Douglass Pioneer Cemetery: Azubah (Vance) Allen

Courtesy of Susan Queen.

It's always interesting to hear from descendants of people buried in cemeteries I write about here, and that happened over the weekend when a descendant of Douglass and Azubah (Vance) Allen wrote after her attempts to post a blog comment were frustrated by a security device --- one that frustrates me, too, sometimes.

Allen Cemetery is located on land north of LaGrange claimed originally by Douglass and his first wife, Anna (Allison) Allen --- the mother of 11 of his children. After Anna's death, Douglass married the widowed Azubah (Vance) Hart on Sept. 22, 1863, and they had three more children: Sylvia Jane, Harriet Ellen and Benjamin Russell. Douglass Allen died May 4, 1884, and is buried in Allen Cemetery. Azubah moved west to live with her children and died at Everett, Washington, during late March, 1909, and is buried in Mountain View Cemetery at Walla Walla. That's her tombstone, at left, courtesy of Susan Queen.

Here's the comment that Susan Queen attempted to add to Part I of the Allen Cemetery series, but couldn't:

I am so very happy to discover the Allen Cemetery information. Douglas and Azubah Vance Allen were my gg-grandparents. Their son Benjamin Russell Allen and Ella Elizabeth Seeber were my great-grandparents. They farmed in Russell, Iowa where three children were born. A tornado destroyed much of their property causing them to move to Seattle, WA and a short time later to Walla Walla, WA. Ben was a policeman on the Walla Walla Police Force. He died June 18, 1913 at the age of 43 from valvular heart disease. Their youngest child, Marie Katherine Allen Sawyer was my grandmother. Marie's daughter was my mother. Nearly all my immediate family live in Walla Walla. I just removed flowers from 6 grave sites for 35 family members at the Mt. View Cemetery in Walla Walla. Their are 6 Allens buried in one site and my grandmother buried with my grandfather at another site. Contact me if you would like photos of the graves and more information. Thank you for the wonderful photos and information on the two blogs for the Allen Cemetery. Susan Queen, stqueen@charter.net

It was interesting, too, to read Azubah Allen's death notice, published in The Chariton Leader of April 1, 1909, which suggests that some family members had expected Asubah's remains to be returned to Lucas County for burial. Here's how the article reads:

Mrs. Douglass Allen Dead

Mrs. Douglass Allen, a former resident of La Grange, died last Thursday at the home of her daughter, in Everett, Washington, at the advanced age of 81 years. The remains were brought to La Grange, arriving Wednesday, and were laid to rest in the Allen cemetery beside her husband, who died a number of years ago. Two daughters and one son reside in the west, and one daughter, Mrs. S.B. Swift, of this city. Mrs. Allen had made her home in Washington with her children for several years, but it was her desire to be buried beside her husband here:

LATER --- Mrs. Allen was buried at Walla Walla, where her son Benjamin resides, the funeral being held on Saturday.

Obviously, there was a major misunderstanding here about where Azubah was to be buried and the Leader's editor, Henry Gittinger, a Russell native who would have known all of these people well, very narrowly avoided having to write a major correction in the next week's edition of The Leader.

Courtesy of Susan Queen

Benjamin R. Allen, son of Douglass and Azubah (Vance) Allen, was born Sept. 16, 1869, north of LaGrange in Lucas County, Iowa, and died at age 43 on June 18, 1913, in Walla Walla, Washington. He, too, is buried in Mountain View Cemetery, Walla Walla.