grandparents), who note their immigration date as 1855, and Richard Quinn, John J. Quinn's brother who was born in 1869 and would die that year.

In 1910 he is listed as 65 (again, ages seem to be vague to this generation of Allens- according to his baptismal record he was 69) and living with his nephew, 39 year old Thomas Allen (my grandfather) and his 38 year old wife Nellie Quinn (the daughter of Thomas and Ellen Quinn above) and their family.

         My grandparents- Nellie Quinn and Thomas Allen as newlyweds

He was still with them in 1920, when my mother, Pauline Allen, was 4 years old. His age is now listed as 80, which would be close to correct.

My mother never knew her grandparents; they all passed away before she was born. So her great-uncle, Thomas Allen, was the closest thing she had to a grandfather. She remembered him very fondly; he would often sing and play games with her. As the youngest child in a large family, she was the "baby" of the family, and he was the eldest member, so they enjoyed their special time together. Her oldest sister, Mary, would write letters for him back to John Allen, his brother who still lived on the old family farm in Summerhill Ireland, and read the letters to him that came back, written by John's niece.

                  Pauline Allen and her great-uncle Tom Allen

One day Tom was helping in the garden, burning grass, when his trousers caught fire and he was badly burned. He must have suffered terribly; the burns were so severe that he died several days later. My mother lost one of her dearest friends.

He died on the last day of March in 1920 and his funeral was held at St. Francis Xavier Church in Jerseyville. This would have been the first time my mother experienced the funeral of someone she loved, although another Allen death would come just a month later- the sudden death of her 47 year old uncle, Hugh Allen, who lived on the farm just across the road from her home. Both services were held by Father Clancy, a priest who would serve Jerseyville and the Allen family for many, many years to come.

He was buried at the cemetery at St. Francis, next to his wife, Bridget. 

He was the last of the children of Richard Allen and Margaret Sweeney to pass from this world.