Springfield-Greene
County LibraryEarly and Recent History and Genealogical Records
of Many of the Representative Citizens
JOHN D. ALLEN. The wanderlust, like a siren, calls to every youth to forsake his ancestral hills and halls and go out in quest of a better country. Many have heeded the summons to their advantage, but perhaps more have answered to their doom. In such a county as Greene that young man is fortunate who has the sagacity to remain at home. The call very frequently leads men to forsake the "land of milk and honey" and go in search of a never-to-be-attained oasis of a mirage, ultimately finding instead the barren, sand-swept waste of a Sahara; often, too, after it is too late to return and establish-themselves in their own native locality in a proper manner. John D. Allen, foreman of the tin department at the new Frisco shops, Springfield, is one of our native born sons who has been prudent in remaining in his native county.
Mr. Allen was born at Cave Spring, Cass township, Greene county, March 18, 1870. He is a son of Stephen G. and C. N. (Penley) Allen. The father was born in Georgia, April 15, 1845, and is still living at Cave Spring, whither he removed from Dixieland in the year 1868. He has a good small farm here and has followed agricultural pursuits for some time but being a carpenter by trade his earlier life was devoted to work in this line. He served in the Confederate army in the Civil war, enlisting before he was eighteen years old. He was wounded in the battle at Atlanta, Georgia, August 11, 1864. After the war, he located in Marion county, Tennessee, where he was married, August 10, 1867, to C. N. Penley, a native of Tennessee. In 1868, Mr. Allen came to Greene county, locating at Cave Spring, where he has since resided and here has reared his family of seven children, namely: J. Charles, John D., Laura, Louis M., Stephen G., Mary A. and Katy J. The latter died at the age of four years. Mr. Allen, at the age of seventy years, is a hale, hearty man and enjoys caring for his little farm. Politically, he is a Democrat and belongs to the Universalist church.
John D. Allen grew to manhood on the home farm in Cass township, where he worked when a boy and he received his education in the district schools at Cave Spring. He remained on the farm until he was nineteen years of age, then came to Springfield and went to work in the office of the Springfield Republican, later he worked at the barber's trade f or a short time. In 1890 he began work in the North Side Frisco shops where he learned the tinner's trade, remaining there three and one-half years, then spent over six years in the South-Side shops at his trade, after which he re-turned to the shops on the North Side and has remained in the tin department here, being now foreman in the new shops, which responsible position he has held since the opening of the new shops. He has a large number of men under his direction, and he is not only a most capable and highly skilled workman but is a man of considerable executive ability.
Mr. Allen was married on December 5, 1892, in Springfield, to Della Gee, who was born in Indiana, April 12, 1871. She is a daughter of Amos and Nancy Jane Gee. The father was a native of Indiana and was born in 1845 and the mother was born in 1850. They are still living and reside on a good farm near Alva, Oklahoma.
Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Allen, namely: Wade, born on March 11, 1895; Gladys, born on July 15, 1899; and Louise, born on August 9, 1909.
Politically, Mr. Allen is a Democrat and fraternally he belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America. He and wife belong to the Knights and Ladies of Security.
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