ALLEE

F. M. Allee, farmer, Montezuma, was born in Reserve township, Parke county, Indiana, June 26, 1844. He is the son of Linus and Sarah A. (Bryant) Allee. His father was a native of Hancock county, Indiana, and died in Parke county in 1858. His mother was a native of Pennsylvania, and died in this county in about 1852. Mr. Allee has been a resident of this county the most of his life. In the late rebellion he went out in 1861 and served until June 26, 1865, in the 9th Ind. Battery, and was in several battles and a great many skirmishes. In 1865 he was married to Nancy C. Wolfe, a native of Parke county. She died in 1868. He was married again in 1877, to Mary E. Huxford, daughter of W. R. Griffith. She was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, in 1849. - Beckwith, H. W.. History of Vigo and Parke Counties, 1880, Page 180

ALLEN

Herman Charles Allen was numbered among the substantial and- valued citizens of Boise and at the time of his death, which occurred on the 4th of May, 1919, was filling the position of state highway engineer. His worth as a man and in public relations caused his death to be the occasion of most deep and widespread regret. Mr. Allen was  born on a farm in Parke county, Indiana, June 2, 1870, and was the third son of Joseph and Mahala B. (Stalker) Allen. The paternal grandfather, Solomon Allen, was one of the pioneer settlers of Indiana, to which state he removed from Virginia, casting in his lot with those who were reclaiming the western frontier for the purposes of civilization. He was a farmer, wheelwright and nurseryman and he continued a resident of Parke county, Indiana, to the time of his death, which occurred in 1893, when he had reached the very venerable age of ninety-five years. His son, Joseph Allen, was born in Parke county, made farming his life work and there passed away, but the mother still survives and is living in Indianapolis, Indiana. Of their seven children, five are yet living.  Herman C. Allen, the only one who came to Idaho, was reared in his native county, where he attended a country school to the age of seventeen years, completing the work at the eighth grade, after which he took up the study of civil engineering in Purdue University at La Fayette, Indiana, in which institution he remained as a student from 1891 until 1894. He finished the work of the junior year and then left school in order to earn money with which to continue his studies but never returned to Purdue. In 1894 he went to Massachusetts, where he was employed as a draughtsman for three years, first in Springfield and later in Boston. When he again became a resident of Indiana he took up civil engineering and for a period of two decades, or from 1898 until his demise, was continuously engaged in professional work of that character, dividing his time between railroad and municipal projects having to do with his profession. He followed civil engineering in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Montana, Wyoming and Washington, all before coming to Idaho in 1916. He was the assistant city engineer of Indianapolis from 1903 until 1907, assistant city engineer of Great Falls, Montana, for two and a half years, consulting engineer at Glasgow, Montana, and also at Sheridan, Wyoming, and for three and a half years he was located at Spokane, Washington, following his profession in both Washington and Idaho, with Spokane as the base of his operations. His excellent work as a civil engineer in this section led to his appointment as state highway engineer of Idaho, to which office he was called November 1, 1917, by the Idaho State Highway Commission. At the time of his appointment he was located at Wallace, Idaho, but subsequently removed to Boise. It is a notable fact that the west is far in advance of the east in taking over the control and management of interests which are matters of public concern. The state feels its responsibility in connection with all that has to do with the welfare, progress and upbuilding of the commonwealth and its public Interests are highly organized. Among the offices created by Idaho that have found few precedents in the east is that of state highway engineer, which position was capably filled by Herman Charles Allen, of Boise.  In 1900, at Rockvllle, Indiana, Mr. Allen was married to Miss Zoe Tenbrook, a schoolmate and acquaintance of his boyhood days. They had two sons, Wallace and Charles Joseph, aged respectively fourteen and eight years. Mr. Allen had few associations outside the strict path of his profession but was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, which indicated his high professional standing and marked ability. He was engaged in the line of his duty when death overtook him at Sprague, Washington, on the 4th of May, 1919. He had resigned his position as state highway engineer several weeks before his demise, hoping to have his resignation take effect on the 1st of May, but as his successor had not arrived to assume the duties of the position, Mr. Allen was holding over in the office.. Those who knew him, and he had a wide acquaintance throughout the state, esteemed him very highly and his genuine worth was attested by all with whom he came in contact. - History of Idaho: the gem of the mountains, Volume 4, Pages 05 & 06 -  edited by James Henry Hawley, 1920

