SVV^rt-NS-" *

Cx

BIOGRAPHY

DEACON JAMES ALLEN,

HIRAM KNIGHT,

GENEALOGICAL REGISTER

AND

TESTIMONIALS.

PRINTED BY CHARLES HAMILTON,
No. 311 Main Street.
1889.

CONTENTS,

Preface, ......... v
Topography, ........ 7
Ndmbbr of Inhabitants, ...... 9
James Allen, ........ 9
Taxable Persons in Oakham in 1827, .... 13
James Allen's Militaiiy Record, .... 15
As A Farmer, ........ 16
As A School Teacher,  17
An Incident, ........ 18
As One op the School Committee, .... 19
How he came to be a Merchant, .... 20
As A Civil Engineer or Land Surveyor, . . 25
In his Family and Home, ...... 26
As A Trustee,  29
As A Public Official,  29
In the CnuRCif and Sabbath School, . . . 31
His Reputation, ........ 33
Genealogical Register, ...... 38
Deacon Allen's Picture, ...... 43
Testimonials, ...... . 45

PREFACE

It is highly proper, as well as natural, that a special
veneration for the place of our nativity should be cherished.
The scenes of our childhood ; the kindly faces and cheerful
words of those elderly people who greeted us when we
were among the little school-children ; the very land itself,
its roads and by-paths, its woods and fields, its rocks and
rills, and the greens upon which we gambolled may well be
among our choice memories.
There, too, in some one or more of its sacred enclosures
we visit and revisit in memory at least, the graves of
parents, brothers, sisters, and perhaps of husband, wife or
child, and looking around on either hand we read the names
of associates and friends of our youth or riper years, mak
ing these places seem to us even as hallowed ground. We
also feel and gratefully acknowledge a personal indebted
ness to the place of our birth and childhood.
It is good for us to remember the virtues of parents and
grandparents, and to realize the moulding influence which
not only they, but other good men and women exerted
upon us, directing us into paths of virtue and giving to us
impulses towards right doing and noble endeavor.
The fact that Oakham was the place of birth and boyhood
of the writer, coupled with his personal obligations to Dea
con Allen, creates a desire to aid the recollections of the
2

PREFACE.

sons and daughters of this goodly old town, who like him
self were brought up under the influence of such men,
and a desire (if possible) to secure the attention of the
younger natives of the town, or their descendants, who,
if at all, only remember the subject of this narrative as an
old man who had passed his active life before they knew
him, and who may therefore be inclined to feel that he was
very little if anything to them because he was old when
they were young, so that they have not been aware of
much, if any, direct influence from him upon their own lives.
But if they reflect upon the acknowledged indebtedness
of their parents, whose lives were touched by his moulding
hand, they may be able to see that through them even their
own lives have been afi'ected by him for good.
In the hope that the story of his life and labors, so far as
they are set forth in the following pages, may not only
remind the older people how much they were indebted to
him and his co-laborers, but also serve as an incentive to
nobler eflbrt and greater fidelity on the part of the young,
this little volume is respectfully dedicated to the Town of
Oakham, and to her children at home and abroad by the
author,
HIEAM KNIGHT.
North Brookfield, 1889.

TOPOGRAPHY

THE town of Oakham, in the westerly part of the County of
Worcester, Mass., is situated about sixteen miles "west of
the county seat (Worcester) , and like the towns by which it is
surrounded, — Barre, Rutland, Paxton, Spencer, North Brookfield
and New Braintree, — its central portion is considerably elevated.
Its surface is somewhat diversified and uneven, abounding in
wooded hills and generally fertile hillsides and valleys, through
which run numerous streams of limpid waters, so that its farms
are well watered, and upon several of its larger brooks small mills
were erected in the early days of its English history, and some
of these streams still furnish water power for its home industries.
Much of its soil is naturally productive, though by no means free
from surface stones and rocks.
It was taken from the more ancient town of Rutland, and
incorporated as "District of Oakham," June 17, 1762, deriving
its corporate name, probably, from the kind of tree which pre
dominated in its forests when its occupancy passed from the red
to the white man, or, possibly, as some have believed, from a
town of the same name in England. It seems to have been laid
out into farms of the then prevailing size (averaging about one
hundred acres) by its earlier white occupants, and these farm
lines have remained as nearly unchanged as such divisions of the
land have in the surrounding territory.
Many of its early white settlers came from the older and more
easterly towns in the State, some, perhaps, from neighboring
States and some from Scotland through the North of Ireland.
Of the latter were the Crawfords and Bothwells, of which names
the earlier and some of the later ancestors of the present genera
tion lie buried in the old church-yard, very near where the meet
ing-house formerly stood, or upon their own farms in the easterly
part of the township.

8 BIOGRAPHY OF
As in other towns in the vicinity the church with its " Godly
Ministry" and the school-house received early attention. Its
first church " was imbodied in presbiterian form Aug. 28, 1767,
and Rev. John Strickland was ordained their pastor Apr. 1,
1768. He was dismissed by the presbytery and a vote of the
town June 2, 1773. After Mr. Strickland's removal, the pres-
byterian church was dissolved, and a church on the congrega
tional plan was imbodied June 23, 1773, and the Rev. Daniel
Tomlinson was separated to the work of the gospel ministry
among them, June 22, 1786."
Most of the early settlers were poor or of moderate financial
means, and so much the more dependent upon their ability to
labor as well as to endure hardships and privations.
Seventy-five years ago, notwithstanding the natural asperity
of the soil, the town contained an average number at least of
well fenced and well cultivated farms, many of which have con
tinued in the hands of the same family names ; some have passed
to newer residents, some are in better condition than they for-
merely were, while in a few cases the once well appointed, well
wooded and well tilled farms have fallen a prey to the avarice of
sons or of strangers, have been divested of their wood and tim
ber, the buildings gone to. decay, very little now remaining to
prove the industry, frugality and thrift of former owners. Like
as in other farming towns the old has given place to the new,
and though the inhabitants who have recently passed away and
the few men and women now living in advanced age may have
sorrowed as they witnessed these changes, and thought of for
mer magnificence, they might, if permitted to look upon the
present state of things, be forced to admit that upon the whole
the new is as good and in some respects even better than the
old. By the action of time and the laws of progress, old farm
buildings, once the homes of contentment and comfort, around
which have clustered so many sacred associations, are broken
down or removed or forgotten ; the perhaps sterile acres upon
which very much labor had been expended because of their
adjacency to the home, have been abandoned to pasturage or to
a later growth of small wood ; and also newer and better homes
now stand where in former days comparative unthrift had been
the rule.

t)t:A0ON James alLen. 9
NUMBER OF INHABITANTS.
According to the Colonial Census in 1765 (three years after
its incorporation) the number of inhabitants of this town was

only

270

In 1776,

598
In 1790,
according
to U. S.
Census,
772
In 1800,
((
((
801
In 1810,
u
(i
848
In 1820,
((
a
916
In 1830,
a
it
1,010
In 1840,
it
a
1,038
In 1850,
it
u
1,137
In 1855,
according
to State Census,
1,062
In 1860,
it
U. S.
959
In 1865,
u
State
925
In 1870,
u
U. S.
860
In 1875,
tt
State
873
In 1880,
it
U. S.
869
In 1885,
(;
State
749
Like other hill towns situated away from great thorough
fares where few special manufacturing industries have been per
manently established, Oakham has had not only its gradual and
earlier increase but its later gradual decline in the number of its
inhabitants. Not by famine nor by pestilence nor by lack of
general healthfulness has its population been diminished, but by
a continuous exodus of its young men and young women who
have been attracted to larger towns, to cities and to distant
States and countries. About the time when the rearing of
young men and young women destined to go from their native
soil was fairly begun, the subject of this historical narrative
came upon the stage of action. As a town builder, a teacher
and a character builder he had few equals and fewer superiors.
James Allen, the only son of his parents, was born in Oak
ham, July 2, 1792, upon the farm now owned and occupied by
Mr. Lewis N. Haskell, a little more than a mile south-west of the
centre of the town. Of his parents comparatively little in detail
can now be said , as there is probably scarcely an individual now
living who was personally acquainted with his father, nor, per
haps, even with his mother, who survived her husband. The
10 BIOGRAPHY OF
records show that his father was a deacon of the Congregational
Church in Oakham from the time of its organization in 1773 till
his death, a period of forty-three years. And the records at the
State House show that he was a member of the House in the
Legislature of 1805, and that he was a Justice of the Peace from
1802 till his decease.
It is no doubt truthfully recorded of him that he was ever
active in promoting the interests of the town and the church.
During the prevalence of the spotted fever in 1810 he gave his
entire time to the care of the sick, committing matters at home
and the care of the family to his eighteen years old son. And
this he did upon the consideration that he was getting to be an
old man (then sixty-six years of age), and if either might chance
to become a victim to the terrible disease, it were better that he
should take the risle and that the life of the son should be spared
that he might care for the family.
There can be no doubt that James was religiously trained and
instructed by his parents. His early opportunities for a school
education were such as the common schools of his day afforded,
and two years at the Leicester Academy, supplemented by his
own earnest and persistent endeavors to gain knowledge by
personal effort and study. In this he was aided by General
Crawford. After he was twelve years old his f atber gave him his choice
between a college education and the ownership of the farm. He
chose the former and in due time entered Leicester Academy to
fit for college. At two different times his health failed him and
he was compelled to abandon his choice. In his second year at
Leicester he was a part of the time in the family of Mrs. Wash
burn, whose son Emory (afterwards governor of Massachusetts)
was then seven years old. An older brother went with James
to call upon some young ladies. He thus introduced him,
" This is James Allen from Oakham." It was a cruel joke, for
Oakham was not usually spoken of with much respect. "Out
of the world into Oakham " had become a proverb. If in later
years the town is spoken of with honor to itself, the change is in
large measure due to the life and labors of this then tall and
comely youth James Allen. He learned civil engineering or
land surveying, which became one of his prominent occupations
in after life.

t)EAcoN James aLLen. ll
From fifty to one hundred years ago were the times of large
families of children, and as the farms and lands became nearly
all occupied, and as water-power or other facilities favorable to
its becoming a manufacturing town did not exist, whereby em
ployment might have been furnished for its sons and daughters
as they grew to man's estate, there was a constantly accumulat
ing surplus population to be scattered abroad into other and
growing communities within the State, or to make new homes
for themselves and their children in other States or countries.
The time was when by far the most important export of this
goodly old town was young men and young women, and the
same to a more limited extent is true even now.
And it is not aside from the purpose of this sketch to empha
size the importance which attaches itself to the home education
and training of those outgoing as well as the remaining children
of the town. There is a fitness of things, and there are laws of
adaptation of means to ends and of ends to means which have
their origin outside of or beyond the wisdom of man. If the
towering cedar is needed for the building of the temple it is
found upon Lebanon's mountain, where there is ample soil
among the rocks to contain its roots and to nourish the tree,
whose fibre is intensified and rendered more firm by its exposure
to the mighty winds. If the sturdy oak is needed wherewith to
lay the keel or to build the hull of the massive ship of commerce,
it is neither found nor looked for in lowland thicket, but upon
sparsely wooded hills where it has withstood the blasts of many
winters and the trying winds of spring and autumn, causing
it to root itself deep and wide and securing to itself integrity of
fibre, that it may be the better fitted for the jDurpose it is destined
to serve. So in the history of the human family, lofty intellects
and sterling characters are needed. The exigencies of a State
or nation may call for able and sterling men who are by the very
necessity of the case to be found somewhere among the masses
of the people, and not infrequently in the sparsely settled towns
where they might have remained in comparative obscurity had
not some exigency called them forth. Among the masses and
even in small and obscure communities are often found military
organizers and leaders, statesmen, teachers of the various insti
tutions of learning and religion, philosophers, philanthropists,

12 BIOGRAPHY OF
reformers. Nor do these do their work single handed or alone.
What would be a general without an army drawn from among
the masses ; a statesman without appreciative constituents ; a
teacher without pupils ; a preacher without attentive hearers ; a
philosopher, philanthropist or reformer without a sensitive and
intelligent public mind to which they may appeal, or how can a
man be distinguished as a town builder, and educator or character
builder if he find no plastic material to work upon ? The work
man and his material must always coexist. The power to
create from nothing resides only in the Divine Creator. Great
men and good men made their appearance in this world before
the fulness of time for the coming of the God-man ; each from
Noah down to the great but humble Nazarine, doing his appro
priate work and leaving the world the better for his life. The
like has been true since the Christian era, and doubtless will be
true to the end of time.
When in due course of events our own nation s^Drung into life,
its Washington and his faithful copatriots came forth from among
the people. Later, the presidency had its Adams, its Jefferson,
its Madison, its Monroe, its second Adams, and still later, its
Lincoln, its Grant, its Garfield, and others of honorable mention.
In the Civil War of 1861-65 the nation had its Grant, its
Sherman, its Meade, its Sheridan, and other eflScient military
leaders too numerous to be mentioned. Thus has it ever been
in the domain of religion, of learning, of science and art. Each
honored name in his own time and work seems to have fitted
into the divine plan of conducting the world's affairs, and in His
own time and way of elevating the human race from a gulf of
ignorance and sin to a mountain of knowledge and holiness.
Evil men have also arisen in all the ages whose energies and
infiuence have been exerted for the destruction of that which
good men have builded ; and it is beyond human knowledge or
wisdom to decide that their lives and labors have not also been
comprehended in the divine plan. We may not be able so plainly
to see the need of evil doers, but may safely conclude that to
defeat or even to hinder the Great Ruler of the universe is utterly
beyond their power.
Such reflections may lead us to infer that everything happens
in its proper time and that each person lives at the proper time,

DEACON JAMES ALLEN.

13

every one in his oivn day and generation. From considerations
similar in kind with the foregoing may we not safely conclude
that the humble, but no less honorable and useful, subject of this
sketch lived and labored when and where and how he could do
the greatest amount of good?
To give an accurate list of the names of the heads of the
growing families at any given date during the active life of
Deacon Allen, in the education of whose children he acted a
very important part, may now be impossible, but the insertion
of the names to be found upon a tax list of 1827 may call to
mind the property-holders and active citizens of that day, most
of whom would be included as heads of families were such a list
to be attempted. TAXABLE PERSONS IN OAKHAM IN 1827.

