Email From Gary Aden to Gary Aden
Email Dated 5/24/2001   

                       ALLEN BRANCH

   INTRODUCTION: Before undertaking any additional reading or research
about this family, let me forewarn you of a couple of confusing
encounters that await you in the literature. Unforunately, the
progenitor of the line in America, William Allen, never identified
himself further in his signatures or official records with a middle name
if he had one.  As a result, the name which was quite common, especially
in Georgia as it turns out-all with no middle name- becomes a
genealogical curse. In the D.A.R. Patriot Index, Volume II, page 4, six
William Allens are listed, two from Georgia and one each from
Massachusetts, North and South Carolina, and Virginia. In The
Revolutionary Records of the State of Georgia, Volume IV, 1918, two
William Allens are listed as Pensioners from Franklin County, Georgia
while another is listed as having resided in Lumpkin County, Georgia
while drawing a pension. The Georgia  listings in the D.A.R. Patriot
Index read as follows:

      William: b. c 1755 d 11/17/1801 m Elizabeth Barclay Sol GA
      William: b c 1756 d bet 9-20-1825 & 5-1-1826 m (1) X (2) Nancy
Walthall (3) Sarah - - Sol GA

   A William Allen obituary dated 8/19/1796 in our William Allen's Burke
County residence is for "the much-celebrated race-rider."

   I "advertised" for information on our William Allen and received a
call from deep in the south-central part of Georgia wondering if our
WIlliam Allen was their William Allen. It seems that they were going to
hold a reunion vote out of frustration in finding their roots to
determine their American progenitor and it was between their William
Allen nominee and a James Allen. As we talked, it became clear that ours
was not their William Allen. I never heard who won. 

   The most surprising early research experience I had involved finding
William Allen and Beverly Allen being chased by a posse. Of course, not
knowing the names of William Allen's brothers, but recognizing the
uncommon name of Beverly which threads through our family tree, I feared
that I had stumbled upon a treasure trove of genealogical data I would
just as soon not have, for up to that point I was willing to accept the
L.P. Allen version of the origin of Beverly in the family tree(Texas
Pioneers, Brownwood Banner, Brownwood, Texas, 1955) to wit:"Father was
first named Eliazer, but after Grandfather died, and Father was large
enough to ride horseback and go to the mill(which was the primitive
style) he fell in with an old man in one of his milling tours, and the
old man asked him his name. Father told him 'Eliazer.' The old man
showed him a spring-back knife and offered to give it to him if he would
change his name to Beverly. This proposition was quickly accepted and
the boy got a better name and a knife, something which every boy needs
very much. This is the way the name Beverly  got into the family. Years
after Father had changed his name, he got hold of a book, the title of
which was 'Sketches fo Early Methodism in Northeast Georgia.' and it was
an account of an Irish preacher, who had preached all over that country
in an early day by the name of Beverly Allen. Father concluded that was
the man who gave him the knife and the name." The profile of a Methodist
preacher by the name of Beverly with a brother named William made me
feel that I had surely found my roots only to feel disappointed that
their reputation was soiled. What was more confusing was the fact that
the notoriety occurred in the same area where our William Allen was
living and raising his family. When I finally uncovered the truth about
this charismatic scoundrel-preacher summarized below, I thougt to myself
if I felt bad, imagine how embarrassed our William Allen might have
felt.

   I recently learned that Beverly Allen practiced medicine after he
fled to Logan County, Kentucky in a place called "Rogue's Harbor." His
brother, William Allen, as the article indicates, was never charged with
a crime and lived to a ripe old age in Elbert County, Georgia.

   Putting the L.P. Allen version concerning  the origin of the name
Beverly in perspective, I can only point out that Eliazer( 11/27/1797
Jefferson County, Georgia- ? Jackson County, Georgia), L.P.'s father
would have been about 10 when his grandfather William died in 1806 and
Eliazer was, in fact, named Beverly in his grandfather's will with no
mention of the word Eliazer. 

   I will comment that the name has generated genealogical interest
outside the family. Inside the family, it has generated pride and ire.
With men, it seems that some don't like the feminization of male
children with a common female given name. Women have resented the name
because it labels them as a family standard bearer and devotee when they
may feel just the opposite. Those who have had the name have always
pointed to the appelation with pride, but have always had a nickname
outside of the original Beverly, a.k.a. Eliazer, apparently.

Gary Carl Aden, 5/23/01