Francis "Frank" Allen- Hugh's eldest brother
(Source: picture from book of Jody Allen)
Hugh was no doubt very close to his eldest brother, Frank. They may have emigrated together; if not, Hugh soon followed Frank to America and was living with him in Macoupin County, Illinois in 1860. (see previous blog) In 1860, Frank was a young man of 31 years (the census says 27 but we have his baptismal record!) and had married Rachel Reece on January 15, 1859. They had an 8 month old baby, David, named for Rachel's father.
(Source Year: 1860; Census Place: Township 12 Range 7, Macoupin, Illinois; Page: 188; Family History Library Film: 803206)
In 1861, their first daughter was born; Bridget Ellen "Adelia" Allen. By July 1863, the family had moved to Jersey County, where both Frank and Hugh registered for the draft for the civil war. (Neither went to war)
Frank Allen's farm in Jerseyville
(Source: colored map from book of Jody Allen)
Frank lived about a mile north of Jerseyville. According to a family story, he raised race horses on his farm. On March 19, 1864, Rachel gave birth to a third child, named Richard after his grandfather in Ireland. It was thought that Rachel died soon after his birth. Family histories say that her daughter, Delia, was still very young ("still in a crib") when her mother died. She was believed to be buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in Jerseyville. No burial records for St. Francis were found.
The baby survived and was baptized on April 6, 1865- a year after his birth- at St. Francis Xavier Church in Jerseyville. His baptism took place just 4 days after the baptism of Hugh Allen and Margaret Durney's son, who was also named Richard after his grandfather.
(Source: Diocese of Springfield Illinois Sacramental Records, St. Francis Xavier)
As was typical for widowers with small children, Frank remarried a respectable year later. On April 9, 1866, he and Margaret Black/Blake were wed in Jerseyville.
Source: Document from the Family history notebook of Helen and Margie Allen
Once again, Frank was struck by tragedy. Less than a year later, his second wife Margaret died at age 40, childless. She was buried at St. Francis.
photo source: P. Meado find-a-grave
Undaunted, Frank married for the third time, again one year later, on February 25, 1868. This time he married Mary Durney, the sister of his brother Hugh's wife, Margaret Durney. At 44, Mary was not a young bride and was, in fact, six years older than Frank, although on the 1870 census, she notes her age as 37. (This differs from her baptismal certificate.) However, Mary gave birth to a daughter on January 27, 1870 whom they named Margaret and called "Maggie." Maggie was just one month younger than Hugh Allen and Mary Durney's son, Thomas (my grandfather.)
The 1870 census clues us in to more tragedy in Frank's life. The two sons born to Frank and Rachel apparently did not survive. In 1870, Adelia Allen was 9 years old and Margaret 8 months old. Frank's farm was prospering, the land valued at $7,000 and his personal property at $2220.
But as we have seen, health in those times could be precarious, and according to a family history, Frank's health was failing. Numerous doctors came to visit the family, resulting in mounting bills but little improvement to his health. Despite their tonics and remedies, by June 1872 Frank was reportedly too ill to even sign his name on a bank note. He died five months later on the 13th of November, 1872, at only 42 years of age.
(Source: genealogy records of Jody Allen)
His burial record notes that he was born in the Parish of Dangan, County Meath. He was buried in the cemetery at St. Francis Xavier in Jerseyville.
