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Benjamin Allen was born 1735 either in
Scotland or Connecticut. He was a soldier under British General
Wolfe at Louisburg in 1758 and at Quebec in 1759. In 1783 he
received a first land grant at Mispec, Saint John Co. New Brunswick,
Canada and a second land grant at Baie Verte, Westmorland Co. New
Brunswick. In 1771 at Fort Cumberland Nova Scotia (now Ft.
Beausejour, NB) he married Eva Magdalena "Sarah" Somers, a
daughter of Matthias Somers of Moncton NB. The story is told
that Benjamin Allen was extremely shy, hence the name "Shy Ben".
One night after returning from a long trip, he found a New Year's Eve
dance in progress at Fort Cumberland. After suitable liquid
fortification, he went to the center of the dance floor and said: "I am
in dire need of a wife! Who will have me?" Up stepped a hearty lass
of German descent, Sarah Somers, who said "I'll have you, Ben!".
The happy couple were married on the spot by a minister who
happened to be in attendance. It is said that any pugnacious
tendencies in the Allen female descendants can be attributed to
Sarah. [The male line may have certain tendencies too, as shown in
the next paragraph.]
Stories are also told of their adventurous
son Matthew Allen. In New Brunswick it is said of Matthew Allen
that at the time of the Anglo-American War (1812) during a trip to
the United States a press gang took him and a companion on board
a man-of-war and induced them to enlist. One night as the ship was
lying at anchor off one of the West India Islands, they jumped
overboard with the hope of swimming ashore. Allen reached shore
and expecting to be followed by a guard from the ship took refuge
under an upturned boat on the shore. One of them suggested that
the deserter might be hidden under the boat but no search was
made and Allen escaped. After spending some days on the Island he
found a friendly vessel that finally landed him at Halifax. His
companion was never heard from and it is supposed that he was
drowned in his attempt to desert from the man-of-war. [A History
and Story of Botsford, by W. M. Burns, 1933]
A different
version of this story is told in Pictou County, Nova Scotia:
There
were incidents of course when the press gangs did capture a few
Pictou men; such as the time they came sneaking along the shoreline
to suddenly make a dash for a number of young men cutting timber.
At the first alarm the Pictou men took to the deep woods, but hard
on their heels came the men of the press gang, with swinging
swords, clubs and loaded muskets. The majority of the Pictou men
got away, but two were taken - Edward Crae and Matthew Allen, both
stout men, but slow of foot. These two were pounced upon by six
jubilant pressmen. Within minutes both had been subdued in the
brief but exciting fight that followed. Matthew Allen, claimed as the
most notorious bruiser of the township, laid three of the press gang
with bleeding and battered heads before he was struck from behind
and clubbed to his knees. His face was one bloody mess when the
press gang dragged him away. Edward Crae remained uninjured as
he gave up quietly in the face of the cutlass-swinging pressmen.
While some in the county, who had run foul of the two bruisers in
the past, were glad to see them go, official protests were made to
the Provincial Governor, who, in turn, requested the release of the
local men. Before that order had been processed, the two captives
made good their escape by swimming ashore at Antigua. As far as
was ever known, the two never returned to the township of Pictou,
which many considered a blessing. [Pictou Pioneers: a story of the
first hundred years in the history of Pictou town; by Roland H.
Sherwood 1973]
In fact, Matthew Allen, who had been working
in Pictou, finally returned to Cape Tormentine, NB about 1815 at age
32, married Mary Ann Dobson and settled down. They had a large
family with many descendants, some of them shy, and some
not.
DISCLAIMER
This information
presented here should be regarded as a guide only. It is based on a
wide variety of sources, sometimes conflicting, and no claim can be
made concerning accuracy. Some but not all of the sources are
shown in the detailed family tree. Changes will be made from time
to time; new information from readers is welcome, provided the
source of the information is also given to assist in resolving
differences.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Acknowledgement is made of contributions by the following people:
- The following three people, now deceased, who
began the research into the New Brunswick Allens: my father, Melvin
Walter Trenholm of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia (son of William Olsen
Trenholm); his cousins Percy Trenholm of Sackville, New Brunswick,
and Vaughn Trenholm of Montreal, Quebec.
- Allin
Kingsbury of San Jose, California.
- Ian F. Paul of Sackville, New
Brunswick, for information on many of the local families.
-
Many others, in particular, the late Dr. Albert Dobson of Abbotsford B.C.,
Arthur Owen of Ottawa and Members of the "Dobson/Wells Group".
- Many other specific contributions are listed in the source
references.
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