ATKINSON

John Atkinson.  Those who have passed a score of years in the vicinity of Bolton are familiar with the name introducing this article.  Its owner is one of the modest farmers of Independence Township and is situated on Section 30, Township 33, Range 15.  He cast his fortunes with Montgomery County in August 1881, and is an emigrant from Parke County, Indiana, where his birth occurred Nov 26, 1834.  His father, Thomas Atkinson, settled in the wooded country of Parke County in 1831, and was one of those who spent his life battling against nature and with nature in the physical development of his section of the Hoosier State. He was born in Orange County, North Carolina in 1796 and died 1871, just as he was nearing his home while returning from a visit to his native heath (sic - hearth?). He was a son of John Atkinson of North Carolina Quaker stock, whose antecedents separated from the parent church in Pennsylvania and established themselves in the 'Tar Heel State."  Thomas Atkinson married Marjorie Lindley, a daughter of David Lindley, also from North Carolina.  The children of this marriage were: Johnathan; Mary, wife of Levi Dix; Sarah, whose first husband was Thomas Marshall and second, Mr. Bedford; Dixon; David of Parke County, Indiana; Eleanor, who died single; Samuel and John, twins and Emily of Parke County, Indiana. John Atkinson of this sketch, attained his majority on the farm of his parents in which community he acquired a good common school education.  He accepted the calling of his fathers as his own and devoted himself intelligently to the tilling of the soil.  For a life companion he chose, in Feb. 1863, Mary Ellen Atkinson daughter of Hiram and Amy Marshall Atkinson, who has shared with him his successes as well as reverses for 40 years. In company with the Lindleys and Towells they came to Montgomery County in 1881, and have since resided on their farm.  Mr. Atkinson is a minister of the Friends Church and has served his community in that capacity.  He is comfortable in his surroundings enjoys the luxuries of natural gas, as a citizen, is interested in the civil affairs of his municipality.  ( From: History of Montgomery County, Kansas, 1903, Jno S. Gilmore; H. W. Young, Unknown: L. W. Duncan, page 696. )

ALEXANDER

 George W. Alexander is engaged in carrying on his well-improved farm of 157 acres on Sec 16, Sugar Creek Township, Parke County.  He has lived on this place since 1861, or shortly after his marriage.  Our subject was born in Guilford Co NC on August 29, 1832, being the son of Joseph and Catherine Alexander Alexander who were 3rd cousins.  The former was the son of James and Nancy Alexander, Grandfather Alexander was born in Ireland and his wife was a native of Scotland. They both came to the united States with their parents when young, settling in the eastern part of NC where they were married. James Alexander learned the miller's trade before leaving the Emerald Isle, and followed that occupation throughout life.  For many years he owned a mill in NC, but at the time of his death was only superintendent of one. he was a Whig and opposed to slavery, though a resident of the southern state. His father was a soldier in the War of the Revolution.  Our subjects father was one in a family of 8 children, the others being Gideon, Jonathan, Calvin, Abbie, Sally and two who died in infancy.  They are all now deceased.  Joseph Alexander learned the shoemaker's trade in early life, serving an apprenticeship at the same. he married when about 22 and had 8 children, our subject being the eldest, and the other in order of birth being as follows: Mary, James C, Nancy J, Martha, Catherine L, Joseph F and one who died in infancy. After the death of our subject's mother, his father married a Miss Hamilton by whom he had four children. He was, like his father, a Whig, and religiously held membership with the Methodist Episcopal Church.  He died at age 60.  George W. Alexander was only 12 years old when his mother died and soon after he was bound out to Jaben Erwin to learn the carpenter's trade. For him he worked, receiving only his board and clothes for 8 years and then continued in his employ about 3 years afterward. Until 1861 he was engaged in carpentering, since which time he has turned his attention almost entirely to agricultural pursuits, and has even succeeded better in this vocation than in the former one.  His skill, however, with carpenter tools has proved very useful to him time and again in the construction and repair of his buildings.  In 1860 Mr. Alexander and Martha A. Bacus were joined in marriage.  Mrs. Alexander was born on the farm where she still lives in the year 1839.  Her parents James and Margaret Irwin Bacus, were natives of Ohio and VA, respectively, being early settlers of Parke County. This farm was entered of the Government as school land in 1835, and every bit of the place was cleared by Mr. Bacus. The house or cabin which he first erected was very small and of the rudest description, but in time was replaced with a much more pretentious residence. Mr. and Mrs. Alexander are the parents of two children: James B, whose wife was formerly Miss Fanny Delphina Pithoud; and Flora A, wife of Chauncy Lusk. Our subject is extremely proud of his four little grandchildren. he is a member of Lodge No. 27, AF &AM Annapolis. - Portrait & Biographical Record of Montgomery, Parke & Fountain Counties, Indiana.  Chicago: Chapman Brothers, 1893, Page 651