Joseph Boyd Allen

As printed in 1906

JOSEPH BOYD ALLEN. M. D.

Dr. Joseph Boyd Allen, who for many years was actively engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery and still at the age of eighty years writes prescriptions and does some office work in the line of his profession, was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, a son of Thomas and Rachael (Green) Allen. His paternal grandfather was a soldier of the Revolutionary war and his wife lived to be one hundred and two years of age. There is no very extended history, however, of the ancestry of Dr. Allen, for both of his parents died when he was less than ten years of age. so he learned little concerning the stock from which he sprang. His father was a major in the war of 18 12 and was with Hull at the time of the surrender of Detroit, after which he was exchanged, together with other American soldiers.

with the Canadian prisoners. He was a farmer by occupation and his political support was given to the Democracy. Li the fami w'ere four children, of whom two are yet living. Jane, the eldest of the family, became the wife of Julius Beech and both are now deceased. They had five children: Thomas; Augustus, who married Leah Isamon; George; Eugene, who wedded Lillian Piper; and Lucy, who became the wife of Colby Smutz and is living in Nebraska. Alfred Augustus Allen, the second member of the father's family, married Sarah Heel and after her death wedded Nancy Maloy, who is also now deceased. Thomas Green, the third member of the family, has passed away.

Dr. Allen, the youngest member of the household, was educated in Cumberland, Ohio, and afterward read medicine in that state until twenty-four years of age, when he began practicing in Indiana. In 1845 he removed to Monmouth, 'warren county, Illinois, where he practiced for ten years and in 1854 came to Hillsboro. where he has since remained, practicing as a physician of the regular or allopathic school. He has also displayed splendid ability as a surgeon and has occupied a position of prominence in the ranks of the medical fraternity in this county because of his superior ability.

Dr. Allen gave his early political support to the 'big party and has been a stanch republican since the organization of that party. He has served as a member of the school board both in Illinois and Iowa, but otherwise had held no office, preferring to concentrate his energies upon his professional duties. He is a

Mason of Belmont Lodge, No. 451, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and for many years was an Odd Fellow. He and his wife are members of the Congregational church, and at one time he served as secretary and treasurer of the church, to which he belonged, but there is no organization of that denomination in Hillsboro.

Dr. Allen has been married twice. He first wedded Miss Dorothy Hammond, a native of Alabama, whose father was a lawyer. She was born December 27, 1827, was married May 27. 1845. " died in 1854. the interment being made at Little York, Illinois. By this marriage there were three children. Richard Eugene, born March 12. 1846, in Little York, Illinois, is now living with his sister in Hillsboro. Mary A., born January 12, 1848, is the wife of Cyrus Newbold, of Hillsboro, and has had five children, all of whom are living. Edwin Allen, the younger son of the first marriage, died when only two years of age, soon after the arrival of Dr. Allen and his family in Hillsboro. The daughter, Mrs. Newbold. has five children: Aills B., who married Emily Whitaker, by whom he has two sons, Joseph and Cyrus, their home being in Farmington; Otis C, who married Mrs. Jessie Newbold and lives in Hlilsboro; Ellis B., who married Jessie Cleve and resides in Milan, Kansas; Belle, the wife of Professor Wright, of Howe's Academy, in Mount Pleasant; and George E. Newbold, who married Miss Mae Groves and lives in Hlilsboro. They have one daughter, Mina A.

On the 1 8th of October. 1855. Dr.

Allen married Sarah J. Kimes, of Van Buren county, Iowa. She.was born in Cuba, Illinois, March 7, 1838, a daughter of Dr. R. P. and Priscilla (Hull) Kimes. Her father was born in Ohio and her mother in New Jersey. He was a practicing physician and died at the comparatively early age of thirty-six years, his remains being interred in St. Louis. He was a republican and served as postmaster and justice of the peace in Illinois. He was making his home in Hillsboro at the time of his death, but had gone to St. Louis on business and there passed away. His widow still survives at the advanced age of eighty-seven 3'ears and is one of the oldest residents of Hillsboro and still quite active for one of her age. She makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Allen. In the family of Dr. and Mrs. Kimes were three children, of whom two are living. After the death of the Doctor his widow married John Billingsly, a farmer. Royal P. Kimes, a younger brother of Mrs. Allen, is living in Moulton, Iowa. Joseph S. Kimes was a soldier of the Civil war and served for three years as a member of Company K, Sixth Iowa Infantry, but is now deceased. By her second marriage Mrs. Billingsly had two children: Mary, the wife of J. Runyan, of Hillsboro; and Samuel Billingsly, of Hillsboro, who married Kate Woods, and has three sons, Vernon, Ralph, and Roy, all in Hillsboro.

Unto Dr. and Mrs. Allen have been born five children. W. S. Allen, born August 26, 1856, in Hillsboro, was married November 13, 1878, to Miss Ella D. McCormick. He is a lawyer of Birmingham, Iowa, and was educated at Denmark and Iowa Colleges, graduating in the university of the later place before he was twenty-one years of age. Unto him and his wife have been born two children: Roy D. and Grace Helene, both of whom are students in the public school. Louis Allen, born May 22, 1858, in Hillsboro, was educated in Keokuk Medical College, from which he was graduated and is now practicing in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. He married Miss Queen V. Goler and they have a daughter, Florence, who is teaching music in Howe's Academy. Emma, born March 11, 1861, in Hillsboro, is the wife of Elmer Alton, of Birmingham, Iowa, and they have one child, Craig, a furniture dealer and undertaker. Anna Belle Allen, born May 22, 1863, is the wife of J. M. Harper, a fur dealer of Fairfield, Iowa, and they have three children: Leslie D., Zola, and Myrtle, who are attending either the high school or Parson's College, in Fairfield, Iowa. Flora Allen, born June 26, 1868, died August 8, 1869.

There is now no citizen living in Hillsboro that was here when Dr. Allen came to the village. He has done an excellent work for his fellow men, not only in the line of his profession but also in his efforts to improve the village and promote its substantial development. The country all around was unbroken and the work of progress had scarcely been begun at the time of his arrival. He is a self-made man in the trust and best sense of the term. His energy and ambition coupled with strong mentality and force of character have enabled him to work his way steadily upward and he has prospered in business, and at the same time has done much charity work. Mrs. Allen came to Hillsboro when a little girl, there being only one frame building in the town — the Pope Hotel. The family lived in a log house until the father could build a fram dwelling in the lot where the Methoodist parsonage now stands. He had to carry pistols in those early days to protect himself from the attacks of the wolves while on his round of visits. Dr. and Mrs. Allen are very widely and favorably known in this part of the county and his life history indeed forms an integral chapter in the annals of Hillsboro.

As printed in Biographical review of Henry County, Iowa, containing biographical and genealogical sketches of many of the prominent citizens of to-day and also of the past .. (1906). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.