Kentucky – A History of the State, Perrin, Battle, Kniffin, 1887

Benjamin C. Allin was born May 6, 1808.  His father, Thomas Allin, was born in Hanover County, Virginia, May 14, 1757.  In the beginning of the Revolution, soon after the Battle of Camden, he entered Gen. Greene’s army as a private, but before his term of enlistment expired was promoted quartermaster and commissary.  He participated in the memorable retreat of Gen. Greene from South Carolina into Virginia, participating in the Battle of Guilford C. H.  After his term expired, he immigrated to St. Asaph’s, Lincoln County, about 1781, where he was the deputy sheriff who opened the first court there, among the first in Kentucky.  He surveyed the land for the site of the present city of Lexington, receiving as a compensation for this and other services the ground where Newport now stands, which he subsequently lost in litigation.  He was then appointed deputy clerk in Col. Greenup’s office at Danville, Kentucky, afterward becoming the first county clerk, and circuit or quarterly session court clerk of Mercer after its organization.  These offices he held until his resignation, about 1824, of the circuit clerkship, and a few years late of the county clerkship, his son Thomas Allin, Jr., receiving the latter appointment.  Thomas Allin, besides being a member of the convention that formed the Virginia constitution, and the convention that formed the first Kentucky constitution, was the commander of a company of mounted infantry in the Indian campaign of Gen. Scott in Indiana.  He was married on February 16, 1787, to Miss Mary Jouett, a daughter of John and Mourning Jouett, of Albemarle County, Virginia.  This marriage was blessed by ten children:  Nancy H., wife of Samuel Woodson, clerk of Hopkins County; William H., born April 9, 1791, died in Missouri; John J., born January 23, 1793; Thomas, Jr., born July 20, 1794; Charles W., born July 13, 1796; Polly J., wife of Don Carlos Dixon Grant, born January 20, 1800; Philip T., born May 5, 1801; Samuel W., born April 8, 1805, and Benjamin C., who alone of the family is living.  Thomas Allin and wife were both members of the Christian Church. 

Thomas Allin and wife Mary Jouett Allin are buried in the foreground.  Ben C. Allin and wife next to his parents with the tall headstone to mark their graves.  Spring Hill Cemetery, Harordsburg, Mercer County, Kentucky.

His death occurred June 26, 1833, his wife’s June 28, same year, both of cholera.  The Allin family is of Scotch-Irish origin.

Benjamin C. Allin, a native of Mercer County, received as good an education as the schools afforded, and also received a fair estate from his father, but by security soon lost it all.  He was married January 28, 1829, to Miss Susan Hart Warren, a daughter of John and Judith (Boswell) Warren.  Mr. Allin immediately began an agricultural life, at the same time being deputy for his brothers, Philip T. Allin and Thomas Allin, in both county and circuit court clerk’s offices.  On the death of his brother in 1849, Mr. Allin received the appointment of circuit court clerk, and when the new constitution went into effect was, in 1850, elected to this position, being re-elected in 1856.  In 1862 Mr. Allin was not allowed, on account of his political opinions, to be a candidate for circuit clerk, but in 1866 he was elected county court clerk of Mercer County and has been re-elected every four years since.  Mr. and Mrs. Allin are both members of the Christian Church, and they are the parents of twelve children: Mary Bosell, who died in infancy; George T., who died in infancy; Ben C., Jr.; Maria C., wife of D. N. Wilson; John W., who died in infancy; Philip T., clerk of the district court of Cleburn, Texas; Bushrod W. Allin, circuit court clerk of Mercer County; William B., county attorney of Mercer County; Susan J., who died in 1864; Grant, who died in August, 1885; Mary A., wife of George W. Reichenberg, and Thomas Allin, who died in infancy.  Bushrod W. Allin, born February 6, 1843, in Mercer County, was educated in the Harrodsburg schools, attending several years the Kentucky University.  He was in the sophomore year in that college in 1862, when he enlisted in September in Company H of the Second Confederate Cavalry, a part of Gen. Morgan’s command.  Mr. Allin was afterward transferred to Company H, in the same regiment (Gen. Duke’s), and participated in all of the battles and raids of that celebrated command, serving all the tine as a private.  He served in the cavalry service until the spring of 1865, when he returned home and became deputy county court clerk in 1866, which position he has filled ever since.  In 1865, December 21, he married Miss Lucy Hawkins, of Woodford County.  Ten children resulted from this union:  G. Jouett, James C., Bush W., Jennie Hart, Benjamin C., Jr., John Warren, Margaret Pearl, Susan, Mary and William Poteet, all of whom are living.  August 1885, Mr. Allin was elected circuit court clerk on the Democrat ticket.

Kentucky Advocate, Danville, Boyle County, Kentucky

Tuesday, January 21, 1890

The Courier Journal, Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Thursday, January 31, 1895

Kentucky Advocate, Danville, Boyle County, Kentucky

Friday, September 27, 1895

Ben C. Allin, May 6, 1808 – September 26, 1895.  Susan H. Allin, January 15, 1811 – May 20, 1897.

The Sayings, Harrodsburg, Mercer County, Kentucky

Saturday, May 22, 1897

Mrs. Susan Warren, widow of the late Col. Ben C. Allin, died Thursday afternoon at 3 o’clock at the home of her son-in-law, Mr. George Reichenberg, of Louisville. She was eighty-six years old last January, and spent most of her long and useful life in and near this place. After the death of her venerable and lamented husband, September 1895, she removed to Louisville and took up her abode with her daughter. She was a life-long member of the Christian church, a true Christian, a lady of refinement, and so amiable and affable that she was beloved by all who knew her. She leaves five children to mourn the loss of a kind and affectionate mother – Messrs. Ben C., Bush W. and William B. Allin, and Mrs. Kate Wilson, of Muncie, Ind., and Mrs. Mollie Reichenberg, of Louisville. The remains were brought here for interment yesterday, and the funeral will be conducted at the Christian church here by the pastor, Dr. C. K. Marshall, assisted by Rev. W. T. Corn, at 11 o’clock and burial will take place in Spring Hill Cemetery.