The Allens of Albany and Schenectady, herein recorded, have, through intermarriage with the Seymours of New England, a clear title to Royal descent, and to a most distinguished line of ancestors, including Henry III. and Edward III., of England, a son of the latter, Sir Lionel Plantagenet, having married Lady Wanda Plantagenet, a great-granddaughter of King Henry III. Nine generations later Lady Elizabeth Wentworth, a lineal descendant of King Edward III. married Sir John Seymour, of Wolf Hall, Wilts, England, also of Royal descent. Their son, Sir Edward de Seymour, K.G., first Duke of Somerset, was beheaded 1552. His son, Sir Edward de Seymour, died 1598. He married Mary, daughter of Judge John Mabie, and they were the grandparents of Richard Seymour, the emigrant to America, and ancestor of Emelescent Seymour, wife of Rufus Allen. The ancestry of King Henry III. has been traced to King Alfred, "the Great," born at the palace of Wantage, and died 901. This ancestry touches the royalty of all countries, and from King Alfred goes still farther back to Cedric, 519, founder of the Kingdom of Wessex, whose line continued down to Egbert, King of Wessex, 800-836, grandfather of Alfred, "the Great." To go still farther back into antiquity: About the beginning of the Christian era, a warlike prince of Asia left his kingdom near the Black Sea, and with a mighty army invaded the northwestern peninsula of Europe. According to early historians he established rule over a vast extent of country, which was inhabited by his posterity, and nine generations later his descendant Cedric founded the Kingdom of Wessex, 519 B.C. Ten Kings of Wessex reigned to Egbert, who spent many years of his youth at the court of Charlemagne, and reigned 800-836. His grandson, Alfred the Great, was a wise and just ruler, and under him England rapidly advanced from a semi-barbarous to a semi-civilized people, and some advancement was made in the arts and sciences. To King Edward III. the line of descent is through many of the famous early rulers of England — Edward, "the Elder," Ethelred, "the Unready", Edward, "Ironside," Edward, "the Outlaw," with whom in 1057 the Saxon line became extinct. Then the descent shifts to Scotland, and King Malcolm who was murdered by Macbeth, and Henry I., son of William the Conqueror, and Matilda, daughter of Baldwin, Count of Flanders, and his wife Adelaide, daughter of Robert, King of France, who was also a descendant of the mighty Charlemagne, Matilda, daughter of Matilda of Scotland and Henry I., of England, married Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, who died 1151. To Matilda was left all the possessions of her father, Henry I., but the throne was usurped by her cousin Stephen, and upon his death reverted to her son Henry II, who married Eleanor, Countess of Poitou and Aquitane. Their son, King John Lackland, married Isabella of Angoulene in 1200, and their son was King Henry III., who married Eleanor of Provence. With their son the line of Edwards began, which has just terminated with the death of King Edward VII. (1910).
(I) Joseph Allen, of Massachusetts, had three wives, the last being a widow named Sabin.
(II) Rufus, son of Joseph Allen, was born April 13, 1749. He resided in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where he married, October 11, 1774, Emelescent Seymour (see Seymour VII).
(III) Horace, son of Rufus and Emelescent (Seymour) Allen, was born November 14, 1775, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, died in Albany, New York, November 1, 1836. He married Jane Pierson, born 1775, died September 4, 1847 (see Pierson II). Children:
- Elizabeth Gelston, born 1809, died February 19, 1843; married Dr. Leverett Moore; children: David Pierson, Mary Rose, who died 1908.
- Jane Pierson, born 1811; became the third wife of John Milton Newton; children:
- Walter W., married Anna M. Parsons, and had three children, John P., Elsie Allen and Eleanor B.;
- William, died unmarried;
- Henry Allen, married Sophia Beckwith; children: Harriet, Caroline, Mary and Elizabeth;
- Caroline Allen, married William Easton; children: Helen Newton and Mary Boyd.
- Henry Augustus, see forward.
- Caroline, unmarried.
(IV) Henry Augustus, son of Horace and Jane (Pierson) Allen, was born in 1818, died in Albany, New York, February 16, 1854. He married (first) ———— Bleecher; (second) February 21, 1854, Louisa, born February 11, 1827, died March 6, 1892, daughter of Jeremiah Osborne, of Albany, born 1800, died November 14, 1872, and his wife, Jane (Bowie) Osborne, born 1799, died December 20, 1873. Children:
- Annie Bleecker, married Alfred Edgerton.
- Harriet, married A. V. Benson.
