The family of James Allen 1735ish to 1801

 This is the line I care about most at the moment  Although I have many challenging ancestors still to locate, this one is still a mystery prior to his marriage to Sarah Cloudas/Crowdus/Crowder, daughter of George and possibly Susannah or possibly Mary Cloudas.  Actually, I've not even located marriage records for James and Sarah.  The first record I have is of the birth of their son, Richard, in 1755.  Most sites give James's birth as 1735 but I think it more likely that he was born earlier than that, in order to marry and have a child in 1755.  

This is also a difficult post to write because it is so incomplete.  I've managed to trace, I think, a few of the children and that is an ongoing project.  I hope that there will be someone who reads this post who knows more than I know and who will contact me so we can put our heads together on this.  Here is a listing of the children as far as I have been able to determine.

Richard was the first born, or the first born of whom we have record.  He married Elizabeth Richardson in 1781 in Fluvanna County, Virginia.  (Fluvanna was formed from Goochland County, which is where our earliest Allen records are found.)  Elizabeth may have been the daughter of Isham amd Mary Terrell Richardson, or she may have been the daughter of Green and Nancy Graves Richardson.  They were the parents of at least 10 children: James, Nancy, William, Richard, Martha (Patsy), George, Polly, Mahala, Joseph, and Mariah or Maria.  Based on naming patterns, I think it's more likely that Elizabeth's parents were Green and Nancy, but a will or deeds should be located to verify this.

Elizabeth Allen married Samuel John Woodard, son of John and Susannah Tilman Woodard. The spelling is also seen as Woodward, especially in that of their son David.  I've found two death dates for Elizabeth, one in 1789 and one in 1832.  If the later one is correct, Samuel's census shows a total of 8 children.  However, they could have been from a second wife.  More research to do!

I could find nothing about Susannah except that she was born in 1761 and died before 1818.  

Mary May was born in 1763.  She married Thomas Glass, whom I've been unable to trace.  The couple is known to have had one child, Catherine, but there may be others.

George was born in 1766 and married Nancy Clements.  All that I know about Nancy is that her mother's name was Sally and there was a Stephen Clements who was a witness at the wedding, along with William Allen.  Unfortunately, I've found no further records of him, and do not know whether he and Nancy had any children.

James was born in 1769.  He married Tabath or Tabitha Parrish, daughter of Moses and Mary Hill Parrish in 1795.  Their children are William, John, James, Eliza, Isaac, Moses, and Archibald.  I will write more of this family in my next post.

There are confusing claims about William.  Our William died in 1841 in Goochland County, so he is not the WIlliam who married Susannah E Echols and who died in Tennessee in 1833.  Our William married Lucy Graves, the daughter of John and possibly Lucinda Adams Graves.  Their children are Sarah, Martha, Elizabeth, Harriet, John, James, Richard, and Mathilda.  

Martha was born in 1775 and married Daneil Carrell or Cararoll.  He was the son of Booker Carroll.  Daniel has one daughter listed on the 1820 census, but I do not know whether this was Martha's daughter or not, nor do I know of any other children.

Sally was their last child, born April 4, 1777.  I have located nothing further of her, except that there was a Sally Allen who married Thomas Whitlock as his second wife, in Goochland County.  I haven't yet found anything to confirm or deny that this was our Sally.  

It troubles me that there are so many unknowns in this post.  I believe there are answers somewhere, whether in Goochland County or at the Library of Virginia, but until more information comes on line, or until I get better at researching, or until some unknown family member points me in the right direction, this is the best post I can write, as of February 14, 2023.