San Joaquin County Biographies
Ref: Page 1520-1521
Transcribed by: Linda Diane Jackson 9/26/2009
FRED C. ALLEN
A straightforward citizen who feels a keen interest in all that pertains to the rapid and permanent development of San Joaquin County is Fred C. Allen, the well-known rancher residing east of Lockeford. He was born at Gorham, Maine on January 25, 1868, a son of Hosea Roscoe and Eleanor C. (Thoms) Allen. The father, Hosea R. Allen, served in the 17th Regiment Volunteer Artillery of Maine, serving throughout the Civil War in the Army of the Potomac. After eighteen months of service he was disabled and was transferred and drove an ambulance; then he tried his hand at cooking, and finally was detailed for hospital service, where he worked until he became so weak he was a subject for the hospital himself. In 1883 he came to California, and the same year returned to Maine. In 1884 he brought his whole family to the Coast and settled four miles north of Lockeford in Elliott township, where he purchased 160 acres of grain land. There he passed away at the age of seventy years, while the mother lived to be eighty years of age.
Fred C. Allen attended school at North Bridgetown and later at the Fryberg Academy until he came to California. He was then sixteen years of age and started out for himself. He and his brother, W.S. Allen, who had come to California in 1880, leased about 800 acres and farmed to grain; then Mr. Allen moved to a portion of the old Megerle ranch, now the property of Charles F. Smith, and leased it for six years. Again the brothers entered into partnership and bought 200 acres of land adjoining Lockeford on the east; this was grain land and the brothers developed a fifty-acre vineyard, which they afterwards sold. A property settlement was then made and his brother received fifty acres, thus leaving our subject 100 acres, which is his home place at the present time. He also owns 160 acres south of Clements. Mr. Allen has a ten-acre vineyard and a number of acres in alfalfa. Some five years ago the old house was burned to the ground and he has substituted a fine story-and-a-half modern structure to take its place.
Mr. Allen's marriage in Lockeford, on December 22, 1894, united him with Miss Ora Viola Hatch, a daughter of Forest R. and Charlofine Hatch. Mrs. Allen was born in Glens Falls, N.Y., and came to California with her parents when a young girl, receiving her education in the schools of Lockeford. Her father, Forest R. Hatch, was a volunteer in the New York Infantry and served three years of the Civil War; later he engaged in farming. Mr. and Mrs. Allen are the parents of five children: Roscoe Forest; Clifton Le Roy; Fred D.; Flora Viola; and Alice Viola, deceased. In national politics, Mr. Allen is a Republican and fraternally he is a past grand of the I.O.O.F. Lodge of Lockeford.
History of
SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY
CALIFORNIA
With A
Biographical Review
of
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been
Identified with Its Growth and Development
from the Early Days to the Present
HISTORY BY
George H. Tinkham
HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
1923
San Joaquin County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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