Person:George Allen (8)

George and his wife sailed to America from Weymouth, England on March 20, 1634/5 carrying some 100 persons under the leadership of the Rev. Joseph Hull, arrived in Boston on May 6, 1635. The family is listed as George Allen (age 54), his wife (30yo), son George (16yo), son William (8yo), son Matthew (6yo) and a 20-year-old servant named Edward Poole. This party was granted leave to settle at Wessaguscus Plantation on 8 July 1635 by the General Court at Boston. Wessaguscus was soon given municipal rights, at which time it was renamed Weymouth.

In 1637 George was a first settler in Sandwich, Ma. George was recommended as Freeman status in Plymouth Colony on 5 March 1638/39, and was granted the status on 3 September 1639. George was sworn in as the Constable of Sandwich on 4 June 1639, and served as Surveyor of Highways in 1640. He also served as a Committeeman for the New Plymouth Court in 1640, 1641, 1642, and 1644. He was listed as "Able to bear arms" in 1643 in Yarmouth. His home was built in 1646 and is reported in good repair and still occupied as of 1994.

In his undated will, proved 7 Jun 1649, "Georg[e] Allen the elder late of Sandwidge" bequeathed to "all my children" 12p; to "my son Matth[e]w" on calf and 5s.; to "my wife" the old cow; "my house & household stuff to my wife during the time that she continueth unmarried but in case she marries again my will is that they shall be disposed of to be divided amongst my five least children"; to "my five least children" a cow apiece; to "my son Will[i]am the meadow I bought of Peeter Gaunt being in the second division"; "for my land & the rest of my meadow I give unto my sons Henry & Samuel"; "my adventure in the park I leave to my wife & the five least children"; wife "Katheren Allen" to be executrix and Ralph Allen and Richard Bourne to be overseers [PCPR 1:1:84; Plymouth Wills 175; MD 9:224-25]

Despite frequent citations to the contrary, this is not the George Allen who married as his second wife, Katherine Slarkes, on 5 November 1624 in All Hallows Church, Honey Lane, London. There is fairly strong evidence that this George was still in London when he was mentioned in his brother Henry’s will in 1640. Also, this George is not the son of John Allen of Saltford in Somersetshire, England. There is strong evidence that indicates that this George was still residing at Saltford in 1638, when he was involved in a court case regarding tenements in the Tything of Saltford. By 1638, this George Allen was already well established at Sandwich on Cape Cod.

Ancestor of Winston Churchill, Presidents Gerald Ford, and Barack Obama. [1]

1.   Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1860-1862)
   1:30.

   GEORGE, Lynn 1636, rem. next yr. to Sandwich, was
   rep. 1641 and 2 at Plymouth. He was bur. 2 May 1648; and his will,
   witness. by Rev. William Leveridge, and others, ment. s. Matthew, Henry,
   Samuel, and William, beside "five least ch." not nam. and made w.
   Catharine Extrix. His ho. built, 1646, it is said, is in good repair, and
   still occup.

2. ↑ Kardell, Caroline Lewis, compiler, and R. A. Lovell. Vital records of Sandwich, Massachusetts to 1885. (Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1996)
   1:4.

   [1648] Gorg Allen senier buried 2cond of may

3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8} George Allen, in Anderson, Robert Charles; George F. Sanborn; and Melinde Lutz Sanborn. The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635. (Boston, Massachusetts: NEHGS, 1999-2011)
   I:27-35.

   Origin: Unknown.
   Migration: 1635.
   First Residence: Weymouth.
   Removes: Sandwich 1638.
   Freeman: Propounded for freeman of Plymouth Colony 5 March 1638/9 [PCR 1:117] and admitted 3 September 1639 [PCR 1:130].
   Birth: By about 1585 based on estimated date of first marriage (and not yet 60 in 1643).
   Death: Buried at Sandwich 2 May 1648 [SandVR 1:4]
   Marriage: By about 1610, unknown. m2 By 1627 Katherine _____. ("unlikely" but not impossible that this was the couple that married in London in 1624 (George Allen of London, clothworker, and Katherine Starkes of Woking))