- Henry Augustus (2), see forward.
- Amie Pierson, married William P. Rudd.
(V) Henry Augustus (2), son of Henry Augustus (1) and Louisa (Osborne) Allen, was born December 11, 1854, in Albany, New York. He married, June 25, 1878, Carrie Isabella, born January 2, 1857, daughter of Michael Maginnis, of Albany, New York, born 1825, died 1838, married Charlotte Rosilla Hermance, born in 1835, died September 5, 1868. She was a daughter of Cornelius Hermance, born in 1793, died September 5, 1867, and his wife, Ann (Bane) Hermance, born 1796, died January 14, 1867. Children of Henry A. Allen:
- Henry Augustus, see forward.
- Carrie, unmarried.
- Charlotte T., born October 21, 1882.
- Charles.
(VI) Henry Augustus (3), son of Henry Augustus (2) and Carrie Isabella (Maginnis) Allen, was born in Albany, New York, March 31, 1879. He was educated in the common and high schools of that city, and at the Boys Academy. In 1897 he began his business career as messenger in the Albany County Bank, was promoted exchange clerk, and later assistant general bookeeper. In 1902 he resigned to become receiving teller of the Schenectady Trust Company, of Schenectady, New York, continuing until 1907, when he was appointed assistant secretary and treasurer of the same institution. He has been for many years actively interested in the National Guard of New York. He served in Troop B, of Albany, for ten years, holding the rank of sergeant. For three years, 1889-1902, he served in the signal corps, which was in the latter year merged with Troop B. He is a Republican, but takes no active part in political affairs. He is a member of St. Peter's Episcopal Church of Albany, and active in the work of St. Paul's congregation, being particularly interested in St. Paul's Sunday school, of which he was assistant superintendent. His club is the Mohawk Golf, of Schenectady. He married, April 13, 1907, Ethel M., daughter of Isaac and Mary (Hettrick) Blauvelt, of Albany, the former having been for thirteen years in the state treasurer's office.
(The Seymour Line)
(I) Sir Edward de Seymour, Lord Seymour, a lineal descendant in the eleventh generation from King Edward III., of England, married Mary, daughter of Judge John Walsh.
(II) Sir Edward Seymour, son of Lord Seymour and Mary Walsh, was Baronet of Berry, Pomeroy, Devonshire, England. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Arthur Champernoun, of Darlington, Devonshire, England (also of Royal descent).
(III) Richard, son of Sir Edward and Lady Elizabeth (Champernoun) Seymour, was born in Devonshire, England, 1596, died November 25, 1655. He came to America in 1639-40, and was one of the first settlers of Hartford, Connecticut. In 1652 he removed to Farmington, and later to Norwalk, Connecticut, where he was selectman in 1655. He married Mercy, daughter of Thomas Rashleigh, who survived him, and married (second) in 1656, John Steele, being his second wife.
(IV) John, son of Richard and Mercy (Rashleigh) Seymour, was born in Hartford, Connecticut, died in 1715. He settled on the south side of Little river, in Hartford, where he died at an advanced age. He was made freeman in 1667. He married Mary, daughter of John Watson, of Norwalk, supposed to have been born in England. He was a juror in Hartford, Connecticut, 1644, and high surveyor in 1646. He married Margaret Smith, who died in 1683; he died 1650. Among their descendants may be named Ex-Governor Horatio Seymour, of New York.
(V) Zachariah, son of John and Mary (Watson) Seymour, was born January 10, 1685. He married, November 24, 1709, Hannah, daughter of Deacon Joseph and Elizabeth (Butler) Olmstead, and granddaughter of Captain Nicholas Olmstead, of Hartford, Connecticut, who died August 31, 1684; married, 1640, Sarah, daughter of Joseph Loomis, of Windsor, Connecticut, the latter born 1590, died 1658.
(VI) Zachariah (2), son of Zachariah (1) and Hannah (Olmstead) Seymour, married Sarah Steele, born 1716, died April 25, 1739, daughter of Jonathan and Dorothy (Mygatt) Steele, a descendant of George Steele, born in Essex county, England, came to America in 1631-32; was freeman of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1634; was proprietor at Hartford, Connecticut, 1639, and died there in 1663, "a very old man." His son, James Steele, was a very prominent man. His record is: "In 1657-58 he was a trooper in the war against the Pequots. In 1662, was appointed by the general court to lay out lands * * *. In 1672, was appointed with others to run the dividing line between the towns of Lyme and New Bedford, for which service he received six pounds, fifteen shillings. In the same year he was granted one hundred and fifty acres of farm land. In 1675 was appointed commissary in King Philips' war, and was allowed at the rate of fifty pounds a year compensation for line service." He married Anna, died 1676, daughter of John Bishop, of Guilford, Connecticut. Captain James, son of James and Anna (Bishop) Steele, born about 1658, died 1712, married Sarah Barnard, died 1730, daughter of Bartholomew Barnard. He left quite a valuable estate for his day.
