Publisher's Synopsis
Washington, Kentucky, on the Ohio River, became central to the unfolding of the trans-Allegheny migration of westward expansion following the American Revolution. It was the first American town to bear the name Washington and was the only post office that initially served the whole Northwest Territory including Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. It was forged from the efforts of frontiersmen Daniel Boone, Simon Kenton, and David Duncan. It was also the home of Joseph Allen the blue dyer, whose occupation and civic involvement helped weave this important town's formation and vitality.
Seventy years later, another American migration beckoned settlers along the right-of-way of the newly formed Illinois Central Railroad. Eventually these lands became some of America's most productive farms. Such farmlands, however, would first have to be transformed from a vast veritable swamp, the legacy of Champaign County, Illinois, and its Hensley Township. The demands of the task warranted a spirit and determination giving further meaning and homage to the honor of "The American Pioneer."
Among those determined new arrivals to Champaign County was Elizabeth Allen and most of her ten children, descendants of Joseph and Dorothy Allen of Washington, Kentucky. They arrived with little, and yet within the next thirty years, the Allen children would become a significant, prosperous family amalgam of Allen farms. Together they were the Allens of Hensley Township. This is their story as it continued into the twentieth century and beyond with the descendants who claim and share this heritage in the larger weave of American history.
