Peter Buell Allen
birth: 24 Nov 1775 in Dover Dutchess, New York to Moses Allen and Chloe War
death: 13 Jun 1833 in Terre Haute, Vigo, Indiana
burial: Memorial Marker at Woodlawn Cemetery, Terre Haute, Vigo, Indiana

marriage: 25 Sep 1796 in New York
Mary Peterson
birth: 5 Sep 1774, Albany Co, New York to Andrew Peterson and Mehitable Benton
death: 2 Jul 1832, in Terre Haute, Vigo, Indiana
burial:

Children of Mary Patterson and Peter Buell Allen:

• Henry Cromwell Allen (1797 – 1837), m. 1823 Zelota Cargill
• Ira Allen (1799 – 1866), m. 1819 Lydia Cargill
• Catherine Allen (1801- 1821), m. Curtis Gilbert
• Harriet Allen (1803 – 1855), m. (1) 1819, John Britton, divorced 1825, (2) 1829 George Conn
• Myron Holley Allen (1805 – 1866), m. 1827 Nancy Jackson
• Amanda Allen (1807 – 1866), M. 1825 Silas Hoskins
• Chloe Ward Allen (1809 – 1869), m. 1828 Carlton C Belt
• Peter B Allen (1811 – 1901), m. 1836 Mary Rowena Hoskins
• Adeline Allen (1814 – 1857), m. 1828 Brittain Moore Harrison

Peter Buell Allen lived in:

• 1775- Born in Dover, Dutchess, New York
• By 1790- Rupert, Bennington, Vermont (Likely the Moses Allen family of that place)
• About 1796-97- Ontario Co, New York, where they settled in Pittstown
• 1817- Peter sold his New York land to his brother
• Jan 1818- Peter and his family migrate to Vigo Co, Indiana

Other information:

Peter Allen purchased land in Vigo County, Indiana in 1817 and sold his lands in New York to his brother. He is said to have built a flat boat and floated down the rivers, arriving in Indiana by January of 1818. He built a cabin from the lumber used for the flat boat. All of his nine children, some of them young adults, came with him to Vigo County. He died in Terre Haute in 1833.

Peter was born in Dover, Dutchess, New York, where his father leased land in the Beekman Patent. His father, Moses Allen, served in the Revolution from that place. Soon after the war, the family moved to Vermont. They are likely the Moses Allen family living in Rupert, Bennington, Vermont in 1790. About 1796-7, the Allen families moved to Ontario County, New York, settling in Pittstown. Peter sold his property there in 1817 and migrated to Vigo Co, Indiana.

Peter and his bother Nathaniel were members of the first Masonic lodge in Richmond, Ontario, New York, 1806. Later (about 1820) Peter would be the first Master of the Terre Haute Lodge, No. 19, the first Masonic Lodge in Vigo County.

In 1808, Peter was Vestryman of St. Paul’s Church, Honeoye, New York. Honeoye was first named Pittstown, and later became Richmond. Peter Allen represented Richmond in the county legislature in 1812. He served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the 20th regiment of the New York State Militia in the War of 1818. He was taken prisoner at the Battle of Queenston Heights on the Niagara River, 13 Oct 1812. Over 400 Americans were captured but soon released, honor-bound not to take up arms again. In 1816 – 1817, Peter Allen was elected to the New York Assembly from Ontario County.

After relocating to Vigo in 1818, Peter Allen served as the first county clerk and recorder.

The obituary of his son Peter B Allen states, “By wagon they went to the Ohio river where a flat boat was built and loaded their goods. In it they went down the Ohio to the Wabash and up the Wabash to where Terre Haute is not situated and entered land in what is now within the present limits of Terre Haute, Ind.”

Submitted by:

Kay Haden
Email: khaden1959@gmail.com