Jonathan, son of Captain James and Sarah (Barnard) Steele, born about 1693, died January 6, 1753, married, May 6, 1715, Dorothy, born January 26, 1696, died November 8, 1775, daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Webster) Mygatt, granddaughter of Jacob and Sarah (Whitney) Mygatt, and great-granddaughter of Joseph and Anna Mygatt. Sarah, daughter of Jonathan and Dorothy (Mygatt) Steele, married Zachariah (2) Seymour.
(VII) Emelescent, daughter of Zachariah (2) and Sarah (Steele) Seymour, married, October 11, 1774, Rufus Allen (see Allen II).
Sarah Webster, born June 30, 1655, grandmother of Emelescent (Seymour) Allen, was a daughter of Lieutenant Robert and Susannah (Treat) Webster, and granddaughter of Colonial Governor John Webster and his wife Agnes. Susannah Treat was a daughter of Richard Treat, of Mayfield, Connecticut, died 1669, and his wife Joan.
(The Pierson Line)
David Pierson, father of Jane (Pierson) Allen, was a descendant of Henry Pierson, one of the earliest settlers of Southampton, Long Island, New York, in 1640. He was probably of Lynn, Massachusetts, prior to that date, as Southampton was settled by a colony of forty families from Lynn. He was a brother of Rev. Abraham Pierson, of Southampton, New Haven, Connecticut, and Newark, New Jersey. Henry was clerk of Suffolk county (Long Island), 1669-80, and otherwise prominent. He died in 1680, leaving several children: John, Daniel, Joseph, Henry, Benjamin, Theodore and Sarah.
(II) Colonel Henry, son of David Pierson, was born in Southampton, Long Island, 1652, died at Bridgehampton, Long Island, 1701. He was a member of the New York state assembly from Suffolk county, 1691-95, and from 1698 to 1701. He married Susannah Howell. David Pierson, descendant of Colonel Henry Pierson, was a resident of Sag Harbor, Long Island. He married Elizabeth Gelston, and they were the parents of Jane Pierson, wife of Horace Allen.
(The Gelston Line)
The Gelstons are of Irish descent. Hugh Gelston, born in Belfast, Ireland, 1697, was a merchant of Southampton, Long Island in 1717. In 1752 he was appointed judge of the court of common pleas for Suffolk county and held the office twenty-one years. He was a Presbyterian. His brother Samuel, who came from Ireland with him, was a minister, They were sons of a prosperous mill owner of Belfast. Judge Hugh Gelston married, in 1717, Mary, died July 23, 1737, daughter of John (2) and Susannah (Clark) Maltby, of Southampton, a granddaughter of John (1) Maltby, born about 1670 in Yorkshire, England. He came to America, and was a merchant of New Haven, Connecticut. He married, in 1671, Mary, daughter of Richard, and granddaughter of Alexander Bryan, who came from Ashton, county of Bucks, England. John (1) Maltby was lost at sea in 1676. His widow Mary married (second) Rev. John Taylor; (third) John Howell, of Southampton. He died in 1692, leaving her, at the age of thirty-eight years, three times widowed. John (2) Maltby, born June 1, 1673, married Susannah, daughter of Samuel Clark. Their daughter, Mary Maltby, married Judge Hugh Gelston, and had thirteen children.
(II) Maltby, son of Judge Hugh and Mary (Maltby) Gelston, was born March 20, 1723, died September 22, 1783. He married Mary Jones, died February 28, 1785, daughter of Dr. Thomas Jones, whose second wife, Margaret Livingston, was a sister of Catherine Livingston, second wife of Governor De Witt Clinton, of New York. Maltby Gelston and wife lived at Bridgehampton, Long Island, where he was a deacon of the church and highly esteemed for his piety. They were the parents of eight children.
(III) Elizabeth, eldest daughter and second child of Maltby and Mary (Jones) Gelston, was born November 30, 1746. She married David Pierson.
(IV) Jane, daughter of David and Elizabeth (Gelston) Pierson, married Horace Allen, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts (see Allen III).