Monday, February 7, 2011

Meant to get to this on Saturday...
Feb. 5th was the 115th anniversary of my Grandmother's birth. Hazel Bynon Allen was born in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio 05 Feb 1896. The family only lived there a few years before moving back to be near her father's family in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Allen family had moved to Tennessee from Hector in Schuyler County, New York about 1882.
Hazel's father Chester Bynon Allen was the son of Jehiel Talmadge Allen and his wife Martha Bynon. I've onlly been able to trace the Allen's back to Elijah Marshall Allen who was born in New Jersey in 1780. His son William Freeman Allen was born in Hope NJ in 1800 and married Sarah Larue in 1822 in Warren County, New Jersey. They moved to New York state by 1830 and to Hector by 1840. Their son Jehial was the 8th of their nine children.
Jehial was listed as a carpenter in the 1863 listing for Hector Township:men and their occupations. He married Martha Bynon 27 Oct 1864 in Schuyler County, New York. Her parents had immigrated to the US from Wales. The family story says that her father William Bynon was to sail ahead of his wife, but Elizabeth Maurice Bynon would not stay behind and stowed-away on the ship. William had to work off the cost of her passage. He became superintendent of a coal mine in Pennsylvania. I haven't been able to determine where.
Martha Bynon Allen was one of our ancestors who lived the longest. She was born in PA 7 Feb 1838 (that would make today the 173rd anniversary of her birth) and she died in Knoxville, 22 Apr 1934. My Dad's baby book lists gifts he received from her.
I imagine that she is one the source of red hair in the family as her son Chester was a red head as was Hazel.
Happy Birthday Hazel and Martha!