Dr. Charles Adams.
Palmer Adams.
Cheney R. Adams.
Washington Allen.
Lysander Allen.
Nehemiah Allen.
James Allen.
I James Allen for
( estate of Isaac Stone,
Perley Ayres.
John Ayres.
Jonas Bellows.
Horace Bellows.
Anna Bell.
Nancy Berry.
Bethiah Black.
Lemuel Blake.
Reuben Bothwell.
Cheney Bothwell.
Rebeckah Bothwell.
John Boyd, 2d.
John Briant.
j John Briant for
I Daniel Boyden heirs.
James G. Briant.
Amos Bridges.
Jonas Brimhall.
John Broad.

Jr.

Joel Bullard.
Adin Bullard (heirs of).
Moses Bullard.
William Bullard.
Josiah Burbank.
Patty Burbank.
John Burt.
Eli Burt.
Jonas Clapp.
Joseph Clapp.
Silas Clapp.
Edward Clark.
Lot Conant.
James Conant, Jr.
Charles Conant.
Harvey Conant.
John Conant.
Nancy Conant.
Isaac P. Conant.
Alexander Crawford.
Alexander Crawford, 2d.
Samuel Crawford.
Samuel Crawford, Jr.
William Crawford.
William Crawford, Jr.
Rufus Crawford.
Lauriston F. Crawford.
John Crawford.

14

BIOGRAPHY OF

Galen A. Crawford.
Galen Damon.
Adin Davis.
Polly Davis.
Zebulon Dean.
Elijah Dean.
Elijah Dean, Jr.
Blake Dean.
James Dean.
John Dean.
Josiah R. Dean.
Samuel Denny.
Cyrus Dunbar.
Joseph Dwelley.
Elmer Eaiie.
Ephraim Fairbank.
James C. Fairbank.
Ephraim W. Fairbank.
John B. Fairbank.
Harvey Fales.
George Fay.
George Fay for
Richard K. Shattuck.
Rice Fay.
Skelton Felton.
Peter Fitts.
Jesse Fitts.
Elisha Fitts.
Daniel Flint.
Perez Fobes.
Abigail Fobes.
Martin Forbes.
Benjamin Forbes.
Spencer Foster.
James R. Foster.
Susannah Freeman.
John French.
Bathsheba French.
Catherine French.
Asa French, Jr.
Freeman French.
Leonard Fuller.
WEliam Gault.
David Goodale.

Eunice Goodale.
Samuel A. Goodale.
Rufus Gould.
Elijah Green.
Charles B. Green.
David Hager.
Isaac Hager.
Percival Hall.
Percival HaU, Jr.
John Hale.
Zenas H. P. Hale.
John Hammond.
Levi Harrington.
Levi Harrington, Jr.
Austin Harrington.
Warren Harrington.
Simeon Haskell.
Loring Haskell.
Thomas Haskell.
Nelson Haskell.
Daniel HaskeU.
Joseph Hastings.
Sanford Hatch.
Samuel Henry.
Martin Howard.
Nathan Horr.
Joel Jones.
Isaac H. Jones.
Richard Kelly (heirs of) .
Charles Keith.
William E. Keep.
Silas Knight, Jr.
Ezra Leonard.
Josiah L. Leonard.
Stephen Lincoln.
Stephen Lincoln, Jr.
Abner Lincoln.
Lucius A. Loring.
John Macomber.
Elias Marsh.
Elias Marsh, Jr.
Richard K. Marsh.
Amasa Maynard.

DEACON JAMES ALLEN.

15

Samuel Maynard.
Ezra Maynard.
Francis Maynard.
John McCoUough.
Stephen Moon.
William Moon.
Eliakim Morse.
Abraham Mullet.
Solomon Miinroe.
Luther Noyes.
Luther Noyes, Jr.
Denny S. Noyes.
Timothy Nye.
Crocker Nye.
Salmon S. Nye.
Nehemiah Packard.
Perley Packard.
Jonathan Packard.
Solomon Parmenter.
Elias Partridge.
William Partridge.
Edward Partridge.
Thaddeus Partridge.
Daniel G. Piper.
Elihu Pond.
Frederick A. Presho.
William Presho.
Daniel Rawson.
Benjamin Reed.
Silas Reed.
Silas Reed, Jr.
Lewis H. Reed.
Joseph Rider.
Jepthath Ripley.
Zenas Ripley.
Russell Ripley.

Samuel Rockwood.
William Robinson.
Peter Robinson.
I Peter Robinson for
\ Isaac Stone heirs.
John Robinson, 2d.
Abraham Robinson.
Lemuel Saunders.
Luther Spear.
Andrew Spooner.
Eleazer Spooner.
Caleb Spooner.
Calvin Stevens.
Otis Stone.
Charles Stone.
Justus Stone.
Betsey Stone.
Daniel Swan.
David T. Tenny.
Nathan Thayer.
William Thompson.
Fabien Tomlinson.
Samuel Tucker.
Luke Tower.
William Ware.
James B. Ware.
Ira Warren.
Lewis Wetherby.
Martin Weeks.
J. Chandler Weeks.
Hasky Wight.
Dorothy Woodis.
Polly Woodis.
Nathan Woodis.
Mariot Woodis.
Oliver Woodis.

Note. — Thomas Wetherell, who lived between Martin Weeks
and Zenas Ripley, removed to Ware in 1827, just before this
assessment list was made.

JAMES ALLEN'S MILITARY RECORD.
He belonged to Captain (afterwards General) William Craw
ford's Grenadiers. Appointed Sergeant, April 25, 1811 ; Ensign,

16 BIOGRAPHY OI'
May 11, 1814; Lieutenant, January 27, 1815; commissioned
Captain by Governor Caleb Strong May 17, 1817. This com
pany was ordered to assemble at Knight Whitmore's Tavern in
Oakham on Sunday, September 11, 1814, at 5 o'clock A. M., to
march at once to Boston to repel the attack of the British, then
threatened. In compliance with the order they then and there
assembled, and after prayer (very long and solemn) by Rev.
Daniel Tomlinson, and affectionate and tearful good-byes from
loving parents and near friends, they took up their line of march ;
accomplishing the same in two days, arriving at Boston lame
and stiff from their long and tedious marching, but soon there
after through the thorough training of Captain Crawford they
attracted the special attention of great numbers because of their
proficiency in marching, their military bearing and training.
They were known as the " Tall Company," also as the '¦'¦Country
Haw Bucks." After about two months spent in and near Boston
they returned home, having seen the enemy who did not dare to
attack a city so well prepared to receive them. In the latter
pai't of his life he received for this service two bounty land
warrants, and after his death his widow received a pension.
Although he greatly enjoyed military life and service, yet for
many reasons he thought best to resign his commission as Cap
tain, which he did March 16, 1820. He was strongly urged to
continue his military career, being assured of further promotion,
but he did not think best to do so.
The older inhabitants will remember the Oakham and New
Braintree Grenadiers. They were generally six-footers, and
added to their very uniform height was the tall and imposing
regulation cap or head-gear, heavily trimmed from behind and
over the top with bear skin with its lustrous and flowing hair,
also the tall, pointed and highly ornamented tin frontal, back of
which was inserted a tall, black, red-tipped plume.
AS A FARMER.
In his youth he did not leave the old homestead, but came into
its ownership either before or soon after the death of his father
in 1816, when he assumed the care of his mother, who survived
her husband about thirteen years. This was one of the well
walled and well tilled farms and was kejDt in good condition so
long as he continued its occupancy. He was a good farmer and

DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 17
a dUigent worker upon the land, and became deeply interested
and efficient (especially in his later life) in the cultivation of
fruit-trees and the smaller fruits. As his public duties called
him away more and more as the years went by he employed
more farm laborers, who boarded in his family. No doubt the
pressure of other business was one of the reasons which induced
him to give up the farm in 1835.
AS A SCHOOL TEACHER.
This work he began when he was eighteen years old. His
first school was upon the "East Hill" in 1810, and his last
school was in the same place in 1852. His labors in this line
for forty-two years were confined to his own town, extending to
aU parts of the town, as it is probable that he may have taught
in each school district at some time in his life, or at any rate
that many of the scholars living in the out districts attended his
select schools in the centre. He early became a model teacher,
and fortunate was the school which secured his services, and
happy were its pupils, who as a rule cheerfully co-operated with
him as their teacher. As compensation he received about the
same amount that was usually paid in the respective schools ;
the minimum wages being about one dollar per day in the out
lying districts. Wherever there was a vacancy he was ready to
fill it, even if it involved a foot journey of two miles each day
and the consciousness when he reached his home at night that
he had earned but a single dollar. In the central or larger
schools in which he was usually employed he no doubt received
more adequate compensation, but his work was as thoroughly
and conscientiously done in the one case as in the other.
Though on the most intimate and familiar terms with all his
pupils he always maintained sti-ict discipline and secured good
order and perfect obedience, not by resorting to corporal pun
ishment for misdemeanors, which especially in the later years of
his teaching he seldom found occasion to do, but by the force of
his own character. He was often heard to say that no person
was properly qualified to govern a school until he had learned to
control himself. Being naturally quick-tempered and sensitive
as to the dignity of his position as a teacher, his own experiences
as weU as observation may have confirmed him in such a conclusion.

18 BIOGRAPHY OF
He could usually keep his scholars from mischief or play by
securing their interest in their proper work in which he was ever
ready to assist and encourage them. Thoroughness in the
studies, decorum in behavior, good order in school and conse
quent happiness were the maxims of his school-room. He
opened and closed the school with brief religious exercises.
As the time arrived when Oakham, as well as its neighbors,
felt the need of something more than the ordinary terms of dis
trict schools (which want gave rise to the establishment of high
schools) Deacon Allen frequently taught fall terms of select or
tuition schools in the centre of the town.
In the autumn of 1834 (the only time when he was under his
instruction) the writer attended one of these schools in which
there were about thirty of the more advanced scholars of the
town, no less than five or six of whom went out from thence to
become teachers themselves. Among this number was Le^i.
Adams, who spent most of his time thereafter in teaching, until
his early death in 1860, at the age of forty-three years.
AN INCIDENT.
About the year 1840, in the north-west district, an eccentric
elderly man chanced to be appointed Prudential Committee (one
of whose duties was the hiring of teachers). This man very
seldom if ever attended church, or manifested any reverence for
religion or much respect for religious people. Previously to and
about this time opposition to religious teaching or prayer in
school had found some sympathizers in this district, and, so far
as is remembered, it is believed that the last teacher before this
date whose custom had been to open and close with prayer was
Colonel John Robinson, who taught school there several years
before. This new committee man, regarding his own appoint
ment somewhat in the light of a joke and thinking, no doubt,
that he must do something odd in order to pay off his neighbors,
hastened at once to Deacon Allen and hired him to teach the
next winter term of school. As he met the boys he told them
what he had done and warned them against throwing paper balls
and doing certain other things in prayer time to annoy the
teacher. The boys regarding his caution rather as a suggestion
as to what might be done, prepared themselves for the occasion.

DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 19
The day and hour of the opening came, and after a brief and
pleasant introduction the teacher announced that the school
would be opened with prayer, and to their great surprise these
boys found that he could pray without closing his eyes or fixing
them upon any particular object in the room. Being discomfited
in their plans they thought best gracefully to submit to the
inevitable, and in view of the pleasant and judicious manner in
which the religions exercises were conducted, they soon began
to realize their propriety, and with the other scholars they came
to approve and to enjoy them.
AS ONE OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
In the early days of the writer as a pupil in the north-west
district the School Committee consisted of Rev. Daniel Tomlin
son, General William Crawford and Deacon James Allen. At
the close of each term all three came together. Single visits
were made at other times but oftener by Deacon Allen than by
the others. On examination days the first two took the chairs
assigned to them and remained in a dignified position while the
school exercises were gone through with, but the Deacon moved
noiselessly about all over the room, stopping to speak quietly
with the scholars in their seats, commending them for good
behavior and good work done, putting his hands upon the heads
of the little ones and giving them pleasant words of approbation
and encouragement. When it came to the speech-making Fr.
Tomlinson opened very much in the solemn style of his pulpit
ministrations, addressing the school no doubt in words of
wisdom, but he made use of language which only a few of the
scholars could understand. After him the majestic and com
manding figure of General Crawford, incased in a blue coat with
its bright yellow buttons, arose from his seat and poured forth a
stream of eloquence which astonished his youthful hearers, but
most of his classical language was beyond their comprehension,
and if it did not minister to their present edification and enlight
enment it caused the question to arise in many minds, Shall we
ever know as much as General Crawford does? Then came
Deacon Allen's turn to speak. He began down among the little
ones and found much to commend in their behavior and recita
tions. Nothing which was commendable or praiseworthy escaped

20 BIOGRAPHY OF
his notice, and if anything had appeared which called for criti
cism or rebuke he did not indulge in scolding to teacher or
scholars, but in his inimitable way showed where and how
improvement could be made. It is unnecessary to say that his
was the speech of the occasion every time.
HOW HE CAME TO BE A MERCHANT.
In order to set forth all the accompanying circumstances and
conditions bearing upon this subject some digressions seem to be
necessary. Prior to 1834 Oakham had had its country store in
the centre for an unknown number of years. As far back as
the writer can remember it was kept by George Fay, subsequently
by different parties, prominent among whom were E. W. and
S. H. Skerry, and at this date it was kept by Potter and Rice,
Mr. Potter being the manager. Previously to his day efforts
had been made to establish certain kinds of manufactures. Mr.
Ephraim Fairbank was the village blacksmith and reared a
family of sons and daughters. Some of his sons first began the
manufacture of window springs in the old shop on the corner
south-west of the meeting-house. The work was done by hand
processes aided by dies into which the steel for each separate
spring was hammered. The push or thumb-piece brought into
use in raising or lowering the window sash to the desired notch
was made from sheet copper plated on one side with silver, out
of which convex circles were punched, equivalent in size and
shape to the largest round head upon the brass nail used in
upholstery, and these caps were soldered to the protruding
spindle of the spring. Agents were sent into various parts of
the country to sell and set these then only known window springs.
One among these agents was the late Perley Ayres, who operated
in the middle and western parts of the State of New York.
This manufacture for several years was understood as yielding a
good return to the proprietors.
A little later on, some of these Fairbank brothers established
what was then considered as quite a respectable straw bonnet
factory, located upon or near the site of the dwelling-house of
Deacon James Packard. In this factory several men and a
much larger number of young ladies found employment for some
time. The wagon and carriage business was also carried on to

DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 21
a considerable extent by Hervey and Humphrey, and by E. D.
and E. Cheney. These efforts to establish manufactures upon
the Oakham hill were contemporaneous with the establislimcnt
or early enlargement of the boot and shoe business in the Brook-
fields and other towns in the vicinity. But they did not long
continue. These window-springs were superseded and the straw
business was carried elsewhere, and the operatives who learned
the latter in Oakham were drawn to other places for work ; and
thus, instead of keeping the young people at home as it did for
a time, and as no doubt was by its projectors intended to do, it
became another means of drawing them away. If these branches
while they lasted did not tend much to increase the population,
they acted as a check upon emigration and very much increased
the trade at the store, and about this time it came into the
hands of Potter and Rice. Mr. Potter was young and intensely
active, and desirous of increasing the business at least up to the
demands of the times.
The leading citizens, among whom was the minister and some
of the most prominent members of the church, fully appreciating
the activity and enterprise of their young merchant, but not
altogether approving his methods nor the direction things had
taken in the store and tavern, then connected and carried on
under the same management, and as a desire or at least a
willingness on the part of Mr. Rice to sell out his interest became
known, they conceived the idea of placing Deacon Allen in a
more central position, where his ability as an accountant or
book-keeper would find ample scope, as well as bring him within
easier reach of those who needed his services as magistrate or in
other ways. And another and the more important consideration
with them was that with his well known conservatism and care
fulness, his sterling integrity and Christian character, united with
the business enthusiasm and supposed ability of Mr. Potter, he
might serve as a counterpoise, and a safer and better state of
things morally as well as in the line of business might thereby
be secured.
These were the days of almost unlimited credit in the purchase
and sale of store goods and farm products. The merchant
having established his standing in city and country, could buy
ad libitum, and could if so disposed increase his sales to almost
3

22 BIOGRAPHY OF
an unlimited extent so long as no equivalent was required except
charges upon his books. If those who had little or no pecuniary
resources did not dress well and fare sumptuously every day, it
must have been because of their inherent objection to purchasing
what they knew they could not pay for. Whether Mr. Rice, who
was a farmer, saw the drift towards bankruptcy in the manner
in which the business in Oakham as well as in other towns
(North Brookfield by no means excepted) is not known, but for
reasons satisfactory to himself he proposed to sell out. At the
time the books of the firm showed some forty or fifty thousand
dollars of accounts receivable ( ?) and a lesser but large amount of
indebtedness. Mr. Rice proposed to transfer his entire interest
and responsibility to the new firm of Potter and Allen. The
stock of goods, fixtures and accounts were to be appraised by
two disinterested men. In the appraisal of the accounts due the
old firm large deductions were made. Those which were con
sidered worthless were thrown out, and upon such as were
denominated doubtful various discounts were made, but those
which were called good went into the invoice at their full amount.
From the total the (then known) payables being deducted, the
balance was found against the new firm. Deacon Allen sold his
farm and stock and put in all the proceeds, and took his place
at the desk as the accountant. But he soon found by the
coming in of claims for produce for which no credit had been
given on the books on the one hand, and the impossibility of
making collections to anything like the amount indicated by the
invoice on the other hand, that he had bought a stranded ship
which must soon go to pieces by the action of the waves. The
final crash did not come till just after a new store building had
been completed and occupied in the fall of 1836. Within a few
months after his taking possession Deacon Allen told the writer
that he was financially ruined and could do nothing but await
inevitable failure, as the state of the business was entirely beyond
his control. He of course was sorry to lose the earnings and
savings of his previous lifetime, but what saddened him most
was that he must occupy the position of a bankrupt. While under
this strain of anxiety and suspense he was so far as possible the
same cheerful Christian man in his family, in the church and
Sunday School and in the town as before ; endeavoring all the

DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 23
while to fortify himself and prepare his family for approaching
changes. His Christian duty seemed to him to be submission to
what he regarded as a trying dispensation of Divine Providence.
He was never known to cast any severe reflections upon those
by whom consciously or unconsciously he had been victimized.
He stayed by till the spring of 1837 (about six months after the
failure) and did what he could to settle an unsettleable bankrupt
estate, and than again betook himself to farming on a very
limited scale, beginning with a single acre and adding thereto
from time to time as he was able to purchase by his earnings
as land surveyor and other employments, to which a sympathiz
ing and friendly public called him ; and thus by unceasing
industry, economy and self denial on his part and that of his
family, he afterwards became the owner of a comfortable home,
proving himself to be the same cheerful and godly man in his
worn and faded garments, and his old-time long woollen frock,
that he had been in more affiuent circumstances.
Those farmers who were heavy losers by the failure never
felt like reproaching him, as they did not see that he was at all
to be blamed, but they rather regarded him with pity and sorrow,
as having been the greatest sufferer.
It may appear to the reader very strange that Deacon Allen and
his advisers should have been so deceived that he should become
a party to such a transaction as the purchase of an interest in a
business which was then upon the border of ruin. The worst
abuses of the credit system (concerning which very little could
ever be said favorably) , had for years been gradually creeping
into the business of the community, so that no man at that time
even thought of trying to do any kind of business to any con
siderable extent upon any other basis. The credit folly was
neither local nor exceptional, but universal throughout the entire
country, and business men generally seemed to be totally obliv
ious of a coming crisis, which, if the laws of trade mean any
thing, was sure to follow ; the only question being that of time.
The culmination was the great crash all over the country of
1837. In this particular case no living man, not even the x^ro-
prietors themselves, had any reasonable knowledge or any just
conception of the true condition of their business at the time that
the firm name was changed to Potter and Allen.

24 BIOGRAPHY OF
Deacon Allen's life-long motto for himself, as well as for
others, had been to "follow the leadings of Providence," and
there can be no doubt that when he left the old farm and went
into the store he verily believed that he was so doing, nor that
the step was taken' after prayerful consideration. And who
shall presume to decide that he was mistaken ? That he needed
such an experience for his own good or discipline would be far
from the thought of any one who knew the man. That question
must be classed with things unknowable. One thing at least
seems to be apparent ; if he had never experienced a trial like
this, neither he nor the world could ever have known how well
he could bear such a test of his Christian character. Nobody
can know what his after life would have been had he never been
called to pass through this trial ; how much it ministered to his
Christian humility ; his carefulness ; his clearing himself from
worldly entanglements ; his more vehement desire to give him
self to Christian service, rendering it possible that he thereafter
might have lived less for time and more for eternity, and been a
better man when he came to the close of life than he otherwise
might have been. When we consider how slight a change from
a man's plans or expectations may hinder his embarkation upon
a doomed steamer or carry him into a railroad disaster, or change
the whole current of his after life for better or worse, we see the
utter folly of human speculations upon the orderings of Divine
Providence. This happened to him when he was about five
years past the middle of his earthly life, while he was still
physically and mentally strong. Such reverses of fortune to
human vision appear at any time of life to be deplorable, and
the more so when they occur to one later in life, after his ability
to labor for the restoration of lost fortune has become small and
still growing less ; that the fruits of many years of toil, upon
which one in life's decline must needs begin to rely for suste
nance, should be ruthlessly swept away by fire or flood or' other
cause, and nctxial poverty ensue ; the case seems even more dark
and discouraging. But the very fact itself so enlists the sympa
thy of relati^-es and friends towards one who has led an industri
ous and useful life, that neither he nor his can be left to suffer
actual want in a Christian or in an appreciative community ; and
thus what seems only like loss may even become moral or
spiritual gain to one who is properly exercised thereby.

DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 25
Though at the time of his decease Deacon Allen might have
been poorer in worldly estate, he may for aught we know have been
richer in faith and heir to a richer inheritance in the life to come.
This single event is dwelt upon so much at length because of
its apparent importance and magnitude, because of the sudden
transition of the whole family from a condition of comparative
atfluenoe to one of poverty at a time not much preceding the
failing health, the severe sickness and the resultant death of
Mrs. Allen, and because of the great change it (seemingly)
must have made in his future and that of his family.
AS A CIVIL ENGINEER OR LAND SURVEYOR.
These employments tended to make him a good pedestrian.
Being of fuU manly stature (six feet in height) , active in every
limb and muscle, and having frequent calls to leave his field or
other home work and shoulder his instruments and do jobs of
surveying in the town or in neighboring towns, he seldom
travelled to such engagements by team, which in many cases
would have been a hindrance rather than a help, and thus he
became inured to foot travel. If his job was five or even ten
miles away the same rule was generally observed. Being a
rapid walker, and .knowing full well that the shortest way
between two points was a straight line, he discarded circuitous
and crooked roads and found his way across fields and pastures,
along hillsides or the borders of swamps ; and thus he could
many times save time as well as expense by going on foot. He
was never late in meeting his appointments because he started
off in season, and he started in due time, because by early rising
he had time to prepare. If he went forth for a day's work and
by diligence accomplished his task and reached home before
night, he adapted his dress and did an hour's needed work in
the garden or elsewhere before night-fall, had just time for
supper and a brief visit with his wife and children, and was then
ready to meet an evening appointment from which he promptly
returned. Such was his command and economy of time that he
never did anything in undue haste, nor wasted a moment in
delay after his work was done. He always had just time enough
for every duty and his work was so systematized that each
engagement received due and timely attention. He never post
poned till to-morrow that which could be done to-day.

26 BIOGRAPHY OF
His records and accounts were so kept that had he been
stricken down at any moment his work could readily have been
taken up where he left off. His plans and doings were all
apparent to the persons especially interested in them. About
the time when he was to leave the mercantile wreck in 1837
there came to him from an entire stranger of New York city a
proposition to employ him for several months as surveyor of a
large tract of wild land in the State of Maine, for which service
he was offered such compensation as he might himself see fit to
demand. His reply brought a visit from this stranger which
resulted in an engagement of about three months in the Maine
forest, for which his sound bodily health and ready adaptation
to a life in the woods especially fitted him, and at the same time
afforded him an opportunity to replenish his depleted personal
treasury, as well as a removal for a time from his unpleasant
surroundings at home. He never knew but little of the plans or
successes of this "Speculator in Eastern Lands," whose name
was Niels Brock Gram. The surveyor used to tell of his good
appetite and pleasant experiences as well as his arduous labors
in the Maine woods. When the first Sabbath morning dawned
upon him and his men, they remarked to him that they supposed
they were to work that day, but he said no, as he was not
accustomed to work upon the Sabbath day. He had with Mm
his Bible and other suitable reading, and the day was filled up
by their perusal and appropriate religious conversation with his
helpers, who never afterwards mentioned working upon the
Sabbath. After this, calls in the line of surveying or engineering
became more frequent and remunerative than ever before. In
1857 he was elected as one of the Commissioners for Worcester
County and was the engineer of the Board during liis service of
three years, and was beloved as well as respected by his asso
ciates in that office. IN HIS FAMILY AND HOME.
The earlier home is more especially referred to because better
known to the writter. It was characterized by industry, frugali
ty, harmony and happiness. In the management of the children
there was perfect concord between the parents. The children
were obedient and happy. There was absolute government in

t)teACON James alLeN. 2?
the home circle and never a doubt as to where authority resided.
Corporal punishment for transgression was unnecessary. If the
child did that which was right it was sure to receive the approval
of parents ; if for any reason it had failed in any particular,
gentle words of reproof or a look of disapproval was all that
was needed ; there was no place for pains or penalties in the
family system. His ideas of family government are well
expressed by a celebrated English writer: "In order to estab
lish complete authority and secure obedience, the following rule
must be invariably acted upon, — that no command, either by
word, look or gesture, should be given which is not intended to be
enforced and obeyed. It is the rock on which most parents split
in infantile education, that while they are almost incessantly
giving commands to their children, they are not careful to see
that they are punctually obeyed, and seem to consider occasional
violations of their injunctions as a very trivial fault, or as a
matter of course. There is no practice more common than this,
and none more ruinous to the authority of parents, and to the
best interests of their offspring. When a child is accustomed
by frequent repetitions to counteract the will of his parents, a
habit of insubordination is gradually induced, which sometimes
grows to such a height that neither entreaties nor threats, nor
corporal punishment are sufficient to counteract its tendencies ;
and a sure foundation is laid for many future perplexities and
sorrows. The rule, therefere, should be absolute, — that every
paternal command be reasonable, that a compliance with it pro
duce no unnecessary pain or trouble to the child ; that it be
expressed in words of kindness and affection ; that it ought never
to be delivered in a spirit of passion or resentment. Reproof or
correction given in a rage, and with words of fury, is always
considered as the effect of weakness and a want of self command,
and uniformly frustrates the purpose it was intended to sub
serve." While living on the farm he was frequently away from home
during some part of the day. About the time of his expected
return the little children were watching, and when they descried
his well known figure in the distance they began the race to meet
him. The one who could travel fastest would first gain his
hand, and so on till the smallest who had scarcely toddled across

28 BIOGRAPHY OF
the broad door-yard would be the last to be gathered in. He
had a kindly greeting for each and fingers enough for all to take
hold upon. They were asked if they had been happy to-day and
the like, and would all assist in leading him into the house.
In 1836, when Emily was barely able to creep, the writer
chanced to call upon Deacon Allen in the store, and was invited
to go to the house for supper before his return to his place of
labor in Smithville, Barre. Mrs. Allen put the baby down upon
the floor that she might prepare the meal, but the child not
appreciating the necessity of its temporary separation from its
mother, followed her into the pantry pleading to be restored to
her arms, whereupon she asked the father if he would take charge
of her while she could set the table. He took her up, but that
was not what the child just then wanted ; her spunk arose and
she became too straight and rigid to accommodate herself to the
paternal lap, and attempted to slide down upon the floor. With
his hands placed firmly upon each side her arms were pinioned
and he raised her up and brought her into a sitting posture upon
his right knee, and closing in his left knee, she found herself
bound hand and foot, and heard a gentle but firm voice saying,
''Emma, sit still, sit still." She struggled for a moment, but in
vain, and soon broke down and fell back upon her father's
breast sobbing and grieving as if her little heart was broken.
But it was not the heart but the will which had given way.
She soon became quiet and the tea was served as if nothing had
happened. After a while the father remarked to the visitor
that the first lesson children need to learn is submission, and they
cannot learn it too young ; tliat this child had never resisted his
will before, and that she would never do it again ; that the work
was done and the question of authority in the child's mind was
settled forever. At another time at the table an older daughter
was relating what had just taken place in the singing-school.
She told what a certain other young lady said or did, and what
followed from the teacher, closing with the remark that it was
generally understood by the other scholars that she was virtually
turned out of school. After hearing her through her father said,
"I do not quite like that expression." The daughter blushed,
and modified her opinion somewhat, putting a more charitable
construction upon the pupil's behavior and divesting her story

DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 29
of some of its severity ; " that's better," was all that was needed
to restore harmony of opinions upon that subject. That there
was family government in the household, no one who chanced to
be there could doubt, nor that it was a government of law, and
that that law was the law of love.
AS A TRUSTEE.
Having been a pupil at the Leicester Academy, and well and
favorably known there, he was in August, 1834, chosen one of
its Trustees, which office he held till 1852, and much enjoyed his
annual attendance upon the examinations and the renewal of
acquaintances. It is related of him that while he was in office
the Trustees were called together in relation to an important
case of discipline. In after conversation the Priiicipal asked
him what he would do in certain supposed cases which called for
discipline. His brief but comprehensive reply was, " If I had a
case of discipline on my hands I should never adjourn it."
AS A PUBLIC OFFICIAL.
For any public office he was never a self-appointed candidate.
When chosen to office in town, county or State it was because a
majority of his constituents preferred him to any other candidate.
Records show that he was Moderator of the annual town meeting
at four different times ; Fence Viewer three years ; Highway Sur
veyor four years ; Selectman six years ; Collector and Constable
one year ; Assessor nine years ; Overseer of Poor one year ;
School Committee thirty-two years ; Town Clerk eighteen years.
As recording officer his records bear ample testimony to his effi
ciency, by the elegance of his penmanship and the concise and
careful manner in which his work was done. He was County
Commissioner for three years ; a member of the House of Rep
resentatives in 1833, 1834, 1838 and 1858, four years ; of the
State Senate in 1839, 1841 and 1842, three years.
He was first commissioned a Justice of the Peace January 12,
1820, and held the office till his decease. He gave considerable
attention to the study of law. Though never admitted to the
Bar he was legal authority for his town and acted as its magis
trate for many years.

