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MS-0038-Allen, General James
General James Allen (1801 - 1863)
This folder contains a four-page typewritten, undated essay on General James Allen's life, written from San Francisco by Edward O. Allen, grandson of the general, and a newspaper article by Edmund Kinyon about General Allen's political life from The Morning Union of Grass Valley and Nevada City, CA, dated January 28, 1940.
° The essay by Edward O. Allen describes in flowery language the location of General James Allen's grave in the Masonic plot of a cemetery overlooking the Yuba River in North San Juan, CA. The general's tombstone reads:
General James Allen
died
at Washoe City, Nevada
October 31, 1863
aged 62 years, 10 months and 12 days
Native of Chambersburg, Pa.
Emulate his virtues!
Erected to his memory
by
O. P. Stidger
Oliver P. Stidger was the brother-in-law of General Allen. (Allen married Stidger's sister, Judith Ann, daughter of General Oliver Perry Stidger, a veteran of the War of 1812.)
James Allen was born in Chambersburg, PA on December 31, 1801. He became a prominent journalist in several Ohio cities, and was particularly effective in securing the nomination and election of William Henry Harrison as President of the United States. Allen's daughter was named Harrisonia by the President himself. His two other children were Mary and Oliver Perry Allen, the latter the father of the writer of this essay, Edward O. Allen.
James Allen became an officer in the Ohio Volunteers in 1846, served in the Mexican War in General Zachary Taylor's campaign, and acquired the title "General". Reputedly, Allen had an air of authority in his bearing as well as a brilliant intellect.
In 1850, Allen first came to California, following his brother-in-law O. P. Stidger, who arrived in 1849. He mined at Winslow Bar on the Yuba River with John B. Trask and General Rowe. By 1852, however, he was editor of the Marysville Herald and three years later had been elected mayor of Marysville as well as State Printer. He edited the Nevada Transcript until October 1861, when it became a daily newspaper.
General Allen joined the rush to Washoe, Nevada and the Comstock lodes. He died there on October 31, 1863 of blood poisoning caused by an infection in a scratch on his thumb.
Edward Allen says that his grandfather was a lifelong Whig. He was elected Mayor of Marysville and State Printer as a Know Nothing. Know Nothings were at that time not a regular political party but rather a secret order attempting to end political corruption and disorder. However, although the Know Nothings represented the majority of the voters, they did not have sufficient power to bring about stable reforms; it took the Vigilance Committee to provide law and order.
Edward Allen waxes lyrical about his grandfather's great virtues of character -- charm, civility, gentlemanliness, courage -- and his strong regard for law and order, all attributes which Edward Allen feels made California great. He says that the general's most powerful weapon in his fight for good was his pen.
* Edmund Kinyon's "Observations and Experiences" column from The Morning Union (of Grass Valley and Nevada City, CA) edition of January 28, 1940, begins with a bit of history of the Know Nothing party. Kinyon says it started in 1853 as a sort of semi-secret cult laced with a certain amount of vigilanteism.
Kinyon refers to the "concluding installment" of General James Allen's biographical sketch by his grandson, Edward O. Allen, which is included in the column, a continuation from the January 21, 1940 edition of the newspaper (not included in the folder). What follows next is the second half of Edward Allen's essay on his grandfather (see description above).
The newspaper column ends with a reprinting of General James Allen's obituary from a San Francisco newspaper on November 1, 1863. In it, Allen is equated with powerful eastern editors like Bryant, Hale, Skinner, and Chandler. He is described as someone who used his "quill" to support himself and was editor variously in Sacramento and Nevada counties. General Allen was editor of the Washoe (Nevada) Times at the time of his death.
The obituary ends with a laudatory description of General Allen's character. He reputedly never had an enemy. He was of genial disposition and childlike trust. As a result, he was often taken advantage of, and was "seldom free from pecuniary embarrassment". He was truthful and steadfast. He wrote with elegance and fervor.
The Kinyon column is accompanied by a photograph identified as "Oliver P. Stidger, Sr., compatriot journalist here of doughty Gen. James Allen".
prepared by PZ on 11/24/92; printed on 5/17/94
Copyright © 1996 California Historical Society. All rights reserved.
This Descriptive Guide prepared by Peggy Zeigler.
Latest update: July 3, 1996.
