El
Dorado County
Biographies
JOHN P. ALLEN
Perhaps no state of the Union has
been more richly endowed by nature than California, with its vast mineral and
agricultural resources, from which spring the other great branch of activity, commerce. Its orchards furnish pasturage for flocks,
and its mines yield the greater part of the precious metal that forms the
standard of our currency and is in use as a medium of trade throughout the
country; but nature merely provides the material for the workman, and it
remains to man to develop its resources and adapt them to his own use. Actively interested in the mining region of
El Dorado County is John P. Allen, one of the early and well known settlers of
this portion of the state and now residing in Cedar Ravine, a short distance
from Placerville, where he has valuable mining interests.
Mr. Allen was born in Fairfield,
Maine, on the 22nd of February, 1826, and from Scotland to New
England came his ancestors at an early period in the development of that
portion of our country. Holoway Allen, the father of our subject, was born in Maine
and there married Miss Hannah Spaulding.
They became the parents of six children, and the father died at the age
of seventy-four, while the mother reached the very advanced age of ninety-nine
years. She was a member of the Society
of Friends. Mr. Allen of this sketch was
reared on the farm of an uncle until his nineteenth year and then served an
apprenticeship at the ship-joiners trade.
In 1858 he sailed on the Star of the West for California, and on
reaching the Pacific Ocean took passage on the John L. Stephens, landing at San
Francisco the 17th of October of that year.
He worked for a month at his trade in that city, but he had been attacked
by the gold fever and in consequence started for the mines, going by steam to
Sacramento, whence he proceeded on foot to his destination, carrying his
blankets upon his back. For three years
he engaged in placer mining near Newtown, meeting with moderate success, after
which he came to his present location in El Dorado County. With two partners he engaged in mining on
Spanish Hill, where they continued their efforts for six months, without
result. Forming another partnership, Mr.
Allen put a tunnel in the hill and the property then yielded to them a good
return. Subsequently he sold his
property there and in the winter of 1861 purchased a claim in Cedar
Ravine. Here he has since prospered, and
mine yielding a good percentage of gold.
In 1862 he built a pleasant and comfortable residence on the banks of
the ravine, so that he is pleasantly located near his business. The hillside shows the marks of his
industrious hand. He has vigorously
prosecuted his work and he is accounted one of the leading representatives of
mining interests in this locality.
In 1849 was celebrated the marriage
of Mr. Allen and Miss Crispianna Young, a native of
Bath, Maine. Two children were born to
them in the Pine Tree state, and in 1862 the mother and children joined Mr.
Allen in his new home in California. The
younger daughter, Kate, married a Mr. Hart, and the elder daughter, Mary Ann
became the wife of G. W. Van Vleck and passed away
leaving three sons. Her husband is still
living in California. After arriving in
this state Mr. and Mrs. Allen became the parents of two daughters and two
sons: George W.; Drucilla,
the wife of George Bertshi; Frederick, who is
associated with his father in the breeding of Belgian hares;
and Mildred C., who is assistant chief operator in the Sunset Telephone Company
in Sacramento.
In 1851 Mr. Allen took the
initiatory degree in the Masonic fraternity, joining Solar Lodge, No. 14, at
Bath, Maine; and on the 26th of June, of the same year, was raised
to the sublime degree of Master Mason.
He is also a Royal Arch Mason, joining Montgomery Chapter at Bath,
Maine, on the 8th of April, 1857.
He afterward took a demit from Solar Lodge, No. 14, and now affiliates
with Palmyra Lodge, No. 151, at Placerville, California.
Mr. Allen has been a life-long
Republican, but has never sought or desired the honors of emoluments of public
office. His pleasant, genial manner wins
him friends wherever he goes, haughtiness and ostentation forming no part of
his composition. Although well advanced
in years, he is still quite vigorous. He
is a typical representative of the age in which he lives and of the state which
is his home, and truly his life may be termed as a success, for the principles
for which he has lived he has seen adopted and honored, a success which is
above that of the millionaire.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 376-377. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden
Nugget Library's El Dorado County Biographies