30 BIOGRAPHY Of
As to his special services as a member of the Legislature we
have but little data, except what the records at the State House
show of his committee service. During his first year in the
House he was not on any committee. In 1834 on Education ;
1838 on Roads and Bridges ; in 1858 on Agriculture (House
Chairman) ; in the Senate in 1839 on Mercantile Affairs and
Insurance ; in 1841 on Parishes and Religious Societies ; in 1842
on Parishes and Religious Societies (Chairman). In those years
under toivn rejDresentation there was a much larger number of
members than now, while the number of committees was less, so
that there was a large proportion of the members who did not
have places on any committees.
In 1841, a young man who was reared in Oakham under the
instruction and influence of Deacon Allen called upon him in the
Senate chamber (in recess time) , and held a pleasant conversa
tion, during which he spoke of his agreeable experiences in that
body. The young man under a feeling of discouragement in
relation to himself said, " I am glad of your own promotion and
pleasant duties and associations, but one whose opportunities for
an education were as limited as mine have been can never expect
to be thus promoted and honored." To which he responded,
" Don't be discouraged ; a man's chances for promotion to public
service or honor depend far less upon his school education, over
which he had no control, than they do upon a good character,
the formation of which is entirely in his own hands." According
to his custom, some illustrative story must be told, and he pro
ceeded to say that a few days ago a fellow-member approached
him in a cautious and confidential manner and said, "Deacon
Allen, will you please tell me the meaning of the Latin Mr.
 made use of in his speech?" I replied that " It would
give me pleasure to be able do so, but, my dear sir, I don't know
a word of Latin myself." So the gentleman found he was not
alone in not having been favored with a collegiate education.
It is not presumed that he gained his good standing in the
legislature by long, or learned, or eloquent speeches, but by
being able as a common-sense man to express himself clearly
and handsomely, so that he was by no means looked down upon
as an inferior, but respected as a peer among his fellows. He
was also, no doubt, faithful and efficient in committee work.

DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 31
As he always enjoyed good society, his winters in the Senate
were a great pleasure to him. One term his seat was next to
that of Josiah Quincy, to whose house he was often invited, as
well as to the mansion of Gov. Edward Everett. He often met
Lowell Mason and Jacob Abbott, and boarded at the same hotel
with Samuel Williston and Henry Wilson.
He made but few speeches in the Legislature, because of the
diffidence he felt about speaking before the noted and scholarly
men by whom he was surrounded ; but at home, in Oakham,
before any audience, he spoke freely and well.
IN THE CHURCH AND SABBATH SCHOOL.
His Christian life began about the time of his first marriage, in
1817. He joined the church the same year. Within a few
years from this time nearly one hundred and fifty persons were
added to the church.
Having decided to live a Christian life, he, without delay,
called his household together (including the hired men) ; told
them of the step he had taken, erected the "family altar," and
entered at once upon the service of his Master with unfiinching
zeal and earnestness.
He was chosen a deacon of the church in Oakham in November,
1817, and held that office at the time of his death, in 1870, about
fifty-three years, and was immediately succeeded by his only
son, Jesse Allen. He always sustained and cheerfully
co-operated with his minister, working with him so far as he
possibly could do, and was never identified with those who for
any unimportant reason sought a change. He was careful and
anxious to prevent any dissensions between the members of the
church, or variance between himself and his brethren.
On Thursday afternoon immediately preceding Communion
Sabbath, it was the custom of the church to assemble and listen
to the "Preparatory Lecture" by the pastor. While teaching
the school, in 1834, before alluded to, one of these occasions
occurred. As the church bell began to toll, he said to the school
that he desired to attend, that he would appoint a certain scholar
to take his place for the time being, and also invite any and all
in the school who were members of the church to accompany
him. Several accepted, and on the way he expressed his

32 BIOGRAPHY OF
pleasure that they had done so, and advised them to make it
their rule to attend these meetings, remarking as we walked from
the school-house to the sanctuary, that he had come to regard the
duty and privilege of such attendance as an obligation second
only to the duty of attending public worship on the Sabbath.
When he became a member of the church, the Sunday School
work was in its infancy. Aided by Mr. Stephen Lincoln, he visited
the people from house to house, inviting the children to come
together upon an appointed Sabbath, when the school was first
organized in Oakham, in 1818, he being chosen Superintendent,
which position he held, with one or two years exception, till 1860
(a period of forty years), when he was succeeded by Deacon
James Packard. Mr. Stephen Lincoln was the first Assistant
Superintendent, and for more than half a century these two
co-laborers were permitted to give their earnest and successful
efforts in this department, in the service of the One they loved
so well. The school at one time numbered more than three
hundred members. Colonel John Robinson, Deacon Andrew
Spooner, Deacon William Spooner, Deacon Solomon Crocker
and several others were very efficient aids in this work. Oakham,
in the days of these men, as well as ever since, has borne the
reputation of having one of the largest Sabbath schools in
proportion to its Sabbath audiences in the vicinity.
Deacon Allen was not a theologian in the generally accepted
sense of the term. Brought up by pious parents, and early
instructed in the Bible and Assembly's Catechism, which was
held in great veneration by the Christian fathers and mothers,
taught not only in their families, but as was required by the law
of the State, in the public schools for many years after he
became a school teacher. He regarded the expressions of
divine truth therein contained as essential elements in a Christian
education of children, and so he and his excellent wives taught
it to their children. But in the discussions and disputations of
these doctrines of the church, which were quite common, he was
never known to take part. If such were thrust upon him, he
had a ready faculty of turning the conversation upon some more
agreeable and practical theme. Here he doubtless agreed with
Dr. Thomas Dick, the English writer from whom we quote, who
uses this language : —

DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 33
" A disposition to introduce quibbling and useless metaphysical
distinctions has been the bane of theology, and one of the causes
of the divisions in the Christian church."
He was not much given to argument upon any subject, but
ever ready to state his own convictions or conclusions upon any
worthy question and there leave the matter for others to think of
or discuss after he had withdrawn. In his counsels to young
men, as to what plans of life they should make, or what pursuits
follow, his advice might be reduced to these two propositions : —
First, be a Christian.
Second, follow the leadings of Providence.
In his view a successful and happy life does not so much
depend upon the wisdom of a human plan of usefulness or
greatness, as upon a conscientious discharge of each and every
apparent duty in its time, and in the sphere in which the doer
finds himself.
He was deeply interested in church music ; was himself a
correct singer, and had a tolerable use of the violoncello, which
he used for bass in family worship, himself singing tenor, the
other parts being well sustained by the other members of the
family. His own voice was very light for one of his size and
robustness. The change of voice from its normal strength came
upon him by a severe sickness in early life, but he could discourse
sweet and agreeable music. The instrument above-mentioned he
used for many years to carry to the church on Sundays, playing
and singing in the church choir. He also appointed and conducted
singing schools for the children of the Sabbath School.
HIS REPUTATION.
It is obviously true that every person should have accorded
to him the reputation to which his character and conduct justly
entitle him, but to such a rule there are many exceptions.
Envy, jealousy or political competition or preference sometimes
lead to the bestowal of undeserved commendation or to unjust
censure upon public men. Party or local prejudices sometimes
make their appearance in giving false coloring to what may be
said for or against the candidate for office. Individual ambitions
or aspirations have their influence in the formation of the public
reputation of worthy citizens. To such and similar influences

34 BIOGRAPHY OF
he never to any great extent seemed to be subjected. No man
who valued his own reputation seemingly dared to reproach him.
To his own prudence and unquestioned integrity and faithful
ness in all the trusts imposed upon him, was in great measure no
doubt due the fact that he as a rule escaped unjust censure
or abuse. It seems little less than remarkable that a man who
occupied so many positions of honor and service should have so
little said against him by unscrupulous or irreligious men who
were common f ault-flnders in regard to professed Christians in
his day.
A minor son was once consulting his father in relation to his
desire to unite himself with the church. His father expressed
his own sorrow and disappointment that his son should choose to
identify himself with that class of people, saying that he had
better hopes concerning his future standing in the community ;
that if he would be in favor and honor in the town he must
associate hunself with a different class, illustrating his view of
the matter by mentioning several honored names in the town
who did not belong to the church. The son replied by asking
his father "What objection have you to my being associated
with such men as Deacon Allen ? " The father replied hastily
and with considerable warmth, " I wasn't talking about Deacon
Allen, I meant such men as Mr.  , and Mr.  , and
others." Very few seemed to have anything to say against
Deacon Allen concerning any of his words or actions ; and thus
he was permitted to enjoy " A good name which is rather to be
chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and
gold." Deacon Allen's Christian life and labors occurred at a period of
time when those who were regarded as very pious people, or the
best type of Christians, were as a rule very solemn and sober
minded, so much so that a lively or even a cheerful demeanor
was regarded as being inconsistent with a religious profession or
a devout Christian life and character. Sober mindedness in its
most literal sense was an evidence of piety. The most serious
and solemn phases of religion, such as accountability to God ; the
uncertainty of life ; the dread event of death ; the coming judg
ment and eternal retribution were dwelt upon in the services of
the sanctuary and in the prayer meetings, and that Christian

DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 35
cheerfulness and happiness which properly belong to the child
of redeeming grace, like that to which he was inclined, were
kept in the background and seemed like innovation upon the
prevailing sentiment. He might properly be said to have lived
and acted in a transition period of the church from the solemn
and sad to the more cheerful view of human life and destiny.
His character had not only its kindly and cheerful aspect but
also its sterner side, without which he could not have been the
commanding or influential personage that he was in the family,
school, church, Sabbath school, the town meeting or elsewhere.
Possessed of great will power, quick decision and abiding firm
ness, the look or facial expression which accompanied the com
mand where he was in authority, or the needed rebuke, could
only be interpreted or understood as meaning prompt obedience
or compliajice. He was feared as well as loved. To a few per
sons, especially to the young who were inclined to misbehave
themselves, his austerity might have seemed to be a predominant
trait, but to those who were his pupils, or were in condition to
know him more fully, his kindliness was so manifest that their
fear of him became only reverence, prompting them to a ready
compliance with his wishes. He might be called a terror to evil
doers, but he was emphatically a praise to those who did well.
It is not known that he ever joined a secret society. He was
one of the first to become a total abstainer from all intoxicating
beverages. In politics he was never a strong partisan. He
acted with the Whig, and afterwards with the Republican parties.
What Chauncey M. Depew said of George Washington,
February 22, 1888, would as well apply to James Allen. " He
was not so abnormally developed in any direction as to be called
a genius, yet he was the strongest because the best balanced,
the fullest rounded, the most even and self -masterful of men ;
the incarnation of common sense and moral purity of action and
repose.'' Another says, ' ' The best Christian is simply the highest
style of man." And still another, " Man's way to be great is
by ruling others. God's way to be great is by serving others."
Upon this latter proposition Deacon Allen seemed to have acted,
and so when his life work was accomplished he was ready to die ;
coming in from his labors as cheerfully as the tired servant
obeys the call of his master to quit the field and come to the rest
of the home at eventide.

36 BIOGRAPHY OF
The last time he was seen alive by the writer was about three
weeks before his death. He was reclining upon his bed dressed
in his usual clothing, indicating that he was still able to walk,
and perhaps step out of the house. He seemed to be fully con
scious that the end was rapidly drawing near. He was as calm
and self -composed as if in perfect health. He spoke of his past
life and labors, dwelling especially upon the religious influence
he had felt bound by his official position in the church to exert,
remarking that he hoped he had in some humble measure suc
ceeded in fulfilling that sacred trust ; that in looking backward
he found very little to regret and very much to be thankful for ;
that his trust in God was unshaken, and that no fear or dread of
bodily dissolution troubled him. Death came June 18, 1870.
His funeral was attended in the meeting-house on Monday, P.
M., June 20, the services being conducted by his brother-in-law,
Rev. Leonard S. Parker.
Joy in heaven, songs of gladness,
Earth's battles fought, faith's victories won ;
On earth sorrow, though not sadness.
The just, the good, the lov'd has gone.

" He may be great who proudly rears
For coming years strong pyramids ;
But greater he who hourly builds
A character by noble deeds.
" He may be wise whose mind is filled
With all the wisdom time has given ;
Who sees and does his duty well
Is wiser in the sight of Heaven.
" It may be great to deck the walls
"With pictures by rare genius wrought ;
Greater it is to line the soul
With tints and gems of noble thought.
' ' He may be great who can indite
Songs that shall every bosom thrill ;
He who knows how to make his life
A Poem grand is greater still."

