Can somebody help me link my DNA confirmed Allen ancestors to the main branch?

Question

Hi, I've been on WikiTree for about 2 months now, but I've hit some roadblocks with my farthest ancestors. While tracing back my ancestry for the Allens, I was able to go back as far as Covington Allen.  In the process, I received a thank you for adopting an abandoned profile of William Henry Allen. Going through the profile of the person who thanked me, I found the ancestors of the Allen family that came from Virginia, and thankfully, many of them have DNA connections.  Going through the DNA matches, I only matched with one person, Hoskins-1470, however, with a relationship this distant, finding no shared DNA for many descendants is expected. The GEDmatch shows 1 segment of 9.1cM and 0.253% DNA match., with an estimated 6.2 generations to MRCA.

I've managed to find military records, census information, and I even went through the trouble of researching conflicting claims on the birth location of Covington Allen, but I still can't find exactly how he connects to the Virginia Allen family.

Please help. I'm completely at a dead-end in my research, because I can't find any information on his parents.

Answer 1

Hi Jacob, welcome to WikiTree!  My paternal grandmother was Greta Marie Allen.  I may be able to help you with your brick wall, or at least I can try!  I live in Washington State, but I have traced my line to at least mid west-central US.  It has been a few months since I worked on anything due to family medical issues.  Message me and I will see what I can discover for you.  Stay safe!

Lori Jo Everts-DeWitt

Answer 2

I have found some sources and since you are welcoming collaboration, I will add them to the profile.

Please note that there was more than one Covington Allen and they may have been confused at times.

There was another Covington Allen who married a German descendent, for which I will soon create a wikitree profile for you to consider.

Answer 3

You may want to check out this ancestry.com family tree ...

https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/4693251/person/6050040085/facts

It has an attached source for an Illinois land purchase which I haven't looked at.

It gives the following lineage for him to which I have added some pertinent wikitree profile numbers ...

:.1 Archibald Allen-10811, II m: Elizabeth ???
:..2 Archibald Allen-1984, III (1722–1817) m: Abigail Rhodes-428 (1725-1755)
:...3 William Allen (1762–1849) m: Catherine "Kitty" Atwood (1766–1849)
:....4 Covington Allen-48472 (1802–1864) with the 2 wives

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Wikitree has #3 son William with different dates and different wife. And it also has 2 brothers for him named John ... so some research is needed there to confirm info.

Comments

lol I was hesitating to get the ancestry membership because it costs so much, but I decided to go with a free trial for now, since you gave me a solid lead.

With your jumping off point, I was able to actually track down the exact plot of land that was granted, and the record of it.

... not what I was going for exactly, but it's a nice milestone.

I'm still going to continue trying to bridge the connection between Allen and the other Allens.

Hopefully at some point I can afford to get a Y-DNA test for my living grandfather Allen while he's still around.  I've been motivated to do his side of the genealogy because he really enjoys the time we spend together talking about it.

I've told him about Covington Allen before, and I'm hoping to give him another good story about things the next time I see him.

If you come across any other leads, please let me know, or throw them into a Research notes.

Otherwise, I'll try to work with what you've gotten so far.

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If your grandfather is willing to do DNA tests, might I suggest the Family Finder at FTDNA? It is cheaper than the Y-DNA tests.

Benefits

• They keep the DNA sample for 25 years so you can get more tests done later without another sample. (Suggest you read the rules carefully as it isn't your sample.)
• You will have four times as much DNA compared to you to make potential matches on that side of the family.

I wouldn't expect miracles from Y-DNA testing. Far fewer people have done it. You will also get matches from people who don't share your surname, because when people picked their surnames they didn't consult all their relatives and pick the same one. (Also NPEs of course.)

Regards,

     Tim

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Allen project at family tree “R subgroup L” Kit 498860 lists Ancestor Archibald Allen/Abigail Rhodes, also kit 504222 lists Archibald Allen 1700s VA, kit 762300 lists William E Allen born 1862 d 1922, no location specified. Several other testers list NC connections. If this is not your kit it may be worthwhile to trace a male Allen and test him.

The profile you adopted "William Shadrack Allen-11809" b 1783 Henry VA is connected as son of Samuel Allen-9356 born Bedford VA , Samuel son of R W John Allen-30685

In Bedford VA marriages there is a William Allen-6162 who has most children connecting to my Bedford VA families, specifically South Bedford. Other Allens in Bedford VA who may connect to this Allen family include John, Owen and a little later Thomas & Robert.

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Thanks for the recommendation, I'll definitely look into that. Knowing that I can order more tests on the same DNA sample is also a big plus.  That way I can get the "good enough" test that I can afford now, and then maybe get more later.

Does the Family Finder at FTDNA test have chromosome tracking solely related to ancestry? Or would I be able to download the raw data and use third party websites to gather health and traits information? 

I mean, for my grandpa, I guess that would be really more a novelty, as any traits that would be passed down have been, and any genetic complications that are to be discovered would have probably shown up by now.   But it's still neat, and one could argue this whole endeavor is a novelty anyway.

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FTDNA has a special on Family Finder kits through Feb 14th $59. You could test your grandfather to have his DNA available for future testing. Once the Family Finder test is processed you will have access to you/Grandfather's matches. It's helpful to list his known ancestors' surnames. You will be able to search a specific surname to see who else shares that surname. You can upload to Gedmatch and compare with most other testing companies. FT does not do health information.

Answer 4

I added your Covington's first wife who was the German descendant I had read about.

The other Covington Allen is at ...

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Allen-49100

FYI there was also a younger Covington Allen in Kentucky ...

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/152797117/covington-young-allen

Comments

Hmm, I'm not convinced yet that https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Allen-49100 is not 
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Allen-48472

Census records and a first marriage put Covington Allen in Montgomery, IL before he eventually moved to Clinton County, IL.  I believe he moved to Clinton County, IL because he fought in the Black Hawk War (he volunteered after his wife died) and was granted 80 acres of land there. Although his land record date shows 1852, which is well after he moved to the area, so maybe he moved based on a rumor that he would be granted land there? or there was some other deal in place?

Anyway, regardless, if there were two Covington Allens in Illinois, and even 2 of around the same age, then you would expect to see concurrent census records, but I have yet to find that.


I think it's best to keep them as seperate profiles until we can become a bit more confident, but we should continue trying to definitively answer whether they are the same or not.