John W. Allen
John W. Allen, farmer. P. O. Cross Roads, was born in Fayette County, Ohio, December 13, 1835, and is a son of Adam and Rosana Allen, who were both natives of Fayette County, where they were married. They moved to Madison County in 1875, locating first in Range Township, where they remained until 1878. when they moved to Somerford Township, where they now reside. John was united in marriage with Harriet A. Fent, November 5, 1857; she was born in Fayette County, Ohio. He was twenty-two years old, when he began farming for himself, as a renter, and thus he continued for six years, when he bought fifty-eight acres of land, which he sold, and bought 100 acres where he now resides. He and his wife are the parents of eleven children, of whom nine survive- Venie O., Delia, Hulda J., Eugene. Sheridan, Rosanna C., Cora F., Icy, Urbin O. and Osa.
From HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY - W. H. Beers [Chicago, 1883]