— Selected.

DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 37
" Were a star quenched on high,
For ages ^vonld its light,
Still travelling downward from the sky,
Shine on our mortal sight.
" So when a great man dies.
For aiics beyond our ken.
The light he leaves liehind him lies
Upon the paths of men."
-Longfellow.

GENEALOGICAL REGISTER.

ALLEN, Rev. SAMUEL (i), and his wife Ann, of
Braintree (since Dorchester), came from England in 1632.
2. Samuel, son of Samuel i, was b. in 1632, moved to East
Bridgewater as early as 1660 ; m. Sarah Partridge, of Duxbury.
He was a deacon and town clerk.
3. Nathaniel, son of Samuel 2, was 6. in 1672 ; m. Bethia
Conant in 1696.

4. James, son of Nathaniel 3, was b. in 1704 ; m. Mary
Packard in 1 78 2.

5. Jesse, son of James 4, b. in 1744 ; m. Abigail, daughter
of Dr. Stoughton Willis in 1768, and soon thereafter came to
Oakham ; he d. April 11, 1816 ; she d. Sept. 20, 1829. Their
children : Olive, b. Oct. 26, 1770 ; d.  , unmarried.
Paknel, b. Dec. 25, 1772 ; m. Timothy Nye, of Oakham.
LuciNDA, b. Dec. 25, 1774 ; d. at the age of 18 years. Hannah,
b. Feb. 7, 1777 ; m. Capt. Little, of New Braintree. Cloe, b.
Aug. 10, 1779 ; m. (1) Jonas Leonard, (2) Rev. Gains Conant.
Abigail, 6. July 12, 1784 ; m. (1) Dr. Seth Fobes, of Oakham,
(2) Rev. Mr. Gusha. Lucy, b. Jan. 6, 1788 ; m. Col. Henry
Penniman, of New Braintree. James, b. July 2, 1792 6.
6. James, son of Jesse 5, m. (1) Feb. 21, 1816, Polly L.,
daughter of Nathaniel Crocker, Esq., of Paxton, she d. July 5,
1841, aged 46; (2) Sept. 10, 1842, Hannah H. Parker, of
Dunbarton, N. H., who d. May 22, 1881, aged nearly 73. He
d. June 18, 1870, aged 78. Children by 1st wife: Louisa, b.
April 24, 1817; m. June 19, 1838, Hiram Knight, of North
Brookfield (formerly of Oakham) ; and d. Nov. 11, 1839. [Her
child, James Allen Knight, h. Sept. 8, 1839, m. Sept. 22, 1862,
Susan M. Swift, of Southbridge, and d. Aug. 10, 1863, on
board of steamer Granite State on Long Island Sound, on his
way home from New Orleans, where he had served as a private

DEACON .TAMES ALLEN. 39
in Company F, 42d Regiment, M. V. M.J STOinaiTON Willis,
b. June 6, 1820; d. March 17, 1831. Jamks, b. Julv 4, 1822;
d. Maivh 22, 1K30. Auic.vii,, b. May 30, 1825; m. March 20,
1846, Samuel B. Fairbank, of Oakham. Scion thereafter they
were sent as missionaiies by the A. B. C. F. M. to Ahmednugger,
India; she d. at Bombay, Aug. 21, 1852. [Tlieir children:
Emily Maria Fairbank, b. No\'. 21, 1846. Mary Crocker, b. and
d. in Nov., lS-19. John Melleu, b. Aug. ,S, 1852 ; d. Nov., 1854.
Their daughter Emily Maria, m. March 21, 1871, Thomas Snell
Smith, in Concord, 111. Their children : Mary Fairbank (Smith),
b. Jan. 19, 1872. Emily Maria, b. July 10, 1«74. Tirzah
Snell, b. March 13, 1879. Abby Allen, b. Aug. 29, 1882.
Allen Fairbank, b. May 30, 1.S84. Thomas Herbert, b. May 15,
1885.] Maky L., 6. Sept. 1, 1827 ; m. June 17, 1849, William
Lincoln, of Oakham; and d. there June 7, 1851. [An infant
child was buried with its mother.] Geokge, b. April 3, 1829 ;
d. Sept. 24, 1829. Lucy, b. Feb. 27, 1S30 ; m. (1) Rev. Joseph
Dexter Poland, of North Brookfield, who d. Aug. 1, 1853 ; (2)
April ], 1857, Nathaniel Spear; and f?. March 10, 1861. He
d. Feb. M, 1867, aged 40. [Their children: William Dexter
(Spear), 6. Feb. 15, 1859. Allen Crocker, 6. Feb. 21, 1861.]
Makia, b. June 21, 1832 ; m. June 23, 1852, William Lincoln,
of Oakham, and d. May 22, 1855. He d. Dec. 1, 1850. [Their
child : Mary E. Lincoln, b. July 18, 1853 ; m. Prof. George I.
Alden, of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute ; d. Nov. 12, 1876.
Their children : Clara Louise (Alden), b. April 26, 1873. Mary
Frances, b. May 1, 1876 ; d. Jan. 6, 1879.] Emily Kimball, b.
Sept. 13, 1835 ; d. Aug. 26, 1845. Children by 2d wife : Louisa
Parkee, b. July 12, 1843 ; m. Dec. 14, 1.S70, Hon. Sanford B.
Kellogg, of St. Louis, Mo. [Their children : Alice Welch
(Kellogg), b. Nov. 14, 1871. George Dwight, b. June 28,
1873.] Hannah Merriam, b. May 9, 1845 ; d. May 16, 1863,
aged 18. She was a young lady greatly beloved by all who
knew her ; a very fine singer; a teacher in the public schools,
and had the charge of the infant department in the Sabbath
School two or three years previous to her death. At her funeral
her pastor. Rev. F. N. Peloubet, spoke of her as the sweet
" singer of Israel." Jesse, b. May 23, 1847 ; m. Dec. 28, 1881,
Lizzie Sumner, of Hebron, Ct [Their children : James
(AUen), b. in Oakham, Nov. 7, 1882; Alice Buel, b. Oct. 13,
1883. Eva Sumner, b. May 17, 1888.] Maetha Bird, 5.
April 7, 1849.
CROCKER, NATHANIEL, sonof Job andMary,&. June
30, 1758 ; m. Mehitable Lewis, who was b. July 1, 1762, and d.
Jan. 31, 1835, aged 73, and was buried near Ware's Corners
(so called) in Oakham. He d. at Buffalo, N. Y., with his son

40 BIOGRAPHY OF
George L., in August, 1855, lacking only two years and ten
months of being a centenarian. Their children : Job, b. Aug.
28, 1784 ; d. July 6, 1814. George, b. July 27, 1786 ; d. July
6, 1793. Nathai^iel, b. March 30, 1788 ; settled in Dixmont,
Me., had a large family, and d. about 1873. Robert, b.
July 18, 1790 ; d. Nov. 2, 1800. Solomon (Dea.), b. June 23,
1792; m. Dec. 4, 1817, Abigail Warren; and d. in Oakham,
April 13, 1835, buried at Ware's Corners. They settled in
Royalston and lived there till failing health compelled a change
of business, and he bought the farm in Oakham, aftei-wards
owned by the late Thatcher A. Morgan, lived upon it a little
over a year, and d. as above, leaving five young children then
living. The entire family were as follows : Abigail Warren, 6.
Jan. 9, 1820 ; m. Charles W. Smith (had five children of whom
four are now living) ; and d. March 14, 1859, aged 39. Reliance,
b. Oct. 20, 1821 ; m. Edward Kendall. Mary Lewis, b. Aug.
15, 1827. William Warren, b. Nov. 7, 1823 ; d. May 17, 1830.
Nathaniel Lewis, 6. Feb. 6, 1826 ; d. AprU 10, 1826. Caroline,
b. Aug. 2, 1830. Solomon, b. March 8, 1835; d. March 1,
1840. " The dear little son (Solomon) who was baptized at the
bed-side of his dying father who consecrated him to God, hoping
he might live to be a missionary, was permitted to live until he
was nearly five years of age when it pleased our Heavenly Father
to take him home. How hard it was to give him up, our only
brother ; he was a beautiful child, so sweet, too good for earth."
The wife and mother who lived with her daughter, Mrs. Kendall,
the last twenty years of her life, died at the age of 83 years and
11 months. Polly L., b. Nov. 18, 1794; m. Feb. 21, 1816,
James Allen, of Oakham 6; and d. July 5, 1841. George
Lewis, probably 6. about 1797 ; had a large family ; lived in
Albany and Buffalo, N. Y. Mehitable, 6. l5ec. 6, 1801 ; d. un
married. Abigail L., b. Oct. 17, 1804; m. (1) Mr. Bursley by
whom she had a son Samuel ; (2) Mr. Adams of Northbridge.
Reliance, b. April 30, 1807 ; m. John S. Mellen ; and d. in
Albany, N. Y.

PARKER, WILLIAM (Capt.), the eldest son of William
and Hannah (Hardy), came from puritan ancestry, residing for
several generations in Essex Co., Mass. He was a native of
Wenham in said county, b. Jan. 9, 1773 ; m. (1) April 7, 1796,
Anna Stickney, of Bradford ; (2) April 4, 1798, Martha Tenney,
who was b. in Bradford, June 11, 1771 ; and d. Dec. 29, 1842.
He d. Aug. 29, 1815. They removed to Dunbarton, N. H.
Children : Ann, b. in Bradford, Jan. 18, 1799 ; m. Nov. 19,
1823, Rev. Isaac Bird, and they went out as missionaries.
Emily, b. in Bradford, Sept. 5, 1800 ; m. Jan. 19, 1825, Rev.

DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 41
James Kimball, who was for many years the minister in Oakham.
He d. March 16, 1861 ; she d. Oct. 18, 1874. ["Their children :
Martha Ann, b. Nov. 10, 1825; d. Nov. 25, 1827. James
Parker (Rev.), b. Dec. 29, 1828; m. (1) July 29, 1858, Mary
B. Dickinson, of Rowley, who d. Jan. 10, 1873 ; (2) April 15.
1874, Jeannie King, of SufBeld, Ct. He d. May 2, 1882,
[Children of Rev. James P. and Mary B. Kimball : Mary Emily,
b. in Granby, March 18, 1860 ; m. Sept., 1886, Rev. Geo. H.
Cummings, once a teacher of North Brookfield High School ;
settled in Thompson, Ct. James Dickinson, b. in Falmouth,
Dec. 27, 1861. William Sanford, b. Sept. 30, 1863 ; m. Aug.,
1887, Abigail, dan. of President Stockbridge of Amherst ; they
reside in Foxboro, Mass. Julia Frances, b. in Foxboro, Nov.
19,1865. DanielParker,&. in Foxboro, Dec. 3, 1867. Richard
Lincoln, b. in Haydenville, Nov. 10, 1870; d. April 10, 1871.
Caroline Louise, b. in Haydenville, Nov. 28, 1872.] Maria
Louise, dau. of Rev. James and EmUy Kimball, b. in Dunbarton,
N. H., Aug. 2, 1830 ; m. Aug. 2, 1855, Sanford B. Kellogg, of
St. Louis, Mo. ; and d. Nov. 11, 1869. Their only child, Clara
Louise Kellogg, was &. in Oakham, June 22, 1856 ; and m. in
1885, Rev. Marcus Taft, a missionary in China. They have a dau.
Emily Louise, b. in 1887. William Bird, 2d son of Rev. James
and Emily Kimball, b. in Oakham, June 2, 1833 ; m. Feb. 17, 1858,
Fanny C. Woods, of Enfield, where they reside (no children).
Daniel Tenney, their 3d son, b. in Oakham, July 24, 1835 ; d.
April 16, 1864. Leonard Dascomb, their 4th son, b. in Oakham,
Aug. 5, 1837 ; d. Aug. 26, 1837. William, b. in Bradford,
Sept. 8, 1802 ; m. April 14, 1834, Dolly Blake, of Exeter, N.
H. ; and d. April 23, 1865, in Winchester, 111. Martha, b.
Jan. 23, 1804; m. April 23, 1827, Rev. Thomas Tenney, of
Chester, N. H. David H. (Dea.), b. in Dunbarton, N. H.,
Jan. 9, 1807; m. (1) Nov. 7, 1833, Louisa Mills, of Dunbarton,
who d. Nov. 27, 1841 ; (2) Dec. 8, 1842, Nancy Bassett, of
Lee, Mass. [His children by 1st wife : Sarah M., b. Sept. 29,
1834. Mary Ann, b. Aug. 25, 1836 ; d. Dec. 10, 1872. Louisa,
b. March 17, 1840. By 2d wife : Abby Jane, b. Sept. 21, 1846.]
Hannah H., b. in Dunbarton, N. H., Aug. 2, 1808; m. Sept.
10, 1842, Dea. James Allen 6, of Oakham ; and d. there May 22,
1881. Marianne, b. in Dunbarton, July 1, 1810 ; m. April 14,
1834, Prof. James Dascomb ; and d. Nov. 12, 1882. Leonard
Stickney, b. Dec. 6, 1812; m. (1) Sept. 20, 1838, Caroline A.
Goodale, of Oakham, who d. Sept. 10, 1842 ; (2) Oct. 28, 1845,
Mrs. Abigail Blake French. [Their children : Leonard Goodale,
b. Aug. 2, 1839; m. May 1, 1863, Flavia Benton (they have
nine children, and reside in Mason City, la. ; he is a deacon and
a farmer). Caroline Augusta, b. Nov. 27, 1840; m. Oct. 7,
1868, George S. Chase, and has had two children ; resides in

42 BIOGRAPHY OF DEACON JAMES ALLEN.
Cambridge. Mary Cornelia, b. June 30, 1842 ; after her
mother's death she was adopted by her Aunt Dascomb, and is
now a missionary in Brazil ; unm. Abbie Blake, b. Oct. 14,
1846 ; m. Nov. 7, 1872, Francis A. Fiske, of Concord, N. H.,
and has two children. Henry French, b. July 31, 1848 ; d.
March 5, 1850. Mary Lilian, b. May 6, 1854 ; and lives with
her parents in Cambridge, Mass.

DEACON ALLEN'S PICTURE.

