William Gustavus Allen (1826 - 1888)

Born 1826 in Virginia, United States

Husband of Mary Elizabeth (King) Allen — married 30 Apr 1853 in New York County, New York, United States

Died 1 May 1888 at about age 62 in London, England, United Kingdom

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Biography

William Allen is Notable.

William Gustavus Allen was an American abolitionist, academic, intellectual, and lecturer. He co-edited The National Watchman, an abolitionist newspaper.^[1]

William was born in 1820. He passed away in 1888.

William Allen born in 1820, the son of a Welsh father and a free Mulatto mother. ^[2]

William Gustavus Allen was an African-American abolitionist, scholar, and author of "The American Prejudice Against Color: An Authentic Narrative, Showing How Easily the Nation Got into an Uproar" (1853) and "A Short Personal Narrative" (1860)

Nineteenth-century lecturer and educator William Gustavus Allen endured physical violence and barely escaped murder when he proposed marriage to the daughter of abolitionist Lydon King in upstate New York. Their relationship later was the inspiration for a story about interracial love by author Louisa May Alcott, herself an abolition sympathizer.

William and Mary lived in both England and Ireland. He wrote an autobiographical account including of his marriage, which sold well. He and his family eventually fell into obscurity.^[3]

Born in Virginia in 1820, the son of a free mulatto mother and a Welsh father, Allen was orphaned as a young boy and adopted by a free African American family. His academic talents were noticed by New York philanthropist Gerrit Smith, who sponsored his education at the Oneida Institute, a progressive interracial school in upstate New York. Allen graduated in 1844 and became editor of the National Watchman, a temperance and abolitionist paper for African Americans, and then clerked for the Boston law firm of Ellis Gray Loring. While in Boston, he lectured on African American history and argued for a complete blending of the races. An appointment in 1850 as Greek Language and belles lettres professor at New York Central College in McGrawville made Allen the second African American on a college faculty. He followed Charles Lewis Reason who joined the Central College faculty in 1849. The appointment also put Allen in the company of the Reverend Samuel J. May (Louisa May Alcott’s uncle) and the Reverend Lyndon King, a white abolitionist whose daughter Mary was a student at the college. Allen and Mary courted privately, and when Allen asked for her hand in marriage, Rev. King initially was supportive while Mary’s stepmother and brothers were not. Public opposition to the relationship grew more vocal, and Rev. King switched his alliances, banishing Allen from the minister’s house. When word got out that Allen and Mary were to visit friends in nearby Phillipsville, an angry mob formed there “with tar, feathers, poles and an empty barrel spiked with shingle nails” intended for Allen. Mary was removed safely, but the crowd went after Allen, hitting him, tearing at his clothing, and yelling obscenities. Allen escaped and the couple married shortly thereafter. They exiled to England where Allen struggled to find work as a lecturer and writer, authoring The American Prejudice Against Color: An Authentic Narrative, Showing How Easily the Nation Got into An Uproar (1853) and A Personal Narrative (1860), both memoirs of the prejudice he encountered in America. Financial hardship forced the couple and their seven children into a boardinghouse, relying on the charity of friends. The Allens died in obscurity with no record of their final days. Louisa May Alcott immortalized their love story in her fictionalized account, “M.L” (1863). Contributor - Carla W. Garner

• Fact: Residence (1871) Islington, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom
• Fact: Residence (1881) Kensington, London,Middlesex, England

William Gustavus Allen 5 May 1888 64 Hazelwood crescent, Kensington, 62 yrs buried Hanwell cemetery.^[4]

Research Notes

Sources

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_G._Allen
2. ↑ https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/allen-william-g-1820/
3. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_G._Allen
4. ↑ Westminster Burials City of Westminster Archives Centre findmypast.ie

• 1871 England Census https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7619/images/LNDRG10_287_290-0264?pId=11460585
• 1881 England Census https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7572/images/LNDRG11_38_42-1056?pId=13226408
• England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915 https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/8914/images/ONS_D18884AZ-0423?pId=409156
• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 07 February 2023, 04:02), entry for William Gustavus Allen (PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:GVD4-WK8 ); contributed by various users.
• Richard J. Blackett, “William G. Allen, The Forgotten Professor,” Civil War History, 26, 39-52 (March 1980)
• Sarah Elbert, The American Prejudice Against Color (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2002)
• Jack A. Garraty, American National Biography, Vol. 1 (New York: Oxford Press, 1999)
• Jack Salzman, Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, Volume 1 (New York: Macmillan Library Reference, 1996)
• Graham Russel Hudges, Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895: From the Colonial p. 50 [https://books.google.com/books?id=cCMbE4KKlX4C&pg=PA49&lpg=PA49&dq=Reverend+Lyndon+King+of+Fulton,+New+York.&source=bl&ots=xXoJyXTfsJ&sig=ACfU3U2vHccLSrmEFpGdQRj9Bd1Yt6yPKw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjb4vfOhr3lAhVEwVkKHQiFAPgQ6AEwAHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=Reverend%20Lyndon%20King%20of%20Fulton%2C%20New%20York.&f=false
• Robert E Drane https://www.antebellummuseum.com/african-americans-5.html