Ann Allen

"[Ann] enter[ed] her new life 'with a ready spirit of enterprise into the laborious duties required of the wife of a settler.'"
 
Ann Isabella Allen was twenty eight when she came to Ann Arbor in October of 1825. She had journeyed from Virginia, leaving behind most of her family. At the age of sixteen, she married Dr. William McCue and the two sons she had by him. He died five years into their marriage. John Allen was a widower when she met him, and had two small children of his own. When John Allen decided to start a new life, he set out leaving Ann with the four children behind in Virginia. Apparently, her McCue relatives were very much against Ann's going to join her new husband in Michigan. Only John's aunt, Jane Trimble, could persuade them to let her go, but on the condition that she leave her two boys behind. She then left with most of John Allen's family, including his two sons from his previous marriage, and a baby girl from her current marriage to John. 
 
Not much information is available concerning Ann's life once she arrived in Ann Arbor. She is described in Godey's Lady's Book as entering into the her new life "with a ready spirit of enterprise into the laborious duties required of the wife of a settler."1 Either the writer did not know Ann Allen very well, or she was not too fond of her. This is the only description given of Ann. Even her religious description is somewhat suspect. One account has her belonging to the Methodist Church while another ascribes her religious preference to the First Presbyterian Church.2 
 
Perhaps Ann did not like being on the frontier too much; after John Allen left Ann Arbor to seek his fortune in California during the gold rush, Ann went back to Virginia. She took her only daughter, Sarah, back with her and remained there until her death in November of 1875. 
1. Ellet, E. F. "The Pioneer Mothers of Michigan." Godey's Magazine and Ladies Book 1852: 266-268. 
2. History of Washtenaw County. Vol 2. Chicago: Chas. C. Chapman and Co. 1881. "Reminiscence of Jonathan G. Morton. 1102. 
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