Of the two likenesses of Mr. Allen now to be found, one is a
double daguerreotype (of him and his second wife), extending
downwards only to the waist ; taken when he was about sixty-
two years old. The likeness is a good one, showing him more as
he used to appear when in earlier life he always had a smooth-
shaven and plump face, his only neck-dress being a faultlessly
white cravat or neck-cloth, without bow or knot or visible fasten
ing. In this picture he retains much of his original comeliness
of face and features, looking upon which carries one who knew
him in his earlier prime back to the personal beauty or comeliness
with which in face and form and manly stature he was by
nature crowned.
The other likeness, which for reasons has been adopted, is a
photograph taken about twelve or thirteen years later, and more
readily recalls him as he appeared in later life. Could a likeness
of him as he appeared in early manhood and as he is remembered
by elderly people have been obtained, it would have been a
valuable addition to this work. It is but just and true to say of
him that he was not only one of the most able, active and influ
ential men ever born in Oakham, but in personnel one of the most
comely of her sons. For personal beauty when a boy, his apt
ness and proficiency in acquiring and performing, he was not
only greatly doted upon by his parents, but praised by all, inso
much that he used to say that it was a wonder to himself that he
had not been spoiled by excessive commendation and adulation.

In March, 1888, a circular letter was issued expressing an
intention of writing a Life History of Deacon James Allen, and
asking recipients to express themselves, in writing, upon such
phases of his life and character as especially impressed the
writers, giving what they knew by personal contact with him, or
any knowledge they might possess which could be interwoven
into the narrative; — "or, better still, to arrange whatever they
had to say, in such form that it could be inserted over their own
names." From several persons replies were received expressive of their
interest in the proposed work, and their appreciation of Deacon
Allen's character and labors, but modestly declining to contribute
articles to be published, lest they might fail to express themselves
adequately. No doubt their own diffidence, rather than lack of
ability, was the chief obstacle in their way, and must account for
the absence of a number of able articles upon the subject. But
thanks to the writers, the following contributions have been
received, and are published herewith as personal tributes to the
memory of the man from whom so much of good influence has
been derived, by these, as well as by other sons and daughters
of Oakham. And not a little is added to the value of these
contributions by their being so generally corroborative of each
other, as well as of the work of the author.

TESTIMONIALS.

Enfield, Mass., March 30, 1888.
Among the earliest recollections of my boyhood days were the
form and features of Deacon James Allen.
Large in stature, very erect, with an independent step — I had
almost said stride, he moved along the street or the aisle in
church, just as though he had an ownership in the land he walked
on, and very important business to transact in the house of
God. He was a grave man, increasingly so, no doubt, as the
added years and trials weighed upon him. He was not given to
much notice of children, as I remember, but I have not forgotten
that he once commended me for industry, and the determination
which I seemed to exhibit in overcoming one of the immense
wood-piles of those early days. Very early I learned that he had
a way of brightening up when a good story was told, and he was
not far behind in the telling.
The misfortunes which overtook him were spoken of in the
parsonage, and whenever an example of courage and fortitude
under trial was needed. Deacon Allen was often referred to.
It has occurred to me in years past, and I desire to put it upon
record, that the example which he set, the life which he lived,
the teachings which he gave, in short, the character which he
was, led many a young man to shoulder a musket, and to do
what he could for the country which needed his assistance.
Deacon Allen was brave and true, he was faithful as a friend ;
and here, as the only living representative of the family which
for so many years occupied the parsonage, while he was in his
prime, let me say that no pastor ever had a friend more firm
and consistent, more helpful in time of trial, more bold to face
opposition. He was the pastor's friend in very truth. Some
times there was a lack of patience, occasionally a hasty word.
He was stern and unyielding when occasion demanded, — not

46 BIOGRAPHY OF
exactly sympathetic in his nature. He occupied many positions
of trust and honor, and had several titles ; more than once
have I heard him say that he regarded the title of Deacon as
most honorable of all, and this is the key to the intimacy with
his pastor, and to the service which he gladly rendered to the
church which honored him. This I regard as his leading trait —
his interest in, and devotion to the church in Oakham.
He was very successful as a teacher. I was one of his pupils for
several terms. He understood how to teach — to educate, and
this he did many a time without regard to text-books. His expe
rience helped. He had been, and was always a surveyor of
land, and he was a careful observer, a surveyor of nature, crit
ical, exact. He did not like lazy boys, and he was not always
careful when laying his hands upon them. I am not sure that a
teacher would be justified in these later times in pulling hair and
pinching ears, as he sometimes did — I did not always escape,
— but in looking back to the "East Centre School-house," and
the days of long ago, I feel strongly drawn towards the teacher
who did so much for me. His stories, told over and over, always
had a point — any one of his scholars will remember about his
losing his pencil-case from his right hand vest-pocket. How he
recalled all the circumstances of an accident, how he remembered
the exact position he took, and how he went and found the case
just where he knew he lost it. He taught his pupils thus to be
" particular to have a care for all their acts," and it would be of
great value in the coming years. Another story must be recalled,
and this illustrated the peculiar traits of the Chinese.
An American sea-captain was in one of the Chinese ports, and
found that he needed some clothes (especially pantaloons, as our
teacher stated) . He took an old pair to the Chinese tailor, and
told him to make the new garments exactly like the old. When
he received them he found the tailor had done exactly as he told
him, and had put in a neat little patch in the new goods, just
where it was in the old. (" Our teacher " always smiled when
this story was told). I think he was particularly attached to
mathematics and excelled in arithmetic and algebra, but we were
well posted in grammar, and could pick out the complicated sen
tences in Young and Pope.
I believe I am correct in saying that if there was any par
tiality shown when he was teacher, it was not in favor of the

DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 47
boys. Quite likely they needed something else more. I can see
hiin now with his swinging step, coming down the long reach of
road toward the school-house, thoughtful, grave, self-contained,
at times severe, but all in all a teacher who was highly prized.
Deacon Allen was a capital moderator in town-meeting. He
was never run over or abashed, but held the reins squarely and
fairly. (The boys who sold molasses candy, and sometimes
gingerbread, to the sovereigns for gain, were occasionally re
minded in a public manner that they must be quiet or leave.)
It was a pleasure to hear Moderator Allen call off the list of
voters — as was his custom, when the polls were open. I ques
tion whether any assembly of citizens, in any town, was ever
managed and handled, and kept in better order than were the
town meetings of Oakham when Deacon James Allen was mod
erator. He was a careful, correct Town Clerk, a safe, judicious
adviser, an official in town and county and State, whose record
is of the best. He had an honorable ambition which was reason
ably gratified. There did not seem to be any elation when he
was promoted. His honors, so far as I can know and judge,
came unsought and were in fact much more satisfactory and
advantageous to the givers than to him. The people recognized
his worth. In earlier years how much he did in a musical way !
The old bass-viol was vigorously used, and the choir relied
largely upon him, and what a help he was in the training of
others, notably his own sweet-voiced family. Much might be
said and written concerning his great love of his garden and its
fruits, — for the orchards which he planted and renovated, and
the knowledge he imparted to others in these directions.
He was authority in all these matters. But the years were
passing, and he came to be an old man, and his varied, weari
some life work was done. He had seen much of trial and affiic-
tion. The much loved wife of his youth, the sons of his young
manhood, the daughters, mature and useful, and one, the child
of his later years, too rare a plant for bleak New England hills,
all these had been taken from him. There remained to him the
wife of his later years, — faithful and devoted, and children,
able like their mother to cheer, comfort and care for him in his
declining days. Like one of his famous apple-trees, though the
years had been many and the seasons severe, though there had

48 BIOGRAPHY OF
been drouth and loss of limb, yet carefully and tenderly nursed,
a new growth had appeared, and precious fruit had clustered and
ripened. His name and his fame are rich legacies to us all.
William B. Kimball.
In a letter from Cambridge, Feb. 23, 1888, Rev. Leonard S.
Parker, says :
" My acquaintance with Deacon Allen began more than
fifty years ago. I went to Oakham to teach a select school
of sixty pupils ; the first of the kind in the town. I well
remember the warmth of his earliest greeting. The friendship
then formed grew stronger with the lapse of years while his life
lasted. His social qualities were very attractive. He was
always self-poised and collected, ever ready to learn, and to
impart to others what he knew. He was a great lover of the
town in which he lived ; as a true citizen he sought to promote
its highest prosperity, willing to perform any labor, to make any
sacrifice for this end. He was specially interested in the subject
of education. He had thought and read much upon the subject.
When I first knew him he was a highly successful teacher. My
eldest son was in his later years for a season under his instruc
tion. His testimony was, that he was the most thorough instruc
tor he ever had. Of one reason of this Deacon Allen once gave
me an amusing account. In his school life he was accounted one
of the most brilliant arithmeticians in town. His father, proud
of his fame, once asked him to cast the interest on a note on
which several payments had been made. ' I worked on it all
day making the interest exceed the principal, and finally gave it
up. Being deeply mortified, I went back to Simple Addition
determined never to pass over any part of the book till I fully
understood it.' What he had done he sought to make all his
pupils do. As a Christian man Deacon Allen was one of the
most consistent I ever knew. He was not carried away by any
high excitement, but he was one you could count upon at all
times. Not long after I entered the ministry I spent two weeks
in Oakham, aiding the pastor in a season of special religious
interest. Many of the young people whom he and I had taught
were among the converts. It is pleasant to recall his looks and
words and prayers at this time. Yet in earlier times of serious

DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 49
religious divisions in town and in seasons of less attention to the
concerns of the soul, he was always serene and cheerful. He
had a strong and abiding trust in the Living God. So under
losses of property, and of kindred by death. He was the true
friend and adviser of his pastor, and of all who needed counsel,
— -a model husband and father. I was with him for a time in his
last sickness. We both knew that the end was neai- at hand.
He spoke gratefully of his past, and humbly yet confidently of the
eternal future. Thus lived and died the friend of my early and
riper life, whom so many with me rise up and call him blessed,
whose impress was and is for good on the town where he lived
and wrought, whose memory is as ointment poured forth among
all who have ever known him."
Rev. S. C. Dean, of South Bend, Nebraska, says in a letter
of March 28, 1888 :—
My distinct recollection of Deacon James Allen, of Oakham,
Mass., runs back for sixty years. He was superintendent of the
Sunday School most of the time from its organization in 1818.
For eighteen years, from 1828 to 1845, I was a constant
attendant of the Oakham Sunday School under his superin
tendence. He taught day schools nearly every year from youth
till old age. In many households parents, children and grand
children went to school to him. I was a member of his school
for three months. He was usually on the school committee and
visited each year all the schools of the town. For two or three
years he taught singing schools for little children.
He had been a member of the Massachusetts Legislature
during the winters of 1831 and 1832 (?) and had become a great
friend of Dr. Lowell Mason and others, who were the great
Christian workers in the Boston Sunday Schools, especially in
the musical department. When he came home in the summer of
1832 (?) he started a singing school for the Oakham children.
I was one of the children at that time and attended his singing
school that year and one or two succeeding years. He gave his
time and labors for our good and the good of the Sunday School.
He was a farmer at that time and lived a mile from town, but
two afternoons in the week he would leave his work, haying,
harvesting, or whatever it might be, to give instruction in music.

50 BIOGRAPHY OF
Sometimes he would come right from the harvest field in his
work clothes, covered with perspiration. However pressing his
work might be he would not disappoint the children. He was on
hand at the appointed time. He loved the children aud all the
children in town knew it, and they loved him. He and a few
other Christian workers have in the past done great things for
Oakham and not for Oakham only, for hundreds of noble
Christian men and women have gone forth from thence and are
now scattered all over this land and some in foreign lands, most
of them among the foremost Christian workers in the communities
where they dwell, many having finished their work here below
have gone to their reward.
It seems wonderful how one man could exert such an influence
for good over so many young people. He always had a kind
word to say to every one. He was always commending them for
the progress they were making in studies or in public exercises.
If any seemed to fail, he would encourage them by telling them
that they had done as well or better than some distinguished per
sons had done in their early efforts. He was constantly inciting
them to high and noble deeds, to high and noble lives. He
did this in a great measure by setting before them what others
had done, how any one could inake himself or herself just about
what he or she wished. " Where there is a will there is a way,"
was his motto. He would contrast the lives of the high and nohle
with the low and debased ; the benevolent with the selfish ; those
who love to do good with those who injure and degrade their
fellow-men. In the Sunday School, at the close of each session, he was ac
customed to make a few remarks, bringing out some point in the
lesson, and making a practical application, calculated to lead the
sinner to consecrate his life to Christ, or the Christian to give
himself more entirely to God's service. He was constantly
bringing out the idea that nothing, however great the poverty, or
however unfavorable the circumstances, could prevent any one
from becoming an eminent servant of God. To illustrate this,
he would relate some anecdote. The following, as I remember
it, in regard to Jonas King, is one that I have heard him tell two
or three times. Rev. Jonas King's grandparents used to live in
Oakham. They were so poor they were not able to build a house,

DEACON JABIES ALLEN. 51
but lived under some shelving rocks, and Mr. King's mother was
born there under those rocks. They can be seen now, by going
out into " Bro. Dean's" wood lot (" Bro. Dean" was my
father). The family moved into the west part of the State, and
continued very poor. In 1S07, when Jonas was fifteen years old,
he had such a desire to obtain an education, that one December
morning he walked seven miles, to Plainfield, where a Mr. May
nard was teaching. He reached the school-house before the
school began. He had no money, nor could his parents help
him, and he was a stranger there. But he had such a strong
desire to study that Mr. Maynard found a place where he could
work for his board, and go to school that winter. In the
spring he found a minister who heard him recite while he boarded
at home. He worked his way through college, aud after some
years became a professor in Amherst college, aud afterwards
became a Foreign Missionary to Greece, and now for many
years, has been one of the most distinguished laborers for the
welfare of his fellow-men that has lived in our day. Perhaps no
one has done more for the cause of education and religion than
he. Now no one of you (Deacon Allen would say), has any
greater obstacles in the way of obtaining an education, and pre
paring yourself for usefulness than he had ; what Jonas King
has done you can do.
Deacon Allen exerted a great influence over the young by see
ing that they had the right kind of books to read. He saw to
it that the Sunday School had a good library, and was yeaily
supplied with new books. One of the Merriams, of the Mer
riam Publishing House, at Springfield, was a great friend of his,
and through him he got books at a low price, and no poor book
was allowed to go into the library. The reading of these books
exerted a great infiuence over me. In those days this library
contained nearly all the books the young people had to read.
He watched for souls and took much interest in the temporal
welfare of every one, but cared much more for theii- salvation
and spiritual welfare.
His whole being was filled with joy when he saw his loved
ones coming to Christ. I well remember his expressions of
joy in the spring of 1842, when God so poured out his spirit that
a hundred or more of Oakham's young people were brought to

