Ralph Allen Jr (abt. 1621 - aft. 1659)

Born about 1621 in England

Husband of Esther (Swift) Bull — married about 1645 (to after 1659) in Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Descendants

Died after 1659 after about age 38 in Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts

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Biography

Ralph Allen, Senior, wheelwright – son of the immigrant George Allen – died in the 1690s; Ralph Allen, Junior (subject of this profile), mason, of undetermined kinship, died in or about 1659. Ralph Allen, Senior, the son of the immigrant, was apparently born about 1617; so Ralph Allen, Junior, whatever his relation, must have been younger.^[1]

The parentage, date and exact place of birth of Ralph Allen, Jr., remain unknown. Based on the above statement in Robert Charles Anderson's authoritative work, Ralph Allen, Jr., was born after 1617. His first child was born in 3 January 1646/7, so he was married before April 1646, when he was at least 21, and thus he was born between 1617 and 1625. We estimate 1621 as his date of birth

Ralph Allen, mason, is called Junior (often abbreviated to "Junr") in the Sandwich, Massachusetts town records to distinguish him from the older Ralph Allen of Sandwich, called Senior (or "Senr"), the latter being the acknowledged son of the immigrant George Allen of Sandwich, Mass.

Ralph Allen, Jr. arrived in Sandwich before Ralph Allen Sr. Before the arrival of Ralph Sr., Ralph Jr. was just named Ralph Allen in the records, and only became Ralph Jr. after the arrival of the other Ralph to the town. In 1643, he was listed as able to bear arms in Sandwich (see "Plymouth Colony Records," 8:192).

Ralph Allen Jr. was living at Sandwich, in 1659, then part of the Plymouth Colony, with the latter year generally used as the approximate year of his death. The fragmentary record of his death in his son Jedediah's bible says "My father Ralph Allen deceased ye 26 day..." and he was undoubtedly deceased by Oct. 12, 1662 when his mother-in-law Joan Swift made her will at Sandwich.

Unlike the other Allen families of Sandwich who after 1656 were known Quakers, there is some question whether at his death Ralph Allen, Jr. had also joined the Society of Friends. If so, he was unlikely to have been interred at a Sandwich burying ground related to the Plymouth Colony's dominant Congregational Church.

About 1646, Ralph Allen, Jr. m. Esther Swift, daughter of William Swift and his 2nd wife Joan, baptized on May 28, 1629 at St. Mary Magdalen, Bermondsey, Surrey, England.

Ralph Allen, Jr. and Esther Swift had the following four known children of record at Sandwich, Mass.: 1. Jedediah Allen, b. Jan. 3, 1646/7, d. testate Jan. 21, 1711/12 at Shrewsbury, Monmouth County, NJ; m. by late 1668, Elizabeth Howland, dau. of Henry Howland (brother of John of the 1620 Mayflower) and his wife Mary, b. likely at Duxbury, Mass. She was living at Shrewsbury at her husband's death. Thirteen children of the marriage. 2. Esther Allen, b. Dec. 8, 1648, was dead before Oct. 12, 1662. Even though she was older than her sister Experience, she was not included in her grandmother Joan Swift's will and thus could not have been the Esther Swift who married Henry Bull at Sandwich, Mass in 1665. 3. Experience Allen, Mar. 14, 1651/2, was living on Oct. 12, 1662 when her grandmother Joan Swift made her will. 4. Ephraim Allen, b. Mar. 20, 1656/7, d. in infancy prior to Oct. 12, 1662.

The English ancestry and New England descendants of Ralph Allen Jr. have been treated in several works, but the conclusions drawn have not been consistent or complete. The most recent work is the book "Ancestral Lines, Third Edition" by Carl Boyer, 3rd, published by the author, Santa Clarita, CA, 1998 (not found accessible online as of Jan. 2023; print version known to be available at the State Library in San Francisco).

Sources

1. ↑ Great Migration Begins, Vol 1 A-B, page 33