52 BIOGRAPHY OF
Christ. How he labored for souls during that revival ! No one
present will ever forget those Sabbath School sessions. For a
time he would invite a few to his home every evening whom he
knew to be anxious for their soul's salvation. I overheard him
say a few weeks after, to a person from another town, that not
one of those thus invited left without expressing hope in Christ.
Hatfield, March 25, 1888.
My earliest memories of Deacon Allen, recall him as teaching
me in grammar and arithmetic. I did not feel afraid of him,
although he must have been a stern and exacting teacher. He
knew when a scholar did his best, and we knew that he delighted
in our progress and success, and was fond of showing us off to
visitors and in examinations. I think that we did succeed re
markably well, and the reasons for our success were largely
found in his way of teaching, and his ability to incite us to eager
study. After he ceased teaching, he enjoyed helping at exami
nations, and nothing pleased him better than to hear rapid and
correct solutions of questions in vulgar fractions out of Colburn's
Mental Arithmetic. His face would beam as he listened.
All who saw him in the church choir, with his bass viol, knew
that he was charmed with sacred music. And the time came
when we found that he was best pleased with the singing of
children. Lowell Mason began to teach children to sing, and
there was great interest aroused on the subject in Boston, and
then in the country at large. Deacon Allen was in Boston. I
think he was there as a member of the State legislature. He
heard a thousand children singing, with Mr. Mason for their
leader, and came back to Oakham full of enthusiasm on the sub
ject. He at once gathered the children and taught them to sing
together, and not only the children, but everybody enjoyed their
singing. Afterwards a new musical instrument was in
vented. It was about as large as a modern soap box. On its
top there were keys, arranged in the order of the keys of a
piano, but they were put close together, and were shaped like
large pegs. Below, there was a double bellows, and the reeds
were between the keyboard and the bellows. The performer put
it on his knees or on a table, and made the bellows act by press
ing first with one wrist and then with the other, while he also

DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 53
fingered the keys. This was the primitive melodeon, the ances
tor of the present American Organ. They were made at Worces
ter. Deacon Allen bought one of the first that were made, and
brought it home in triumph, and he soon had the pleasure of
hearing one of his daughters play it, while he and the rest sang.
After a while he arranged to have it blown by the foot, having
set it in a frame and worked by a strap which was fastened at
one end. The girls found it easier to blow it in this way than
by pressing with their wrists. Every member of the family was a
good singer, and especially Sunday evening they gathered and
sang for an hour or two. When at Oakham in vacations, I
joined them and sang bass while the Deacon sang tenor, and the
rest sang soprano and contralto. It was delightful.
He was very fond of fruit culture. Downing's large work on
raising fruit, with its outline figures and careful descriptions,
was his text-book aud he was ever on the watch for hints and
ways of improving his trees and vines. I went with him to
prune and scrape and graft an old orchard which he had bought.
It was a mile away, so that we had time for talking while going
and coming, as well as while at work on the trees. 1 do not
think that any subject but fruit culture was broached. He told
me of nice grapevines that he had found which bore grapes of
the Catawba shape and flavor, and which he was going to culti
vate in his garden, and also of his idea that he could grow
cranberries successfully in his garden. Afterwards he showed
me both the grapes and the cranberries which he had transplanted,
and of which he was enjoying the fruit. He gave what time he
could to his garden and orchard, and wished to do more, but his
duties as surveyor and as an official servant of the public in
various ways, occupied the most of his time. He thought every
thing of his children, and was very kind to them and regardful
of their wishes. But when he learned that Abbie wished to go
with me to India, he would not give his consent. She was the
oldest left at home, and he said he thought her first duty was to
help her younger sisters who had lost their mother. His love for
Abbie blinded him, for his second wife was a most judicious
and kind step-mother. She sympathized with Abbie's wish to
engage in the foreign missionary work, and did it understanding-
ly, as her older sister was Mrs. Bird of the mission to Syria.
5

54 BIOGRAPHY OF
He continued to refuse his consent for nearly two years. Then
he came round and just as decidedly approved of her going, and
helped it on. He told me how he was led to change his mind.
He said that Rev. Mr. Trask, of Warren, gave them a remarka
ble sermon on Dent. 32-11, " As an eagle stirreth up her nest,"
etc. The principal idea of the sermon was that as the eagle made
her nest uncomfortable for her young ones when they were ready
to fly, but would not, so God stirred up their nest for them when
his people refused to do their duty. " And," said the deacon,
" it came to me very plainly that my nest had been stirred up,
and I made up my mind that I would oppose the will of God no
longer. And now I will help Abbie to go."
As Abbie lived only six years in India, I thought that he
might, after all, think that her going had been a mistake. So when
I met him again, I asked him about it. He said that he thought
she had probably lived longer there than she would had she re
mained in America. But whatever might have been the result,
he had never for a moment regretted her going. S. B. Fairbank.
Daniel H. Parker, of Dunbarton, N. H., says: " I am glad
you have undertaken the writing of a life history of Deacon Allen.
I think of him as a model man who engaged in every good work
and finished well whatever he undertook."
Mr. Henry Clapp, once a boy in Oakham, now in business in
Chicago, says : " One of my most distinct recollections of
Deacon Allen is that he never liked to see any one standing
around whether at school, at church, or elsewhere, and when he
passed such persons he advised them to move on, and find some
thing to do, or at least make their appearance not as idlers but as
those who at least wanted something to do. And he used to
caution people about stopping to talk in the doorways, saying
that doorways were made for ingress and egress and not for
stopping places, and no well-bred person would use them as
such." Mrs. Reliance Kendall, of Cambridgeport, Mass. (a daughter
of Deacon Solomon Crocker), says, in a letter of April 27,
1888 : "A strong and intimate friendship existed between my

DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 55
father and his brother-in-law Deacon James Allen. That was
the principal reason that led him to locate in Oakham ; that he
might be near one whose society he so much valued and who was
more to him really than a brother. I remember him as a great
lover of children, and they fully reciprocated his love. Nothing
pleased us more than to see him approaching the house ; — he was
always greeted with delight. He delighted in music and he
devoted a great deal of his time in teaching the children to
sing ; — he sang a great deal in his home with his children. It
was my privilege to spend a few weeks in his family, and I shall
remember with pleasure to my latest day the many happy sea
sons we had singing together, while uncle played the bass-viol.
I saw Uncle Allen but very little after 1 was thirteen years of
age, but I used to hear my mother speak of him so often, and
with what I knew of him personally I knew that he was an ex
ceptionally good and useful man, prominent in every good work.
I hope I shall have the privilege of owning the book when it is
completed." Oakham, April 6, 1888.
It was not my privilege to be a pupil of Deacon Allen, in the
public school, nor to be with him much in the daily walks of life,
but as far as I have been, he impressed me both by precept and
example as the right type of a man, always safe to follow.
I am aware that others can speak of his business tact and
talent better than I can. But perhaps I may speak of him more
in the line of Church and Sunday School work. I feel very
grateful for the interest he took in the young people, of whom I
was one. Well do I remember the year 1842, when we were
blessed with an outpouring of God's Spirit ; what kind and fath
erly care he exercised in gathering the converts at his house
for a morning prayer meeting. Many a one's thoughts go back
to Deacon Allen's morning prayer meeting and feel that there
they got started in the right way. His Sabbath School work
will be remembered as long as life lasts, and the yielding up of
those positions which he held so long and faithfully, with so
much grace and cheerfulness, had its impression upon those who
followed him. The encouragement which he gave to others who

56 BIOGRAPHY OF
were bearing heavy burdens was characteristic of him and very
helpful to them.
He stood like a good soldier at his post doing what he could ;
and when he was called to go, he expressed to his friends that it
was not in anything he had done that he trusted, but in the mercy
of Christ ; and we could all feel that he had gone up higher.
James Packard.
Boston, June 14, 1888.
Dear Mr. Knight :
When I received your circular, several weeks ago, asking me
to contribute in some way to the work which you had in contem
plation, I did not respond for the reason that I did not feel com
petent to write anything which could add interest to the " Life
History," which I was very glad to know was to be written. On
receiving the second circular, I thought that perhaps I had not
been true to my own convictions of duty in remaining silent. * *
Deacon James Allen was one of " Nature's Noblemen" in the
truest and best sense of the term, and as the years roll on, I
think we realize the fact more and more, for how few men do we
see who possess the rare gifts which shone in his character, or,
possessing them, will devote them unreservedly to the work of
benefiting others and blessing mankind. His entire character
seems to have been made up of noble traits and qualities, either
one of which, when studied and analyzed, seems only to give
brighter lustre to his memory. His name seems to me to be
associated with all that is noble and true, and the infiuence of his
words and example while living will be a power in the town in
which he lived, and in other communities for many years to
come. My remembrance of Deacon Allen is perhaps more vivid
and impressive while he was a teacher, and a little later a super
visor of the schools in Oakham.
His manner of teaching was peculiarly his own ; — with great
tact and keen discernment he would lead his pupils to realize the
importance of making the most of whatever talent or ability they
might possess, at the same time commanding their highest respect
and esteem ; patient and faithful in illustrating and explaining
the particular lesson under consideration, and whenever an
opportunity occurred never failed to bring to bear on the minds

DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 57
of his class, some moral lesson which, whatever else they might
forget, would cling to their memory and leave its influence in
after life. The interest which he seemed to feel in his pupils
was remarkable, more like that of a father for his children ; —
nor did it ceaae when the school-days ended, but followed them
as they left the home of their youth, to assume new cares and
duties, with his benediction and prayers; and if by chance they
should after a time return to their childhood home and revisit the
friends of earlier years, who ever gave them a heartier welcome
to the town, or a more cordial greeting than the dear old teacher?
I think as an instructor of the young Deacon Allen was far in
advance of the times in which he taught, and when I think of the
innovations, the new methods and improvements so called, in
teaching to-day which may be more ornamental but far less
practical and helpful to a young person who has to meet life as
it comes to us all, my thoughts revert with great satisfaction to
the common sense style of Deacon James Allen, the model
teacher. You will please accept what I have imperfectly written, as the
honest expression of my heart, and sincere tribute to the mem
ory of my beloved teacher, benefactor and friend.
Yours very truly.
Clarinda R. Ellis (nee Adams) .
From Deacon Albert Spooner of North Brookfield.
Deacon Allen was my nearest neighbor during my boyhood,
and was ever regarded as a natural guardian of the public morals
and a worthy example of obedience to his convictions. From
my earliest recollections he was associated with my father as
deacon of the church and always the leading spirit. A self-
constituted monitor of decorum at church or other meetings ; one
whose advice and counsel was often sought and cheerfully given
on various subjects.
I remember him as my teacher in the public schools and in the
High School. One interesting recollection is that in my early
school days he had a library of Peter Parley's and other books,
which he loaned to the scholars ; it was regarded as quite a favor
in those days, and cultivated a love for reading and a desire for
knowledge.

58 BIOGRAPHY OF
But perhaps the most endearing memory of his life was in the
winter and spring of 1842, in that extensive revival of religion,
when he gathered those of us who had just been born into the
kingdom, into his parlor and learned us the first words of prayer
that we had ever used in the presence of others ; those sunrise
meetings we enjoyed there for weeks ; — their memory seems like
hallowed ground, and his patriarchal share in them may well in
cite us to say blessed be his memory. And when we shall greet
him in heavenly mansions and review these rich experiences we'll
strike our harps anew in praise of Him who bought us with His
blood and led us in these heavenly ways.

Minneapolis, Minn., June 6, 1888.
Mr. Hiram Knight, Dear Sir :
I received your "Friendly Greeting" in due time. Please
excuse my long delay in answering. You ask me to give you
some of my recollections of Deacon James Allen. Memory
carries me back more than fifty years to the time when I first
knew him. I was a mere boy, not more than twelve years old.
He was then deacon of the church in Oakham, and one of its
most earnest aud efficient members, also superintendent of the
Sunday School. I well remember him as teacher in the public
schools. He was town clerk for many years, and served the
town from time to time as selectman and assessor. He also
represented the town in the legislature, and held the office of
County Commissioner for several years. He was always inter
ested in the welfare of the young, and in everything pertaining
to the best interests of the town he always manifested a lively
interest and took an active part.
I can truly say that in all the relations of life, as husband,
father, teacher, or public officer he was a model Christian man.
And when his life work was done (like a shock of corn fully
ripe and ready for the harvest) he passed on to the higher life,
to his reward in heaven. Yours Truly,
J. W. Bkigham.

DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 59
Oberlin, 0., June 12, 1888.
H. Knight, Esq., Dear Sir:
I fully intended on receiving your circular to write and say
that I should be gl.ad to receive the book and to add some of my
personal reminiscences of one whom we all delight to honor.
My first remembrance of Deacon Allen was of his teaching a
singing school for little children. Some one sang out of time
and tune, which caused a laugh among the others, and brought
tears to the eyes of the child. The mild reproof administered to
those who laughed did not afl'ect me so much as the ready
sympathy shown to the timid, sensitive girl, who but for the
kind encouraging word and look would probably never have
ventured to sing again. Deacon Allen was fond of music, and
for many years led the choir in the old church accompanied by
his bass viol.
I recall many a Sabbath afternoon when he gathered his
family around him and sang the tunes he loved so well : —
" Gently Lord, O gently lead us." " There is a fountain filled
with blood." " False are the men of high degree." " There is
a stream whose gentle fiow." These hymns always bring Deacon
Allen and his bass viol and those quiet Sunday evening hours
fresh to my mind. In the Sunday School, in the day school, in
the garden, or on the street he commanded the love and respect
of all who knew him. He rejoiced in the successes of others and
sympathized with the unfortunate. He would not tolerate sin
or wrong in any one, but was kind and gentle towards the
repentant and ever ready by word and deed to restore such to
favor. His regard for woman was great, — many a young man
has occasion to thank Deacon Allen for reproof or advice in
regard to his treatment of mother, sister or schoolmate. Equally
fortunate were the girls who were members of his school for the
fatherly counsels and warnings given. One remark of his
which has always been fresh in my memory, "A lady may
always know in what estimation she is held by the other sex by
the language he addresses to her."
Deacon Allen was dignified but always courteous, even to the
poor and humble. He commanded respect because he was
worthy of it. Time would fail me to record all the pleasant
memories of the grand, good man. In June, 1851, 1 bade him

60 BIOGRAPHY OF
good-bye for the last time. He did not then seem to me like an
old man. I received several kind, affectionate letters from him ;
from his death-bed he sent me loving messages. I shall always
cherish next to Mr. Kimball and my own kindred the memory
of Deacon James Allen, and never cease to thank God for the
holy and blessed influence of his life on me and the community
around. May his mantle fall on all who bear his name. The
judgment alone will reveal the good he did in life. " Yea his
works do follow him." With kind regards.
Believe me yours truly,
L. W. Mellen (wee Fairbank) .
Deacon James Allen.
Many are the pleasant memories I have of Deacon James
Allen ; not so much of definite facts, to which I can affix an
exact date, as of a' general all pervasive influence for good, a
delightful fragrance which penetrated my life, as it did that of
the town and church, and whose blessed influence will never lose
its power. The whole community in which he dwelt can say of
him what Tennyson wrote of his friend —
' ' Whatever way my days decline
I felt and feel tho' left alone,
His being working in my own
The footsteps of his life in mine."
He was well on in life when I went to Oakham to be pastor of
the Congregational Church. He had already resigned his posi
tion as superintendent of the Sunday School which he had held
for over forty years, because, as he told me, he would not hold it
till he became too old to perceive that he ought to resign ; telling
the story of the judge who resigned his position at sixty, but
was overpersuaded to continue in office since every one wished
him so to do ; he was in the perfection of his powers ; and then
when he was very old and really failing, and friends suggested
that it would be well to surrender his duties to younger hands,
he utterly refused, because "he was never better able to fulfil his
duties than at that hour."
But Deacon Allen never lost his influence. He loved the
church as the apple of his eye, and his judgment was held in the

DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 61
highest esteem. He was a very firm man, but it was the firmness
not so much of a granite rock, as of an oak tree with elastic
branches and touching others with flexible twigs and delicate
leaves. So that he would give up his will rather than injure the
church in any way. He was not one of those " who wish the
Lord's will to be done, but always want to be on the committee
of ways and means." To illustrate his own position he used to
tell me the story of the very obstinate man who refused to yield
to the majority because his conscience would not let him. But
what is your conscience? Why it is something in here that
says, " I won't, I won't." His love for the church always con
quered self, and this victory was very manifest in all that he did.
It seemed almost that as Queen Mary declared that after her
death "Calais" would be found written on her heart, so on his
heart of hearts was written "The cause of God in Oakham, and
the world." He was absolutely to be depended upon to stand
up for the right.
At one period of my ministry in Oakham a young man wished
to join the church and it had been voted by the church to
receive him. But he was not satisfied with his baptism in
infancy, and wished to be baptized on admission to the church.
I told him that I would do it, for it was clear to me that while
re-baptism was unnecessary, and contrary to the meaning of
baptism, yet every person ought to be satisfied in his own mind
that he was baptized once. My duty was to satisfy his con
science rather than my own. But Saturday afternoon Deacon
Allen came to the parsonage and enquired whether the report
was true, and objected to the re-baptism. We agreed to put the
matter off till the next communion. In the meantime each of us
wrote to leading influential ministers stating the case and asking
information. We read the letters to one another ; we had a dis
cussion before the whole church, and the church voted as one of
its principles that it favored such adult baptism. Deacon Allen
also voted for it, but added to the vote the statement that in
such a case the candidate should give unusual proofs of his
religious character. There was not the least friction or hard
feeling, but we both seemed drawn nearer to each other than
before. The Deacon was strongly inclined to the Old School views of

62 BIOGRAPHY OF
Christian doctrine. In the Pan-Presbyterian Assembly in Scot
land some twenty years ago, two of the American delegates were
asked to define the difference between the Old School and the
New. One took an hour or two to define the difference, when the
other said that he thought he could state the difference in much
briefer form ; the Old School men believed
"In Adam's fall
"We sinned all,"
while the New School men believed
' ' In Adam's fall
We all sinned,"
the difference being that they did not like the doctrine so well as
to put it in rhyme and sing it. I think Deacon Allen would put
it in rhyme and sing it. And yet he was a decidedly progressive
man. He did not "sit on the tail of progress and halloo whoa."
He was always looking forward, seeking better and larger
things. His contact with the world outside of his native town,
and with men of influence and power broadened his vision and
enlarged his sympathies. To him the good of yesterday was
"the standing place of to-day," but he never took his foot from
its present position till he saw some firm ground in advance on
which to plant it.
Deacon Allen was one of the kindest hearted men I ever
knew. It was to his house that I and my little family came on
the cold December day that we entered the town to make it our
home. The welcome was warm, the hospitality generous.
" He kept his climate in his heart
And it was Summer there."
He always stood by his pastor. He was treasurer of the
church, and was one of the best and most faithful treasurers. It
is very difficult to express how much we owe of our usefulness
and happiness while we were in Oakham to the loving kindness
of the Deacon and his family. I kept a memoranda of all the
little love-gifts made to us from the parish, and a great number
of them came from him and his. And it will be one of my first
privileges in heaven to seek him out, and express to him with an
angel's tongue, what this mortal tongue is unable to express, our
grateful love for his example, his manhood, his help and his

DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 63
kindness to the young minister who preached to him from the
pulpit, but who all the week sat at his feet to learn from his
noble character. Most truly yours, F. N. Peloubet.
Natick, Mass., July 27, 1888.
From Rev. George H. Gould, D.D., writing from Paxton,
August 6, 1888.
As I turn back to my boyhood days no figure stands out more
prominently and luminously on the horizon of memory than that
of Deacon James Allen. He was part and parcel at that time of
the whole religious, educational and political ongoing of my
native town. He easily distanced all competitors as our fore
most citizen. And yet he put on no airs. He assumed no
superiority. In manner and speech he was simple as a child.
He was as companionable with a boy of fifteen as with a man of
fifty. But no one could casually meet him and not be impressed
instantly with his native dignity and almost courtly refinement of
manner. He was a nobleman in homespun. In Nature's her
aldry he was a prince of the blood. He was as instinctively a
gentleman at the plough or trudging on foot with his surveyor's
implements, as when acting his part as legislator in the Senate
Chamber of the Commonwealth.
He was a natural teacher. He loved the vocation. He left
his personal impress as an educator on more than a whole gen
eration of the population of the town. Equally he loved to
acquire and to impart knowledge. An enthusiast in whatever he
put his hand to, his own subtle and delicate enthusiasm always
set his pupils on fire. He was no less prominent as a religious
teacher, — next to the minister he was the leading man in the
church. If the minister was Moses, he was Aaron, true yoke
fellow. If the minister was David, he was Joab, leader of the
royal host. And to this position, without a thought of jealousy
on the part of others, by his real weight and worth he gravi
tated as naturally as a river runs to the sea. Nor did one ever
think of grudging him any honor he wore, political or church-
wise, so modestly and sympathetically did he wear all his honors
in the service of others.

64 BIOGRAPHY OP
There are two pictures I carry in my boyish mind of Deacon
Allen, after this lapse of half a century, which perhaps stand out
more distinctly than any others. And both are connected with
the old meeting-house and its Sunday services. The first is as
he sat in the high gallery fronting the pulpit, at the head
of the choir, leading the " service of song," with his bass
viol — the soul of that bass viol and his own soul seemed to have
an especial affinity for each other. He fingered it as gently and
pressed it to his side as fondly, while drawing sweet strains from
its inner depths, as if it had been a part of himself. He was a
true devotee of music — not of the boisterous, clashing or riotous
kind, but of the sweet, tender and Beolian type — seeking to ex
press all the deeper and subtler melodies of the soul, in an uplift
of true worship before God. Indeed, I think my first conception
of worshipful music came from Deacon Allen. His soul was
strung to the finest spiritual harmonies. He seemed lifted up to
new heights of religious vision the moment he began to sing.
His exquisite song-gift thus became, whenever in exercise, a kind
of transfiguration of the whole man.
One of his favorite tunes was " Greenville," and in the single
" Fall Term " I was privileged to be his pupil, no reminiscence of
that term, or, indeed, of the fifty years since fled, lives more sa
credly and imperishably in my memory to-day, than the echoes of
that tune, sung by all the scholars at the close of each day's session,
accompanied by the words
"Lord dismiss us with thy blessing,
FiU our hearts with joy and peace."
Fortunate for Deacon Allen's Puritan conscience and peace
of soul, that he lived before wise Civilians at this later era
have discovered, that the Bible and the religion of Christ are too
dangerous and sectarian matters to be allowed any place in the
daily instruction of the young. The second picture of the good
deacon, church-wise, to which I refer, was his position at the
head of the Sunday School, as superintendent, covering a period
I think from flrst to last of some forty years. In some impor
tant respects I have never yet seen Deacon Allen surpassed as a
Sunday-school superintendent. He lived, it is true, before the
day of trained experts in that office. He doubtless would have
been a clumsy manipulator of all the ropes and wires by which

DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 65
certain modern schools are run. In fact, he was not a mechan
ician at all. He was a living presence, a personal power.
Taken by himself, he was preeminently an object lesson of sweet,
noble and self-poised Christian manliness, as he stood up each
Sunday before the whole school. As the sap fills and vivifies
the whole tree to its remotest twig, so his majestic personality
filled and stimulated the farthest class in the room. He was not
a profuse talker — he had nothing of the bustling officiousness of
a mere drill-master. It was his custom at the close of the hour to
throw open the school for questions and free interchange of views
on the hard points of the lesson. In this exercise he had a rare
gift of leadership. His own voice, as I remember it, during
this brief composium was sweet as the notes of a flute, while his
face was full of sunshine. His manner was gracious and patient
with the most obtuse questioner, and while settled in his own
convictions as the granite hills, he was ever tolerant and generous
towards all honest doubt and difficulty. He was not especially
a " children's man," in the modern sense of that phrase. He
was only a moderate story-teller. He never " gushed " or senti
mentalized. He never talked down to his audience, but old and
young alike were charmed and edified by the intrinsic lucidity
and unstilted naturalness of all that he said. * * * «
I have laid emphasis on the genial and winsome side of Dea
con Allen's character, but before I leave the old meeting-house
I must refer to an incident that gave the present writer a sud
den and memorable fiash of insight into another side of the
man's make-up. It was the habit of a group of boys just enter
ing their "teens," of whom myself was one, untethered to any
parental pew or oversight on the ground fioor of the church, to
install ourselves during preaching service in some one of the
spacious and for the most part unoccupied square pews that ran
around the whole outer edge of the lofty gallery above. On a
certain Sunday a party of us roving and uncircumcised urchins
chanced to occupy a pew at the extreme end of the gallery, and
directly over against the pulpit. As the solemn service pro
gressed, some scamp of a boy in our circle, overcome with pro
fane and most mistimed merriment, let slip a snicker, so loud
that it startled the whole congregation, and instantly every eye
turned towards the offending quarter — A moment's pause — Then

66 BIOGRAPHY OF
uprose the tall form of Deacon Allen, seeming to our alarmed
gaze like Mt. Sinai, as he slowly straightened himself up, his
eyes fiashing fire and his brow clothed with tempest — in sight of
the whole transfixed audience, deliberately and majestically he
bent his measured steps along the lengthy passage-way to our
conspicuous and doomed pew. Swinging wide the door, without
a word he took his seat in the midst of the trembling band of
culprits. A silence like the grave reigned in that pew until the
service closed, when a few words were spoken of such incisive
reproof and righteous severity that the ears of one offender at
least, after fifty years, still tingle at their memory.
But only a year or two after this unseemly side-play of youth
ful irreverence in the house of God, comes a period covering
several months — months now sacred and precious in retrospect
almost beyond any bygone experiences of earth. In that ex
perience so hallowed and delightful to recall, Deacon Allen
figured most prominently.
It was the occasion of a great and notable work of grace
stirring the whole town, largely among the young, when more
than fifty on a single Sabbath in the old church stood up in con
fession of a new found Christian hope. Never shall I forget the
"sunrise prayer meeting" inaugurated at that juncture by Dea
con Allen and held daily for weeks at his own house. — where
like a tender shepherd he took the young lambs in his arms,
strengthened their trembling faith, and gradually brought them
out into green pastures of God, and into a wider and richer ex
perience of his saving love and power. * * *
But no sketch of Deacon Allen would be complete that made
no reference to his almost passionate love for horticulture, — like
religion and music it stirred the profoundest sentiments of his
nature. Every tree bearing fruit, it could almost be said, in his
eyes, was a "tree of life" with its home on the banks of some
river that flowed fast by the throne of God. His garden was to
him indeed " paradise regained," where at intervals of more toil
some labor, he spent many of his happiest hours. Along no
channels did the stream of his sparkling and quenchless enthu
siasm run higher than here. He petted and coddled his trees
almost as if of his own flesh and blood. Their growth and
outshoots of promise and good behavior from year to year filled

DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 67
him with exquisite delight. A dull boy was he in the whole
neighborhood, if straying occasionally into tho deacon's garden,
who did not learn from his eloquent lips the pedigree, foreign or
otherwise, of every fruit-bearer on the premises.
In a letter from George C. Ripley, Esq., 164 Hicks Street,
Brooklyn, N. Y., president of the Home Life Insurance Com
pany of New York, dated August 22, 1888, he says : —
It affords me great pleasure at this late day to thank you for
the opportunity of obtaining a partial history of Oakham, "My
own, my native land" (town).
" Lives tliere a man with soul so dead
Who never to himself hath said.
This is," &c.
The name of Deacon James Allen is very dear to me (possibly
from the fact of blood relationship though remote) . My grand
mother on my father's side was a sister of Captain Washington
Allen (who was a cousin of James, I think). It was he who,
with Stephen Lincoln, canvassed the town for children to attend
a Sunday School in about 1819 (1818), and I was the only one
from the little North Village (now Coldbrook), who attended the
organization the first Sabbath in May of that year.
Both Deacon Allen and Mr. Lincoln were my long-lived
friends, and the latter with his family were everything to me in
my orphanage that parents could have been.

3 9002

^^

f^tiiimtn. t • . n^' k